Goldenrod. Pattern by Katherine Duigiud
Welcome to What Are You Working On? where we talk about (and often display) our handiwork, whether yarn and fabric crafts, woodwork, metalwork, art, or anything else “crafty”.
This is a diary about the concept of crafts people’s focus. For myself, I am a jack of many crafts, but I’d say definitely not master of any, but a decent crafts person in a few areas: embroidery, quilting, knitting and writing. In a few major areas of crafts, like embroidery, there are many subcategories, such as goldwork (above), crewel, blackwork, cross stitch, etc. I’ve found talking to people that there is a lot of overlap between embroiderers and quilters and knitters. I think the overall concept of working with fiber that binds this group together.
I’ve also noticed that people who are more focused crafts people tend to work in metal or woodworking. Also people can move from one craft to the other and even back again. I began entirely as an embroiderer about 50 years ago. Then for some years I focused on woodworking. I still did a bit of embroidery, but not as much. We still use the dining room table I made 35 years ago and the coffee table I made about 15 years ago. Woodworking, though, needs strong hands. Arthritis makes that difficult. It also can cause some problems with the other crafts I do, but not as much.
I didn’t start quilting until I retired from work at 64. That was when I began that crafting journey. I’ve been writing off and on since I was 12, but put it aside for decades at a time. I now have 6 books out, all speculative fiction (I write under W. F. Halsey, if anyone is interested0.
So I’m wondering about other people and their crafting journey. Do you do multiple crafts? Focus on one craft? Have you changed the focus of your crafting over the years?
And as always: What Are You Working On?
