Content uploaded by Angela Maddock
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Angela Maddock on Sep 02, 2015
Content may be subject to copyright.
A preview of the PDF is not available
Knitting and Well-being
Abstract and Figures
More encompassing than just the facts and figures of physical health, well-being is often used to acknowledge how we feel. The World Health Organization has defined well-being as “an ability to realize personal potential, cope with daily stresses, and contribute productively to society.” This article explores the varied ways knitting can contribute to our well-being. It brings together the authors’ individual presentations from the well-being panel at the 2012 conference “In the Loop 3: The Voices of Knitting,” now reconfigured and reordered as a coauthored paper. Opening the paper are facts and figures—the very evidence of what many of us have felt or intuited—established by Betsan Corkhill and Jill Riley in their joint contribution on the therapeutic benefits of knitting. Angela Maddock then follows, not with the stuff of scientific reason, but with its exact opposite: the symbolic contribution which knitting that is disrupted or troubled can signal in a narrative. My interest in the difficult identity of solitary knitting in literature, and the need to take stock of the current infatuation academic research holds for collaboration, now acts as the final contribution to this dialogue. The outcome is eclectic, the voices varied; but so too are the many ways to consider the contribution knitting can make to our well-being today.
Figures - uploaded by Angela Maddock
Author content
All figure content in this area was uploaded by Angela Maddock
Content may be subject to copyright.
... It is an activity that is easy to learn in the early stages and can become complex at leisure. Knitting involves movements that require both hands, are rhythmic, repetitive and can become automatic with expertise (Corkhill et al., 2014). In a psychological perspective, knitting possess two properties of interest. ...
... Studies in children reported an impact of knitting practice on the involvement, the concentration and the attentional capacities of students (Beloshistaya and Zhukova, 2008). In addition, within the field of the knitting activity, some authors claimed for a likeness between attentional focused meditation (AF meditation)-which is a type of meditation that consists of intense, purposeful concentration on an object of attention such as one's own breathing-and knitting practice in non-expert as knitting is a manual activity that requires sustained concentration and fine motor skills in a calm group setting in the sense that it entails mastering a sequence of precise gestures and maintaining attention over a period of time (Corkhill et al., 2014). The repetitive nature of knitting is thought to "create a space for contemplation" and bring about a "state of enhanced calm" (Turney, 2009, p. 152; see also, Riley et al., 2013;Alhers and Thomas, 2019). ...
... The purpose of this research was to examine the effects of knitting on the cognitive sphere of school-age children. Considering together the likeness of knitting practice with AF meditation (Turney, 2009;Riley et al., 2013;Corkhill et al., 2014;Alhers and Thomas, 2019) and the influence of AF meditation on EF (Moore and Malinowski, 2009;Thurman and Torsney, 2014;Gallant, 2016;Kiani et al., 2017;Luu and Hall, 2017;Cásedas et al., 2019), two experiments were designed to test the assumption that knitting practice could optimized executive functions such as inhibition. Experiment 1 assessed the impact of an acute knitting bout on the pupils' motor cool inhibition abilities using a cool stop-signal task, while Experiment 2 examined its influence using both a cool and a hot stop-signal tasks. ...
Across two experiments, the presented research explored the impact of a knitting bout on elementary school pupils’ inhibition abilities. They proposed an accurate measure of the pupils’ inhibition abilities through the use of a stop-signal paradigm. In order to take into account, the differentiation between cool and hot inhibitions abilities, the emotional content of the stimuli was manipulated across experiments. Neutral materials were used in Experiment 1 when emotionally charged materials were in Experiment 2. The findings of both experiments highlighted a beneficial impact of the knitting bout on children’s inhibition abilities. While the results of Experiment 1 showed an optimization of inhibition abilities for the knitting session group in comparison to the control group, Experiment 2 revealed a disappearance of the effect of the emotional content on these abilities as well. Proposals as to why EF could be sensitive to knitting practice are discussed.
... Such yarn crafts as knitting and crochet are popular leisure activities that are often being promoted by social interaction (Liddle, Parkinson & Sibbritt, 2013;Rusiñol-Rodriguez, Rodriguez-Bailón, Ramon-Aribau, Torra & Miralles, 2022;Sjöberg & Porko-Hudd, 2019) and motivations are entwined with a sense of satisfaction, relaxation and wellbeing gained from the process of making (Corkhill, Hemmings, Maddock & Riley, 2014;Johnson & Wilson, 2005;Kenning, 2015;Pöllänen, 2015;Stannard & Sanders, 2015). Indeed, yarn crafts form a meaningful leisure activity for many makers today (Brooks, Ta, Townsend & Backman, 2019;Myllys, 2020). ...
