To kick off series 8 I am deligted to be joined by Beth Gorishek who is also known the Adaptive Knitter. Beth was born with a limb difference and through teaching, speaking and workshops helps knitters to learn how to make adaptations to their knitting practice so that it works for their body.

Beth believes that makers are well placed to be adaptive as this is part of the creative process of making and that adaptation is creativity. I also particularly loved Beth's approach to using knitting to carve out small pockets of time for her self-care and to create something meaningful in those moments.

I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

Connect with Beth

Website: adaptive knitter

Instagram: @adaptiveknitter

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🧶Join us at our first Live Webinar How and Why Knitting Helps on Tuesday 15th July at 7pm BST to find out all about the science behind how knitting benefits our mental health.

🧶 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.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join us at our Live Webinar 'How and Why Knitting Helps'

Join us on 15th July at 7pm BST for a Live Webinar to learn more about the science behind why and how knitting benefits our mental health.

This month we are discussing a paper published in Scientific Reports (part of the prestigious Nature group of peer-reviewed scientific journals) about the impact of crochet on attention.

You can read the full paper here.

This is a study by neurologists into how crochet impacts on attentional networks. It combines brain imaging with an interesting experimental design. It is a complex read, involving a lot of neuro-speak but we've tried to summarise it in a way that hopefully makes it easy to understand the methods and findings. We have also created a blog to help illustrate the methods and design used, which you can find here.

Citation: Rossi Sebastiano, D., Muscio, C., Duran, D. et al. Crochet increases attention through a requiring motor skill learning. Sci Rep 15, 4141 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-88777-9

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🧶Join us at our first Live Webinar How and Why Knitting Helps on Tuesday 15th July at 7pm BST to find out all about the science behind how knitting benefits our mental health.

🧶 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.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join us at our Live Webinar 'How and Why Knitting Helps'

Join us on 15th July at 7pm BST for a Live Webinar to learn more about the science behind why and how knitting benefits our mental health.

I am delighted to announce that Series 8 will be live next month!

I have had some really interesting conversations with my guests this series and I can't wait to share them with you.

In the meantime, if you'd like to be kept up to date on all the latest news you can sign up to the Creative Restoration Newsletter which is a montly round up of all our events, workshops, podcasts and blogs, along with an update on our own knitting projects!

You can sign up here: creative restoration

Mentioned in this episode:

Join us at our Live Webinar 'How and Why Knitting Helps'

Join us on 15th July at 7pm BST for a Live Webinar to learn more about the science behind why and how knitting benefits our mental health.

In our first book club episode, Paula and Mia each discuss a book they have read on the subject of the psychology of craft.

Paula has read 'Craftfulness' by Arzu Tahsin and Rosemary Davidson

Mia has read 'Craft Psychology' by Dr Anne Kirketerp

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.

Here's how to stay in touch:

Sign up to the Creative Restoration newletter here

Follow Mia on Instagram: @knittingistherapeutic

Follow Paula on LinkedIn here

Mentioned in this episode:

Join us at our Live Webinar 'How and Why Knitting Helps'

Join us on 15th July at 7pm BST for a Live Webinar to learn more about the science behind why and how knitting benefits our mental health.

Join Paula and I as we answer your questions about the field of knitting and mental health. Apologies that the audio quality isn't as good as usual for this episode, we tried out a new method of recording and had a few technical issues.

We'll be back at the end of the month with a Book Club episode!

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.

Here's how to stay in touch:

Sign up to the Creative Restoration newletter here

Follow Mia on Instagram: @knittingistherapeutic

Follow Paula on LinkedIn here

Mentioned in this episode:

Join us at our Live Webinar 'How and Why Knitting Helps'

Join us on 15th July at 7pm BST for a Live Webinar to learn more about the science behind why and how knitting benefits our mental health.

This month Dr Paula Redmond and I discuss another research paper into knitting and mental health.

The paper we discuss is: Joanna Nordstrand, A. Birgitta Gunnarsson & Greta HäggblomKronlöf (2024) Promoting health through yarncraft: Experiences of an online knitting group living with mental illness, Journal of Occupational Science, 31:3, 504-515,

The full text of this article is available here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14427591.2023.2292281#abstract

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.

