Have you ever found yourself halfway through a craft project, but completely lost in anxious thoughts? Your hands are moving, but your mind is spinning. You are spiraling - overthinking, stress, or overwhelm.

Crafting by hand can be healing but sometimes you have to be intentional about it. That’s where the 5-4-3-2-1 Crafting Method comes in. This is an adaptation of a classic anxiety-relieving technique used by therapists to help people calm anxiety, reduce racing thoughts, and bring full sensory awareness into the present moment.

Whether you're knitting, crocheting, quilting, or embroidering, this method pulls you back into your body and into your craft, helping you truly experience the moment instead of just rushing through it.

Step-by-Step: Practicing the 5-4-3-2-1 Method While Crafting

The 5-4-3-2-1 technique is a simple but powerful mindfulness practice that helps anchor you to your senses—sight, touch, sound, smell, and taste. It’s often used to manage anxiety, stress, or dissociation, but in the context of crafting, it helps you become fully engaged in your creative process.

Instead of letting your mind drift into stress or distraction, this method guides you back to the present through intentional sensory awareness.

Step 1: Notice Five Things You Can See

Pause for a moment and take in your surroundings. Instead of passively glancing around, actively notice five visual details related to your craft or workspace.

✔ The color variations in your yarn or fabric
✔ The way the light falls on your project
✔ The movement of your hands as you stitch
✔ A tiny imperfection that makes your work unique
✔ The pattern forming as you continue

By focusing on these visual elements, you begin to see your craft with fresh eyes, appreciating the details instead of rushing past them.

Step 2: Feel Four Things You Can Touch

Crafting is an inherently tactile experience, and this step helps you fully engage with textures in a way that deepens your connection to your work.

✔ The softness or roughness of the yarn, thread, or fabric
✔ The gentle tension of pulling a stitch through
✔ The smoothness of your needles, hook, or embroidery hoop
✔ The warmth or coolness of your hands as they move

This step helps calm the nervous system by bringing attention to physical sensations—one of the fastest ways to feel grounded and present.

Step 3: Listen for Three Sounds You Can Hear

Sound often fades into the background when we craft, but tuning in to it can help you become fully immersed in the moment.

✔ The rhythmic clicking of knitting needles
✔ The soft rustling of fabric as you quilt or embroider
✔ The faint whisper of thread passing through fabric

Even if you’re in a silent room, there are always tiny sounds that signal movement, progress, and presence.

Step 4: Identify Two Things You Can Smell

Scent is one of the most powerful senses tied to memory and emotion, but it’s easy to overlook. Take a moment to notice and appreciate any smells in your space.

✔ The faint scent of wool, cotton, or embroidery floss
✔ A cup of tea or coffee sitting beside you
✔ A candle, essential oil, or fresh air from an open window

Bringing awareness to scent adds a layer of comfort to your crafting routine and helps make the experience richer.

Step 5: Acknowledge One Thing You Can Taste

This final step completes the sensory experience. You don’t have to eat something in the moment—just notice any lingering flavors.

✔ A sip of coffee, tea, or cocoa
✔ The slight taste of mint or citrus from lip balm
✔ A lingering sweetness from a snack you had earlier

This last step serves as a gentle, grounding conclusion to the exercise, allowing you to fully settle into your crafting session with a clear mind and calm body.

When to Use the 5-4-3-2-1 Method While Crafting

This technique is especially helpful if you:

• Find yourself rushing through your project instead of enjoying it – This method slows you down, helping you fully engage with your craft instead of just trying to finish it.

• Struggle with anxiety, racing thoughts, or creative block – Redirects your focus from overwhelming thoughts to the present moment, helping you reset mentally.

• Feel disconnected from your craft and want to bring more presence into your process – Helps you reconnect with the tactile, visual, and sensory experience of making.

• Need a quick mindfulness reset during a stressful or overwhelming day – A simple way to ground yourself without needing extra time or effort.

• Experience frustration or self-criticism while working on a project – Encourages patience and appreciation for the process rather than just the outcome.

• Feel overstimulated by screens, noise, or daily chaos – Shifts attention to a calming, hands-on activity that reduces sensory overload.

• Want to establish a calming creative ritual – Using this method before or during crafting can turn it into a meditative, restorative practice.

• Have trouble staying motivated or engaged in long-term projects – Helps re-ignite interest by making the crafting experience more immersive and intentional.

I’ve been writing about the complex relationship between art and mental health for many years now.

It started with a specific interest in the mental and physical health benefits of crochet.

I interviewed 2 dozen women about that for my book, Crochet Saved My Life.

I interviewed hundreds more over the years for various online and print articles including 8 years writing the monthly Crochet Heals column for Happily Hooked Magazine.

I created 100 exercises for using crochet to improve various areas of life for my book Hook to Heal, a book which has been used by therapists and mentors in prisons, substance recovery centers and other institutions.

I launched a collaborative online project that turned into a book and California art exhibits to raise awareness about depression, suicide, and crafting to heal as a response to the death by suicide of crochet designer Mandalas for Marinke whose story had been in Crochet Saved My Life.

Then I expanded into exploring the therapeutic benefits of other crafts. And eventually to the current niche of looking at the more complex and shadowed relationship between art/craft and mental health.

I sometimes share writing I’ve done about crochet as therapy/crafting to heal. Explore those essays below; they are organized into the categories:

• Excerpts from Crochet Saved My Life

• Therapeutic Crochet Exercises from Hook to Heal

• Interviews about Craft as Therapy

• Craftivism

• Other Essays on Craft as Therapy

• Mandalas for Marinke awareness raising

• And more … (podcasts, audio, other stuff)

Excerpts From Crochet Saved My Life

Therapeutic Crochet Exercises From Hook to Heal

Interviews about Craft as Therapy

On Craftivism

Other Essays on Craft as Therapy

Mandalas for Marinke

And More

I’m truly curious about your thoughts.

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The exercise: Make crochet a regular part of your nighttime ritual for good sleep.

Lack of good sleep causes / exacerbates a significant number of mood, mental health and physical health issues. Use crochet to help you improve your sleep hygiene.

Purpose:

Sleep hygiene is a term coined in recent years to describe the healthy habits we must engage in to get enough good quality sleep. It is a term that we need because a significant number of us aren’t getting enough sleep and/ or good enough sleep. Developing proper relaxing rituals at night can significantly improve sleep. Crochet, a calming and relaxing activity, can be one key part of your regular nighttime sleep routine.

Exercise steps:

1. Choose a simple, relaxing, long-term crochet project that you will work on a little bit each night before bed. Large blankets like granny rectangles, ripple blankets and repeating v-stitch blankets are a great choice.

2. Complete your normal before-bed activities, such as brushing your teeth, before you start your project.

3. Turn off all distractions, such as television. You might find that light music is good. Make sure that your home is a cool, but not cold, temperature. Light a candle. Turn other lights down, leaving enough on to work on your crochet but as few on as possible to create a low-light area for rest. 

4. Settle into a comfortable position in a cozy place that is not your bed (unless you are bed-bound by illness of course). Good sleep hygiene says that your bed should be only for sleeping, not crafting or other activities. A chair in the bedroom is a great choice.

5. Work on your crochet project until you get sleepy enough that you think that you will be able to fall asleep. Eventually, your body should adjust to a specific cycle and you’ll find that you’re always working on your crochet for the same time (half an hour or an hour, perhaps) before you go to bed. Note that this is a great time to work on meditative crochet and crochet with affirmations.

6. Calmly and quietly set your work aside. You don’t want to disrupt your body too much before you go to bed so put the work in a project bag near your craft space so that you can resume it again the following night.

Bonus Tips:

• Do what works for you in terms of your setting. The standard rules of not crafting in bed and keeping the TV off are good tips and worth at least trying as you establish a new sleep routine but you may find that they aren’t right for you and adjust accordingly. I personally always fall asleep to TV; it’s what works for me regardless of what the sleep hygiene “rules” are.

• Try a light-up crochet hook to see if it works well for you. This allows you to see your stitches in the dark, which means that you can create a fairly dark space as you get ready for bed each night.

• Some people (like myself!) have very little trouble falling asleep but struggle with insomnia that wakes them up in the middle of the night or they have early morning wakefulness. In some cases, staying in bed and crocheting for a very short period of time can help you relax enough to go back to sleep. If you find that you are still awake after twenty minutes, get up, make yourself a cup of soothing tea and crochet in your craft area before going back to bed.

• Make sure that you engage in other good sleep hygiene habits throughout the day to promote healthy sleep. Some of these include eating right (limiting caffeine, for example), getting enough natural light and exercise and taking your medications properly.

Taking it further:

One great way to go further with this exercise is to crochet yourself items that you can use to improve your sleep hygiene. One terrific project is to crochet a sleep mask that you can put on when you lie down to block out the rest of the light. Some other helpful sleep items to crochet include:

• Cozy pillows that you love

• A stuffed animal to take to bed with you

• Cozies for your phones and laptops to keep them out of sight at night

• Cozies for candle holders in your craft space

• Crochet basket or bag to keep your project in at night

• Scented sachets to keep by the bed; lavender is great for sleep

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From the archives. This interview was published in Happily Hooked magazine in April 2015. I had a monthly column there for eight years called “Crochet Heals” where I learned so much from others about the many ways that craft improves life.

Akua Lezli Hope suddenly woke one morning ten years ago to discover that she was paralyzed from what was eventually diagnosed as transverse myelitis, a neurological condition of unknown origin that causes inflammation across the spinal cord. She turned to crochet, a craft she’d known since she was a child, and used it as a creative outlet while she adjusted to her new way of life. Akua continues to crochet, designing and selling her items online. 

Hi, Akua. Thanks for chatting with me today. I want to dig right in and find out what you experience with your diagnosis of transverse myelitis.

On November 4, 2005, just a few minutes after 3 in the morning, I became paralyzed. It was sudden and cataclysmic. I was later diagnosed with idiopathic transverse myelitis. The condition leaves me unable to walk, unable to move my legs and in constant pain.

That sounds frightening and so difficult to cope with. I know that crochet helped you in your healing process. Can you tell us a bit about that?

I don’t know how it helps, I just know that it does. It is like meditation, which has benefits that are apparent and historic, even though they’ve only been recognized by science.

I can’t unbundle the experience to say what the most beneficial aspect is; the prize is the entire journey. This journey sometimes enables me to enter flow, sometimes timelessness. Other times it is being acutely present and specific, exploring a puzzle to be solved, an expertise to demonstrate or acquire, a conversation or an argument requiring resolution. 

After that day in 2005, I had to spend months in the hospital and then in a nursing home. During that time, crochet was my greatest comfort. I had already been very involved in and committed to several other art forms, but I was unable to access those due to the paralysis. Crocheting enabled me to continue to create. My physical limitations had no impact on my crocheting. My involvement and production with crochet blossomed during that time. I explored different forms of crochet, I began to design and I even began selling my creations online.

It sounds like you already knew how to crochet before then. When did you learn?

I learned to crochet around the age of 12. My mother taught me, although the funny thing is that she didn’t crochet herself and many years later she asked me how I had learned to crochet! At that point I had been exploring multi-dimensional crochet and had made her a flower coat of different flower-centered square motifs. I remember telling her that she had taught me! She was an excellent knitter and a brilliant seamstress, skills that I held in esteem but didn’t acquire myself.

My crocheting in high school was scarves and various hats. In the late ‘70s and ‘80s, I crocheted on the subway and could hook while traveling, with one arm wrapped around the subway pole. I used to crochet a lot in public at that time. These days I usually crochet alone at home but I always take a project with me when I’m going to be waiting at a doctor’s office.

How interesting that your mom didn’t remember teaching you to crochet. Have you ever taught anyone else to crochet?

Following my paralysis, I lived away from my home in a wheelchair accessible apartment building for the disabled and elderly. I organized crochet classes, there. Residents and management donated yarn and tools for those residents without so that all those interested could participate. Back home, I posted my availability on Betterfly, through which students find me, so I’ve been able to continue to teach others.

Was that the first time that you had crocheted in a group setting?

No, not at all. Years ago I was part of a group of women who gathered to work on projects in community. We knew each other through glassmaking, but we all had a fiber connection, so these meetings were specifically to knit or crochet together.

Do you consider yourself part of a craft community?

Yes! I am part of a craft community online. My crocheting is so amply supported by Ravelry with its many different groups, enabling me to learn, explore and express my particular interests including freeform crochet, amigurumi, Irish Crochet, Russian crochet, Tunisian crochet, crochet jewelry, shoe making, crocheted rugs, and weaving.

You mentioned before that you usually crochet alone these days. Where do you do that?  

I crochet anytime! I definitely make sure I have a hook in hand if I’m watching TV.  I crochet in bed, I crochet in the wheelchair, I crochet in front of the computer. I have crochet hooks in containers by my computer and by my bed in fabric hook caddies.  

