Tag: little thread crafts

I’ve thought a lot today about why I stitch. Not for any particular reason, I just tend to get introspective sometimes. Why do I stitch? What enjoyment do I get from a craft that forces me to sit still for several hours, entirely focused on needle and thread, counting and making small ‘x’s on fabric to form a picture?

The answer to this is different for everyone. For me in particular, it comes with a story.

I’ve cross-stitched since I was eight years old, but during the teenager years I didn’t do a lot of stitching. I had better things to do with my time like play video games or surf the Internet. Typical teenager stuff. And when I was 16, I hit a rough patch like a typical teenager does. Except mine was anything but typical.

It was a chemical imbalance that caused a whole host of problems: I was under high levels of stress and unable to manage it effectively, I was constantly ill with one thing after another, and I sank into a depression that lasted more than a year. I ended up seeing a doctor for one of my problems and the medication they gave me helped right the chemical imbalance and the rest went away on their own, with a few relapses every now and again.

But for that year, it felt as if my world crumbled around me and I lost passion for every single hobby I participated in up to that point. I no longer enjoyed anything. I didn’t feel as if I liked anything I use to like. I had nothing to turn to as a pick-me-up or a distraction. I dropped all my hobbies and activities. When I came out on the other side of the depression wall a year later I was at square zero with nothing to keep myself occupied.

Stitching has always been an activity at the back of my mind. Something I always thought about but rarely did. Since I had nothing else to do, I dug out my stitching stuff and went through it to see what I had left from when I was a kid. I didn’t have much, but I did have a few mini-kits. And I picked up the needle again.

When someone asks me why I stitch, I tell them it’s a stress reliever. That’s true for a lot of people. When you make any sort of craft – and I feel this is especially true for cross-stitch – you fall into a mindless rhythm. If I’ve got my count down and I’m in a block of color my fingers move on their own. But when I’m counting or I’ve got to watch my stitches, it’s the only thing I can focus on – it physically prevents me from other thoughts. I’m a dweller, a worrier; I have mild anxiety where a thought or action can leave my stomach in knots for hours. But when I stitch, I don’t overthink about things. I can’t. I’ll mess up my count.

When someone asks me why I stitch, I tell them it’s an art where you don’t have to be an artist. I definitely have mastery over the keyboard more than the pen. I can’t draw a straight line. I barely color within the lines, and I never liked to use paint. I can’t dance, I can’t create professional music. When I see beautiful works of art I feel envious: I wish I could do what they do. And yet, cross-stitch is one of the oldest forms of needlework on the planet. Cave people sewed ‘x’s into cloth while others painted the cave walls. I create a work of art made of needle and thread with every up and down motion of the needle, with every ‘x’ I make. I don’t have to have a steady hand or a keen eye or a healthy body. I just need patience, fabric, a needle, and thread.

When someone asks me why I stitch, I tell them I can create a work of art that will last for centuries. It may never hang in a museum like a Da Vinci or a Picasso, but if time and luck and fate permits it will hang on someone’s wall long after I’m gone. I don’t expect my piece of a cutesy butterfly to go down in history but it’s already been proven cross-stitch is an artwork that stands the test of time. Women and men have practiced the art since before we had words to write about it, and I am proud to say I can carry on that tradition. It may seem unpopular or unknown, but the art of cross-stitch and other needlework will never die out.

When someone asks me why I stitch, I tell them it’s because a needle and thread doesn’t care you who are. The stitching community doesn’t care who you are. Man, woman, young, old, thin, fat, healthy, sick, formally educated or self-taught… the people are as diverse as the craft. We all have different tastes and there is a piece that will suit you. I am a young, twenty-something woman with a myriad of health issues and no formal secondary education. The needle doesn’t care. Cross-stitch and the community built around it is so remarkably accepting in a world that divides itself over pretty much everything. Anyone can learn the craft or pick up a needle. It doesn’t matter who you are.

Stitching certainly isn’t for everyone; nothing is. But I personally have fallen head over heels in love with all of it. It became my pick-me-up, my distraction from reality. I have pushed myself above and beyond what I expected when I made my first stitch after so many years. The power of creation is in my grasp. I want to share this joy with everyone! And if I’ve encouraged even just one other person to start stitching again, or enticed someone to look into starting… then that’s a victory for me.

