Twiddlemuffs for men

 Have you come across twiddlemuffs?  They are made for people with dementia, and they provide both warmth and comfort for their hands, as well as giving them something for their fingers to twiddle with, which can distract and calm them.  These are a couple of muffs that I made last year:

I volunteer with our local branch of the Alzheimer's Society, and sometimes get asked to add the twiddly bits to muffs that other people have knitted.  Thankfully the Scrapstore gives me access to lots of useful bits and pieces that can be adapted into 'twiddles', such as the toggle, buckle and webbing used in the top muff.

One of the Alzheimer's Society's support workers mentioned to me that a lot of the muffs they receive are more suitable for ladies than for men, which got me thinking.  Football scarves!  As my husband is an Everton supporter, I started with blue and white as my colours, and knitted a muff.  Then I added some twiddly bits that I though were appropriate, including a blue squeezy sponge, some chunky buttons and some textured wooden beads (they reminded me of Rawlplugs) on a thong.  There's also a leather button like the ones my dad had on his sheepskin coat, with a piece of flexible plastic tubing to hook round it.

This is how the muff looks once it is sewn up:

It is reversible:

Suitable for an Everton or Arsenal fan!  So the next one underway will be for a Chelsea or Manchester United fan.........

If you want to make a twiddlemuff, the instructions can be found here.  They are welcomed by Knit for Peace, local hospitals and charities for people with dementia.