Who inspires your crochet? 

Most of my designs are inspired by a particular person: beloved friends, a niece, nephews, brother-in-law. I invest in the effort to answer the questions, “what would suit them? What would they wear?”

But I don’t crochet for them in particular. They are a construct to inspire the designs.

Do you ever crochet for yourself?

Yes! It took me awhile to give myself permission to crochet for myself, but when I finally did, I so love the things I’ve created for me.

Have you seen crochet heal / help anyone else in your life?

I remember the pride of a student who was having a hard time figuring out the increases necessary to make a flat circle for hats. The stitch markers kept getting lost and she had trouble keeping count. Then, after a week’s absence she returned to the group with the glow of triumph on her face and a bag full of hats. She had at last gotten it and had churned out about a dozen hats for her loved ones. One month later, she was dead. We didn’t know that she was dying of cancer — there was nothing in her aspect that suggested diminution — the crocheting group was focused on making and learning, an energetic and enthusiastic environment. I am grateful for the lesson she shared by her example, growing and learning even in these final stages of life.

It is the doing that is glorious. To be able to do, to create, is an affirmation. The joy of creating and participating in the great song of life by adding your notes. Being is realized in doing. I crochet to create. I am a Creator.

You mentioned the other arts that you used to do. Are you able to do any of those now?

I am a hand papermaker and begin from scratch, with plants, harvesting from my yard and from friends. I create using wire. I make jewelry using fiber wire and glass.  Prior to paralysis, I could sand cast and kiln cast glass; I have begun to explore torch-fired precious metal clay (PMC) to soothe my missing flame work with glass. And, I’ve begun to weave again using straws, sticks, peg loom, circular looms and objects, and board looms.

What a wonderful wealth of creative expression! Besides crochet and these others arts, what things do you do to heal?

I dream; meditate; sing and make up songs; play my saxophone; write poetry and short fiction and I eat mostly fruit and vegetables.

Visit Akua at her Etsy Shop, AkuaDesigns. You can also see 100+ designs that she’s created and posted on Ravelry.

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In “Craftfulness: Mend Yourself By Making Things”, authors Rosemary Davidson and Arzu Tahsin combine personal experience and crafter interviews with research into how everyday people improve their lives and wellbeing through crafting of all kinds. For full disclosure, I’m quoted several times throughout this book because of my own extensive research into the health benefits of crochet specifically. This book covers all different types of crafts. I am thrilled that I was able to be a voice here specifically for crochet, which historically hadn’t been widely covered prior to very recent years. I’ve seen firsthand how crocheting everyday helps people, myself included, with all types of different challenges, so the fact that I could contribute that to this book was important to me.

Rosemary and Arzu were sitting in the kitchen one November, knitting in a rush to complete Christmas gifts, when they had the conversation that sparked the creation of this book. Crafting alone is amazing but crafting in community (even with just one other friend) is a powerful thing and this is just one example of where it can lead.

“Whatever challenges life throws at you, you are better able to meet them face-on and stay standing: you have got the tools to shield and save yourself. You are a warrior armed only with woodblock tools, knitting needles and a crochet hook!”

Crochet Helps Us Because It’s Creative Without Being Intimidating

Early on in the book, the authors address the interesting issue of how so many people don’t see themselves as creative. They cite various studies into this, but the key thing is that this individual feeling of not being creative or not being “an artist” persists for so many people. This limits so many people from truly celebrating their craft.

At the same time, I have found that people turn to craft – and to crochet specifically – because they don’t necessarily see it as “art” and therefore it’s more accessible to them. Many people with mental health issues struggle with low self-esteem so naturally seeing themselves as “artists” can be a challenge. Many of the people that I have interviewed over the years regarding the health benefits of crochet have told me that they are too intimidated to try painting, drawing, and other “art” forms but they feel safe enough to try a craft such as crochet or knitting where there are patterns and established stitches. It’s a creative act but you don’t initially have to see yourself as a creative person to engage with it.

Arzu loves bookbinding, and she explains something about this craft that I find very similar to crochet:

“Binding books is a craft where one is always learning: it is an ideal craft for therapy, in that is it possible to make simple books with very basic skills in a short time; however, over longer periods, structures with increasing complexity are equally satisfying.”

One of the things that is great for crochet as therapy is that you only need to know very basic stitches to make projects you can be proud of. However, if you want to keep growing and challenging yourself, there is nearly endless opportunity to do so because of all of the stitch patterns, techniques, and patterns out there.

Going back to identifying as a creative person … it’s something I’ve discussed frequently in my own work, particularly in my book of crochet exercises, Hook to Heal, where I encourage everyone reading to begin thinking of themselves as artists. Crochet is wonderful because it provides people with that easy step into the world of creativity, something they can do despite believing they aren’t creative. However, it’s also this amazing tool that you can work with to be able to understand at a deep level that indeed you are quite creative; your crochet work shows it. And again, because crochet starts so simply but then has endless possibilities for growth, it can be the perfect craft for going from tentatively seeing yourself as crafty to really owning your artistic side. You can boost your own self-esteem and commitment to your creative practice when you recognize it as a creative art in this way.

What is Creativity Anyway? Getting into a Flow State

To that end, the authors define creativity, within the context of craftfulness, as two things:

1. “Simply the act of making something, using your imagination and your hands as tools to express an idea or an emotion, by producing an object.”

2. “A mode of thinking differently: a creative mind allows you to form ideas for new ways of doing and to see the seemingly ordinary in a fresh light.”

Midway through the book, they dig deep into the flow state (as defined by psychologist Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi). Flow is about being fully immersed in your work, giving your attention to the process and letting the outside world fade away. People frequently achieve this state through crafting and its where many of craft’s benefits come from. The authors review Csíkszentmihályi’s criteria for reaching flow, describing how to apply each one to craft. This gives the reader a way to more clearly understand how to alter a crochet practice to encourage yourself to get into that flow state where you’ll reap so many rewards.

Indulging in your senses and focusing on the tactile experience of the process is one of the best ways I’ve found to get into a flow state with crochet. Rosemary’s words about knitting resonate:

“I adore everything about knitting, from the texture of different wools and yarns to the smell of those soft, warm bundles with their paper belly-bands fresh from the shop. Wool shops draw me to them like a magnet; their pigeon holes overflowing with all those irresistible coloured balls of promise.”

Coping with Fear and Self-Doubt When Crafting

After discussing the flow state, the authors go on to one of the most practical, useful parts of the book. They address the issue of fear, negativity, and self-doubt. It arises even in crafting. Craft should and can be healing but we can also sometimes use it (or our fears around “not be good enough at it”) to beat ourselves up. This section acknowledges that challenge and provides support and tools to help work through that. If you ever find yourself too intimidated to try a particular crochet project because you think you “can’t” then this is the section of Craftfulness for you. They also address additional practical issues such as how to create both time and space for crafting.

Put It Into Action: Projects in Craftulfness

Then the entire last section of the book is devoted to different craft projects. If you’re in the mood to set down your crochet and try something new, you’ll find instructions here to

• build a wooden mini loom and weave a piece of wall art

• knit a moss stitch scarf

• bind a pamphlet of your own chosen papers

• sculpt a clay pinch pot

• mend a garment with darning, including adaptations for a knitted garment

You’ll also find suggestions for writing and drawing practices in this section of the book. Each craft is just a starter project, with wonderful back story describing why you might enjoy trying it. If you love it, you can move on to more in-depth projects from other sources. In other words, although this section has instructions for completing projects, more than anything else it’s about inspiring you to try new things.

And if you try something new and don’t like it, that’s okay.

“Arzu likes crochet; Rosemary can’t get the hang of it and doesn’t see the point. Why crochet, she asks, when you can knit? Arzu concurs. Each to their own. Don’t stress and only do what you enjoy.”

Specific benefits of craft mentioned in the book:

• Analog experience to help counteract the negative impact of constant screen time

• Balance in life that prevents burnout

• Clarity, it gives you space to think without over-ruminating so you can problem solve as you craft

• Community building; Rosemary was quoted in The Telegraph as saying, “You don’t necessarily need to walk into a pottery class, and say, ‘I’m depressed!’ But in going to that class, meeting other people and making community connections, it might be a conversation that can happen more naturally.”

• Confidence building

• Connects mind and body in a holistic form of therapy

• Creative problem-solving skills develop

• Decrease loneliness and problems associated with isolation, because you are part of a community even if it’s just the generations before and after you who crafted

• Energizing; it’s possible to just feel great when crafting

• Hands-on physical work helps us feel more in control of our surroundings which helps build resilience against depression and other mental health issues; it’s empowering

• Imagination – so much opportunity to stimulate the imagination, which often gets dulled during times of mental health struggle

• Increases flexibility in thinking which makes it easier to tolerate confusion, conflict, and change

• Mindful meditation which has benefits that include mood regulation, stress reduction, lower anxiety, better sleep

• Occupied and focused attention which means that your mind doesn’t wander to all of your stressors

• Pleasure / reward; you get a dopamine hit in the brain from doing this thing that you love

• Rebuild short-term memory, which can be lost in certain conditions including PTSD

• Relaxation

• Sense of purpose; it gives you something to do that feels meaningful and valuable

• Stay in touch with your true self, connect to your center

• Time to reflect which can particularly aid in grieving after loss

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You don’t have to be able to see to crochet. You can feel your way through the work. In fact, many people who crochet are blind – either because they were born that way or because they experience macular degeneration over time. For many, including those who are blind or visually impaired, crochet isn’t just about creating something beautiful—it’s about reclaiming control and finding peace in a world that often feels out of reach. Many older people with limited eyesight can no longer drive or do other daily things but they can still crochet. Here is a collection of stories I’ve learned over the years about inspiring blind and visually impaired crocheters.

The Healing Power of Crochet

Kay Foster is an example of someone who didn’t let her vision loss stop her from picking up a crochet hook. Instead, she embraced it as a new challenge, something that brought structure to her day when everything else felt like it was slipping away. Crochet became her refuge, a way to connect with the world around her when it seemed so far out of reach. Every blanket she crafted was more than just a piece of fabric—it was a testament to her resilience, a reminder that even when life narrows your vision, there’s still a whole world to create within the span of your hands.

Anna Murphy found that crochet was the perfect antidote to the anxiety that often accompanies vision loss. As her sight diminished, the familiar motion of yarn through fingers became a form of meditation, a way to keep the anxiety at bay. Anna’s hands moved with purpose, creating blankets for charity, each one a soft, comforting reminder that she could still bring warmth to others, even when her own world was growing dim. Crochet offered her a way to cope, to find strength in the simple act of making something beautiful out of the challenges she faced.

Then there’s Angela Phang, a woman who, despite being legally blind, has turned crochet into a tool for giving back. Angela crochets colorful afghans to support local charities. Her work has been exhibited at Coral Gables Museum, and she’s even won top honors in a national arts competition for the blind. But what stands out most about Angela is her unwavering spirit of generosity—she continues to create, donate, and inspire, even as she navigates her own life challenges, including a home in need of repairs and the daily difficulties of living alone.

Adaptation and Innovation in Crochet

One of the most remarkable aspects of crochet is its adaptability. The craft can be modified to suit the needs of those with visual impairments, making it accessible to anyone willing to learn. Techniques like using different textures of yarn, working with larger hooks, and relying on muscle memory enable those who cannot see to still create intricate, beautiful pieces.

Beverly Lewis is a perfect example of how crochet can be adapted to meet the needs of those with limited vision. Beverly learned to crochet after losing her sight, guided by the hands of someone at her church. Through touch and repetition, she mastered the basic stitches, and soon she was creating blankets that held deep personal significance. The blanket she made for her pastor was more than just a gift—it was a symbol of her determination, of her ability to overcome the limitations imposed by her blindness. Beverly didn’t stop there; she continued to crochet gifts for her fifteen siblings, each piece a labor of love, crafted with care and perseverance.

Tina Young is a volunteer who teaches crochet, knitting, and looming to visually impaired New Yorkers. Tina doesn’t just lead a class—she builds a community. Her approach is simple yet profound: she uses touch to guide her students, helping them to “see” through their hands. The result? A class with a waitlist and participants who are not just learning to create, but also learning to give back. Many of the items they craft, from hats to scarves, are donated to those in need, extending the impact of their work far beyond the classroom.

Building Connections Through Crochet

Crochet isn’t just about creating objects; it’s about building connections—with oneself, with others, and with the broader community. For many, this craft becomes a way to reach out and touch the lives of others, to share warmth, comfort, and love.

Patricia Belcher, who has been legally blind since birth, embodies the spirit of connection that crochet fosters. Patricia’s dream of breaking the world record for the longest crochet chain might seem ambitious, but for her, it’s about more than just setting a record. It’s about the journey—the connections she’s made along the way, the support she’s received, and the way crochet has brought her closer to others who share her passion. Through this project, Patricia has woven a community around her, each stitch a link in a chain that connects her to a world of fellow crocheters, each one cheering her on as she reaches for her goal.