This is why I stitch. Why do you?

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“Random Corner” is a place for all articles related to all manners of cross-stitchery and the cross-stitch community that don’t fall into the topics covered in the regular segments. There is no set schedule for Random Corner articles, they’re just random!

By the way – to keep up on Little Thread Crafts stitching news and get pictures, updates, and more that don’t appear on the blog until much later, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram! I would greatly appreciate it!

As those of you who have followed my blog for any length of time know, even before this blog was created, I had a problem with my left wrist. I have to wear a brace for it and it limits the use of my left hand.

After two years, four different braces, and five doctors, they still aren’t sure what’s causing the problem. The only suggestion I have received is one of two things: a ganglion cyst, or a tear in a ligament. Or it could be both. Or neither! All scans have been inconclusive. All I know is, it hurts. A lot.

Their solution to the problem has been cortisone steroid injections and digging around with needles to see if they can get the cyst (if there is one) or heal up any injury there may be. I had my first procedure the middle of June; it didn’t help at all. But I also worked two jobs over 60 hours a week, and I only had three days off to rest it. So I figured, I just didn’t give it enough time to heal. It’ll get better once life calms down.

Since then, I left my second job, went on vacation, and had my second procedure. All good. My wrist was sore from the needles and the steroid, but it felt better. My first job at Joann’s was kind enough not to put me on the schedule until I asked them to. I had five days of rest before I went in to work today for my first 8 hour shift in about three weeks.

I was on shift working the cutting counter for four hours. Still had four to go. And my wrist was killing me. Four hours of work reversed five days of healing. It was as if I had never gotten the injection at all. As this is how it’s been for the past few years… I believe the work I currently do (retail) aggravates whatever problem my wrist has. I need an easy job where I can take frequent breaks, as to not strain my wrist. As this is unrealistic in the working world I currently inhabit, I should turn towards working from home.

Let’s examine my skills that I could turn into a business from home and/or market to get a job where I can work from home. I can type. I can blog. (So, put together, I can write.) And I can stitch. Okay, good. Now these things do actually irritate my wrist, but if I work at my own pace and can take breaks whenever I want, it shouldn’t be that big of a problem.

Here is the issue: these things aren’t exactly the most accessible to make money through. At least on the blog front. I don’t average enough viewers to make money, as much as I love it and as much as I would like to. So let’s look at stitching. Now I’m not an artist, and I understand copyright – so designing and distributing charts is out. I don’t know how to make my own fabric or threads, so supplies are out. (Not that I can’t learn, of course, but as it stands I don’t know how so it won’t count.) I could probably make little accessories like needle minders and scissor fobs and whatnot, if I had an artistic talent, which I don’t, really, or else I’d design my own charts!

So what does that leave on the stitching front? Custom framing? I could probably learn how to do that. I could learn how to make my own fabrics and threads, possibly. Little accessories are a possibility also.

I DO know there’s such a thing as model stitching – you know, the finished pieces that are used to show what the chart will look like. Usually used to help sell the piece, as on a kit or a booklet. Someone’s gotta stitch those, right? That would be a great job! But I don’t know how to get started. I do pieces from kits, I don’t have a favorite designer… if model stitching was my job I’m sure I would stitch a LOT more and get done faster, but as it stands I’m slow and my favorite pieces are small. How does one break into the model stitching industry? Anybody have any ideas?

While I’m on the subject of asking questions, what would YOU suggest for a stitching-oriented, from-home job? I’ve also considered possibly teaching, as I know the DMC mentor program is a thing. Or maybe software development? An app/website that keeps track of your WIPs, your threads, your whatever? Something by a stitcher for fellow stitchers? I don’t know. I’ve just been feeling down because I didn’t use my left hand for five days, felt better, and immediately after going back to a job I love my wrist felt all the way back to square one.

Anyway. Let me know your thoughts! Send those ideas my way! And if you happen to be someone or know someone who can talk to me about model stitching and how to get into it, I’d love to chat!

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“Random Corner” is a place for all articles related to all manners of cross-stitchery and the cross-stitch community that don’t fall into the topics covered in the regular segments. There is no set schedule for Random Corner articles, they’re just random!

By the way – to keep up on Little Thread Crafts stitching news and get pictures, updates, and more that don’t appear on the blog until much later, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram! I would greatly appreciate it!