Knitting for more than pleasure

A friend and fellow crafter is accomplished at many things from sewing to paper craft to crochet but, it turns out, has never knitted. It was, therefore, quite surprising that she decided to embark on a simple yet large knitted project.

Actually, she saw was out at a craft outlet casually browsing when some large balls of multicoloured yarn with a name not too dissimilar to her own and in her favourite hues caught her eye. The label gave a pattern for a triangular shawl which required just two balls so they were purchased. At September craft club I got her started with a quick knitting lesson and she was away. Admittedly, in October she asked for a little help as something didn't seem quite right and it was whilst rectifying this glitch that I realised how much I love knitting and how much I miss it. 

Unlike crochet, which I need to be looking at and counting every stitch, knitting is something that I can generally do whilst my attention is elsewhere - chatting, watching television etc. I ended up getting rather carried away knitting my friend's shawl as I sat chatting and decided that I should probably find myself a new knitting project. But the big question is what that project should be?

I have more hot water bottle covers than I know what to do with and I opted to make my friend's new baby an appliqué blanket rather than knit anything as I know another friend has been busy knitting since the summer. As for knitting garments for myself, I tend to either not like the fit or overall look after I've invested a not inconsequential sum of money and time into producing it. I therefore either need a soft furnishing project, but with a cat in the house anything is likely to be short-lived, or to find something like the hot water bottle covers but different.

This is when I learnt that my Mum is making Twiddlemuffs for dementia patients in local hospitals and residential homes. Bear with me on this - you need to think quite traditionally here. These are open ended hand warmers (or muffs) with lots of textures on them. Apparently, dementia sufferers often have restless hands and so like to have something to keep their hands occupied. A Twiddlemuff is therefore a tactile and sensory stimulation to keep hands warm and occupied. You can read more and find a pattern here. I'm sure your local hospital or residential home will welcome any donations if you fancy making one, or many. 

If this wasn't a good enough excuse to get knitting, my friend sent me a link to this fabulous news article about a group of knitters in Kenya knitting 'knockers' for women who have had mastectomies following a breast cancer diagnosis. This is pure genius and it's great to see such a cross-section of the population getting involved and what a positive impact it's having. Long live the creativity and generosity that hobbies such as knitting can provide.