Gina Pontelandolfo found a way to contribute to a global community through her involvement in the crochet coral reef project in Melbourne. Gina, who has been slowly losing her vision due to a rare genetic condition, channels her creativity into crafting intricate pieces for this environmental art project. Her work on the crochet coral reef illustrates how crochet can be a medium for raising awareness about important issues, while also fostering a sense of global connectedness.

Crochet as a Lifeline

For many, crochet becomes a lifeline during life’s most difficult moments. The simple act of creating something with one’s hands provides not only a distraction from pain but also a way to channel emotions into something positive.

Donna Harrison found herself turning to crochet when faced with a cancer diagnosis. Despite losing her sight, Donna discovered that the familiar motions of crocheting brought her comfort when everything else seemed uncertain. Each stitch became a way of coping, a method of regaining some control over a life that was spiraling out of her grasp. Crochet wasn’t just a way to pass the time—it was a crucial part of her healing process, a way to hold onto her dignity and peace in the midst of chaos.

Terra Taylor, a young grandmother, also turned to crochet during a challenging time in her life. After losing sight in one eye due to an accident and facing further vision loss from macular degeneration, Terra could have easily given up. But instead, she picked up her crochet hook and began crafting items for charity. For Terra, crochet wasn’t just a way to pass the time—it was a way to regain control, to find purpose in a world that was becoming increasingly difficult to navigate. Each item she made was a gift to someone in need, and through these acts of kindness, Terra found strength and resilience.

Liza’s Story from Crochet Saved My Life

In my research for my book Crochet Saved My Life, I met a wonderful woman named Liza who shared her story of using crochet to help deal with the terrific anxiety she experiences when she goes through temporary bouts of blindness due to a currently undiagnosed medical condition. Here is some of what Liza shared.

“The first time I lost my eyesight I thought I was also going to lose my mind. As a mother of two, a wife, a gardener, a professional, a crafter and a volunteer, my eyes are everything. I sat in my living room thinking of all the plans I had for the day and how nothing was going to get done, that day or perhaps ever. As I sat there, my foot hit the basket at the side of my sofa and there I found a purse I had been working on for a piece of sanity. I started to work on it. Very slowly I began to feel the stitches in my hands, the rounds, and the growth of the project.

I felt the need of the yarn to form each stitch, very slowly at first and soon with ease, which worried me. It became easier and easier and I was certain that someone was going to ask me what was the mess I was making. The purse was a simple messenger style bag made with half double crochets. My vision began to return slowly, first in gray colors and then sepia tones. I didn't dare look at the project I was working on for the mess that I thought I would see, so I continued with my eyes closed. Day 3 since that first episode I finally peered in the basket … not bad. My bag was almost complete! I was impressed. Not so much with the fact that I had been able to crochet while blind, but with the fact that those first forty-eight hours just flew by. 

Crocheting kept me busy counting, feeling the stitches back and forth to make certain that I had not skipped or doubled, and keeping the yarn from knotting. I had no time to feel pity and worry about what was to come. I had no time to make lists of everything I had to do. I just needed to concentrate for those two days on my project; I needed to know that I was still useful. Once I realized that I could crochet simple projects without my eyes, I knew I could do other things too.”

Liza may not have had anxiety before her illness but it’s understandable that it set in when she found herself going blind. She didn’t know if the blindness would pass. She didn’t know what it would mean for her life if it didn’t. Anyone would get anxious about that. Liza found that crochet helped her and she has been able to use that to help her ever since.

References:

• The original article I wrote on this topic on my now-defunct crochet blog, via Wayback

• "Creating Purpose and Social Connection Through Crocheting and Knitting for People with Visual Impairments" - Kendra Farrow, Mississippi State University

• "Teaching the Blind to Knit" - Knitting and Crochet Forum

• "Getting Started – Knitting Resources for Blind and Low-Vision Knitters" and Working out Kinks and Fingering Yarn

• "KNOTTY TWIST: Local blind woman opens new knitting and yarn store in downtown Pocatello" - Idaho State Journal

• "Seniors build lasting friendships through crocheting class in Crown Heights, Brooklyn" - ABC7 New York

• "Angela Phang, Crochet Machine" - Miami Herald

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People were invited to send in crochet mandalas for this project and I received over 1000 mandalas. In many cases, people sent in one crochet mandala or just a few. But sometimes they sent in many. And sometimes, they sent me information about related projects that they linked with Mandalas for Marinke. I wanted to share with you three of the special, unique contributions from that time here today, as originally published on my now-defunct crochet blog during the initial stages of the project

Mandalas for Marinke Reach Children Through Exhibit

(so bummed to say that I couldn’t find a photo of this in my archives! I hope one exists somewhere.

Artist Edna Torres had reached out to me and explained:

“The last few years I have prepared altars for the Mexican holiday, Dia de los Muertos. These altars are made in honor of loved ones that have passed. A cool gallery has placed a ‘Call to Artists’ for this year’s Day of the Dead Show. The gallery is housed at the old Pico House at the Plazita Olvera in Los Angeles. I would like to assembly an altar in memory of Wink and submit it to the committee for consideration. Would you consider sharing some of the mandalas with me for this project?”

We worked together and I sent a small set of the mandalas from the project to her to include in the making of her altar, which was indeed accepted as part of the show. The show has now been completed, and when I asked Edna how it went, she shared:

“It was wonderful! They had a record number of people attending – more than 8,000 people came, many of them school children. I heard nothing but positive things from the docents. I visited a few times and kinda eavesdropped when classes approached the altar, I witnessed students identify with Wink and her struggles and heard them speak of their own difficulties. This display made it so much easier for them to open up and share.”

Edna also spoke to a few of the classes and was able to share about herself and why she crochets. All in all, it sounds like it was all a great success that really got people talking about their emotions, something that is so important to destigmatize depression and help people seek support if they need it. I’m so glad that the mandalas could be a part of this and so grateful to Edna for making this happen.

A Crochet Mandala Tree for Wink

Diny Slamet sent me this photo and message on social media:

"I thought you might like to hear the story of my mandala tree. I am a member of the Yarn Corner yarnbombing and charity crochet/ knitting group in Melbourne, Australia. Earlier this year our group was commissioned to produce yarn bombs for Victoria Market, one of the city's great tourist attractions and a beautiful 19th century market. I've always loved mandalas and particularly, Wink's lovely patterns. So I set about making this work with the help of two other group members. Weeks into the work came the news of Wink's tragic death. If these mandalas hadn't been committed to this project I would have sent them to be part of your Marinke tribute. The tree became my personal tribute."

I am so happy to see this beautiful crochet tree, and I'm glad to know that the mandalas were put to use in this way. I am touched by each and every physical contribution to Mandalas for Marinke but I'm also touched by other projects that are only tangentially related. I believe that Wink's out there working her magic in the world somehow. I believe that we are all connected by the threads of our love for this craft. I believe this all matters.

100 Mini Mandalas for Marinke from Karen

The mini mandalas for Marinke were given to people at events and via mail who were need of uplifting and inspiration for any reason at all. These 100 mini mandalas come to us from Karen who writes,

"You asked for small mandalas, so here are 100 from me. I think offering to each person attending the show is quite an idea. An appropriate remembrance of Wink and hopeful a reminder that there is help and hope for those suffering from depression.

I will admit sometimes I felt I'd go blind making these little guys! But thinking of Wink and watching KC Royals baseball games got me through. 

Thank you for coming up with such a great tribute to Wink and for all of the work you're doing to see it through to its fruition."

The Mandalas for Marinke Project was an amazing collaborative experience and one of the best projects I’ve ever done. As we approach the ten year anniversary of it, I am touched once again to look back at it. Some additional shares:

This is a series of related articles that originally appeared on the PsychCentral blog Crafting to Heal which I wrote in 2018-19 about craft as a form of preventative healthcare.

Reducing Depression with Hands-On Activities

I always hated it when I was in the midst of depression and someone would say to me, “just do something to take your mind off of it”.

If I had that much control over the chaos inside of my mind then I wouldn’t be stuck in my bed, doubled over by the pain of life, now would I?

So, of course, I hate to admit that those people were right. But in the end it proved to be true; getting outside of myself and immersed in a hobby eventually did become a big part of reducing depression’s grip on me.

What I found is that a hands-on activity that I could do alone, in my bed if need be, provided a number of mental health benefits and a much-needed break for my mind. I later discovered plenty of research to suggest that I was not alone in experiencing the therapeutic benefits of crafts and hobbies.

How Crochet Saved My Life

The craft that I discovered that resonated for me was the craft of crochet, the single-hook cousin to the two-needle activity of knitting. Adrift in the sea of depression, I was trying every single piece of advice I came across for getting better and one of those things was to go back to something that you enjoyed doing as a child. I’d made friendship bracelets and other things with yarn when I was younger so that’s what caused me to pick up crochet.

Truth be told, I did not think that this was going to do any good. It had been a long time since any activity at all had captured my interest. I truly believed that I would never be interested in anything ever again. My thoughts constantly turned to the option of suicide, not because I wanted to die but because I really did not want to have to keep on waking up to this painfully muted existence. I tried crochet because I had to try something, not because I believed in it.

There was no immediate miracle. It’s not as though I picked up a hobby and suddenly started whistling tunes and seeing the point to everyday life. But there was an occasional flicker of momentary relief. During this time of my life I was crying for hours every day, for no apparent reason, and although my yarn was often wet with salty depression there were also whole minutes of time when I would be so focused on pulling one loop up on to another that I would cease crying. My breathing would slow to a normal pace. My head would stop whirling with anxiety for a brief time.

It happened slowly, through a minute here and a minute there, of reprieve. Depression is so constant. Those minutes provided my brain with important rest and rejuvenation. It started to heal. I was soothed. I was buoyed. I was improved. Slowly and steadily, my daily quality of life was enhanced. Each day, I could practice my new craft. I could learn a new skill, create something out of nothing, get a boost of much-needed self-esteem. I could get better, one loop of yarn at a time.

7 Therapeutic Benefits of Crafting

Crochet was the craft that helped me but the benefits of the craft can be applied to many other hobbies and activities. Some of the main therapeutic benefits of a hands-on hobby include:

1. Breaking the cycle of rumination. Depression is a constant monologue of madness; a hobby provides an external focus to quiet that sound.

2. Mindfulness practice. You can learn to “be here now” when you are engaged in a hands-on task that requires some attention.

3. Repetitive activities release serotonin. Whether it’s crochet or whittling, an activity of repetitive action serves as a natural anti-depressant.

4. It becomes a talking point to be proud of. I was so relieved to finally have something to say to my friends and family about what I was doing instead of just talking about my misery. They might not crochet but they were happy to hear me talking about something new!

5. Creating something by hand is a skill. Learning something new and having a product to show for it improves self-esteem and our sense of our own value.

6. Hobbies connect us to others. You can talk (online or in person) to other enthusiasts, make your craft to donate to charity and celebrate being part of a niche in history.

7. Practice problem-solving. We start small by solving problems in our craft and it reminds us that we can solve the bigger problems in life. We learn to imagine better outcomes.

5 Unique Benefits of Yarn Crafts

Yarn crafts heal us in so many different ways.

I love finding different articles that explore this topic. Sometimes they are academic or research-based. More often, though, they are anecdotal.

The stories people share about their own experience of the benefits of yarn crafts always teach me something.

For example, my thoughts perked up when I saw this article by Stephanie Kuehnert of the Forest Park Review that touches on this topic. Kuehnert wrote about a yarn store that celebrates the contemplative benefits of the craft.

Kuehnert’s Benefits of Yarn Crafts

Kuehnert’s article is about her experience knitting in a particular yarn store. She identified five unique benefits of yarn crafts from her own experience.

1. Yarn crafts help you pace your drinking.

This is great if you get together for crafts and cocktails with your friends. With busy hands you imbibe less, taking in fewer calories and reducing the likelihood of drunkenness while still enjoying your girls’ night.

Although she doesn’t mention it, one of the benefits of yarn crafts is that crafting can be a replacement for drinking altogether. People with social anxiety, or those who simply get stressed meeting new people, benefit from having a focused activity when they’re in a group. Crafting together is a great activity.

2. Crafting gives you something to do while watching TV.

This one isn’t a new idea to me. In fact, when I was dealing with my own depression I used to just sit there and watch hours upon hours of crime drama TV shows. This increased my anxiety and made me feel like the laziest, least productive person in the world. At least if I was crocheting while I watched TV then I felt productive despite the long hours in front of the screen.

3. The ability to “relax while feeling creative and productive at the same time”.

Relaxation is a really important part of our every day lives. It is healthy to take time to be still and quiet, to give both mind and body some time to rest in our waking lives. So often we want to stay busy and be creative and productive; crochet lets us achieve that while simultaneously resting, which is an amazing paradox.

