I loved writing Mindfulness in Knitting, because it arose directly from the people who passed through Prick Your Finger. Folk shared wisdom and were full of stories. 

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But there was an uneasy feeling about what I was selling. The feeling arose particularly when I was teaching knitting at university level. Anyone who has attempted a career in hand knitting knows that it is really hard. Not only is it very time consuming, but it makes your hands hurt. Skills take a lifetime to develop, and then someone like me comes along and writes a book claiming that knitters must be the calmest of people. Wrong. Even Writing a book about being calm while you are knitting is pretty stressful. I still love the way the Mindfulness in Knitting emerged and it has galloped out into the world.

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In 2017 I wrote the Mindlessness in Knitting for a conference 'In the loop' at Southampton University, where I shared my fears about knitting being commonly thought of as a therapy. It gave me a feeling of balance; one side of me wants to knit by the fire and the other side of me that is an activist fiercely protecting our discipline. Sadly there is no calm in that role.  Paper on request.