Crochet Queen: Royal Ramblings

Chicago Tribune,  4/9/2003 Making Peace with Yourself (while the country is at war) by Barbara Brotman; Chicago Tribune, April 9, 2003 "Between the war and the economy, there is enough anguishing news to turn a concerned person into a despairing one. How do we navigate a worrisome world without being engulfed by it?"  Although those words were written in 2003, they are eerily familiar to me today; and, I suppose, to many of you! I have pretty much stopped watching the national news; the enormity of our daily problems leads me to despair as I am unable to solve the world's problems! I'm also done talking about the "mask/no mask" controversy. Just because I am pretty much isolating again and have very little to report when I check in with friends near or far, it doesn't mean I have to fill the void with negativity. Today, we have a seemingly never-ending pandemic thrown into the mix of everyday life.  There is plenty we can do to bring happiness to each d...

I've blogged before about how crochet is good for our health; and lately, I've been seeing lots of references about how many have turned to art endeavors during the Covid-19 pandemic to maintain a healthy outlook.   Personally, I used the "free time" I felt I had been given during the pandemic to  dig deeper into my artistic abilities, and to enjoy the challenges of pushing myself to create. I even gave water painting a try! Now seems like a good time to re-visit the topic, both by looking back at our realizations that crafting is a healthy activity; and thinking about how we have found that crafting continues to help us cope in healthy ways, post-pandemic. Christine Boland in Fashion United writes: " Thanks to the pandemic, we've seen a rise in all things handmade, not only in fashion but also in interior design. This has brought about a renewed interest in traditional techniques used for and evolved over centuries by indigenous communities who live close t...