4. Yarn crafts offer a break from workaholism.

Kuehnert mentions that she’s prone to working too much. Crafting is something she can do to actively get away from constant work. I understand this one because as a self-employed individual I’m prone to overworking as well. Often I will turn to crochet as something that isn’t work but fuels my work in a way.

5. It is a zen solution to almost all of life’s problems.

There are many things in this lifetime that you have no control over. You have control over your hook and yarn. Sometimes immersing yourself into creating with yarn is all that you can do – and surprisingly, it is often enough! Of all of the points that the author made in her article, this is the one that she was really trying to drive home.

The Knit Nirvana Store

Kuehnert was inspired to write about her experience with yarn crafting in an article about a specific yarn store called Knit Nirvana. This Illinois-based yarn store is co-operated by two women who bring decades of knitting and crochet experience to the table. The store sounds lovely with its promise of:

“We strive to inspire and teach you to enjoy both your finished handmade object and the entire crafting experience.

We hope to impart the bliss of knitting and crocheting within a relaxed, friendly and fun environment; to enable you to create artistic, singular garments and objects.”

I love the idea of crafting being a path to bliss!

5 Hands-On Activities to Try

Crochet is the hobby that worked for me but any hands-on activity that you can get started with fairly easily can have therapeutic benefits. Here are five activities to try to get started:

1. Building model cars or planes. A male friend of mine who read my book, Crochet Saved My Life, told me that the benefits of the mindfulness that I describe are the same things he experiences when he is immersed in building model cars.

2. Appliance hacking. In his book Made By Hand: Searching for Meaning in a Throwaway World, author Mark Frauenfelder discusses the immense satisfaction of hacking an espresso machine to see how it works and how to make it work better.

3. Gardening. Literally getting your hands dirty can make you feel more connected to the earth and more connected to yourself as a result.

4. Working with wood. Whether you’re whittling yourself a statue or building large pieces of furniture this focused, creative task serves as a place for your imagination to thrive again.

5. Knitting or crochet. Many men have found needlework to be surprisingly relaxing. In fact, there are crochet programs in prisons across the nations designed to help male inmates give back to the community while healing themselves in what is normally a destructive environment.

If you don’t find yourself immediately drawn to an activity, relax; there is something out there that you will enjoy so keep on trying! Try to think back to the activities you liked as a child and go back to those basics. Clay, building blocks, drawing, digging holes, doing science experiments … these are all starting points for finding your way out of depression.

Craft as Part of a Well-Rounded Treatment Plan

Crochet was a crucial part of helping me to get through the chronic depression that had followed me around for fifteen years.

However, it would not have saved me alone.

For me, it was combined with therapy, medication, yoga, and strengthening my support system.

What works for each individual is different but craft can be one component of the treatment plan for people from all walks of life.

Consider that as you cobble together the bits and pieces of what ultimately works for you!

Craft as Self-Care: Crochet Each Day Keeps the Doctor Away

Crochet is a form of self-care for me. It helps me prevent, minimize, and/or manage the symptoms of depression.

Poem: The Difference

Every summer when I was growing up we would go to visit my grandmother, the only truly religious woman in our family. She had a poem by Grace L. Naessens hanging in her bathroom called The Difference, which is about the need to pray every day.

The poem describes someone who felt like life was so busy that there was no time to pray. However, then they realized that if you don’t take the time to pray, then life is way too overwhelming and feels even busier. Of all of the small religious things that could have stuck in my mind from those Ohio summers, it was this poem that stayed with me.

I personally don’t pray in the traditional way. Nevertheless, I understand the sentiment behind the poem. I feel like the gist of it applies to the reason that I crochet every day.

Crochet Every Day as Self-Care

I crochet even when (especially when) life feels so busy that it seems like there is no time to crochet.

The thing that you need to know about me is that crochet saved my life. I have had lifelong depression and went through a period of serious crisis, during which I was diagnosed with double depression.

I didn’t want to wake up in the morning. I could often barely get out of bed. I felt unproductive, uncreative and entirely hopeless. It was a dark time. I got through that time thanks to a good therapist, a light anti-depressant, a strong will and a lot of crochet.

Later, when I was ready to write a book about my experience, I met many other women who also shared their stories with me about how the benefits of crafting helped them to get through the most difficult times in their lives.

How Crochet Helps Us

Here are some of the benefits of crochet:

• Crochet is a repetitive task, with a fluid motion that is highly soothing. This helps with relaxation. It encourages de-stressing. It reduces anxiety. It likely releases serotonin in the brain, a natural pain reliever and natural anti-depressant.

• Crafting brings you back to the present moment. You stop worrying about the future and trying in vain to fix the past and just be where you are, which is a very mentally healthy space to be.

• Crochet is an easy way to make something for someone else. It makes you feel like you are productive and can be a tool towards generosity and this boosts self-esteem.

• Crochet is easy. Life can feel really hard and difficult and “too much” sometimes. When it does, I crochet, because it is something I can accomplish and this reminds me that I can handle and accomplish other things in life as well.

Crochet Prevents Depression Relapse

I am thrilled that I survived my depression and am doing well now. Nevertheless, this was a condition I struggled with for more than a decade and I know that I am always at risk of sliding backwards in my own mental health journey. I must do all that I can to stay healthy each day. Therefore, I continue to crochet as a regular part of my wellness plan.

By taking just half an hour at some point during the day to meditatively stitch something for myself or someone else I bring my mind and heart back to a place of peace.

I express myself, I calm myself, I become and remain a stronger and saner and healthier person.

What happens on days when I am “too busy” to crochet? One of the lines in Naessens’ poem is: “Problems just tumbled about me and grew heavier with each task” … that is how I feel if I get so busy with all of the so-called important activities in life that I can’t take a little bit of time out for myself to craft.

Without a bit of time to crochet I rush, I hurry, I fret. Without that moment of peace I can’t get perspective on things and problems seem bigger than they need to be. When I don’t crochet, life starts to feel too hard.

What Is Your Daily Self-Care?

I do not think that you need to be “sick” to need to take time out of your very busy life each day to take care of yourself. A human body and mind and soul need taking care of. (Besides, I think we’re all existing on a mental health spectrum anyway. We all have mental health.)

I believe that we cannot be our best, most productive, most creative selves if we do not put nurturing ourselves at the top of our To Do lists. I believe that there is no way we can be successful caregivers to the others in our lives if we do not first take care of ourselves. For me self-care includes crochet every day … what does it mean for you?

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Have you ever searched yourself on Google Scholar to see if your work has been cited in academic publications? The work I am most proud of that has been cited is all related to the mental and physical health benefits of crochet. When I first started researching this topic over a decade ago, no one was really talking about it. Since then, it’s become practically common knowledge that crochet heals. I’m thrilled to have played a part in opening up that conversation.

Here’s a roundup of some of those articles:

Mindful Stitch: Generating dialogue in and around the threads of wellbeing, Swinnerton

As far as I can tell, the only peer-reviewed journal my work is mentioned in is this one:

In this article, author Swinnerton mentions:

• A blog post I wrote for Lion Brand on Crochet as Meditation.

• My recommendations to choose a beginner project with a repetitive stitch pattern, colors that are comforting and a quiet relaxed craft space.

• This specific quote:

“The combination of constantly counting, gentle recurrent hand motions and focus on the work is a stress reducer and a path to being present in the here-and-now.”

Crafting Textile Connections: A mixed-methods approach to explore traditional and e-textile crafting for wellbeing by Sara Nevay, Lucy Robertson, Christopher S.C. Lim & Wendy Moncur

Unspun heroes: an example of intergenerational learning and community action by Kathy Snow and Janice Tulk

The Slow Fashion Renaissance: an in-depth exploration of crochet and knitting as sustainable technologies for contemporary fashion by Jie Peng

Sources:

Swinnerton, E. L., (2015) “Mindful Stitch: Generating dialogue in and around the threads of wellbeing”, Fields: journal of Huddersfield student research 1(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.5920/fields.2015.113

Sara Nevay, Lucy Robertson, Christopher S.C. Lim & Wendy Moncur (2019) Crafting Textile Connections: A mixed-methods approach to explore traditional and e-textile crafting for wellbeing, The Design Journal, 22:sup1, 487-501, DOI: 10.1080/14606925.2019.1595434

Snow, K., & Tulk, J. (2020). Unspun Heroes: An Example of Intergenerational Learning and Community Action. Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education, 32(1). Retrieved from https://cjsae.library.dal.ca/cjsae/article/view/5495

Peng, Jie. "The Slow Fashion Renaissance: an in-depth exploration of crochet and knitting as sustainable technologies for contemporary fashion." (2023).

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NOTE: Athena’s website is no longer active and her Facebook hasn’t been updated since last year. This article has not been updated but continues to have valuable, inspiring information.

Athena Field is an Australian crochet designer and artist who has lived with depression and anxiety. Perhaps, surprisingly she says, “My life is more brilliant by this diagnosis.” She is a mental health peer support worker who is passionate about these issues. Crochet is one of the most important tools in her wellness toolbox as well as one of many gifts that she gives to the world. She is fond of saying:

“Crochet calms the mind, soothes the soul and makes the black dog dance in a pretty little dress.”

Athena has received awards for her amigurumi designs from Crochetville’s Doll competition as well as the Sydney Royal Easter show. Her work was a sell-out at the World Amigurumi Exhibition in New York last year. Her patterns have been published in Happily Hooked. Today she shares more about her work and the benefits of crochet in her life through this interview.

Let’s start by having you tell us a little bit about yourself.

I'm a woman, a wife, a mother, a sister, a daughter, a mental health peer support worker, an author and a friend. I’m married to a funny, loving, spunky man that I have been with for more than two decades. I grew up in Sydney, a wonderful place, to Greek parents who have been married for more than four decades. I am passionate about mental health, writing, crochet and showing people that it is okay to not be okay.

And what has “not okay” looked like in your life?

For several years I suffered from infertility and underwent several procedures and treatments to have a living child. The experience lasted 7 years with failed IVF, IUI and miscarriages as the result. In 2008 I finally fell pregnancy naturally with my son. My dream had come true, but I had not resolved the years of frustration and agony that I had endured up until that point. This eventually manifested in PTSD.

I returned to work when my son was still an infant and immediately began to experience separation anxiety. It was not long after this, with several panic attacks under my belt and ruminating over past events, that I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and major depression.

“When the darkness first came into my life I felt alone, afraid, hopeless. I had won the battle with infertility but I had not resolved its repercussions. My friend took her life, relationships were fragile and the world around me felt broken and worthless. The Black Dog f-d with my mind. I was exhausted, struggling to find joy where all the beauty had left. I was just a body coping with the mundane, waiting and hoping for the “this too will pass” day to arrive.” – From Athena’s website

How did crochet come to be a part of your personal therapy?

I was in one of my counseling sessions with my psychologist and we began to delve into my imagination and creative side. I remembered my grandmother’s lace doilies, the intricate nature of each stitch and how I loved to trace the patterns with my fingers. I had the idea then that learning to crochet would help with my depression. I saw it as a mindfulness approach to recovery. Crochet, along with regular therapy and medication, healed me, as I was able to concentrate on my emotions and thoughts in the present moment rather than ruminating on the past or stressing about future events.

So how did you go about learning to crochet?

“I first learned how to crochet & cross stitch at a very young age, my first project was a brown potato looking creature with black button eyes. It was my good luck charm for years till the hormones kicked in and adolescence curbed my life journey.” – From Lilliputi’s Facebook Page

I had always wanted to re-learn the craft. After that counseling session where I realized that it could be therapeutic for me, I went to a craft store and purchased my first crochet hook and yarn. I used YouTube videos to teach myself.

And how did your business, Lilliputi Crochet & Design emerge?

Over time, my crochet improved and people became interested in my work, so I launched my business. It began as the Lilliputi Facebook page, which I started after realizing that my home was starting to look like a colorful, vibrant, crochet hoarder’s house! I gave some of my projects as gifts and then started to delve into the options for selling items. 

What I found was that there were already a lot of crocheters selling their work, too; people who were more reputable, experienced crafters than me. In Australia, I’ve found that most people don’t really embrace the handmade market. So it took me some time to find my niche.

And that niche is?

“My specialty is my original designed Lilliputi doll. She is my second-self, my niche, my childhood memories and imagination.” – From Athena’s website

I crochet unique, one-of-a-kind items including winter woolies, amigurumi and more. I work with sustainable Australian and New Zealand wool that has been hand-dyed or hand painted by indie artisans. I sell my work on Etsy and elsewhere. I also write my own original designs. The one that excited me when I first learned how to crochet was finding beautiful and interesting patterns that were available for free so I make many of my designs free to others. I also sell some crochet patterns and have had patterns published in Happily Hooked.

