How Crafting Has Helped Me

Crafting has helped me in many ways over the years, and will continue to help me in the years to come.

Mentally, crafting has been a great benefit in my life. I suffer, as many do, with anxiety. I do not like to sit still and have a hard time waiting in line, or at a doctor's office, because my mind is focused on the rest of the things I need to accomplish that day. I find myself getting agitated when I have long wait times for anything. Instead of it manifesting in anger and frustration, I channel it into something productive.

You can see me sitting in waiting rooms knitting. Many doctors end up being overbooked or running behind. Instead of me sitting in the waiting room, or exam room, messing with my phone. I am knitting or writing to be productive. I am accomplishing something where most people are playing on their phones or sitting complaining about the wait. I am more relaxed as a result which helps me mentally as well as physically by keeping my blood pressure and pulse rate down.

I knit or make lists while I am waiting for my children to get out of school or while they are playing on the playground after school. Again, I do not like to waste time, so again, I am doing something productive while handling my daily duties as a parent. I am not watching YouTube or playing some game on my phone. I am watching my kids and being productive. This again helps me to relax and be less anxious because something is being accomplished.

Knitting and crochet also helps with finger dexterity, muscle memory, mental awareness, pattern recognition, and problem solving. I believe this will be helpful in the future to possibly prevent Alzheimer's, and prevent arthritis.

Now these crafts often lead to a sedentary lifestyle because you tend to sit while crafting. This goes for knitting, crochet, cross stitch, beading, painting, drawing, and so on. But if you use craft time as a reward for activity, it helps to get you moving around. When I am at home, I use my craft time as a reward for many things. I won't knit until I have done (x) loads of dishes or I have to load the washer and dryer before I can crochet 5 rows. I will sit to make a set of stitch markers after cooking dinner, or make an earring after exercising/stretching for 10 minutes. And before I start the next project, I have to do some other chore on my list before I can do it. That has been beneficial to my physical health as well.

I feel that making crafts, whether it is designing or following a pattern, makes me a healthier person mentally and physically while making beautiful items to sell or for my family. I am a part of the online crafting communities in which I am one of many, but outside of that community it feels like knitting, crochet, embroidery and other crafts are no longer something people care about. I have heard too many times, "I don't have the patience to do that", or "I just don't have time to do that" but in the same breath don't want to pay what the item costs the artisan to create because they can buy something at a chain store.

I would suggest of you are someone who suffers from anxiety, tachycardia, high-blood pressure, or you find that you are often easily angered, you try to find a craft that you would like to learn and  practice. See if you have the same type of outcome as I have had in reduction of anxiety and rapid heart rate. This is all my own personal experience, you may or may not have the same outcome, but really, it wouldn't hurt to give it a try. Who knows, you may just find a hobby you really like.

My Crafting Story

Penny's Crafting Story 

(Getting To Know You Series)

     I have been involved in arts and crafts as long as I can remember. When I was younger, my mother's job was to teach crafts and sell kits and crafting accessories for a business. The concept was to find someone to host a party and then a representative would come and basically teach a class to the party and have a catalog and samples and take order for kits, frames, and other crafting accessories. It was just a normal thing for me and it would amaze me when I would tell people what my mother did for a living and they had no idea what crafting was all about.

     So I guess you could say that crafting, to me, was a job and earned my mother money and she got to go to parties at peoples houses. She also developed great friendships with people she met doing this job and over 30 years later, she is still friends with some and some unfortunately have passed on.

     As I got older, I wanted to do what my mother was doing. And she was more than happy to teach me. I was taught to cross stitch and to do latch hook rugs. I am not sure how old I was, but I don't remember a time that I could not do these things. Now remember, I was a child so my attention span was not the greatest and I am sure there were quite a few projects started, but never finished. I learned embroidery and to stitch on plastic canvas with bright and beautiful colors of yarn. I enjoyed it while I was working on it, but I still kinda felt like crafts was a job, so I would lose interest.

     As a teen, I was more involved in band, I played sports, and I was a cheerleader for my school. At 16, I was employed while going to school full time and trying to stay active in after school activities. So there were quite a few years that I did not craft at all. By this time, the business my mother worked for went bankrupt and closed down and she went to work at a local retail establishment. She would come home from work and then would sit and cross stitch, crochet, knit, or do embroidery projects. She was interested in all of it. I was confused to say the least.

     Now, I do not remember how old I was when I learned how to knit, but I know I was younger. When I was pregnant for my son, I wanted to be able to make him things, like blankets. I could only knit flat projects. I began knitting again, kinda. Then I had an adorable little baby and then I was expecting again. My 3 oldest children are all 2 years apart. So between babies and work, there was not a whole lot of time for crafts, but I dabbled when I could  Now, this was a time when the internet did not exist and being left handed, some crafts were harder to learn than others, and I did not feel like I had time to expand what I could do.

     I went to college in my mid-20s with 3 kids under the age of 10 and my mind was blown by the internet. Because of my situation with working, college full time, and 3 children, I still did not, "have time" to craft.

     I began to look into knitting patterns online because I had a good grasp on researching on the internet. I found some great sites that offered free patterns. I found out about knitting in the round, and that you could knit socks and hats without having to seam, now there was a whole new world opened to me. And it was over, I was addicted.

     I am left handed and couldn't crochet, as much as I wanted to. My mom tried every method of trying to teach me and it frustrated her and me way too much. I found a dvd at a craft store that taught you how to crochet, but again it was right handed, and YouTube was not what it is today. I took my time in silence reversing everything she did and I am surprised that I did not melt down the disc with all of the stopping and rewinding I did. But I finally got it. So now I had another craft under my belt.

     Now there was a a lot more going on, but know that I can do quite a few crafts including beading and sewing by hand and by using a machine. I can read many patterns and people look at them and think I am reading another language. Well it kinda is. But if you take a few minutes, it is not hard to learn.

     All five of my children craft in some way. My son makes macrame friendship bracelets to wind down. My oldest daughter can knit and some jewelry making. My second daughter can do some things, but would rather not, so I do not push. My 13 year old daughter can knit and wants to learn crochet. My 8 year old daughter can knit, but is at an age that her attention span does not allow her to sit for long to do it.

     The majority of the things I own are crafting materials. I have quite a bit of fabric for sewing, beads, thread and findings for jewelry making, yarn for knitting and crochet, cross stitch kits and floss, and various other materials for crafts I am interested in.

     A good chunk of my day is crafting items for sale and I will be offering classes so that I can teach others some of these crafts. I hear "I don't have the patience to do that", "I don't have the time to do that", or "It is too hard, I could never learn to do that". I use crafting to be productive when other's are playing games on their phones.

     I am at the doctor's office waiting for my or my kids to be seen, I have a sock project in my purse at all times. This is called my "emergency knitting". So while I wait, I am knitting on my project, and I don't get bothered by wait times. When I take the girl to a function after school, I have my knitting to work on while they are doing their thing.

     There is my basic crafting story. Now trust me there is way more to this story, but I will be adding to this with upcoming posts. Crafting has helped my in my life more than anyone could ever know. I use it as my "security blanket" and panic if I realize I didn't put a project in my bag.

     While I love knitting, I love all of the other crafts I do at different times. That is why my business is Crafts Never Cease and that is my user name on all social media. When I fall out of love with one craft, I have another to work on. Sometimes I make beaded stitch markers in the morning and knit on a sweater at night. I use crafting time as a reward for doing something I would rather not do. I knit a lot when I watch Netflix or YouTube because for the most part, I don't even have to look at my knitting much because my muscle memory and feeling the stitches is second nature to me. Now this is for easy projects like knitting socks and plain sweaters, not while doing lace projects.

So there you go, a little background on me and my crafting life. You could say that  now I would consider crafting to be LIFE.  I have more planned in the "Getting to know you" series: "How Crafting Has Helped Me" and "Why Am I so Addicted to Crafting". While I will not be disclosing a lot of medical and overly personal information, I hope it helps you to get to know me through my writing. As an addition to getting to know me, maybe you can relate with some of the things I talk about.

Tell me, what is your crafting story? Post in the comments below. If you don't craft, tell me about why you don't or talk about things you have tried and didn't work for you. I would love to get a conversation going about this topic.

-Penny