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 LIVE Webinar: Unravelling Burnout: How knitting can help you rest, reset and restore on 18th November at 7pm UK time

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

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:

Unravelling Burnout: How Knitting can help you rest, reset and restore

Join us for our next LIVE webinar on Tuesday 18th November at 7pm UK Time

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:

Unravelling Burnout: How Knitting can help you rest, reset and restore

Join us for our next LIVE webinar on Tuesday 18th November at 7pm UK Time

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.

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🧶Join us at our LIVE Webinar: Unravelling Burnout: How knitting can help you rest, reset and restore on 18th November at 7pm UK time

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

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:

Unravelling Burnout: How Knitting can help you rest, reset and restore

Join us for our next LIVE webinar on Tuesday 18th November at 7pm UK Time

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.

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🧶Join us at our LIVE Webinar: Unravelling Burnout: How knitting can help you rest, reset and restore on 18th November at 7pm UK time

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

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:

Unravelling Burnout: How Knitting can help you rest, reset and restore

Join us for our next LIVE webinar on Tuesday 18th November at 7pm UK Time

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.

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🧶Join us at our LIVE Webinar: Unravelling Burnout: How knitting can help you rest, reset and restore on 18th November at 7pm UK time

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

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:

Unravelling Burnout: How Knitting can help you rest, reset and restore

Join us for our next LIVE webinar on Tuesday 18th November at 7pm UK Time

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.

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🧶Join us at our LIVE Webinar: Unravelling Burnout: How knitting can help you rest, reset and restore on 18th November at 7pm UK time

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

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:

Unravelling Burnout: How Knitting can help you rest, reset and restore

Join us for our next LIVE webinar on Tuesday 18th November at 7pm UK Time

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.

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🧶Join us at our LIVE Webinar: Unravelling Burnout: How knitting can help you rest, reset and restore on 18th November at 7pm UK time

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

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:

Unravelling Burnout: How Knitting can help you rest, reset and restore

Join us for our next LIVE webinar on Tuesday 18th November at 7pm UK Time

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

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🧶Join us at our LIVE Webinar: Unravelling Burnout: How knitting can help you rest, reset and restore on 18th November at 7pm UK time

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

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:

Unravelling Burnout: How Knitting can help you rest, reset and restore

Join us for our next LIVE webinar on Tuesday 18th November at 7pm UK Time

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.

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🧶Join us at our LIVE Webinar: Unravelling Burnout: How knitting can help you rest, reset and restore on 18th November at 7pm UK time

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

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:

Unravelling Burnout: How Knitting can help you rest, reset and restore

Join us for our next LIVE webinar on Tuesday 18th November at 7pm UK Time

Tamanna is a nurse practioner and multi-crafter who works in the field of mental health. Tamanna joins me to speak about her own journey to knitting, sewing and embroidery, how this connects her to family traditions and her values of sustainability and ethical production of clothing.

She also speaks about she uses fibre arts to benefit the mental health of herself and others.

Tamanna Rahman

Instagram: @slow.work.sewing

Website: slow.work.sewing

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🧶Join us at our LIVE Webinar: Unravelling Burnout: How knitting can help you rest, reset and restore on 18th November at 7pm UK time

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

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:

Unravelling Burnout: How Knitting can help you rest, reset and restore

Join us for our next LIVE webinar on Tuesday 18th November at 7pm UK Time