And you donate a portion of all sales, right?

Yes, Lilliputi is a registered fundraiser. I donate my profits to The Black Dog Institute, a leading Australian organization in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mood disorders. I do this because crochet saved my life. In addition to raising money with my work, I use my voice as an artisan to raise awareness and help destigmatize mental illness. 

“Crochet is my niche, my passion, my savior.” – From Athena’s Ravelry page

One way that you helped to raise awareness was your participation in my Mandalas for Marinke project. Why did you choose to join in?

When I first began to scour the Internet for instruction and inspiration in learning crochet, I quickly came across Wink’s blog, A Creative Being. Her crochet mandala pattern was one of my first projects. Wink’s personal story (of crafting through depression and life with Asperger’s) really resonated with me. I believe that I had found a kindred spirit, our love of crochet and helping others tied us together. After Marinke died by suicide, I felt that it was important to contribute to this project that was created in her honor, as one way to dialogue and raise awareness about mood disorders.

You work in the mental health field, right? Has crochet therapy been introduced there?

I have been a youth worker for the past 20 years of my career and it has been only recently that I have been able to bring crochet into my girls’ group as a craft activity. Most of these girls have been diagnosed with mental health issues. Teaching them some basic crochet skills has helped with their journey to recovery, in ways similar to how it has helped me. Crochet for me is a path to mindfulness; it offers the benefits of meditation.

Can you share a bit more about that?

Mindful crochet is my niche. Although I am not completely unaware of my surroundings when I crochet, once I begin my first chain a quick reaction happens to both my mind and body. I notice how I sit more comfortably, my back and neck ache less, my concentration and focus are clearer. I feel more relaxed and calm. 

Of course, it’s not always a perfect fix. There have been times when I have missed my train station due as I've been too involved with the crochet to notice that I am passing my stop! Oh, and I absolutely hate being interrupted in a middle of a stitch count! That tenses me up again.

So it sounds like you crochet on the train?

I crochet on the train when traveling to work. It is quite amazing how many other yarncrafters I have spotted on my journey!

Have you seen crochet help anyone else in your life (in addition to yourself and the girls that you work with).

I understand now why my grandmother crocheted doilies. I believe that she also had a disposition to depression from the stories I've been told. My family is of Greek origin and no doubt the stigma of depression and anxiety would have run rampant in the early 20th century with no other avenue to express sadness or difficulty. Crocheting would have been her opportunity to belong in a social setting as well as a therapeutic tool. 

Do you do any other crafts in addition to crochet?

I know how to hand-sew as well as machine sew (albeit not terrifically), and I sometimes incorporate fabric with my crochet designs. I would love to learn how to knit. But nothing beats crochet.

What do you do for healing in addition to crochet?

I used to have regular counseling with a qualified psychologist, although this is now only occasionally as my depression is in remission. I enjoy going for long walks, riding my bicycle, writing and sleeping in when I get the chance.

Let’s wrap up with a special piece that you’ve crocheted:

In September 2016, Athena exhibited an amigurumi steampunk bunny art piece in an Australian exhibit called See Me, Hear Me. This was an exhibition of works from artists living with mental health issues and an effort to raise awareness about these issues while also offering confidence-building to the artists. 

“See Me, Hear Me provides artists with an opportunity to exhibit their work, for visitors to gain insight into what it’s like to live with mental illness and provides artists with confidence in their art making and to pursue other interests. Almost all the artists are self taught.” The Benevolent Society, which has exhibited works across Sydney for the past five years and has additional exhibits planned in the months to come, “has organised this exhibition in several areas across Sydney, Australia, with support from Partners in Recovery and local service providers.” Athena’s art piece is called Miss Steampunk Bunny. The bunny was crocheted with Moda Vera Bamboo Cotton & Clekheaton Country Wool. Her skirt fabric is Oh-la-la Mechanical Gold by Wilmington Prints and Gears by Spotlight.

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This article originally appeared on the PsychCentral blog Crafting to Heal in 2019. I updated it with additional information before re-sharing again here.

I recently had the opportunity to chat with Sharyn of Homespun Dreams about how she uses craft as therapy. She lives with both anxiety and chronic pain. She enjoys crochet, knitting, sewing, tatting, and other crafts, sometimes mixing them together in one project. She also happens to have a nursing degree so she understands the benefits of crafting from both a personal and professional perspective. It was through her that I learned about the idea of crafting as cross-body therapy.

What is Cross-Body Therapy?

Cross-body therapy refers to therapeutic exercises that involves both hands of the body working together to complete a task. Also called “crossing the midline,” cross-body therapy stimulates both the body and the mind.

Children go through stages of learning how to cross the midline and use both sides of the body. This is an important part of brain development. That’s why knitting and crochet can be helpful developmental tools in elementary school.

However, children aren’t the only ones who can benefit from cross-body therapy. Adult brains can change thanks to engaging in exercises that cross the midline.

How Does Cross-Body Therapy Help the Brain?

The more habitually we do things, the more likely it is that our brains will get stuck in certain patterns. Poor neural plasticity can lead to or exacerbate a number of mental health problems. People struggling with depression and anxiety can benefit from creating new neural pathways in the brain.

Cross-body therapy is one way of building those new pathways. It stimulates neural plasticity. It helps the brain to grow in new ways. Generally speaking, your left brain controls the right side of your body and vice versa. When you cross the midline, both sides of your brain are actively engaged in the task.

This can also be beneficial for people who are recovering from strokes or otherwise need to regrow their brain strength. Put briefly, you can use a focused task with cross-body features to shake up the brain and give it renewed powers. This is helpful for coping with both physical and mental health issues.

How Cross-Body Therapy Helps in the Moment

Cross-body therapy including crafting may offer long-term brain healing. However, it’s also important to realize that it helps immediately, too. After all, most people are seeking symptom relief before going on to resolve long term issues.

Sharyn writes in one of her own blog posts,

“If the brain is concentrating on doing a cross body task then it has less opportunity or capacity to concentrate on other things like problems or pain.”

In other words, you can reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression, and other mental health symptoms by focusing on the craft at hand. A cross-body task requires more focus than a task that utilizes only one side of the brain.

How Does Crafting Provide Cross-Body Therapy?

I spoke with Sharyn specifically about knitting and crochet as tools for cross-body therapy. She shared that in crochet,

“You work with both of your hands in front of you. They work together, with one hand managing the tension and the other directly working the actual stitch, to complete the task. This is cross-body therapy.”

Knitting also uses both hands, albeit differently than crochet. In knitting, the process is slightly different but equally beneficial. Knitters hold needles in both hands, and each hand has a specific role: one hand typically holds the needle with the stitches while the other manipulates the working yarn to create new stitches. This dual-hand activity requires precise movements and coordination, further promoting cross-body communication and brain engagement.

Both tasks can help rebuild brain plasticity as a result. They can also improve fine motor skills, particularly important for individuals. The repetitive, precise actions involved in knitting and crochet can aid in rebuilding muscle memory and dexterity in the hands and fingers. This rehabilitation is not only physical but cognitive as well, as it involves planning, pattern recognition, and problem-solving—skills that are often impacted by neurological damage.

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This article originally appeared on the PsychCentral blog Crafting to Heal in 2019. This post has been updated to include links to some of the artist’s newer work.

I recently came across , a web designer (writer/artist/researcher) who embraces the art of slow crafting. One description of their work cites that in addition to an interest in textile art and history, they appreciate “slow, therapeutic crafts for mental health + ptsd” and enjoy “DIY comfort items.” That’s right up my alley.

I always love learning more about what slow crafting means to people. Therefore, I was thrilled that Yarrow was open to an interview to share more with us. Here it is …

First, let’s start with an introduction.

Who are you and what would you like to share with us about your art and life?

Thanks so much for asking! My name is Yarrow and I live in Brighton with my little dog Orlando. I run a small web design agency called Yarrow Digital from my tiny house.

I love the creative aspects of my work. Every day is different and I get to play with colors, fonts, and images to create a visual language for my clients, which is amazing.

I am also really into herbalism and self-care rituals, which I see as part of my creativity, too. In my free time, I love embroidering plants, making balms or tinctures, and going for long woodland walks to be inspired by nature.

I’m still finding drawing quite hard, so working with needle and thread feels like a really relaxing, peaceful alternative that gives me joy. Clay is another medium I really like exploring because it’s so sensual and tactile.

I’ve made a few simple pieces that I treasure and use every day. I find there is meaning in making what we need by hand. In the past when I have struggled I have often turned to consumerism or other distractions. It feels good and healing to now have a few well-loved items instead of a lot of clutter.

What does slow living mean to you?

I feel that being slow and enjoying spaciousness and consideration have become real luxuries. Life has become incredibly fast in almost every sphere. Taking your time is a form of resistance.

I had my first burn out when I was 24. I had to slowly unlearn the idea that I needed to have everything figured out, that I needed to know what I wanted to do with my life or how things “should” look.

My main practice of slowness these days is not starting work before ten in the morning. I walk my dog, I drink a lot of herbal tea, I meditate and journal. Only after that do I turn on my computer.

What is slow crafting for you and how can it be therapeutic?

I love making things that take time:

• intricate embroidery

• pottery that will be fired and painted and then fired again

• watercolor paintings with tiny details.

I find the small, repetitive movements that I make with my needle really soothing. Overall I find it therapeutic to have reminders of my ability to create and recreate around me.

I also like crafting together with others. It is a gentle, mindful way of socializing when there isn’t enough energy to do something more draining like going into town or working out.

What was your journey to therapeutic crafting?

I have experienced (and sometimes still experience) both anxiety and depression. I process sensory input differently, so I am often overwhelmed, and I have to carefully think about how I am interacting with the world.

I took a few classes at a local art school and found that really helpful. However, I am also learning a lot on platforms like Creative Bug and Skillshare. I love watching videos and learning new things from the comfort of my home. Plus I really appreciate Instagram as a space to share and feel inspired.

Yarrow is now on Substack ; here are some of my favorite posts of theirs:

Sparks by Yarrow Magdalena

Four years that changed everything

Hello kind folks on the other site of the screen, what is your human experience like lately? Inspired by my friend Sophy Dale I have been meaning to put more into writing over here, more of myself and more of what feels true. I’ve hit a bunch of anniversaries lately: three years since my accident, two years since my friend Frances died and almost four yea…

Read more

2 years ago · 16 likes · 8 comments · Yarrow Magdalena

Sparks by Yarrow Magdalena

Getting eccentric in here

Hello kind folks on the other site of the screen, what is your human experience like lately? February was a gentle month for me, which I am so grateful for. I worked on a bunch of exciting websites, read seven whole books, made a ton of pancakes, wrote an essay about 19th century masculinity for uni and let that be enough. Tulips I planted in deep winter …

Read more

2 years ago · 7 likes · 2 comments · Yarrow Magdalena

And from their podcast:

• Stitching spells for mental health

• Disability & slow process as devotional practice

• Creativity as a refuge with Monique Francis

You can also learn more about Yarrow at Creative Nature and Pink Well Studio.

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This is one examination of how art and health intersect. If you are interested in understanding this relationship in your own life: Order a Creative Health Assessment or Book a 1:1 Coaching Call.

Emily Esfahani Smith has authored a compelling book titled, “The Power of Meaning: Crafting a Life that Matters.” This book isn’t literally about hands-on crafting. Instead, it is a well-researched guide to finding meaning in life. However, her research can be combined with research into how crafting heals to help us in crafting meaning for our lives.

Mental Health: Meaning vs. Happiness

There is nothing wrong with wanting to be happy. However, happiness as an end goal doesn’t actually improve mental health. In fact, striving for happiness can lead to distress. Smith shares two important points.

Feeling Good vs. Doing Good

First, she looks back at history and defines two key terms:

1. Hedonia: the pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain and mental distress

2. Eudaimonia: Active engagement in life and contribution to society

To put it more simply, she says that the former is about “feeling good” whereas the latter is about “being and doing good.”

Happiness isn’t a Predictor of Suicide

Smith’s second important point is that happiness (or unhappiness, for that matter) does not predict suicide. She cites a specific study by Oishi and Diener that found that there was no correlation between in-the-moment happiness and suicide rates. In contrast, meaning (or lack thereof) predicts suicide. In other words, people who aren’t able to find meaning in life are more likely to die by suicide. A person can be chronically unhappy but find meaning in life that allows them to persist.

The critical thing to understand is that meaning and happiness can coexist, but they can also be at odds with one another. She gives the example of having children. It is an act that most people agree gives intense meaning to life. In fact, people who have children are less likely than non-parents to die by suicide. And yet, having children doesn’t always make people feel happy. It is a responsibility, a difficult one, and although it comes with a lot of joy, it also comes with a lot of stress and many moments of unhappiness.

