Why I Knit

Thanks so much for your questions for the Q&A episode, it has been so interesting to be asked such great questions.

Mia Hobbs

Find out more at my website: www.therapeuticknitting.org

Follow me on Instagram: @knittingistherapeutic

For the final episode of series 6 I am joined by Elizabeth Hammond, also known as The Knitchen on Instagram.

Elizabeth describes herself as a knitter, test knitter and dabbling designer. She joins me to speak about turning to knitting to help with her mental health and also during her recovery from a car accident.

Thanks so much for listening to the 6th series of the podcast - we have now reached an incredible 100,000 downloads! To celebrate this milestone I am recording a Q&A episode - if you have a question please get in touch!

Elizabeth

Instagram: @theknitchen

Ravelry: Elizabeth Hammond

Mia Hobbs

Find out more at my website: www.therapeuticknitting.org

Follow me on Instagram: @knittingistherapeutic

Ellen describes herself a tech editor and occasional designer who identifies as queer and neurodivergent.

She speaks about how knitting feeds her inner engineer and allows her to use some skills that she might otherwise have explored in her career. She also talks about the ways in which knitting helps her to connect to family, friends and a new community.

Ellen

Website: www.knithow.com

Instagram: @knithow

Mia Hobbs

Find out more at my website: www.therapeuticknitting.org

Follow me on Instagram: @knittingistherapeutic

Madison Siegel joins me this week to speak about using knitting as a mindful practice to help her to step back from and notice her thoughts rather than be caught up in them.

She speaks about having a diagnosis of ADHD and feeling anxious after the birth of her second child, and how knitting has been part of finding balance and allowing herself to take up space.

Madison doesn't have a public Instagram account.

Mia Hobbs

Find out more at my website: www.therapeuticknitting.org

Follow me on Instagram: @knittingistherapeutic

Susie Bass is a researcher studying a PHD in the relationship between power, identity and mental health through craft. Susie is a knitter and multi-crafter and during our discussion she speaks about how craft has been a common thread which has helped her to process traumatic events in her life, and to reconstruct herself afterwards.

CONTENT WARNING: During our conversation Susie speaks about losing a baby and experiencing a sexual assault. She also speaks about the process of being diagnosed with ADHD and Autism in adulthood.

Susie Bass

Instagram: @susiebass_anyhow for links to Susie's work

Mia Hobbs

Find out more at my website: www.therapeuticknitting.org

Follow me on Instagram: @knittingistherapeutic

Fran is a bear maker and multi-crafter who is originally from the UK but now lives in the Pyrenees mountains of France. Fran speaks about how craft has helped to negotiate living with chronic illness and a diagnosis of bipolar disorder.

Fran

Website: Woollenhearted.com

Instagram: @woollenhearted

Mia Hobbs

Find out more at my website: www.therapeuticknitting.org

Follow me on Instagram: @knittingistherapeutic

The Loose Ends Project aims to ease grief, create community, and inspire generosity by matching volunteer handwork finishers with projects people have left unfinished due to death or disability. The founders, Masey and Jen join me to discuss their own personal relationships with knitting and the story of how they created the Loose Ends Project.

Loose Ends

Find out more at their website: www.looseendsproject.org

Follow them on Instagram: @looseendsproject

Mia Hobbs

Find out more at my website: www.therapeuticknitting.org

Follow me on Instagram: @knittingistherapeutic

The Why I Knit Podcast is back with series 6 starting on 4th January 2024!

Thanks to everyone who has been in touch to ask when the new episodes are coming out - I look forward to sharing 6 more conversations with you from 4th January.

Mia

Website: therapeuticknitting.org

Patreon: patreon.com/therpeuticknitting

Instagram: @knittingistherapeutic

Kathryn Vercillo is a writer and crafter who specialises in the intersection between art and mental health.

I particularly loved Kathryn's focus on her relationship with craft being something that is constantly evolving, and her celebration of every part of the process.

Kathryn speaks about crochet has helped save her life during periods of depression, and also talks about how she used crochet to help her through the grief following her friend's death through suicide.

Kathryn Vercillo

 Instagram @createmefree

Substack: https://createmefree.substack.com/

Books:  https://www.amazon.com/Kathryn-Vercillo/e/B001JPC6IO

Mia

Mia

Website: therapeuticknitting.org

Patreon: patreon.com/therpeuticknitting

Instagram: @knittingistherapeutic



Jessica Hendrickson is the Creative Design Director at Lion Brand Yarn. As a teenager she had such a strong desire to make and wear her own clothes, that she told her parents she had to attend a school without a uniform.

She continues to use knitting and crochet to express her identity, but over time she has also used them to help find her way through post-natal depression and to help her focus. Jessica speaks about how she manages her desire to knit all the things as quickly as possible, but also how her constant drive for new experiences is a superpower in her role as Design Director which requires her to come up with new designs and use new yarns on a daily basis.

Jessica and Lion Brand Yarn

Webiste: Lion Brand Yarn 

Tom Daley's “Made With Love Collection," which will be

available for purchase in September 2023 at Michaels and on LionBrand.com.

Instagram: @lionbrandyarn

 @jesssicaleee

@madewithlovebytomdaley

Mia

Website: therapeuticknitting.org

Patreon: patreon.com/therpeuticknitting

Instagram: @knittingistherapeutic