172: Natural Healing Show with Catherine Carrigan - Episode 172172: Natural Healing Show with Catherine Carrigan - Episode 172
UK Health Radio Podcast
Catherine Carrigan talks with Loose Ends co‑founder Macy Kaplan about how volunteers complete unfinished knitting and quilting projects for grieving families, easing loneliness and preserving emotional connections. The discussion highlights how handcrafts can calm the brain, support healing and even offer a gentle alternative to alcohol during difficult times.
46:36•3 May 2026
Knitting, Grief and Loose Ends: How Handcrafts Help Hearts Heal
Episode Overview
- Handcrafts like knitting and quilting can act as a calming alternative to alcohol during stressful and emotionally intense periods.
- Loose Ends matches unfinished textile projects from deceased or disabled crafters with skilled volunteers so families can receive the completed items.
- Receiving a finished project often feels to families like being hugged by their loved one, offering comfort and a sense of connection.
- Volunteers report feeling less lonely and highly fulfilled by finishing others’ projects, often forming ongoing friendships with recipients.
- Working with both hands can support whole-brain engagement, release oxytocin, and help people process emotions more effectively.
“I joked it was either knitting or alcohol, and I chose knitting.”
What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol? For Catherine Carrigan, part of the answer once came down to a simple choice: “It was either knitting or alcohol, and I chose knitting.” This conversation on the Natural Healing Show shines a light on how something as humble as a ball of yarn can soothe grief, calm the brain, and even help people through life’s hardest moments.
Catherine chats with guest Macy Kaplan, co‑founder of Loose Ends, a nonprofit that pairs unfinished textile projects with volunteer crafters. These are the jumpers, quilts, rugs and blankets that loved ones started before death or disability stopped them finishing. Macy explains how Loose Ends “matches volunteer handwork finishers with projects people have left undone due to death or disability,” so families can finally wear or hold the items that were originally meant for them.
You’ll hear moving stories of people receiving a completed quilt or scarf and saying it feels like being hugged by the person they’ve lost. Macy shares how over 36,000 volunteers have signed up from more than 85 countries, many describing the work as a way to feel connected, less lonely, and quietly useful. Catherine also dives into why handcrafts can be so calming for anxious or grieving brains, linking knitting and quilting to oxytocin release, whole‑brain activation and emotional processing.
She likens using your hands to expressing love through the heart, whether it’s knitting, kneading bread or cooking for family. The episode will resonate with anyone sitting on unfinished projects left by a loved one, anyone using crafts instead of a drink to get through a rough patch, or anyone simply craving a gentle reminder that small, handmade things can carry huge emotional weight. It might leave you wondering: what could your own hands create to support your healing today?
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