Crafting Meaning: Belonging

Smith’s book has distilled down the research and named four key things that have brought meaning to people’s lives across eras and cultures:

• Belonging

• Purpose

• Storytelling

• Transcendence

She makes a good argument for the importance of belonging for feeling that life is meaningful. For example, she looks at the well-known research done into children who grew up in orphanages where they received little touch. There was a failure to thrive; babies who don’t feel emotionally valued, cared for and loved can die even if all of their physical needs are met.

This extends into adulthood. When we don’t feel like we belong, we can’t thrive. As adults, we have to work to create a sense of belonging. We have to choose and nurture the relationships, work, and community efforts that give us that feeling of belonging.

How Crafting Offers Belonging

Hands-on crafting can be used to create and strengthen a sense of belonging. There are several ways that you can intentionally enhance belonging through crafting.

1. Join a craft community.

One of the best ways to belong to a group is to join one that enjoys the same crafts as you. Craft groups meet regularly to craft together and share skills. However, they often become so much more. The knitting and quilting circles of the past were sources of strength and community for the women who participated in them. It is no different for craft groups today.

Craft groups can be found at libraries, craft stores, schools, and through community meetups. You can put out a call through Nextdoor or Facebook and find or start a craft group of your own.

Tips for Crafty Connections

In my book Hook to Heal, I’ve shared 100 crochet exercises that help improve mental health including an entire chapter devoted to crafting to improve relationships. Here are some extra tips for activities that you can engage in together once you have a group to expand your crafty love and creativity. Some examples include:

• Everyone in the group makes a different version of the same thing (crochet-along style) and celebrates the unique features of each person’s finished object.

• White elephant or Secret Santa gifting using your craft-making skills. This is great for holidays and other celebrations.

• Each person in the group teaches a skill to someone else in the group. This might be done one-on-one or through workshops that are taught to the whole group.

• Everyone makes one part of a larger item, such as one blanket for a square or one motif for a bunting. You can make a single item and keep it in the shared space where the group meets or make one item for everyone in the group in this way.

• Show-and-tell days! Host weekly, monthly or seasonal days where each person brings in some of their favorite handmade items to share stories about.

2. Enhance connections in online craft communities.

There are many online craft communities, which on their own can offer a great sense of belonging. However, it helps if you work to strengthen your connections in those communities. Here are some tips:

• Ask and answer questions in the group.

• Share yourself authentically, about crafting but also more about who you are.

• Pick 1-2 people per month to grow a relationship with. Send chat messages, emails, maybe even a phone call.

• Take it into real life. Meet up with online friends who live nearby. Attend one conference each year that’s further away.

3. Incorporate crafting into your existing circles.

Host craft events at your home and invite friends to join. There are things that work even for friends who consider themselves “not crafty.” For example, every year I host a gingerbread house-making party. I include a variety of other holiday craft options. It is a non-threatening environment and everyone’s creativity thrives. Even though it is only once a year, it adds meaning to my life.

Invite people over to collage from magazines. Have a friend over for tea and crafting. Start a book club for reading crafty books.

Alternatively, you may find that you can incorporate your craft into a non-crafty group. In the book, Smith talks about the Society for Creative Anachronism, which is a group of medieval recreationists. What they share in common is a love for medieval times, but their specific niche interests are unique. Individuals may take an interest in 13th-century stained glass techniques or 14th-century woodworking. The crafts differ but they’re linked to a sense of belonging to the bigger group.

4. Use your craft as a service.

Your craft is a skill. It is something that you can offer to others. Every time that you gift someone a handmade creation, you strengthen your connection with them. However, you can do even more to use crafting in service of your community:

• Practice intentional crafting. Prayer shawls are one example; you think about the shawl’s recipient and wish them well throughout the crafting. You may include a written prayer with the gift.

• Devote time to making things for the people who appreciate them. Belonging comes from mutual regard.

• Donate handcrafted items to charities that do work you believe in. Churches, shelters, schools, and non-profits often accept handmade goods.

• Volunteer to craft with others who might be lonely. For example, knit or crochet with an elderly person.

• Teach your craft to others who want to learn. Lessons can be informal or formal, one-on-one or in a group.

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Margaret Mills is part of a three-generational household of women crafters. Her mom quilts, her daughter explores a variety of fiber arts and Margaret both crochets and sews. Crocheting has helped her feel better during a bout of depression.

I first learned about Margaret Mills from an article that she wrote for I Heart Art: Portland titled “The Healing Arts and Crafts”. In late 2009 she was watching a lot of movies with her mother who was convalescing and she needed something to keep her busy so she dug out her old crochet hooks and some yarn and got to crafting. I loved her description in the article of what happened next:

“As the rhythmic work, the feel of yarn, and the misshapen poncho taking shape under my hands turned the world from black and white to Technicolor, I realized that I was also dealing with a bout of depression.”

I was moved by Margaret’s vivid language as well as by my own connection to the experience that she went through and so I reached out to see if she would agree to an interview. She did. She explained that the depression kind of crept up on her and she really didn’t realize that it was there until it was too late. She wasn’t sad or crying all of the time or anything like that. She just had a series of things happen to her one on top of another and they added up.

In her own words, Margaret explains about this time:

“I had been through treatment for breast cancer and was just gaining strength after chemo when my mother became seriously ill. What started as a stay with me and my youngest daughter for her to recover from a heart procedure turned into a permanent move.

There were other life stresses as well (financial, my daughter having trouble with school), and it just seemed like everything was about life, death, ambulances, hospitals. Serious stuff – and it just drained the joy out of living without me quite realizing what had happened.”

Margaret didn’t turn to crochet at this time specifically for its healing benefits but more because it gave her something to do. She says:

“It was a bit serendipitous that Mom moved in with all her craft stuff. Mom's main craft has been quilting, but in among the fabric was lots of yarn and crochet hooks. I wanted something to do with my hands while we watched movies in the evening – which is all Mom felt up to doing, and I wanted to spend time with her – so there was the yarn and the hooks. I had crocheted in years past, but it got lost in the pressures of life, divorce, raising kids, etc. Mom's yarn stash just sort of called my name – it was just a little nudge, a little thought: “I bet I could make a stocking cap or something while we watch movies.”

Mom had been wanting to dump all the craft stuff, but she has such good stuff! My daughter and I couldn't bear to give it all away, and we have both been crocheting and sewing since. It really opened up a world for us, and helped us both emotionally, I think. Now I will deliberately use crochet to lift my mood, but at first I just wanted to keep my hands busy while watching TV and being with Mom. It was all backwards – I didn't realize I was depressed until I started to feel better, and I started to feel better when I started to crochet.”

I asked people like Margaret to share with us what they feel are the most beneficial parts of the crochet process in terms of healing as well as how the yarn itself can heal. Margaret had a lot to say about that. First she talked about the process of crochet including the benefits of the planning stage, the actual crochet work and then having a finished product:

“While all three stages work together, I think the part that really pulls me out of negative emotions is the planning stage. I can get absorbed in the “vision” of what I want to make, and either creating a pattern or searching books and the Internet for one, then finding the perfect yarn, etc. I think that is the best part. It sets a goal and gives hope for the future. At the same time, it isn't rocket science or getting a graduate degree; it is a very achievable goal. Also, the anticipation when you are making a gift for someone really lifts the spirit. I designed an “alphabet” afghan for my four-year-old grandson, an afghan stitch blanket with the alphabet cross stitched on it, and I'm sure I got more fun out of making it than he did getting it. Actually doing the work is a close second in healing. I think the work itself brings calmness and a sense of accomplishment.”

Margaret then shared her thoughts about the healing aspects of the color and texture of yarn:

“It was the color of the yarn, the play of one color against another that really drew me. I've read fiction books, like Debbie Macomber's, that speak of “luscious” or “yummy” yarn colors. I do know color is thought to have an impact on emotions, and can be used in decorating to affect mood, so it makes sense. I think the colors are a huge part of the healing power of this type of craft.” 

“I tend to spend too much time inside my head (writing, researching, etc.), and find it helps to do “hands-on” work to balance that – crochet, of course, but also gardening or sewing or cooking.”

Margaret finds special value in the relaxing and calming benefits of the repetitive nature of crochet. However, she believes it may also have other health benefits:

“I tend to believe the claims made for the health benefits of crocheting – it is good for stress management, strengthening the immune system, regulating blood pressure. I can only testify to its help with depression, but as a cancer survivor, I consider continuing to crochet part of my general health plan. I'm all for anything that strengthens the immune system! I have also found, as an unexpected bonus, that crocheting taps into an unrealized artistic vein. Creative ideas start with a new yarn project, then spill over into house decorating, gardening and even my writing.”

Read more of these stories in Crochet Saved My Life.

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This article originally appeared on the PsychCentral blog Crafting to Heal.

When I did the research for my book, Crochet Saved My Life, one of the things that I learned about was how crochet could help people in various stages of age-related memory loss. A recent article about art therapy in a Chicago senior community shows that any type of craft can offer similar benefits.

Crochet for Late-Stage Alzheimer’s

My research found that crochet has the potential to help prevent age-related memory loss including dementia and Alzheimer’s. The research is too new to say that for sure, but there are hopeful signs. Moreover, it can serve as a protective factor for people in early stages of the disease. That means it may slow down the progression of memory loss. Furthermore, it can help to combat the symptoms suffered by people with late-stage Alzheimer’s.

For example, one of the symptoms that people struggle with is restless fidgeting. I wrote in Crochet Saved My Life,

“One clear benefit of crochet is that if a person with Alzheimer’s can do the stitches then it will help to keep the hands and mind busy. Many of the sources that I read about working with Alzheimer’s patients mentioned the problem of “agitated hands”. The Alzheimer’s patient gets restless and fidgets and this is likely a sign of internal distress. It can also be dangerous because those idle fidgeting hands may get into trouble that the individual doesn’t even realize is trouble until something disastrous has happened. Oftentimes Alzheimer’s patients will go rummaging through things, which is fine unless what they’re rummaging in is dangerous. Sometimes they will start to pick at their own skin. Keeping the hands busy with something like crochet helps maintain the safety of the individual and anyone else in the home.”

Crochet, or any craft that occupies the minds and hands, can help channel that fidgeting energy.

Additional Benefits of Crafting for Age-Related Memory Loss

Of course, fidgeting is just one problematic symptom of age-related memory loss. In an article in the Chicago Tribune, writer Bill Lowe shares about an arts and crafts program for seniors. He cites the following additional benefits of crafting for people with age-related memory loss:

1. Reduces Anxiety

People living with memory loss often experience anxiety. After all, gaps in memory and feeling fuzzy about what’s happening around you are frightening things. Hands-on crafts help soothe the mind and reduce the symptoms of anxiety.

2. Offers Self-Expression

People who have age-related memory loss often lose their ability to fully communicate with others. This can feel like losing the self. Crafting offers an opportunity for self-expression. Creating something gives people a voice again.

3. Evokes Memories

People who struggle with memory loss may be comforted by the positive memories that they do have. Many older people enjoyed crafting when they were young. Returning to those same crafts evokes those positive memories. Lowe writes,

“For example, residents in CMSS’ embroidery group have all enjoyed embroidering throughout their lives. In this group, they can reconnect with a meaningful practice, which often provides a sense of comfort and self-assurance.”

4. Provides Community

People with memory loss need to stay connected to others around them. Of course, this is challenging when you have trouble remembering things. Oftentimes memory loss leads to depression or anxiety, which can cause people to isolate themselves. Crafting in a group provides a safe space for connecting with others.

5. Mindfulness

When you can’t rely on your memory, it helps to focus on the present. Mindfulness practice allows people to be content in the moment. Crafting provides an opportunity for practicing a hands-on form of mindfulness, attending directly to the details in the craft.

6. Purpose

Anyone living with chronic illness, especially something degenerative such as age-related memory loss, may begin to feel purposeless. Crafting for others can offer purpose, reminding the person that they still have the ability to give to people.

Tips for Crafting through Age-Related Memory Loss

Of course, crafting doesn’t always come easily to people with age-related memory loss. They may not quite be able to remember how to do a craft they once enjoyed. They may learn a new craft only to have forgotten it by the next time a new craft group meets. Regardless, they can still reap the benefits of simple craft projects. Working with easy techniques, following straightforward instructions, and beginning with a guided project (instead of a blank slate) will all help facilitate crafting for people struggling with these issues.

From Crochet Saved My Life:

 In her book 100 Simple Things You Can Do To Prevent Alzheimer’s and Age-Related Memory Loss, author Jean Carper offers steps that you can take as you get older that are believed to have some effect on preventing age-related memory loss. They fall into four categories:

1. Keep your brain active and engaged. It is imperative that you keep your brain thinking and one of the key ways to do this is to introduce new things into your life on a regular basis, filling your leisure time with brain-stimulating activities.

