Items

• 
  2020-03

  Good With My Hands

  I've always used my hands to shape the world around me. Working with my hands both soothes and stimulates, and it feels good to be productive. I've long been known at work for crocheting or cross stitching (my hands can work at those with little help from my eyes) during boring meetings, as a way to keep myself awake and render fruitful an otherwise pointless meeting. I have some very talented hands, if I do say so myself. I make jewelry, I quilt, I cosplay (itself honestly probably 10 or so different skillsets), I etch glass, embroider, play deftly with resin, string art, and perler beads. You name it, these very talented hands of mine can probably do it. If they can't, someone on Youtube will show me and I will figure it out. My hands are always busy. At least they used to be. COVID took that from me. When quarantine hit, that is what was left to me. So that is what I did. Fortunately, crafters are notorious hoarders, so that was one thing I struggled little to find when the shelves at all the stores were bare. Whatever it was, it was already in my craft room. When you couldn't find masks anywhere, me and my loved ones never had to worry. I sewed probably 100 from the leftovers I had from a few of my quilts, fun masks with swirling DNA strands, dinosaurs, and Bat-signals. When we couldn't get toilet paper and mom my had to mail me some from out of state, I sent her a giant cross-stitch of her favorite character (Snoopy) as a thank you for being my toilet paper hero. I didn't stop there though. I had to make videos daily for the kids in my (now) virtual classes. So I went from being the women who crocheted in meetings, to the one who painted herself to look like different characters during meetings. (The first student to comment with who I was dresses as that day only had to do half the day's assignment.) The other meeting participants would periodically make me turn my camera on to check on the progress of my transformation. Crafting was really the only thing left to me, what with lockdowns, my school going virtual, the inability to access basic necessities, and the persistent taboo on leaving the house. Crafting got me through it. I made so many things, simply because I needed to be doing something. I sewed, mod podged, and wire wrapped, papier mached, and glass painted, until every wall and surface in my home (and some in my classroom) were covered. Often I'd have the TV on in the background so I'd have noise for company. I'd craft into the wee hours, because it's not like I could go anywhere in the morning. It got so bad that my housemate (a dear friend and fellow transplant with no family in Arizona, we moved in together a week before COVID struck because neither of us wanted to live alone) Kristen had to stage a crafting intervention of the "No really, we are out of space. For the love of God, knock it off or get an Etsy store" variety. (I then switched to baking because I don't know how to be if my hands are still. I was accused instead of trying to make her fat.) I crafted until I ran out of things to craft. Thanks to COVID, I squished a lifetimes worth of crafting into a year. Now I'm out of projects. If I wanted it, I made it already. If anyone compliments something I made it is given immediately as a gift to them, so I can then go make myself a new one and my talented hands can be busy again for a minute. I've taken to cross-stitching random things my friends say, just to have something tactile to do. My hands remain as sharp as ever, poised for the next project, but the brain that fired them has run out of steam. And I still don't know how to be if my hands are still.
• 
  2021-02-04

  My mom's quarantine crochet

  These two photos are of a recent crochet project my mom just completed, I just think they’re absolutely adorable – they remind me so much of my first teddy bear from when I was a baby. I’ve been telling her that kids would love if she made more of these, we could donate them or sell some on Etsy I keep telling her – but she doesn’t believe me when I tell her that her work is amazing. I just wanted to upload this to the archive to show how my mom has coped with quarantine life, and how her creativity has exploded over these last few weeks. In a weird way it’s very sentimental to me, because it reminds me of my own childhood and the amount of love my mom gave me throughout my upbringing when she could, I just want other people to be able to feel the love that’s been poured into this object during these unloving times.
• 
  2020-11-04

  The Harry Styles Cardigan

  I'm an artist. That has been my path since I was five years old. It was in 2016 that I narrowed down that path to film. It's been my concentration ever since. I now attend Columbia College University where I study screenwriting. However, the pandemic has allowed me more free time than I have been allowed since I was twelve years old. Due to this, I knew I had to pick up a hobby. It could be anything as long as it made the time pass a bit faster. I tried doing a few different things from learning a new language to reading one of the books that have been collecting dust on my shelf for a year. However, the one hobby that stuck was crochet. I started out with small, easy projects such as sample squares. I then decided to take on something I had been wanting to make for months. The "Harry Styles Cardigan," otherwise known as the JW Anderson cardigan that rock star Harry Styles wore once. I knew it would be hard work, but I was ready for a challenge. The cardigan took me months to make. I started it the last week of August 2020, and I finished it the first week of November 2020. I was so proud of myself and still am. The end product is far from perfect, but I am now hooked on crochet. I can truly say that I love making my own clothing and making things for my loved ones. The craft has brought me so much joy during such a dark time in our world.
• 2020-02

