Volunteer
Tell us about your interest in helping with Therapeutic CraftCare.
Therapeutic CraftCare
Therapeutic CraftCare brings knitting, crochet and other fiber arts to children and adults who may have limited access to instruction. Ellen Rubin developed this outreach work alongside Luv2Knit & More in Jenkintown.
Get involved
Volunteer your time, support the outreach or follow Therapeutic CraftCare's updates.
Volunteer interest form
Support the outreach
Help support Therapeutic CraftCare's teaching and outreach through our fundraising campaign.
Follow our work
See projects, people and updates from Therapeutic CraftCare.
Questions about outreach? Call the shop at 267-886-2000. For instruction at the shop, explore classes and lessons.
Our story
Ellen trained as a scientist and taught knitting and crochet in yarn shops and elementary school programs before opening Luv2Knit & More in 2017. The shop gave Therapeutic CraftCare a base of support for its volunteer work.
Ellen remembers the frustration of teaching herself to knit. She wants other learners to have support, patient instruction and room to try again. Volunteers have helped with teaching and other parts of the outreach, including learning how to teach knitting and crochet.
Community outreach
Outreach has included hospital, library and school settings. Early work brought knitting and crochet to expectant mothers on medically required bed rest and to nurses experiencing compassion fatigue. Library sessions brought people of different ages together to learn.
Teaching has also reached Boy Scouts, young people in foster care, students with emotional needs, veterans, people with cancer and children with hemiparesis at Children's Hospital.
Ellen and Toya Algarin worked with the Philadelphia School District to teach crochet to children on the autism spectrum. Their work also included after-school literacy activities and programs at the Boys and Girls Club.
Other efforts have included handmade items for neonatal intensive care units, craft baskets for local organizations and supplies shared with facilities. Contact us to ask about current outreach or ways to help.
Organizations we have worked with
Our outreach has brought fiber arts into hospitals, libraries, schools and community programs.
Making and wellbeing
Researchers have explored how crafts relate to wellbeing. These studies offer useful perspectives, with different methods and limits. Ellen's story offers a closer look at the work behind Therapeutic CraftCare.
Knitting and wellbeing (2013)
An international survey of 3,545 knitters explored personal and social wellbeing. Participants reported benefits, but this self-selected survey was not a clinical trial and cannot establish cause and effect.
Arts, crafts and everyday wellbeing (2024)
A population study found associations with happiness, life satisfaction and feeling that life is worthwhile. It did not establish cause and effect or find an additional association with reduced anxiety or loneliness after accounting for other factors.
What craft-intervention studies tell us (2025)
A review of 19 studies found encouraging short-term results. Methods and study quality varied, and longer-term benefits remain uncertain. These findings do not establish the effectiveness of a particular community program.
Meet Ellen: Drexel's profile (2022)
Drexel shares Ellen's path from science to the yarn shop and her community outreach. This is a founder profile, rather than a research study.