One of the main principles of my life is “Always Be Making Something.”
As someone who has always been crafty, my need to make things with my hands has been at different times a hobby, a pastime, an avocation, a diversion, a distraction and, once, a lifesaver.
Over the years, the crafts that have engaged my time and attention have changed, and have included paper crafts, bookbinding, rubber stamping, stamp carving, art journaling, drawing, painting, polymer clay, felting, plaster painting, jewelry making, beading, chainmaille jewelry, candle making — if there’s an aisle in Michael’s I’ve probably tried it (or will!). Toss in a few digital art forms and photography, too.
But by far the most enduring of my crafting pursuits has been in the world of fiber crafts, particularly crochet, a knotty little hobby with so much room for variety and inventiveness that it’s hard to imagine ever getting tired of it.
Which is a long introduction to saying that I’ve added some crochet patterns to the project section of my website.
I first learned to crochet when I was in college, and dabbled with it off and on ever since, whenever one of my other craft flings lost its glamour. I’m not kidding when I say that it saved my life, though. There was a time about twelve years ago when my ability to write creatively ebbed away almost entirely, leaving me stranded on a bleak shore with no sign of ever rediscovering what had always been the driving passion of my life. I won’t go into the reasons for my depression, but I remember the sense of desperation when I stopped by a Jo-Ann [efn-note]RIP[/efn-note] on my way home from my depressing job. I didn’t even know what I was looking for that night, but when my fingers clutched a couple colorful skeins of yarn, I knew I had found it.
I hooked non-stop after that—if I hadn’t deleted my Instagram account, you could see for yourself how much it dominated my life for a few years. There was even a short while when I considered trying to sell my work or becoming a pattern designer, but the financial outlook didn’t look promising for either.
Fortunately, the tide of creative writing came back in, and my obsession with crochet has ebbed into the background once again. It’s actually been close to a year since I picked up a hook and yarn. Last month, after a couple of years of not updating, I let the domain registration on my dedicated crochet website lapse. However, I figured that the patterns I managed to draft in those years were still worth sharing here. My favorites are the two dice pouches—not just for the patterns, but for the sales copy that I wrote to accompany them (when I was going to sell the patterns).
Even if you don’t crochet, you should check these out for yourself:
While you’re there, you can peruse some of my other collected craft-passions on the Projects page, including my (failed) 365 day photo challenge, some digital artwork I’ve made and also my nascent musical adventure.
I always presume that most people reading this are mainly writers and editors like myself, but I’m curious if you also have crafty hobbies to engage your creativity in a more physical way. Let me know in the comments!