Snuggle muffs for mental health

I was desperate for therapy in 2018. This need led me back to knitting and cuddly toys and eventually twiddle muffs. Twiddle muffs were invented for dementia suffereres. I call mine snuggle muffs, because they only have twiddles on the inside, the outsides are smooth and soft, I find this to be more comforting.

Blue knitting challenge

In May 2018 my friend challenged me to make a number of knitted creations out of the blue wool, ribbon and buttons I bought in Uxbridge, these are the small selection of items I managed to produce.

A Mindful Crafternoon

I am slowing my life down and taking time to enjoy whatever good things are in it. A good thing I have been developing recently is the concept of a mindful crafternoon with my daughter. These crafternoons involve drinking tea, mindful books and magazines and a lot of craft. Below are some of the crafts we have been working on. Amy has been working on her fantasy card game. I have been working on knitted purses, pouches and snuggle muffs and also mindful doodling and colouring. We have been watching Netflix shows while doing our crafting, we enjoyed Last Kingdom and are now enjoying Sense8.

Crafts for a May Fair

It has been nearly a year since I did my last craft fair. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to do another one since doing my first one in 2013, but thought craft fairs in the twenty-teens have been a good enough thing to keep going a little while longer. Above and below are a selection of crafts I will be presenting in May. I have swapped my dolls around and expanded my knitted purses and pouches and fabric brooch collections. The books, lavender scenters and cards remain pretty much the same as before.

 

 

Knitted purses and pouches

I knitted my first gadget pouches in possibly 2010, give or take a year. I enjoyed knitting them as they were brief and colourful. I love knitting but am rather slow, so larger knitting projects are quite frustrating. I was not too happy with my camera pouch and so the knitted purse was a bit of an alternative. I had knitted a gadget pouch for my daughter's mobile phone, but she thought it was decidedly 'uncool' and she has since moved onto a proper SmartPhone. I wonder if I will see the return to small cell phones like my daughter's Nokia brick and my knitted gadget pouches will finally become fashion statements. I won't hold my breath.

Twiddle muffs for dementia patients

My hospital has been advertising for twiddle muffs and knitting for twiddle muffs for ages. I was going to attempt to make a twiddle muff myself, but I have been feeling too bogged down with life, so, instead, I decided to donate some spare knitting I did earlier in the decade, related to my dolls. I have been having a mega house clear out at the end of 2018, which has been both traumatic and therapeutic at the same time. Below are the fragments of knitting I am donating to the project.

Tea pots and tea cosies

In 2016, when Amy was doing her GCSE exams, I was feeling so stressed out that I felt I needed to work on a simple, but useful knitting project to help calm my nerves. At the same time we also needed a tea cosy.

I found a really simple tea cosy pattern on the internet involving knitting two large squares and sewing and tying them together into the appropriate tea cosy shape. I was pleased with the results, both the tea cosies and Amy’s GCSEs.

 

Summer Crafts for St Mary's

 
 I've not had so much to do with the church, or my crafts, this year, but I still wanted to donate some of my lingering makes for the 2018 St Mary's Summer Fete.

    

On her 50th birthday my friend set me a craft challenge, to turn these three items into a selection of knitted purses and pouches. I'll see how I get on; watch this space, but don't hold your breath.

Knitting rainbows

I rediscovered how therapeutic knitting is in 2009, I was getting myself and my piano pupils through music exams and needed to find a new way to relax and unwind, so knitting re-enetered my life. The simplest and easiest things I knit are dolly blankets. I love buying different coloured wool and producing rainbow coloured dolly blankets, I find it makes the endeavour doubly therapeutic.

Knitted gift bags

I love knitting, especially small projects like these knitted gift bags, which contain little Colouring Calm books. I am looking to expand my range of woolly bags, I knitted these purses in 2015 at Christmas.

Log Cabin Squares

I love knitting, I find it very relaxing, but I'm very slow, it takes me ages to finish anything. That is a big reason why a lot of my knitting projects are doll size. These doll blankets are knitted in a 'log cabin square' pattern. I find it a slightly mad method as you knit in different directions in a spiral and build up a bigger square from the centre outwards.

Knitted Gadget Pouches

 

My knitted gadget pouches were a surprise success at the December Craft morning in Northwood.

I learnt how to knit when I was in infant school and hadn't picked up a pair of knitting needles since then. However in 2009 I came across Kirstie's Homemade Home on Channel 4OD and was fascinated by all the crafts Kirstie Allsopp was exploring. When I watched the episode featuring knitting I remembered the earlier lessons I'd had with my mum and fancied having another go.

I began by knitting a scarf, then a blanket and then cushion covers, but these were very time consuming projects. Now I knit small things like the gadget pouches and things for my dolls.

I keep my phone, my ishuffle and my digital camera in my knitted gadget pouches. I use garter stitch, stocking stitch, ribbons and cross stitch to produce them and I find making them to be a short and satisfying project.