2. Regularly engage in the right amount of physical activity. It seems to be very important for older people to get steady amounts of aerobic exercise. They must also engage in muscle-building, stretching and balance-maintaining exercises.

3. Proper diet. There is always a lot of controversy around what the proper diet is for anyone and there is no exception when it comes to Alzheimer’s prevention but eating properly (whatever that is determined to be) seems to be a key part of the deal.

4. Proper emotional self-care. It has been found to be critical to Alzheimer’s prevention that the individual takes steps to be social, feel engaged with others, reduce depression and stress and feel like an active part of the community.

Crochet can come into play in both the first and fourth criteria. I explain this in detail in Crochet Saved My Life.

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The first version of this article on slow crafting originally appeared on the PsychCentral blog Crafting to Heal which I wrote in 2019. I’ve updated it with additional information. I’ve added book recommendations and links to additional articles about the psychological and emotional benefits of weaving, as more exist now than when I first wrote this article.

There aren’t many (any?) books out there on how weaving improves mental health. Likewise, you won’t find a lot of books specifically about the mental health benefits of crochet, knitting, embroidery, woodworking, scrapbooking, or any other crafts.

Nevertheless, people are writing inside books about how crafting heals.

It’s subtle. You have to look for it. However, it’s there.

That’s why I often flip through craft books. I don’t just read books to follow patterns or create projects. I read craft books for crafts that I don’t do myself. Within those pages, I find so many examples of people using crafting to heal.

2024 Update: There are an increasing number of books that address the topic specifically, which I love to see. That said, I do continue to find that some of the best information about how craft heals comes from reading between the lines in various craft books that aren’t specific to the topic.

A Book About Rag Rug Weaving

For example, recently I read through some of the pages in “Weaving Western Sakiori” by Amanda Robinette. This is a very specific type of rag rug weaving. In fact, it’s a unique combination of modern Western weaving and ancient Japanese weaving.

The book is filled with rich information about the history of this style of weaving in Japan. Of course, it also has tutorials and projects for learning the skill yourself. But what I found most intriguing was a section called “Why Rag Weaving?”

Reading between the lines, what I find here is a summary of some of the ways weaving improves mental health.

5 Ways Rag Rug Weaving Improves Mental Health

Of course, there are benefits of crafting that extend past any specific craft. For example, weaving helps interrupt rumination in conditions including anxiety, depression, and PTSD. However, Robinette laid out five specific reasons that she chooses to weave with rags.

1. The Joy of Experimentation and Play

The first reason that Robinette gives is actually “to make beautiful things.” That, in itself, is beneficial to mental health.

In her book, “Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness”, Ingrid Fetell Lee explores an important question. She asks, “how do tangible things create an intangible feeling of joy?” So, in fact, having beautiful things can give us joy.

More than that, we feel good when we create beautiful things ourselves. We feel empowered. Our self-esteem goes up. This is all good for mental health.

However, Robinette actually seems to be saying more than that in this section of her book. She talks about how working with rags means that you don’t always know how the project will turn out. You have a plan in mind, but the colors aren’t always what you envisioned.

As a result, you have to experiment. You get the chance to imagine, play, and re-work things until they satisfy you. This stretches parts of our brain that we often don’t get the chance to use.

After all, how often do you do something rotely? All too often. Creative crafting allows you to play, which is something our brains need.

2. “The Joy of Creative Destruction”

I’m leaving that subtitle exactly as Robinette wrote it. It explains what she means perfectly.

With rag rug weaving, you first have to take apart the rags. You have to destroy them before you can create something new.

Robinette says that “there is something oddly satisfying” in this. I think what’s satisfying is the way that the act of doing this works on us subtly as a metaphor. It’s the phoenix rising from the ashes.

Often, when we craft, we are working through something in our minds. When we see that we can destroy in order to create, we see possibility. It’s not just that we see it in the rags; we see it in our own mental health, in our own actions, in our own lives.

3. The Pleasure of Limited Choices

Robinette notes that working with rags creates boundaries on what you can make. If you open yourself to an array of new fibers, then your choices open up. However, working within the creative limits of one material actually has benefits.

Sometimes having too many options is paralyzing. Sometimes we need boundaries to be our most creative selves. (This is another mental health metaphor.)

4. Rag Rug Weaving is Eco-Friendly

When you work with recycled materials, you are being kind to the earth. Arguably, being more in touch with the earth improves mental health. That’s because:

• You’re living in line with your personal values.

• You feel intertwined with everything. It feels like your choices matter.

• Working with our hands at a slow pace brings us back in touch with ourselves.

• If we see the value in a used item, then we treat all things with more value. This includes ourselves.

5. It Connects us With Tradition

Do you know how many generations before you were weavers? There were many.

Something magical happens when you perform a craft that others have done in the same way for centuries. It’s as if you step into a timeless place. You become part of something so much bigger than you are.

In this way, weaving connects you to makers of the past. Connection offers a sense of belonging. This heals so many of our inner wounds that cause issues with mental health.

2024 Update: Books and Articles about Benefits of Weaving

I was thrilled to discover a 2023 workbook on Amazon by Ellie Fisher called Weaving as Art Therapy for Beginners: A Self-Care Workbook to Ease Anxiety, Stress, and Depression. It discusses “9 therapeutic weaving activities, each with a specific aim—including stress relief, letting go of past hurt, boosting self-love, and avoiding burnout” which reminds me a lot of my book, Hook to Heal, in which there are ten chapters with ten exercises each themed to using crochet for specific aims including mindfulness, self-esteem building, balance, improving relationships and more.

Amazon also lists these features of Fisher’s book:

• How to make and dress a simple frame loom to create your weaving projects on.

• Popular loom weaving techniques, such as twining, tabby, multiple warp plain weave, Rya knots, soumak, warp wrapping, and finishing, with easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions for each.

• 6 off-loom weaving techniques, several simply requiring tools from nature—from fallen branches to beach stones.

• 5 ways to weave on a budget, doing your bit for sustainability along the way.

These all speak to slow crafting. Read more on that:

There is also an older, more academic book, which I’ve not yet read that looks interesting:

Using Textile Arts and Handcrafts in Therapy with Women: Weaving Lives Back Together is described on Amazon in part: “Reviewing the role of textile-based handcrafts in the lives of women today, and integrating the life issues they face with the therapeutic making of fibre art, the book covers everything from the psychology of this therapeutic approach to how to carry it out effectively with a wide range of clients.”

In addition to these books, here are some articles I’ve found on the benefits of weaving:

• Woven Flow: Weaving As Meditation. “Sarah has found that weaving calms her and can help her with anxiety when done intentionally. Read what she has discovered about weaving's effect on herself and others.”

• The Power of Calm: The Benefits of Weaving. “This ancestral art is, at its core, a comfortable way to find cozy time for oneself and ensure a good mental health.”

• Historian Michael Skopp encourages weaving and crafts for those struggling with mental illness. “Weaving helps Skopp deal with his PTSD. His art becomes a therapy that gives him relief from his anxieties.”

• How textile artist Molly Kent weaves mental health into her work. “Having been diagnosed with CPTSD, Molly discovered that her need to create was integral to her mental health, and began exploring themes around wellbeing in her work.”

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Many people want to embrace a slower, more conscious way of life. You’ve probably felt the strong urge to get away from the distraction-heavy fast-paced activity of our always-on world. Of course, most people don’t want to get off the grid entirely. We just all want a little bit more spaciousness in our lives. We want areas of life where we can connect to ourselves, others, and nature.

Craft is the perfect way to introduce slowness into your everyday life.

Craft in America: Pomo Basket Weaving

I recently started watching the show Craft in America on PBS. I can’t believe I didn’t know about this show before now. It’s already in its tenth season. As soon as I saw the first episode of season ten, I became a fan.

The episode’s theme is California crafters. One of the makers who is profiled is a woman from the Pomo Indian tribe who has taken up her culture’s traditional basketry. Even in just her fifteen-minute segment, she touches upon so many different ways that craft heals her.

Most poignantly, she shares how her region was devastated by the fires that have been sweeping through the state over the past several years. She talks about how basketweaving helps with the healing process of such a terrible loss.

The Slow Art of Pomo Basket Weaving

What really stood out to me, though, was the way that she described the process of making the baskets. I learned that she grows and harvests her own materials. It is a long process.

First, the plants need to grow from their seeds. Then she needs to harvest them, which means breaking each piece down into smaller and smaller pieces for use in the baskets. Furthermore, the materials have to dry. Therefore, what she harvests today she might not use until next year.

By the time she actually starts weaving the basket, more than half of the work is done.

Elem Pomo Baskets on Exhibit

An excerpt from the article I wrote upon seeing the Elem Pomo baskets on display at de Young Museum.

Prior to the 19th century, these baskets were made by native people for native people. Then they became popular among non-native people and native people sold their baskets to outsiders. It’s a complicated part of history. On one hand, the devastation to the land and culture is undeniable and there’s a clear story at play when non-native people come to the land, destroy it, then want to collect souvenirs from the local people to display in their homes. On the other hand, these sales also speak to the power and resiliency of the Elem Pomo people; making and selling baskets was a creative and empowering way to make money that also preserved their creative cultural traditions. 

Today, though, things are different once again. The hours it takes to make a basket to sell are simply too many to translate to making a viable living. So, the Elem Pomo people are once again making baskets for themselves. These are labors of love, gifts given at special points in a member’s life. In order to make these baskets, the people have to work closely with nature, tending to the plants they use for their creations, and doing so is one way of both sustaining and celebrating their cultural traditions.

What is The Slow Movement?

Most people have heard of the Slow Food Movement. In reaction to the problems inherent with fast food, people wanted to commit to slow food. Slow food means eating local, traditional, in-season foods. The more that you can grow with your own hands, the more connected you are to your meal.

Food isn’t the only area of life where you can embrace the concepts of the slow movement, though. You can take a slow living approach to almost any area of life. The primary goals are:

• Slow down and be mindful.

• Know where your items come from.

• Put your own handmade effort into each element of a process.

• Think sustainable, organic, eco-friendly, low-processed or no-processed

What Slow Movement Means in Crafting

Crafting is the ideal way to start embracing a slower way of life. After all, the very nature of the act is a way of slowing down.

For example, you could go buy a sweater. You might not know where it came from or how it was made. If it’s a piece of fast fashion, you might throw it away after a few uses. On the other hand, you could make your own sweater. Simply the act of knitting, crocheting, weaving, or sewing it yourself slows the whole process down. You become more connected to the piece.

You can also take the slow movement to the next level in your crafts. You do this by getting as involved as possible in each step of the process. In the aforementioned example, the basketweaver harvests her own plants. Another example would be a knitter who raises her own sheep, spins their wool into yarn, dyes the yarn herself with plant dyes from her own garden, and then finally knits with that yarn.

Slow Yarn

I’ve also written specifically about Slow Yarn; here’s an excerpt from a related book review:

Slow yarn, like the slow food movement, refers to engaging in yarn crafting mindfully and sustainably. It’s part of an overall sustainable lifestyle. And it celebrates doing things by hand. Crochet and knitting are already slow crafts. After all, it takes a lot longer to create a handmade sweater than it does to just go buy one. However, you can extend that into a longer, more involved slow yarn process.

For example, in the book Unraveling, author Peggy Orenstein shares her slow yarn story. She first learns how to shear a sheep, which is no easy task. After learning, she shears enough to collect wool to make a sweater. She cleans the wool. Then she learns how to spin it. After that, she learns how to dye it. Finally, she is ready to knit it into a sweater. That’s an example of slow yarn.

Wool isn’t the only fiber that you can use to knit or crochet. In fact, there are many other great natural fibers that offer various benefits when crafting. Cotton is a favorite choice when making lightweight summer clothes as well as kitchen towels. Therefore, you can incorporate gardening into a slow yarn movement of your own. Cindy Conner’s book “Homegrown Flax and Cotton” is all about this.

Here’s something else I wrote about this topic:

Slow yarn isn’t just about the materials, though; it’s about a way of thinking. Compare the practice of crocheting your own shirt to popping into a store and buying one for $10. Your mind is in a completely different place when crafting your own items, a place that is more mindful. The same is true if you slow things down even further by first spinning and dyeing the yarn you use before you even get to crocheting with it. All of this allows you time for contemplat­ive crafting, which means that you are able to slow down and really live in alignment with your personal principles. It’s likely that, you are already a big step of the way there since you crochet. Consider how it might help the world if you take another big step in the direction of sustainabl­e fashion and home design.

How to Slow Down Crafting

Although you may not do every part of the process yourself, you can slow it down and make conscious choices every step of the way.

• Grow and process as many of your own materials as possible.

• When buying materials, source them locally with sustainability in mind.

• Get to know the people who supply you with materials for your craft.

• Take the time to learn the history of your craft.

• Learn how to do one more step in the craft process. For example, dye your own fabric before sewing.