Here's how to stay in touch:

Sign up to the Creative Restoration newletter here

Follow Mia on Instagram: @knittingistherapeutic

Follow Paula on LinkedIn here

Mentioned in this episode:

Join us at our Live Webinar 'How and Why Knitting Helps'

Join us on 15th July at 7pm BST for a Live Webinar to learn more about the science behind why and how knitting benefits our mental health.

This is our second bonus episode for anyone wanting to know or read more about the research into how knitting can benefit our mental well-being.

Fellow clinical psychologist and knitter, Dr Paula Redmond and I will be reading one research paper a month and discussing it in our journal club podcast.

We are also planning a Question an Answer episode, so if you have any questions about the research into knitting and mental health or how we use knitting in our work please do email me on [email protected] to let me know and we'll try to include as many as we can.

This month we are discussing: Riley J, Corkhill B, Morris C. The Benefits of Knitting for Personal and Social Wellbeing in Adulthood: Findings from an International Survey. British Journal of Occupational Therapy. 2013;76(2):50-57.

Unfortunately the full article isn't available for free, but options for access are here

I refer to the interview with Betsan Corkhill which you can listen to here: Betsan Corkhill

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.

Here's how to stay in touch:

Sign up to the Creative Restoration newletter here

Follow Mia on Instagram: @knittingistherapeutic

Follow Paula on LinkedIn here

Mentioned in this episode:

Join us at our Live Webinar 'How and Why Knitting Helps'

Join us on 15th July at 7pm BST for a Live Webinar to learn more about the science behind why and how knitting benefits our mental health.

This is a bonus episode for anyone wanting to know or read more about the research into how knitting can benefit our mental well-being.

Fellow clinical psychologist and knitter, Dr Paula Redmond and I will be reading one research paper a month and discussing it in our journal club podcast. This month we are discussing Healing Stitches: a scoping review of the impact of needlcraft on mental health and well-being. The full-text of this article is available here: Healing Stitches

I refer to the interview with Betsan Corkhill which you can listen to here: Betsan Corkhill

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.

Here's how to stay in touch:

Sign up to the Creative Restoration newletter here

Follow Mia on Instagram: @knittingistherapeutic

Follow Paula on LinkedIn here

Mentioned in this episode:

Join us at our Live Webinar 'How and Why Knitting Helps'

Join us on 15th July at 7pm BST for a Live Webinar to learn more about the science behind why and how knitting benefits our mental health.

Have you ever stressed yourself our by overcommitting to gift knitting? Do you end up being exhausted by the festive season? Then we have a bonus episode for you! Subscribe to the Creative Restoration newletter here to receive our bonus episode as soon as it is released on 14th November to help you keep your self-care on track during Christmas, and continue to use knitting to benefit your mental wellbeing.

This is the final episode in series 7 - thank you so much for listening!

Joining me this week is Kristina LaVenia who is a senior lecturer in leadership at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. She has collaborated with Project Knitwell on research delivering knitting workshops for staff in educational settings.

Kristina speaks about her own journey using knitting throughout the pandemic, and her experience of offering this as an intervention to others.

You can follow Kristina on Instagram here: @klavenia

Mia Hobbs

Find out about our NEW Audio Course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time

Sign up to the newsletter to be the first to know about new episodes: Creative Restoration

Instagram: @knittingistherapeutic

Mentioned in this episode:

Join us at our Live Webinar 'How and Why Knitting Helps'

Join us on 15th July at 7pm BST for a Live Webinar to learn more about the science behind why and how knitting benefits our mental health.

Carole Wyatt is a cancer doctor who has been diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. She speaks about using knitting to cope with the difficult days, and also to create a handknitted legacy to pass down to her future grandchildren.

Mia Hobbs

Find out about our NEW Audio Course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time

Sign up to the newsletter to be the first to know about new episodes: Creative Restoration

Instagram: @knittingistherapeutic

Mentioned in this episode:

Join us at our Live Webinar 'How and Why Knitting Helps'

Join us on 15th July at 7pm BST for a Live Webinar to learn more about the science behind why and how knitting benefits our mental health.