Knitting Heals: Interview with Stroke Survivor Rebecca Robinson

Followed by related excerpts from my research and writing for the book Crochet Saved My Life: The Mental and Physical Health Benefits of Crochet

This article originally appeared on the PsychCentral blog Crafting to Heal which I wrote for 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 Since the blog has since been archived, I have some posts related to craft as therapy from that archive that I want to share here on Substack, beginning with this one. I’ve added relevant excerpts from my book Crochet Saved My Life to complement the interview.

Images in this post free from Unsplash using search term knitter

In response to some of the work I’ve been doing about crafting to heal, I received a wonderful comment from Rebecca Robinson about how knitting heals as a form of physical / occupational therapy, which she herself used after a stroke and brain bleed. Interestingly, she wasn’t able to use crochet the same way. I wanted to know more and was thrilled when she agreed to an interview.

Knitting Immediately After a Stroke

Rebecca first shared that she had a stroke and accompanying brain bleed in August 2018. She said that the very first thing she did the day of her stroke was to ask for her knitting. Despite having severe difficulties in cognitive thought and hand-eye coordination, Rebecca was able to knit. Her doctors were amazed.

Below the paywall, learn more from Rebecca about this experience.

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