Caran, the Stitchy Frood

     Crochet was recommended to me in 2017 as a coping mechanism for my generalized anxiety disorder and agoraphobia. I’m not a crafter nor do I come from a crafting family, so it seemed like an odd recommendation, but turned out to be fabulous! It worked wonders! After I had a handle on the act of crocheting, my mind could be distracted by designing new items regardless of where I was and I find it very grounding. The small sequential successes of completing rows, then sections, then items focuses and rewards my silly brain. 

     While I spent years putting my anxieties into the tight stitches of LGBTQIA2S+ amigurumi, a hand injury in 2022 has stopped me from making any more little cuties. My efforts now focus on the looser stitches of making kaleidoscopic mandalas for parasols and lampions. 

     I am particularly proud of my parasols because the math required to form a mandala around a bent umbrella frame was a struggle. I make both 8-arm and 10-arm parasols, so there’s more math when I change a pattern to fit. One of these days I mean to automate the process with Python.

     It has taken me years to call myself a fiber artist because so many people have a non-negotiable delineation between art and craft in their minds. After gathering opinions and deliberating, I’m pretty sure what I make is art. If my final product being a useful physical item restricts a person from having an emotional response to it, maybe that’s on them.