Twiddlemuffs (or twiddlemitts) are knitted hand-warmers that provide sensory stimulation for people living with dementia. They keep restless hands busy and soothe and comfort those who are anxious or agitated.
Knitters Wanted! A new scheme to help patients with dementia has put out an urgent call for knitters form Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital
Ashford and St. Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust serves a population of more than 410,000 people living in north Surrey.
Sensory Mats or Fidget Blankets provide a soothing and stimulating activity for people living with dementia or recovering from strokes.
These touchy-feely sensory pouches (also known as squish bags and sensory pads) are a wonderful way to explore the senses. Filled with interesting textures, sensory pouches are stimulating to look at and touch. They are also so easy to make! Making sensory pouches is a quick and inexpensive way to make an engaging and relaxing sensory activity for people living with dementia.
Eastleigh knitters show they care by knitting for dementia patients in Winchester, Basingstoke and Andover hospitals.
Sometimes, the simplest tools are the most useful: Kelly Lockyer, dementia specialist nurse at Royal Bournemouth Hospital, explains why the homely twiddlemitt is improving the lives of people with dementia
Today a friend of mine put out a plea on Facebook for sewist's to help local children receiving care in the hospital. They are looking for 'Wiggly' Bags which are used to hold the hickman lines. These can be made with even the most basic of sewing knowledge and I would really love to get some together to help out. If you think you could make one or even a few....read on! The Olivia Holmes Foundation is organising the Wiggly bag collection and is a cause close to home for us as Olivia attends the same school as my daughter. I have put together a short tutorial for the wiggly bag and for anyone wanting to know more here is a brief introduction to the charity: The Olivia Holmes Foundation is a Newton Abbot based charity set up by Olivia’s parents Nicholas and Lisa Holmes in October 2010 when Olivia received her first all clear from a childhood cancer. The foundation received charity status in January 2011. In July 2009 at the tender age of 3 and a half Olivia was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma – a rare form of bone cancer in her lower spine. Only a handful of cases are identified in the UK every year. Despite the size of the tumour Olivia managed to survive the gruelling chemotherapy, radiotherapy and operations. After living with the treatment of cancer and side effects for over a year Nicholas and Lisa decided that they wanted to use their knowledge and experience to improve the lives of other children and their families who also experience the treatment of cancer. With initial donations from family and friends they set up the Olivia Holmes Foundation as a charity to raise awareness of childhood cancer – to improve the hospital room environment, outside space and lives of those children and families affected. “With hospital treatments lasting into weeks at a time sometimes only a few days a month are good days at home making it even more important that we make the experience more of a home from home than it is now. The medical treatment is first class – we just want to improve on the surroundings that the children and their “Chemo Buddy” (The Parent/Carer/Guardian) have to stay in for long periods of time” “If we can improve the lives that these children have in hospital then we will have achieved our goal! But somehow we have accepted that the task will never be complete with the number of children being diagnosed with a childhood cancer increasing” On 21st June 2011 the foundation was awarded HSBC Devon Charity Partner of the Year, with events taking place throughout the branches in Devon. The charities collection boxes can also be found located in the branches. To make a wiggly bag you will need: Two 6" charm squares (you can use 5" charms but omit the french seam and sew a standard seam, perhaps overlocking raw edges with a zig zag stitch to prevent fraying) A 1" strip of sew on velcro Four 50cm cotton tape ties (or ribbon) Press over one edge of your charms by aprox 1/4" and repeat to enclose the raw edge. Topstitch aprox 1/8" from the folded edge. Repeat with the second charm, this time add in two of the cotton ties as you sew, each about 1" from the edge. I doubled back over the ties to give them a little added strength. Find the centre of your charm and sew on the velcro. Place the charms wrong sides together, with the remaining two cotton ties approximately 1.5" to 2" in from the top. Sew together around the 3 raw edges using a 1/8" seam. (if you are using 5" charm squares skip this step and sew them straight together right sides facing, then overlock your raw edges using a zig zag stitch, This will help stop them fraying in the wash) Turn wrong side out. Sew around same 3 sides this time using a 1/4" seam, ensuring you keep the cotton ties out of the way. Turn right side out and admire your very speedy wiggly bag! Now, go and grab some lovely bright cheerful kid friendly fabric and get making one or two or three or as many as you can! They literally only take minutes and I have 11 on the go to donate, I know those kids would be more than grateful of anything you can make. If you don't have time to make any and want to donate some charm squares or supplies I know that would be really helpful too. When you are ready let me know and I will send you my address for mailing. SO..... Onto the finish along! Well, I don't have a lot of WIP's at the moment but I know a few things that need to be on this list 1. My BQS3 mini quilt need to be finished, quilted and bound 2. My embroidery on the Frame Purse swap needs finishing and the purse making up 3. Finish and donate the Wiggly Bags 4. See if I can finish the top for the Aneela mini quilt, that is dependant on obtaining the fabric I need. 5. Choose and make up sample blocks for my month of the Modern Stitching Bee 6. Make my Mums birthday present (can't say what it is because she reads this lol!) 7. Catch up on the Zakka sew along for the weeks I missed I am sure there will be lost more that needs to be finished in the next 3 months but that is enough to keep me going!
