Last Saturday was the annual conference of the Heritage Crafts Association and the theme was wellbeing. I was there as a Trustee to help launch the new iteration of the Red List of Heritage Crafts and had the pleasure of chatting on stage with woodworker EJ Osborne, artist Rachael Matthews and Doctor Will Beherall.
Although most crafters don’t need convincing about the benefits of craft, there are other people that do need a little persuasion. The best way to do this is with evidence and rigour, so that craft is taken seriously and not just dismissed as something warm and fuzzy.
It’s my intention to keep an updated list of links to information so that you can find it for yourself, and below you’ll find my first stab at this. Go forth and use this information to influence funders, councils and anyone else who’s asking for it, and let me know how you get on.

Craft and Wellbeing, Crafts Council, 2011
Creative Health, APPG on Arts Health and Wellbeing, July 2017
The Mindfulness in Knitting, Rachael Matthews
Knitting for Health and Wellness: Knit yourself a flexible mind, Betsan Corkhill
Stitchlinks, research on knitting and pain relief, Betsan Corkhill
Flow: The Psychology of Happiness Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi 1992
Practically Minded: The Benefits and Mechanisms Associated with a Craft-Based Curriculum,
Dr. Aric Sigman, Ruskin Mill Educational Trust, 2008
Creative and Cultural activities and Wellbeing in Later Life, April 2018, Age UK
The Case for Working with Your Hands: Or Why Office Work is Bad for Us and Fixing Things
Feels Good, Matthew Crawford, 2010
Making is Connecting: The Social Meaning of Creativity, from DIY and Knitting to YouTube
and Web 2.0, David Gauntlett, 2011

Effects of creativity on social and behavioral adjustment in 7- to 11-year-old children, Daisy Fancourt and Andrew Steptoe
The relationship between quilting and wellbeing, Emily L. Burt, Jacqueline Atkinson

Let me know if you have found some information that may be useful and I’ll put it here too.

There’s always so much to think about at this time of year. Autumn is so busy, then before you know it Christmas is approaching. If this sounds familiar, why not book onto a course or workshop for the New Year to give yourself something to look forward to? Some people join the gym, I prefer to learn or improve a skill.

There are two evenings of learning to Knit at the lovely Prema Arts in Uley 23 Jan with a follow up on 24 Feb. We’ll be starting from scratch, with all the materials you need. It’s not on the website yet, but you can book the old fashioned way. Tel: 01453 860703   hello@prema.org.uk

Then we have a five-week crochet course at Victoria Works, which I love as it’s so close to home for me, right next-door to the Lavender Bakehouse (I can recommend the Lemon drizzle cake…). The course is every Friday morning from 1 Feb to 1 March. Book here

Our next crochet course will be at Victoria Works, the old Chalford Chair factory in an idyllic spot alongside the Frome in the Golden Valley on the road between Cirencester and Stroud. On one side is the Pangolin foundry, famous for casting the bronzes of  local sculptor Lynn Chadwick, and on the other the Lavender Bakehouse (so something for everyone).

We’ll be working at the speed of the participants, so come to learn from scratch, top up your skills or work out a tricky pattern and we’ll all be learning new stitches, chatting and, of course, making some new friends. Come and join us.

The throw that I designed for Hachette’s Big and Little Crochet has been accompanied by videos for each hexagon. Hachette are cutting costs and decided to stop the films, so I’m posting them here and on The Crafter channel on Youtube. Enjoy.

 

Macramé is having a moment, and it’s not hard to see why, with the fashion for house plants and greenery in the home.
There are two workshops coming up, 12 May in Cirencester and July at Victoria Works in Chalford, where you can make your own plant holder. No experience is necessary and you can make the whole thing in half a day.

More details on the workshop page