Ive been making these since 2015.

2019 made for charity shop that routinely gets enquiries for them.
2018 muff commission - Brief: colour purple; horses; sheep, flowers.
2016 muff commission completed in yellows, reds, white and orange, as a commission for someone who had worked on Spanish airlines, so I used their colours as the theme.

When I’ve knitted and embellished my muffs, I play with them. If they don’t engage me for very long, I figure they won’t engage anyone else either! Then I decide what to add to make them worthy of fiddling with. Variety of textures and activities is key.
I’ve noticed that pretty looking is important and purposeful activity is as well. I also pull at certain embellishments to ensure they are securely fastened. Some beads can be seen as sweets to dementia sufferers…
Margaret’s Mum pictured in photo with kind permission. Thank you and God Bless.

Twiddlemuffs are a fantastic idea as they provide stimulation for restless hands, as well as interest and a sense of calming, purposeful activity to those with dementia. They have been requested by several UK hospitals for use with people suffering from the awful disease. I’ve had a decade of personal experience with dementia sufferers. I intend to make some for my local nursing home(s) where they looked after my father so well when he had Alzheimer’s.

Good instructions for making TWIDDLE MUFFS HERE and also HERE

METHOD: Using 6mm, I cast on 44 sts in two strands of DK, changing colours and textures and adding a row of bobbles for 10.5 - 11.5 inches to create the outer part of the muff. Then I changed to the single colour of baby chunky wool for the inner part of the muff.
I recently spoke to a man with large hands and was astonished to realise that I would need to make a muff with 50 sts wide and 11.5” long to fit him! Ribbing the ends of the muffs will also help to make them better for larger hands.

Recommended yarn: Chunky or two strands DK of different textures and colours in washable yarns.

Embellish with beads, ribbons, buttons, plastic curtain rings, braid, pockets, flaps, fabrics, zips etc. machine washable and securely sewn on.

http://textilecreationsuk.blogspot.com/2016/09/decorating...
I have only attached sensory embellishments to the OUTSIDE of my initial Twiddlemuffs, though an elderly friend commented that there wasn’t anything sensory on the INSIDE, so I think I will amend this with future ones I make, though I would likely do this with textures of yarns and patterning rather than buttons etc. I believe putting stuff inside would mean the recipient would want to turn it inside out all the time. My mantra is comfort on the inside, activity and stimulation on the outside. I add flaps and pockets to the outside instead secured by toggles or buttons or zips.

Or to use a very soft fabric as a lining, since my experience of dementia/ Alzheimer’s sufferers is that they are drawn to soft comforting textures.

PROGRESS #1 Outer and inner parts of cuff completed, ready to be embellished and sewn together. 11.09.2015

It’s a great way to release your creativity. I have a good stash of buttons, textured yarns and embellishments to plunder, to add interest and detail to the muffs.

I found machine sewing the long edges RS together worked better for me than hand sewing.

Also purling two rows between outer and inner layers then returning to stocking stitch, creates a better fold-line.

NOTE

Sewing your embellishments to the muff before sewing up the side makes the outer layer tighter and the inner layer slacker, so bear this in mind.

STAGES OF CONSTRUCTION shown in photos.

To my recent one I’ve added:

a crocheted or knitted button-hole FLAP with a toggle button that hides old clothing labels beneath / a motif fabric.

A pearly chain that can be attached to a button.

A soft flower-like pod that can be explored inside.

Beads like an abacus that can be moved along a short length of cord.

A heart that has a crochet chain attached securely to one end and velcro underneath, so that it can be pulled off and stuck back on again.

A square of crinkly cellophane (wrapper from greetings card) for a bit of fun put between the layers of the muff.

Something with writing on.

Sometimes I sew small zips onto fabric pockets and then sew them onto the muff. Tutorials for shortening zipper HERE

One of our local hospitals didn’t want any more twiddlemuffs so I took my recent 3 to another local nursing home. They were delighted! I have branched out into Twiddle bags now. The bags also help to distract hospital patients from pulling out catheters and don’t interfere with drips on hands etc.

Cork screw twist Chain a row, approx double the length of the length of the finished cork screw, turn and work back along row 4 single crochet in each chain. Once done help the cork screw twist.
Crochet spirals: crochet 2 and 3 double crochet in each stitch and 2, 3 and 4 treble crochet in each stitch.