This study investigates student craft teachers’ motivational issues within the course frameworks covering yarn crafts. The data consist of materials gathered from two bachelor-level university courses, which both utilized flipped learning as their pedagogy framework for learning and teaching crafts. Advanced-level student craft teachers participating in the courses (N=15+4) set their own learning objectives to reflect the general course targets defined by the course curriculum. The objectives, self-assessments, course work and course-end surveys were acquired as research data and analysed by thematical qualitative analysis, to obtain knowledge of extrinsic and intrinsic motivations. In line with Self-Determination Theory used as a theoretical framework of the study, the results suggest that possibilities to finetune course objectives to meet students' personal skills and resources were considered crucial for study motivation. Craft learning embraced realization of one’s effort, inner potential and values, resulting in student satisfaction about receiving personalized attention and instructions for their own study projects. Hence, the results enhance a more detailed understanding of student diversity and related motivational issues that can promote the equity of education.
... When they encounter problems, they are prone to high tension and low self-esteem, then they find it difficult to regain confidence from other sources. However, postgraduate medical students with more increased subjective well-being are more willing to pursue professional study and clinical practice challenges, more creative, and wiser in solving difficulties (Corkhill et al., 2014). They will also have higher efficiency and productivity in their studies, and therefore they will feel less anxious (Schmidt & Hansson, 2018). ...
Purpose
This research aims to develop a Nomogram for exact anxiety symptoms prediction in postgraduate medical students so that they may be identified as high-risk individuals early and get focused care.
Methods
Using a convenient sampling method, for case-control matching, 126 participants with anxiety symptoms and 774 participants of the same age and gender but without anxiety symptoms were designated as the case group and control group, respectively. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was utilized to identify influencing factors for anxiety symptoms, then used to design and verify a Nomogram of anxiety symptoms.
Results
Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that lack of social support (OR= 0.95, 95%CI: 0.91–0.99), low life satisfaction (OR= 0.91, 95%CI: 0.86–0.95), low subjective well-being (OR= 0.58, 95%CI: 0.41–0.83) and frequent tobacco and alcohol use (OR= 1.75, 95%CI: 1.10–2.80) were independent predictors of anxiety symptoms in postgraduate medical students (P< 0.05). Nomogram risk prediction model based on the above four independent prediction factors was established, And the verified C-index (Concordance index) is 0.787 (95%CI: 0.744–0.803, P< 0.001).
Conclusions
Anxiety symptoms in postgraduate medical students are influenced by various variables. The Nomogram prediction model has high accuracy, validity, and reliability, which can provide reference for predicting anxiety symptoms in postgraduate medical students.
... They have diverse individual profiles but one thing that they do have in common, beyond their desire to knit, is that they were both drawn to it as a way to improve their mental health. The understanding that knitting is beneficial to well-being and the management of mental health is not new (Corkhill 2014;Corkhill et al. 2014;Lydon 1998;Manning 2004;Matthews 2020;Murphy 2002), but the public exposure of it is, particularly when it comes from a "national treasure" and the exposure is in front of over 3 billion people. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) website states that independent research, conducted on their behalf, 10 Freddie Robins reported that the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics reached a global audience of 3.05 billion people. ...
Subversion is at the heart of my knitting practice but how can the stereotypical image of the knitter, the kindly white-haired, white-skinned grandmother who knits out of love, be successfully subverted to change public perceptions of knitting? What will it take to challenge and ultimately change the stereotype? This article examines contemporary media representations of knitting and knitters from the UK, USA and Australia, revealing how deep-rooted the stereotype is. The media representations explore issues around activism, mental health, race, gender, age and sexuality as portrayed through acts of knitting. From the environmental activists known as Knitting Nannas, to artist Jameisha Prescod’s, self-portrait, Untangling, of her knitting to manage her mental health during England’s national lockdown, and gold medalist diver and campaigner for LGBT + rights, Tom Daley, knitting poolside during the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics in an attempt to relax and steady his nerves. It explores how the stereotypical view of knitters and knitting affects the way that it is received and valued, and challenges the supposedly “warm and friendly” nature of knitting, presenting the lack of diversity and representation that currently exists in the knitting community.