How to Relax with Mindfulness Crochet

I’ve written a lot about using crochet for mindfulness practice, including creating mindfulness exercises for my books Crochet Saved My Life and Hook to Heal. Here’s one example:

. Read through the instructions first. Then find a calm area in your home to try it.

• Choose a crochet hook and yarn – something you enjoy working with.

• Crochet a long chain. Then you will work a single stitch into each chain. You can choose any basic crochet stitch that you like – I like half double crochet but single crochet, double crochet, whatever feels good for you.

• Focus the entirety of your attention on crocheting one loop at a time. The goal is to focus on each detail of each stitch, counting each stitch as you go.

• Do not let any other thoughts seep in although they will try. The monkey mind is like that.

• Each time that you notice a thought, frog the crochet chain back to the beginning of the row, and start over.

Why Craft Slow

Slow living offers many different benefits. People who have concerns about the environment or the effects of chemicals will enjoy that slow crafting allows more control over materials.

The biggest mental health benefit of slow crafting is the sense of connectedness it provides you. You can connect with your own inner self, higher self, and true desires. The more you slow down and work with your hands, the quieter the noise in your head. The less you ruminate, and the less you allow for distractions, the easier it will be to know your own true self.

Here are some other reasons to craft slow:

• Contribute to a more sustainable and mindful lifestyle

• Connect to oneself, others, and nature

• Cultivate patience and perseverance

• Cultivate spaciousness in life

• Deepen appreciation for the craft process

• Develop a sense of accomplishment and pride

• Embrace a slower, more conscious way of life

• Engage in contemplative crafting

• Enhance creativity and self-expression

• Escape distraction-heavy, fast-paced activities

• Experience a sense of connectedness and inner peace

• Foster a sense of community and belonging

• Foster mindfulness and mental well-being

• Heal through the craft process

• Promote ethical consumption and production practices

• Promote sustainability and eco-consciousness

• Reduce stress and anxiety

• Support local artisans and traditional crafts

• Sustain and celebrate cultural traditions

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This article originally appeared on the PsychCentral blog Crafting to Heal which I wrote in 2019. Since the blog has since been archived, I have some posts related to craft as therapy from that archive that I want to share here on Substack, including this interview with Sophie Cotterill of Wallflower Weavings.

Although I’m mostly a crocheter, I do some other fiber arts as well, including a little bit of frame loom weaving. Sophie’s rich texture, color choices, and the detail in her weavings always appealed to me; just looking at them sometimes felt a bit therapeutic. Therefore I was thrilled when I saw a post mentioning that she finds weaving to be healing. I asked if she would be willing to do an interview, and she generously shared her thoughts on the mental health benefits of weaving. She hasn’t posted recently on Instagram but her words here are timeless.

When and how did you learn to weave?

I learned to weave in 2014 during a year abroad in The Netherlands. It was an instant source of confidence and mental wellbeing.

Weaving came to me during a time where I was in limbo, finding it difficult to get work in my new, foreign town. My confidence and motivation were at such a low. I was experiencing a great deal of loneliness and worry, which turned into tiredness and struggling to carry out simple tasks like just leaving the apartment.

The moment I began to weave, it gave me a purpose. I was excited to go out and source materials and equipment on a budget. I was eager to dedicate my days to learning and improving my techniques. Within the space of a fortnight, my time in the apartment became something I looked forward to. I was soon spending the majority of my hours weaving.

Yet you were still alone in your apartment right?

Yes, but no. With weaving, came purpose, interest, and inspiration! This was only further enhanced when I decided to document what I was learning on Instagram alongside others. At this point, there wasn’t a huge market or interest in modern weaving, but what was there was a goldmine.

Individuals from around the world were coming together to provide knowledge, inspiration, and encouragement about this newly-popular craft that had us absolutely hooked. I still speak to these makers to this day, nearly five years on. We have shared our work with each other, engaged in art and material swaps, and have helped each other get noticed.

So, though to an outsider I was sitting in that little rooftop apartment on my own, I was actually a part of a craft movement that was taking place across continents.

Then what happened?

Since returning home in the summer of 2015, I was able to expand my space and therefore my equipment and skills. My emotional investment in weaving was so strong. My confidence had increased so much, knowing that I really had something of my own making to work on and be proud of. My online shop had opened whilst abroad and had gotten off to a great start. I was massively motivated to keep things rolling and improving.

So, the confidence kept you going. What are some other mental health benefits of weaving? And how do you approach a therapeutic project?

The actual act of weaving, like many crafts, takes place alone in a cozy corner of the house. Most weavers I know, along with myself, like to have everything “just so” to begin the process. Having a clear desk and tidy studio to begin working in is like clearing the mind. You’re organized, your favorite music is playing, the candles are lit, and your materials are waiting to be made into something beautiful. From there, you can make a lovely mess of things! The cycle of preparation, creating, and cleaning down to start again is really refreshing.

Weaving itself is a process reliant upon patience and method. Your loom has to be prepared so that it is sturdy, your materials have to lend themselves properly to what you are making, and your technique has to be right for the piece to be strong and beautiful. However, what I like about weaving, which I didn’t personally find in other crafts I had tried in the past, is that for a mind like mine which likes to be freeform and unrestricted, weaving was filled with freedom to explore.

Once the loom is readily warped (the vertical threads) your weft (horizontal threads, where the design emerges) is determined uniquely by your two hands. You can go for geometric, follow patterns and count threads, or take an organic approach without a design in mind, which is what I do. I enjoy letting the design develop instinctively, not knowing what lies a few inches ahead, just taking it one section at a time. I love the freedom of this. It is like releasing your creativity and hectic thoughts out onto a canvas of fiber.

Alternatively, following patterns and taking time to count and be extra careful, to create something more controlled, also has its benefits. Recently I made a piece such as this for the sole intention of leveling an anxious mind. With a lot happening personally, it feels very calming to work in straight lines, as if you’re straightening out your thoughts. When you get into a rhythm, you don’t notice the hours passing and that your many thoughts are accompanying the growth of your design, therefore, your anxieties have been released into something beautiful.

It sounds like weaving has made a huge impact on your life.

It has changed things forever. I know that I will always have this craft by my side, and it is something just for me. When most of life is shared – with family, friends, and coworkers – I think it is very healthy to take time to do something alone and know that it empowers you.

It has also opened doors into learning further skills such as

• hand spinning, a very rhythmic and controlled practice

• hand dyeing, which is a slow process which encourages patience

• plant dyeing, which has led to plans for a natural dye garden in my new home.

Finally having a space of my own means that my craft can surround and inspire me at all times. So, from harvesting plants and flowers to use in dyeing, to hanging the work of fellow artists on my own walls, and working amongst their inspirations, my daily life is forever changed and improved by the presence of weaving.

You have shared so many mental health benefits of weaving including improved confidence, productivity, creativity, mood-boosting, and mindfulness. What would you suggest who wants to reap these benefits but is brand new to weaving?

I would hugely encourage anyone to experiment with weaving, or indeed any craft. Certain crafts are great for calmness and control, while others will help with expression and emotional release.

An important change in my approach was to realize that not everything has to be perfect. In fact, every experiment is valuable. Simply the act of sitting down and doing something for yourself is more important than you may realize.

If you wanted to start up a new craft, the online community is so very encouraging and helpful. Nowadays you can find kits, lessons, and guides online that haven’t been available in the past, and those who curate them will happily answer questions and help you get started. You can buy materials and equipment direct from the people who make them, and who share the same crafts.

If you find enjoyment in it, persevere! You never know where your craft might take you, but undoubtedly it will have a positive impact on your wellbeing just to take the time out to focus in on something creative.

Other Interviews with Sophie:

Meet the Maker: Sophie Cotterill of Wallflower Weavings at 91 Magazine

“‘Where many of the weaving world’s pieces are classic, neutral and minimal, my work organically took a different direction over time into deeply tactile and colourful work. They’re very feminine pieces, quite delicate with intricate details – a real feast for the eyes, like a bouquet of yarn! That’s part of the reason for calling them “Wallflowers”,’ she says.”

Handmade Podcast: Anna Ploszajski talks to Sophie Cotterill

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After reading that previous interview about how knitting heals after a stroke, Mary left a comment to share some of her own experience. I was intrigued and wanted to learn more, so I’m thrilled that she chose to complete her own interview about post-stroke knitting therapy.

Did you engage in knitting therapy before your stroke?

I don’t actually remember learning how to knit. I do remember knitting a sweater and a few other things. However, I really didn’t knit regularly before the stroke. I hadn’t really thought about the benefits of knitting at that time.

Can you share a little bit about the stroke?

A few years before the stroke, I’d had a mastectomy with a reconstruction failure. I had learned about a new technique that could help with correcting the reconstruction. It was available at Georgetown University Hispital, about 180 miles from where I live. My daughter was living in a large house, so I would be able to stay with her in my recovery. It sounded like a great plan. However, it didn’t turn out that way.

I went to the hospital where I was to have microsurgery and a 3-day ICU stay. I was released from the ICU to a regular room and was getting ready for discharge the following day. However, I collapsed in the hallway. I was conscious, but I couldn’t walk. It felt like my legs melted me down to the floor. The staff managed to get me onto a gurney and knew right away that I’d had a stroke.

Georgetown University Hospital is a teaching hospital with some of the best staff and instruments anywhere. Within minutes I was going through all kinds of imaging and tests. Despite all of the tests, they couldn’t find the specific cause of the stroke. It was a frustrating time. I remember trying to speak French and even my limited use of ASL because I was having trouble speaking in English.

What made you think of knitting therapy after that?

I’m a biologist by education, with a minor in psychology. In other words, I’m a scientist. I am used to research and advanced language. Having a stroke, with aphasia, was extremely frustrating for me. I needed to do something hands-on to create new pathways in my brain so that I could heal.

I’m also a musician, so that was originally one idea for post-stroke therapy for me. A prime care doctor in the area, who is a super violinist himself, had suggested that I start playing the piano again. It was a nice idea except that I didn’t have a piano.

So I thought of knitting. There was a coffee shop near my daughter’s house where a knitting and crochet group met weekly. I jumped on that opportunity. It provided an easy way to start getting back into knitting, which I could use therapeutically to rebuild my brain.

Was knitting challenging after the stroke?

The biggest issue with knitting was counting. When casting on, I began to count by twos and realized that I couldn’t do it without teaching myself again. That was simple enough and eventually I got up to counting by fives. It took practice.

What was the most interesting thing about that knitting therapy group?

A woman sitting next to me turned out to be a colonel in the army. She was also a nurse at Walter Reed. Of all things, she was working with stroke survivors. Imagine that!

She seemed to know a lot about me before I even told her anything. I loved meeting her.

What does knitting therapy mean for you?

Knitting provides me with a chance to focus my attention on one thing. My mind is attentive to the yarn, the needles, and the project at hand. This is so beneficial during recovery.

Plus, knitting sets an achievable goal. Once the project is done, it’s done; it’s not like the dishes in the sink that keep piling up. Plus, if you gift the item to someone, you get the additional bonus of seeing how much they love it. It’s very rewarding.

Has knitting therapy played a role in your cancer treatment as well?

Cancer treatment has been a long process. The first time, ten years ago, I wanted to just get rid of the monster, but you have to take it one step at a time. I had to have a mastectomy because the tumor was more than just a lump. Then over five years ago I discovered another lump, which required more surgery. I didn’t do chemotherapy either time. However, the second time, I did radiation therapy.

The radiation therapy took place at the Pearson Cancer Center where the knitting group meets every week. At the time I was working at a hotline for a breast cancer organization on a shift from 1 am – 9 am. I slept during the day if I could, usualyl in shifts. The strange schedule kept me away from other humans a lot of the time. I knew that I really needed that conection. The knitting group provided that contact.

Tell us a little bit more about your knitting therapy group.

I meet with the knitting therapy group every single Tuesday. I consider that the beginning of the week.

Oftentimes, we craft items for cancer patients. Sometimes an individual who is in treatment will make a special request. We use donated yarn but we’re careful to make sure that the items we make are good for people who have sensitive skin due to treatment.

Knitting anything for a cancer patient can be a very emotional thing for the knitters. When we had a big giveaway day and I saw a patient wearing something I made, I got pretty teary.

Have you ever been a recipient of a knit item?

Yes, and that is therapeutic, too. There was another group that would meet, but I couldn’t join them regularly because of the timing. However, they insisted that I take one of their blankets with me. I was doing better and tried to tell them that someone else could use it more. However, they knew better. I needed that blanket more than I realized.

When people knit for charity, they infuse every stitch with love and blessings. During hard times, the patient can hold on to those positive feelings. I experienced that.

Is there anything else you do regularly that has been therapeutic?

One of my favorite things is that I visit a farm fairly regularly. There are llamas, sheep, angora goats, cows, horses, and lots of working dogs.

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