Hi, my name is Natasha, I live in Bristol, I am married and have two children.  My eldest is a teenager and is busying herself with education and exams as we speak. My youngest is a toddler and like her mother always has her nose in a book.

How I got into knitting is a bit of a dark tale I am afraid, but it does have a happy ending.  Almost 10 years ago I went through a bit of a hard time, I won’t go into detail but it was tough and I had to fight for everything I had and to keep a roof over our heads.  Things started to get easier, I worked hard, my daughter was doing well at school, we lived in a nice house and I even met my prince charming. I had made it through to the other side!

Then when everything should have been good, my body gave up on me, it had fought and fought and fought and needed to take a break.  I suffered from RSI and chronic back pain. I started to feel anxious and felt like I had a lump in my throat which then led to panic attacks.  I went to the doctors, given medication and sent for a scan on my throat which came back all clear.

Now this lump in my throat is a funny old thing it’s called Globus Pharyngitis, it wasn’t dangerous, it didn’t hurt and in fact, wasn’t even there but I could not stop thinking about it and it became a massive issue in my life it turned into an obsessive-compulsive disorder and I thought about the lump every time I swallowed. You swallow a lot in one day and it drove me insane. 

I did not get along with taking the medication but I did become proactive about getting better. I went to a chiropractor for my RSI and back pain. Started yoga and exercising.  I went to a therapist for my anxiety and read everything I could to get my panic attacks under control.  But I could not shift this lump or stop thinking about swallowing.  

I came across an article about knitting helping with anxiety and different mental health issues, and as I was trying anything to get me better, I thought why not?  I had once knitted a hot water bottle cover when I was 11 under the watchful eye of my Grandmother but had not picked up a pair of needles since. 

Well, I didn’t need much to start a basic scarf and so my knitting adventure began.  As I sat there counting the stitches, trying to decipher the new language and get my head around how to pick up that stitch I just dropped I realised I wasn’t concentrating on my throat anymore.  Now I am not saying knitting was a miracle cure.  I still have setbacks when I am stressed but it certainly was a distraction, it slowed everything down and became something I did to relax and enjoy.

How Imagine a Hat came about is a much nicer story.  I love books, all books and one of the pleasures of having two children with a big age gap is that I have been able to revisit all my favourite books from my childhood, twice!  Also the thrill of reading new children’s books and them being equally as good as the books I read as a youngster is amazing.  Books and the characters in them are part of our family life.  When we walk the dogs, we imagine We’re Going on a Bear Hunt or will we bump into The Gruffalo today?  When we jump in muddy puddles we sing Pete the Cat’s “I love my brown shoes”. When we sit down for dinner and there is a knock at the door, is it The Tiger Who Came to Tea?

My bookworm toddler’s birthday falls on Christmas Day and this year I wanted to make her something personal. Since she was born I have made her blankets, jumpers and hats but I wanted this to be especially for her, something original from me.  I decided to have a go at making her a hat for dressing up as one of her favourite book characters, something either of us could wear when reading or acting out the story together.  I thought the first one was a success so I made another character from the book, then another and another.  I started to think about how many stories each hat could portray.  It would only take a slight colour change to go from Spot the Dog to Clifford.  The Fox from the Gruffalo could be Fantastic Mr Fox or Fox in Socks. My imagination for the designs and matching them with our favourite stories went on an adventure, it all went a bit wool crazy and Imagine a Hat became a reality.

Just a few quick thank you’s…

To Kaia for being my inspiration, to Sian for her patience and support, to Luke for backing me all the way and creating the music for my videos, to my brother Piers, he also created my music and my website design, to my sister Vikki who did all my logo’s and graphic design and to Mum for teaching me to read in the first place. It really has been a family lockdown project ♥