freedom!!

I have always been a natural artist/crafter. I get an uncontainable desire to create something and the only way to relieve that pressure is to construct this thing that is dwelling inside. I go through phases of crocheting, sewing, embroidering, painting, drawing, beading, potting, framing… anything that comes to mind that I absolutely cannot live any longer without doing immediately. It all started early (at the age of 4) with my nanny teaching me how to knit. This became my drug of choice and I filled my mother’s house with potholders, towels, coasters, placemats, scarves... all essentially the same pattern in which I did not have to actually add or loose a single stitch.
Then came the day my mother introduced me to crochet. I could only grasp the concept of a simple chain… which I would constantly do.. with entire skeins of yarn.. in one sitting. So the creativity came in coming up with things to make out of it. I had beautiful necklaces (yarn chains wrapped around my neck dozens of times), dream weavers, dog leashes (luckily our little maltese wasn’t strong enough to require any real restraint) and anything else I could think to do with my endless chains of colorful yarn. Since then I have expanded my abilities through hours of practice, advise from friends and (not always successful) experimentation. Apparently I haven’t completely moved on I still wear chains of crochet and still have it all over my house..



Spending the past 3 years intensely studying to become a nurse, some serious artistic frustration has built up inside of me.. and I finally have the time to indulge in some glorious craft time. The past 3 years have been filled with incredible stress.. enough that my hair is literally half as thick as it used to be! Since finishing school I have been fulfilling all the urges that I have oppressed for years due to a complete lack of free time. I moved to Seattle and have been avidly crafting, reading non scientific literature (the kind of fiction from which you get nothing but few laughs and pure enjoyment), drawing, baking, spending hours at the park, going to museums, painting, earning hangovers that have me bedridden for days and all the other desires I haven’t had time to entertain for so long.

This (along with other things) has led me to staring this blog. It is a collaboration with 2 of my best friends that are sadly too far away to see on a daily basis.. and a chance to write about anything I like and never having to mention the pathophysiology of it. It has also caused me to open an etsy shop.. which is my solution to an excess of crafting and absence of income. I am hoping to self sustain my crafting habit and maybe eventually reinvest in the handmade movement by purchasing some of the things I have been coveting in other handmade shops... a girl can dream right??

-Liz

3 little red shoes