Alice O'Connell

This is Making Stitches and this time we're hearing from Alice O'Connell, a former TV and theatre actor turned knitting teacher who's passionate about sharing the joy of knitting.

I

always say to people, you're in this sort of conspiracy now that a lot of us knitters, we really, I would argue that we really enjoy the fact that non-knitters think we're magicians or you know very skilled but actually it's pretty simple it's pretty straightforward um due to the repetitive nature of it and um i always say to them you know when you get people who say oh my god i can't believe you're you're knitting please don't say it's really easy just smile and nod you know keep the rest of us the rest of us who maybe don't have anything else going for us you know keep that air of mystery and magic

hello and welcome to making stitches podcast i'm lindsay i'm a lifelong crafter and i love chatting to other people about their creative passions making stitches allows me to record those conversations and share them with you my guest this time is alice o'connell an anglo-irish former tv and theater actor who now teaches people how to knit from her home in Amsterdam.

In our chat, we spoke about the importance of knitting to Alice at various points in the past few years, from giving her a bit of me time while she was adjusting to becoming a new mum, and the mental health benefits knitting gave her while she underwent successful treatment for breast cancer a couple of years ago.

Alice is a huge advocate for the benefits of creativity and knitting in particular and takes a real pride in giving people the tools to go off on their own knitting adventures.

It's Denise Ackert, and I love coming on here and sharing different ideas to help you lower your stress.

And today's guest is the wonderful Alice O'Connell, a former British TV and theater actress who picked up knitting on the sets of shows like Doctor Who, and later built it into a worldwide teaching practice called Learn to Knit.

Through career changes, motherhood far from home, and breast cancer treatment in 2024, knitting has been her steady place to land.

Today she's here to share how one simple stitch at a time can calm an overwhelmed mind and a racing nervous system.