Why we need the softness of craft during hard times.

I’m an optimist. UPPERCASE magazine is a celebration of beauty and creativity and joy. Within its pages, I’m able to construct an idyllic experience of a curated and edited point of view, a place and experience that my readers and I love to escape into.

But we are not immune to the realities of the world. When tragedy strikes afar or hits closer to home, we feel it. In harsh realities, we’re exposed, raw and uncertain.

It's during these hard times that we really need the softness of craft. To be wrapped in the embrace of grandmother’s quilt, to feel protected from the elements in a hand knit sweater, to caress a mug thrown by someone else’s hand on a potter’s wheel. These simple things reconnect us to our humanity and remind us of the goodness and potential of people.

I don’t think it is naive to turn to crafting and making or seeking out beauty. It is vital.

Piecing a quilt isn’t just about sewing fabric, it’s time to process emotions and patch together our feelings. A knitted sweater is an entanglement of love that our child wears when we can’t always be by his side. These things matter deeply. One stitch at a time, we can shape our surroundings.

We can control what we make — and what we do with it. 

(This message was originally sent to my newsletter recipients on Tuesday, November 17. The image is by Siobhan Rogers, featured in The UPPERCASE Compendium of Craft & Creativity.)