... (2017,124) Traditionally "hidden" experiences associated with the personal and domestic are important aspects of meaning-making through knitting. This includes the challenging emotions and sensations it can elicit, such as frustration, pain or isolation, and the positives experienced by knitters working individually rather than in the knitting groups widely recognized as beneficial (Mayne 2016;Corkhill et al. 2014). For Saito, "bringing background to the foreground through paying attention" (2017, 24) has significant, "worldmaking" implications (changing attitudes to environmental issues, for example). ...
Knitting has long established meanings in everyday life. As popular and academic interest in yarncraft has surged, these meanings are being re-made. Recent times have also seen a proliferation of ways to make and share meanings, and recognition of the interaction of modes and materials, and affective and aesthetic engagements involved. This article draws on interdisciplinary approaches to meaning-making to present three strands, each offering a different way of looking at the relationship between knitting and meaning-making in contemporary everyday lives. The first explores the deep-rooted connections between knitting and meaning-making activities conventionally understood as literacy. The second strand draws on Ingold’s taxonomy of lines to explore knitting as correspondence between maker and the material world. The third draws on Saito’s work on everyday aesthetics to examine how long-established meanings of knitting, in particular its associations with the “ordinary,” are entwined with newer meanings across the private and public faces of contemporary knitting practice. Entwined together, these strands demonstrate that knitting is a powerful metaphor for exploring everyday meaning-making. In addition, and significant to the recognition of previously undervalued voices and experiences, this also (re)opens ways of understanding the value of knitting as a meaning-making practice in its own right.
... Brooks y colaboradores afirman que tejer en grupo ayuda a establecer una conexión con la comunidad, fomentando sentimientos de inclusión y creando oportunidades para que los artesanos y artesanas experimentados compartan conocimientos junto con personas tejedoras con diversas habilidades (14) . Aprender y enseñar técnicas de tejido se convierte entonces, en una de las razones principales de tejer en grupo (15) . ...
... As we have seen, the literature in Section 3.2 seeking to convey that handicraft production is inherently socially valuable as a result of certain qualities that make the process enjoyable generally evaluates handicraft production in a significantly different context. Some of these studies convey the social value of handicraft production when it is undertaken as a leisure activity by economically secure individuals in developed economies (Corkhill et al., 2015;Kenning, 2015). Similarly, those commentators who seek to convey the social value of their own handicraft employment operate in developed, Western economies and presumably possess the material assets to attain a satisfactory quality of life and autonomy (Crawford, 2009;Korn, 2015;Lee, 2015). ...
In this research project I explore the relationship between luxury and social value in response to a growing argument, in both academic and marketing discourse, that luxury production can create social value, particularly in increasing the well-being of individuals and communities. Proponents of this position argue that certain common qualities of luxury production create social value, particularly in contrast to the mass manufacture of low-cost and -quality commodities that fulfil the same utilitarian purpose. I hone in on one particular facet of this argument, that as luxury production frequently involves handicraft technique, it creates social value for the producer as an enjoyable process. However this line of argument lacks empirical grounding and critical engagement with the complexity of social value creation. In order to explore the potential for luxury production involving handicraft technique to create social value, I undertook an in-depth, mixed methodology case study of Barefoot, a handloom weaving social enterprise in Sri Lanka. A prestigious brand name in Sri Lanka, Barefoot produces luxury commodities for the local market alongside a significant export market. In operating as a social enterprise, the company primarily intends to create social value in improving the well-being of employees, many of whom are women in rural Sri Lankan communities. Barefoot was selected as an appropriate case study for this thesis due to the fact that it purposefully utilises and has retained handicraft production for this purpose. The data set confirms that luxury production at Barefoot improves the wellbeing of employees, and thus creates social value, in two crucial ways: firstly, as a means of nurturing economic security that can subsequently improve well-being; and, secondly, in utilising handicraft production to ensure that the process of labour is enjoyable. However, the data set also demonstrates the importance of Barefoot’s commitment to operate as a social enterprise, in that if Barefoot were not operating in this way, its potential to create social value would be significantly reduced. In light of these findings, I propose the term ‘precious’, rather than luxurious, as a potential way to conceptualise the product of social enterprise in the luxury sector. This concept is intended to differentiate the product of instances of purpose-driven luxury production, such as Barefoot, from traditional profit-driven activity that may unintentionally create social value in ultimately marginal ways.