Most commonly for use by Dementia patients, a Twiddle Muff can be very comforting and a great distraction in moments of anxiety or disorientation and can be helpful for people with all sorts of mental health or sensory conditions.
Twiddlemuffs Welcome to our Twiddlemuffs page of The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust. Here you will find everything you need to know about Twiddlemuffs - a fun way to help patients in our hospitals. But, first things first...Twiddlemuffs are simple to make and can make a
Hello friends I'm back. I've been dealing with some personal stuff and I'm starting to come through it now. I've made another twiddle muff for mum because we want to wash the one we gave her for Christmas. It's been a huge success. Sometimes she will sit for hours straightening all the bits on it. This passed weekend mum was in hospital (she collapsed at day care but is ok and back home now) and dad and I took her old muff in. The ward sister was well impressed and watched mum twiddling with it and thought it was a great idea and has asked me if I could make some for the ward. I have given this some thought and will put this to the craft club I go to as they are looking for a new charity project. The craft club is actually called Craft and Chat and is held at my local library. In Lancashire most of libraries have a craft and chat group so I'm hoping I can get some of the other groups involved. It is such a simple idea but so affective in keeping dementia patients calm and busy, it also keeps their hand and finger joints mobile. The first one I made I embroidered a little pillow and attached it to the muff but mum doesn't bother with it so I've not included it in the second one. I have however included button, beads, ribbons and lots of other bits to create interest. I have to give credit and thank you to Warrington Hospital who printed the basic knitting pattern on their website which I came across through the Alzheimer's Society. Will be back soon and look forward to reading your lovely comments Carolx
Hello friends Hope you are having a lovely day today. The sun is suppose to shine all day today, Yeah can get loads of washing dry outside. Here's the Twiddle Muff I've been making for my mum for Christmas. You can buy them over the internet but at £38 I thought they were a bit expensive and there's not a lot to twiddle. This has not cost me anything to make because everything came out of my stash. I got the basic pattern from here and then made up my own twiddles. I wanted to be visually appealing so I used lots of colour and different textures and dangly bits. My idea was that there would be too much to take in all at once so new discoveries would be made each time it was picked up. I started off embroidering a small piece of fabric with a flower and then another piece with mum on it, stitched them together to form a pocket and then added some polystyrene beads, closed the pocket and stitched it in place. I'm not that good at embroidery and I think I should have used long and short stitch. I did try it by it was very untidy so I stuck to satin stitch. I already had some crocheted flowers made up so added them. I made some felt hearts and embellished them with pretty buttons and bows then attached them to a pale green ribbon so that they would dangle and look pretty. I had more of this ribbon and decided to cut it into four strips and added some clear coloured beads. Now they can be plaited or the beads moved up and down into different positions. I've also added other dangly bits to provide visual interest as well. Twiddle Muffs are suppose to give the dementia patients something to focus on, keep their fingers mobile and keep them calm. I don't know if it will help mum in anyway as she doesn't sit down long enough. Can only try. I did enjoy making the muff as it was something different. Whilst I was doing the embroidery L was sat next to me watching and said the she would like to have a go too. I asked her if she minded waiting until I had finished my pieces and then she could have the small embroidery ring. She agreed and whilst waiting she selected a picture, traced it, enlarged it on the printer/photocopier and then transferred it onto a piece of white cotton I found for her and selected the right colour of thread (it had to be the right red) and this is the result. I used another piece of white cotton on the back to hide the stitching and trimmed off the excess. It's now ready to hang in her room with the rest of her 1Direction collection. My next project is a Harry Potter scarf for my 11 year old nephew S. Unfortunately I had to buy the yarn because I didn't have the right colours in my stash. My blanket (from my last post) goes to its new owners next weekend. I do hope they like it. Best get on now whilst the sun is still shinning. I look forward to reading your comment soon. Have a good week. Half term for us next week. Carolx
Discover 27 crochet patterns for a cause. Create pet mats and more to help both humans and animals in need.
This project is great for intermediate to advanced level sewists. Fidget mats are a great creation for kids, dementia patients, seniors, or a calming tool for restless hands.
