Look at the money the big craft stores make, like Joann's, Michael's, Hobby Lobby, and more on the Internet. There are little specialty shops where you can buy yarn, supplies to build rockets, make jewelry, and when you go online, there are hundreds more. Just google crafts and see how many thousands of links come up. This means that crafts are big business, but they're more than that. They're great therapy.
When you are deeply involved in doing something you enjoy, your brain is releasing hormones that keep you healthy and happy. Those hormones permeate your body with feel good. It's a healthy way to use your free time. And if you can get outside to do it, even better. Then you have the added advantage of fresh air and vitamin D.
Whether you are writing, quilting, knitting, crocheting, painting, drawing, tatting, weaving, or building something with your hands, when you are involved in an activity that brings you pleasure, the pleasure centers in your brain are releasing happy hormones. And those happy hormones are what fight depression and anxiety.
When I sit down to write, knit, crochet, tat, or create a pattern, time becomes irrelevant. I focus on what I'm doing and what I want to accomplish. I feel good.
But it is even more than that. When you take up your knitting needles or your crochet hook, you are engaging in an activity that has had significance for generations of women and men. It can become a connection with your ancestors.
My mother CoraBelle loved quilting. Grandmother Hazel and Grandmother Grace both loved crochet. Grandmother Hazel taught me to tat. Aunt Eileen taught me to knit. With the basic skills in place, I learned more from books and magazines. I was never one to take classes. I had children at home, lived on a farm, and I couldn't take the time. I learned more from books and patterns. Later in my life, the Internet was my source for knowledge. Whatever I wanted to learn, someone on Youtube was there to show me how. Is that not wonderful? We live in an awesome age of learning.
In 2007 my love of crafts turned into a business. I began writing patterns for sale on the Internet. Ebay allowed sellers to send patterns by email until their policy changed and a physical item had to be sent instead of digital media. After a year or so of selling on Ebay, I opened a shop on Etsy.com and wrote more patterns. Etsy.com is all about handmade and there are a lot of crafters selling their original patterns. This is my eighth year of writing and selling patterns, and I have written close to 80 different original patterns on Etsy.com, Amazon.com, and Patternfish. It has never felt like work. It has always been fun to create something new, take pictures as I go along, and then write a pattern so someone else can benefit.
My pattern writing started with dog sweaters. We have a cute little Chihuahua who models the sweaters and I have learned that CUTE sells. It pushes my buttons when I see something cute that someone else has created, and it must be true for other crafters as well. Photography matters, and the better your photographs present your work, the better it will sell. Good marketing requires good photography. A good pattern needs good photography as well.
Along with dog sweaters in knit and crochet, I write patterns for hats, beanies, mittens, slippers, jewelry, and clothing.
I write my patterns with beginners in mind. Simplicity is helpful. But then again, difficulty can be challenging. I guess there is something for every skill level to make it fun. It depends on what you want at the level of learning where you are.
In conclusion, what is most important is how it makes you feel. If it's fun, do it. If it's really great fun, do it a lot.
My blessing to you.....May the work of your hands give joy to your heart.
To see my patterns, go to www.ozarknomad.etsy.com or search for Toni Lansing on Amazon.com.
