This week I am delighted to be joined by Annah of Needle and Feather. Annah is a designer of colourwork knitting designs often inspired by nature and if you follow me on Instagram you'll have seen that I am enjoying knitting her Year by Piece blanket which is made up of a square inspired by each month of the year.

Annah speaks about turning to knitting during a period of anxiety when she needed a small achievable creative project to keep her brain busy and to give her a sense of acheivement.

Connect with Annah:

@needleandfeather on Instagram

Needle and feather on Ravelry

-------------

🧶Join us at our next webinar Knitting for Attention and Focus. We will explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Clinical Psychologist and author Nicole Nehrig joins me this week to discuss her own relationship with knitting and how this lead to writing the book 'With Her Own Hands: Women Weaving Their Stories' in which she explores the meaningful role that textile work has played in so many women’s lives.

Find out about Nicole Nehrig

-------------

🧶Join us at our next webinar Knitting for Attention and Focus. We will explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Joining me this week on the podcast is designer Theodora Burrow.

Theodora is a knit and crochet designer who taught herself to knit and crochet from books, way before there was an internet. After her ADHD diagnosis at the age of 50 she realized just how important knitting and crochet had been in her life, and how it both soothes and sparks creativity in equal measure. She creates knitting and crochet patterns with a playful and whimsical twist, with colour as a source of dopamine.

Instagram: @theodora_goes_wild

Website: www.theodoragoeswild.com

-------------

🧶Join us at our next webinar Knitting for Attention and Focus. We will explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Maya is the owner of Knit With Attitude, one of the longest running yarn shops in London. She speaks about using knitting as a strategy to manage her own health difficulties, and about the sudden change that lead her to speak about knitting and mental health on a daily basis in her shop.

Maya is also running the Knit Calm Retreat on Sunday 22nd February where both she and Mia are speaking. For information on how you can join us click the link.

Find out about Knit With Attitude Shop

-------------

🧶Join us at our next webinar Knitting for Attention and Focus. We will explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Series 9 kicks of with a conversation with Lauren Aston, the founder of Lauren Aston Designs. I first came across Lauren when looking up some of Claudia Winkleman's excellent knitwear on the second series of The Traitors UK. I was delighted to find Lauren's knitting pattern behind one of them!

Lauren speaks about the phenomenon that is 'The Claudia Sweater' and the challenge of continuing to get well-being benefits from knitting once it becomes your job. She also speaks about really realising how much she gained from knitting when a hand injury meant that she couldn't knit for several weeks.

You can find out more about Lauren's designs here

-------------

🧶Join us at our next webinar Knitting for Attention and Focus. We will explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

For our last episode of 2025, Paula and Mia reflect on their own knitting and craft projects over the past year, and the ways in which they have used knitting as part of their self-care.

They also look back at the new developments in Creative Restoration over the past year, and share their thoughts on the TV show Game of Wool.

They share their plans for their own knitting and for Creative Restoration for the coming year including news on the next season of the Why I Knit Podcast which returns in January, and they announce their next webinar on knitting for focus and attention.

Thanks to everyone for listening and supporting the podcast this year.

-------------

🧶Join us at our next webinar Knitting for Attention and Focus. We will explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

For this bonus book club episode we have read the brilliant bestselling book 'Wintering' by Katherine May and speak about how it links to burnout. Wintering takes us through living through personal and seasonal winters and how knitting can be a brilliant activity to accompany us through both types of winter.

-------------

🧶Join us at our next webinar Knitting for Attention and Focus. We will explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

For this bonus episode I am joined by Dr Paula Redmond who specialises in working with health professionals experiencing burnout.

Paula speaks about her own journey into this work during Covid, and how creativity in her personal life has encouraged her to bring this into her work.

We talk about what burnout is, and who might be more likely to experience it, and why knitting is a great tool to prevent burnout. We'll be going into this in much more detail in our webinar, Unravelling Burnout

If you'd like to find out about Paula's clinical work in the area of burnout, or download her free Burnout Toolkit you can visit her website here: Dr Paula Redmond

-------------

🧶Join us at our next webinar Knitting for Attention and Focus. We will explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Join Clinical Psychologists Dr Mia Hobbs and Dr Paula Redmond as we discuss two research papers about knitting and mental health.

These papers both relate to nurses and supporting them with the challenges of their role.

Paper 1 relates to using knitting to reduce compassion fatigue in nurses

Paper 2 relates to using knitting to reduce anxiety in nursing students

-------------

🧶Join us at our next webinar Knitting for Attention and Focus. We will explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

For the final episode of series 8 I am delighted to be joined by Dr Katya Miles of The Working Well Doctor. Katya works as a Coach and Trainer for health professionals and people in high stress professions.

She speaks about turning to knitting during the Covid pandemic when she was self-isolating with covid and how she now associates knitting with healing and soothing, and it is part of her own toolkit for managing stress or high demand situations.

We talk about recovering from perfectionism and give our views on why so many health professionals are attracted to knitting and needlecrafts.

Connect with Katya

Website: Working Well Doctor

Instagram: @theworkingwelldoctor

Facebook: @theworkingwelldoctor

-------------

🧶Join us at our next webinar Knitting for Attention and Focus. We will explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond