Crafting

For a lot of people when you say that you craft you will get an interesting look. In some ways it is fun to see the reactions that you get when people realize that you do crafts besides the type of work that you do.

There have been times when people have realized that I craft that I get this very odd look which is hard to explain. Some people say “I don’t like like someone that would craft” and my immediate reaction is “I didn’t think people looked a certain way to craft”. I think what people are trying to say is that considering the type of work that I do they are surprised that I also spend my free time doing something creative. Actually for me being able to write is another means of being creative because it lets me think things through differently so that I can ensure that people will understand what they are reading.

For me, my crafts are a way to relax at the end of the day. It also gives me a chance to do some of the thinking that I need to do. I use my crafting in the evenings as a way of thinking through some of the challenges that I have been dealing with throughout the day. I don’t know how many times that in the middle of crafting that I have come up with the solution to a problem that I have been dealing with earlier in the day. In some cases I have actually put down the crafting and gone back to the task I was dealing with earlier in the day to see if the solution I came up with will really work. If I can’t get back to the task I will at least document the solution that I have thought up so that I can try it out when I am back at the specific task.

Crafting for me is a means of stitching my mind back together at the end of the day. It helps me tie up all the loose ends on the things that I have been dealing with. Crafting is also a means of relaxation for me and it is something that is important. Relaxing helps everyone deal with the rest of life a lot easier so having some time for yourself at the end of the day is important.

Crafting is also a method for me to show a different side of me. I have been able to spend some time even using my crafting as a means of communicating some of who I am. Quite a bit of my crocheting and knitting has been given to charity as these two projects are things that I do while sitting and watching television at the end of the day. Being able to have some results of sitting at the end of the day makes me feel so good. The other thing that I spend some of my relaxing time doing is cross-stitch and I have got into some designing and that has been a means of showing my creative side to people. The cross-stitch that I have been doing have been for enjoyment and I have also been able to show them at a couple of Art Shows which is great. The Art Shows that I have been able to participate in are at Science Fiction conventions and I have enjoyed doing them because it helps me focus on some of the designs.

Crafting is a little different for everyone but finding something that you enjoy doing is a good thing. It maybe colouring in an adult colouring book or playing with modelling clay but it is a means of expressing yourself. Crafting isn’t something that I do all day but it is something that I try to put in my schedule most days. An hour a day doesn’t seem very long but at least it gives me the time to relax and enjoy something a little different than what I do on a daily basis for work.