Monthly Photo Challenges… do you like them?

I love monthly photo challenges but I am so bad at keeping up with them. If you follow any of the crocheters on Instagram you’ll see everyone using the #makersmay everywhere. It’s because lovecrochetcom put up a new challenge at the beginning of the month and they’re offering a large prize to one lucky winner to someone who posts a photo a day. You can find the photo here -> https://www.instagram.com/p/BiIaPnbFamS/.  You have to tag them and hashtag makersmay. I have already fallen behind (no shocker there) and am constantly playing catch up. It then occurred to me that I should be posting it here as well and talking more about the photos in depth. Sounds like a good idea, right? We’ll see…. LOL  I will do these posts in groups of four so you are reading one day at a time. That could get boring.

We will begin with Day 1: Making Me

So, as usual, Day 1 is all about me. I started crocheting about 4 years ago. I was a SAHM who needed something to do to help with the stress of every day life. It seemed like I was always doing things for other people and never really did anything for myself. There was never a time to really slow down and focus on myself. I had lost myself in the mix of cooking, running errands, shuffling the kids around, keeping the house up and helping out at the schools whenever I was needed. Then my husband needed a knee replacement in 2011 and that was the start of a very long and bumpy road that we are still traveling on. I started out just making wash cloths and really stiff scarves. LOL.. But, that’s OK because while I was waiting for him to come out of surgery I was busy crocheting and my mind wasn’t worrying about the bad stuff that was coming. And that surgery turned to another one, and another one, and another one….. Between all the physical therapy and the kids who were getting busier than ever I had a hard time dealing with it all. They say that crocheting is very therapeutic and they are right. I took an online crochet class that was so awesome and I learned so much more than I ever thought I would. I started making head warmers, hats and soft pretty scarves. Towards the end of 2016, people started asking me if I sold my items and how much things would cost. And then they bought them!!! I was so excited that I opened up my FB page in the beginning of 2017 to see if I could make a little extra money. Things took off and  have been going great since then. I now have a steady job that I love doing and it gives me something to focus on and keeps me busy so I don’t stress out all the time.

Day 2: Why I Make

In the mix of being a wife and mother, women tend to forget who they are. They never really have their own identity. I am often called Steve’s wife, Caleb’s mom, Kelsie’s mom, Christina’s little sister, or Dave’s youngest daughter. Yes, I still get called the last two even though I haven’t lived in AR in over 10 years. It’s a small town and a fate I’ll have to deal with. Now that I crochet, people know me as what I do. I’m ok with that because it’s my profession. I get tagged in things all the time on FB because my friends immediately think of me when they see something crocheted. I had a friend send me a message yesterday morning telling me she thought of me when she seen that flower and thought to herself “I know someone who can make that”! I now have an identity that is all me. Now, don’t get me wrong. I love being a mom and wife but it’s hard when you get lost in the shuffle. It feels good to be known as your own person.

Day 3: My toolbox

This bag holds my entire crochet life. If I were to lose it, I would cry and cry. I have tried many things before I found this bag. When I first started crocheting I bought one of the roll up things that held all of your hooks. I realized very quickly that I needed something for my scissors, stitch markers, buttons, needles and everything else. I grabbed a pencil box to use and that was such a terrible idea. I couldn’t find anything in it. I was always losing my needles and poking my fingers trying to find the right hook to use. Then I found this bag. I don’t think I’ll use anything else. There are six pockets which allows me to keep everything organized. I have a pocket for my ear buds (which are a must so I can listed to audio books while I crochet), one for my sea bands so I can crochet in the car without getting sick, a pocket for my needles and tape measures. I’ve got it all in that bag. I may even have some candy in there…

Day 4: Sci Fi

If I’m not listening to an audio book I’m usually watching a sci fi movie. Alright, let’s be honest. There is nothing better than watching a cheesy movie on the SYFY channel other than watching those movies on Netflix without commercials.. You don’t have to really watch these kinds of movies to understand what is going on. They are so fake that you wish they were real.  I am all about an apocalypse. I’m thinking something along the lines of The Walking Dead, The 100, The Rain, etc… something like that. I’ll save that for another  post though.

Stay tuned for the next four, which should be tomorrow. LOL!! See how far I’m behind already. I’d love to hear from you so leave a comment. If you’d like to stay updated make sure you subscribe to my emails. I promise I won’t sell your email or spam you. All it does is send you an email directing you to my newest post. You just never know when I will have a giveaway or a coupon for one of my items.