The Crafter’s Life

Once you begin crafting, it’s very difficult to stop.

You start with one craft – in my case, it was cross-stitch – and then you, quite naturally, try another. And another. And before you know it you have supplies for all sorts of crafts scattered all over the place. Or tidily stashed away in boxes, if you’re that sort of person. Some crafts you keep up; some, you decide weren’t for you after all.

Having started (properly) with cross-stitch about six years ago, my repertoire has expanded to include crochet and paper-crafting. And paper-crafting covers a wide variety of crafts, from card-making to origami. Occasionally I dabble with sewing. I tried knitting, but it didn’t really agree with me.

I’m the sort of person who likes to be able to see all the supplies available, so mine are usually in some form of Organised Chaos, and the sort of trip hazards that I ignored when filling in a health and safety form recently. I know how to walk around them, it’s fine!

The tidiest supplies are probably those for sewing: I have a lovely big chest full of fabrics which doesn’t actually live in my craft-room. That’s probably why they’re so tidy.

The worst thing about working from home is that my craft room is currently my office, and I don’t often want to stay in there after working all day. It’s all right for the cross-stitch or crochet, because I can take them out to the sofa with me, but it’s harder for the paper-crafting. For that, I do usually need my desk.

On the days when I’m not working, it’s easy enough to ignore the computer screens cluttering the surface. I’d say they’re forcing me to be a tidier sort of crafter, but I still have piles of supplies surrounding me. And stacks of notebooks to organise my thoughts and keep track of projects for future moments. Or remind me what day it is.

It’s a bit of a messy life, being a crafter, but there’s always some method in the madness. And, actually, I am much saner than I would be if I didn’t craft.