Health

A warm, fuzzy therapy

Using knitting to heal, one stitch at a time

January 20, 2022
Ellen is teaching knitting to a volunteer in her shop
Ellen Rubin, the owner of Luv2Knit & More, a yarn shop in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, discovered the healing power of knitting when her best friend had cancer. Since then, she has been teaching knitting to help people heal. [Photo by Huanjia Zhang]

Ellen Rubin discovered the healing power of knitting when she taught her dear friend Sheryl, who had cancer, to knit through the stress that came with her cancer treatments. Since then, she has taught hundreds of people to knit as a therapy. And the woolly fibers have comforted Rubin and many others through difficult times in their lives.

A former immunology researcher, Rubin traded her pipettes for yarn needles almost five years ago and opened her own yarn shop in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania called Luv2Knit & More. Her cozy knitting store has become a sanctuary for people to bond, to comfort, and (like the store name suggests) to become more of a community ever since – all over knitting, one stitch after another. 

Join Scienceline reporter Huanjia Zhang as he visits Rubin in her store. 

Music: Music For Youtube Videos

About the Author

Huanjia Zhang

Huanjia Zhang is a science journalist and a new Baltimorean. He loves writing about agriculture, food and people. He also loves making dumplings from scratch.

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