I Finally Started Doing What People Told Me....Well, Kinda

Many years ago (longer than I really actually care to count :), I started making hats, sweaters, booties and whatever struck my fancy to take baby showers or give to friends and co-workers as gifts for their precious new bundles.

My mother taught me to crochet when I was a little girl and then, one year, my aunt (who is a fabulous knitter) gave me a cassette tape, a book, some yarn and a pair of knitting needles for my tenth birthday.  The best part about this gift was that it also came with personal lessons from the gift-giver.

That personal touch, to me, is simply what makes crafting what it is.  Personal enjoyment from working with great patterns and delicious yarns or stunning crystals and beads.  Personal satisfaction from a job well done.  A personal touch to a gift that says 'I care enough to spend my time, energy and creativity on a gift just for YOU'.  And lastly, the personal, heartfelt joy that both the giver and receiver get when such a gift is exchanged.

This entire process was so intensely personal for me, in fact, that for years I dismissed the idea of ever trying to sell anything that I made.  I have been told forever that I should market my knitting and crocheting, that people loved them, that people would want them...but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  It all came back to the 'personal' thing.

Naturally, I was flattered to hear these things, but inside would think 'I can't sell what I make!  That would be like selling a piece of me!'  Because, as everyone who crafts (be it sewing, knitting, crocheting or what-have-you) knows, a part of you goes into everything that you make.  Then it hit me.  Why not?  So I headed over to the Mecca of all things crafty and homemade...Etsy

One day a realization dawned.  What was the purpose of making handmade gifts?  Why, to have something personal to give or have or share!  As the old adage goes 'the more you give the more you get'.  I wasn't so interested in the 'getting' part, but here's the thing...making things by hand is becoming a lost art.  People don't have to do it anymore for survival, so many people just don't do it.  The reason that these gifts are so well-received is because they show forethought, effort and love.

By selling my creations, I am providing a service to those who don't necessarily want to go the store-bought route AND want to give something that they carefully, thoughtfully and lovingly picked out.  It doesn't get much more personal than that.