This article highlights well-being outcomes reported by participants in three social design projects where making has featured as a community engagement and research tool. The spaces created through the projects are framed as makerspaces, a well-documented model of physical locations designed purposefully to support people making and mending together, often in a community setting. Using reflections from the perspectives of two practitioner researchers on co-designing, making and using these spaces, the article is part of ongoing research on developing ideas about well-being and making. We call these spaces well-maker-spaces. The aim of this article is to expand understanding of how makerspaces as a social design tool benefit participants and communities. Drawing on evidence generated through art-based research of ways that making with others contributes to well-being, we propose that makerspaces in social design projects can proactively support well-being alongside other social and environmental outcomes.
This article is a review of the Active relationships II project and the exhibition I am not alone, supported by the International Centre of Graphic Arts (MGLC) from Slovenia. The exhibition event was the culmination of a three-year project focusing on the well-being and integration of migrant women. Oloop Design was using textile art and design as a means of personal and collective empowerment in the project. It has discovered the value of making embroidered self-portraits as a meditative, self-explorative, recovering and reflective activity. The exhibition I Am Not Alone featured 36 embroidered portraits and demonstrated the positive impact of textile design on the well-being and quality of life of the immigrant women.
In the latter years of the twentieth century, the social relevance of the leisure field diminished as consumption and individualism came to dominate leisure and recreation research and praxis across modern democratic nations. A consequence of this focus in leisure studies has been a neglect of community and the common good. Now, at the commencement of the twenty-first century, three interrelated crises become increasingly apparent - the crisis of identity or self, a social crisis, and a political crisis. If leisure studies is to contribute to an attempt to address these crises and rebuild community, how might this happen without returning to the norms, duties and traditional structures that have oppressed and marginalized citizens? In this paper the notion of social capital is used to examine community structures and their potential contribution to social cohesion, trust, mutuality, co-operation and openness. The challenge is to develop a concept of community that can provide spaces for the social self and civic engagement to emerge. The paper explores the role of leisure practices in this pursuit. Central to the discussion is Borgmann's notion of focal practices - those pursuits which bring an engagement of mind and body and a centring power - and the way in which such practices create shared meaning and communities of celebration. Participation in communities of celebration entails people coming together in sports, festivals, hobbies, volunteering, and the arts, and finding in these leisure activities common and public goods. This communitarian conceptualization of leisure stands in stark contrast to the privatization of leisure that has become commonplace in recent decades.
Introduction
There is increasing evidence that engaging in creative and meaningful occupation can impact positively on health and wellbeing. Much of the research in this area has concentrated on general occupational categories and less is known about the benefits of specific occupations. This study aimed to identify the benefits of knitting for individuals' personal and social wellbeing as a prerequisite to investigating its therapeutic use.
Method
An online survey was conducted through an internet knitting site. Responses were received from 3,545 knitters worldwide. Quantitative data were analysed statistically to establish relationships and differences among variables and qualitative data for key themes.
Results
Respondents came from a virtual community of knitters. The majority were female white adults and frequent knitters, who commonly reported knitting for relaxation, stress relief and creativity. The results show a significant relationship between knitting frequency and feeling calm and happy. More frequent knitters also reported higher cognitive functioning. Knitting in a group impacted significantly on perceived happiness, improved social contact and communication with others.
Conclusion
Knitting has significant psychological and social benefits, which can contribute to wellbeing and quality of life. As a skilled and creative occupation, it has therapeutic potential — an area requiring further research.
This chapter covers key elements of the fashion process from the initial inspiration to the final product. It explains what influences fashion, the means by which that happens, the role of the consumer and the retailer in the fashion cycle and how new fashion is disseminated. The role of fashion designers in creating new fashion is considered, as is the impact of global issues such as sustainability and ethics. The impact of new technology on the fashion system is considered in the context of design and e-commerce. The case studies explore different fashion perspectives and how the impact of e-tailers is changing the fashion retail landscape.
We discuss the emergence of a new craft movement known as Stitch'nBitch. Prevalent around the globe, particularly among women, this movement is based locally in places such as hotels and cafes, and virtually using the internet. The women meet to knit, stitch and talk. The groups use new technologies as an enabler and resource exchange. At the same time, their presence can be seen, in part, as a negative response to major political, social and technological changes including globalization, terrorism, damage to the environment and the dislocation of the Information Society. We introduce five themes to assist in the development of a research agenda into this new form of material culture, discussing (1) remedial, (2) progressive, (3) resistance, (4) nostalgic and (5) ironic possibilities. Each is considered in terms of their respective foci on community, cyberfeminism, craft, conservation and comment.