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May 26
Vickie Howell discovered something most people never do: the exact moment her brain went quiet. It happened when her hands were busy with yarn and needles, long before she had words for ADHD or understood why making things felt like medicine.
Vickie has spent over two decades at the forefront of the modern craft movement. She’s best known as the host of Knitty Gritty on HGTV, but her reach goes far beyond the screen. She’s written bestselling books, launched hit YouTube shows and PBS segments, and recently founded StitchWell Social Club, a membership community that connects creativity with nervous system care. At 51, when she was diagnosed with ADHD, everything came into focus—her rocky school years, the urgency behind her creative drive, and the systems she built to stay afloat in a world that didn’t always make room for brains like hers.
In this episode, Vickie and Tracy unpack the connection between fiber arts and focus, between making things and making peace with your own mind. Vickie shares how handcrafts became her regulation tool, how bullet points saved her writing life, and why crafting deserves a seat at the mental health table. They also talk about imposter syndrome, building a business around your strengths, and what it means to get a diagnosis later in life—and realize you were never actually “lazy” or “scattered,” just misunderstood.
Whether you knit or not, Vickie’s story will leave you thinking differently about how we soothe ourselves, how we process the world, and how creativity can become a powerful form of self-advocacy.
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"I’ve spent my whole life trying to fit in and yet always needing to stand out. I didn’t know that was an ADHD thing. But it hit me like a punch to the gut."
- Vickie Howell
"The moment I read, 'Your brain is wired for interest and ideas, not information,' I literally threw my hands in the air. It was the first time I saw myself clearly."
- Vickie Howell
"Now that I understand my brain, I don’t waste time fighting it. I find the tools, the apps, the trades, the workarounds, and I get support where I need it."
- Vickie Howell
"I use fiber arts as a way to connect with myself and with others. It’s not just crafting. It’s mental health support. It’s regulation. It’s community."
- Vickie Howell
"Knitting calms me the way swinging did when I was a kid. That rhythmic movement grounds me. I didn’t know it then, but that was always my therapy."
- Vickie Howell
"I used to think needing help meant I was weak. But now I know, it means I understand myself enough to work with who I actually am."
- Vickie Howell
- Vickie Howell, a 51-year-old craft industry leader, was recently diagnosed with ADHD after a childhood friend sent her a meme asking, "How's your undiagnosed ADHD going?" which initially confused her since she saw herself as accomplished and organized.
- She discovered ADHD traits like high achieving being hyperactivity and her empathic abilities, realizations that felt like "getting more naked" as she finally recognized herself in the descriptions.
- The diagnosis felt like "the rug being pulled out" since she prided herself on self-awareness, leading her friend to suggest she "mourn who you thought you were" while taking action to understand this new identity.
- Vickie recalls childhood signs including being shy but talkative, excelling in English but struggling with math, and always feeling different despite popularity—"always trying to fit in" while others saw her as "always trying to be different."
- Her ADHD manifested in her TV career through lightning-fast information processing (requiring 100% speed teleprompters) while struggling with retention, and she unknowingly created a "safe space career" working for herself.
- Discovering knitting at 28 during pregnancy became both coping mechanism and career foundation, providing human connection while managing symptoms through repetitive hand movements that calmed her restless mind.
[00:40:00 - 01:02:54] The Science of Fiber Arts and ADHD Management
- Vickie cites research showing fiber arts work as meditation for ADHD brains, providing calm while allowing focus, plus activating dopamine release that ADHD brains lack through repetitive, satisfying movements.
- Knitting engages both brain hemispheres through bilateral coordination and creates meditative states through patterns like "knit one, purl two," offering similar cognitive benefits to playing musical instruments.
- Her primary workaround has always been bullet points for everything, emphasizing that "I've been using as survival skills for ADHD, I just didn't know it until age 51."