  Life Before the Pandemic

  Before the pandemic, I had a typical life. I had to wake up at around 6-6:30am to be able to get to school, which was 40 or so minutes away from our house. I drove in our new Tesla with my dad who worked at Joni and Friends. I also had begun carpooling with my friend Carly. We would sit in the back seats together as we talked about a fandom that we're both in and met through. Sometimes I would draw on ibisPaintX with my iPad mini with a stylus and a glove I crocheted that goes around my wrist and only extends over my pinkie finger so that when I rest my hand on the screen it doesn't interfere with the program. Sometimes I would crochet little dolls. After school, I would either have volleyball practice, go to Carly's house, or go to my father's work and do homework, play games, or read fanfictions while he finished his work day. If I had volleyball, I would sit at the pickup place while I waited for my dad and he would come pick me up and take me home. At home, I would eat, shower, read a bit possibly, and go to bed. The fist clue I got about my life changing was the news of the quarantined ship from China. At the time, it was just another 'oh look at them, that must suck, oh well' news report but it soon escalated into 'everyone is quarantined now'
• 
  2020-10-01

  Interview by Dr. Juilee Decker and Alicia Evans, educator and Fiber Artist

  Alicia Evans describes her busy life before COVID. She was a professor at City University New York as well as a fiber artist and medical actor. She describes how her work changed due to COVID, and how virtual learning has changed the way things are taught. She shares her art and stories about how she is impacting lives through her work and art.
• 2020-10-01

  crochet me a quarantine blanket

  I had seen youtube videos of people making a “quarentine blanket” I did know how to crochet but i never took serious interest in it before. But now with all this time i said f it and i pulled everything out. I had so many things that i forgot i had, i was a little overwhelmed at first but after a couple youtube videos i figured out what everyting does and i got the hang of it. If we never had this pandemic, i would have never been able to take an interest in it and also i wouldnt have thought i could ever do it.
• 
  2019-10-16

  Making the Best of Covid

  Like everyone, at the beginning of the pandemic I was terrified. I didn't know what the future held. I had just started a new job substitute teaching and all of a sudden, the schools were shut down and I was out of necessary work. Thankfully, I worked another job that afforded me the ability to continue making somewhat of a living, although savings would ultimately get me through about 7 months of the pandemic. Cooped up at home, I had nothing but time to think, reflect, work through my own demons, and ultimately to find myself again. I finally had nothing but time-- the one commodity we all complain we never have enough of. I got to take care of my physical, emotional and mental wellbeing again, spend time with my horses and dog, finish crocheting a few afghans that I had tucked away for months because I simply didn't have time. I got my photography business off the ground and finally went out to photograph places that I loved but never felt I had enough time to drive to. I found a better version of myself--a happier, stronger, braver and fearless, take no prisoners kind of woman through all the time on my hands. I treated myself to a photography trip to Alaska in September, which turned out to be the final step in self discovery. I needed to spread my wings on a solo trip to one of the most beautiful places in the world to find that final missing piece. I can confidently say that I think I found the place I will call home next. This pandemic has been transformative in so many ways. It is still possible to respect the virus for what it is without sacrificing our own mental and financial health. It is easy to seep into the perils associated with the pandemic. Between the online bickering of political parties, the looming election, the vaxxers and the anti-vaxxers, the maskers and the anti-maskers-- what everyone has failed to take advantage of, is time. I wish people took a step back to re-evaluate their sense of self through all of this. I wish people took time to look at all the opportunity and blessings that the confusing time of the pandemic has provided us. I wish people took time to be grateful for the things they have and not disparaged by the things that they do not. I choose a positive perspective on an otherwise horrible period in our lives. I choose to make the best of covid. Photo: Matanuska River Bridge, Palmer AK, 2020. Taken by: Jordyn Clutter (Hot Mess Pony Express) Arizona State University, HST 485.
• 
  2020-05-26

  Is a Crocheted Face Mask Effective?

  People are posting photos of them in their face masks on social media. This includes celebrities. Alyssa Milano, an actress, released a selfie with her family. Her mask is crocheted with a lot of holes in it. the commentator said it was "a stunningly ineffective crocheted mask."
• 
  2020-04-02

  Crochet Away

  While my friends lamented about how bored they were over text, I was trying to keep myself busy with new hobbies. I didn't want to sit still and stare at a screen all day, and soon enough I was filled with a passion to not become bored. I decided to go back to an old hobby of mine- crocheting. I had an untouched pile of yarn and some crochet needles sitting in my room, collecting dust. With the help of a few YouTube tutorials, I was back on track with the basics and started crocheting new things every day. The rhythm and repeated actions of crocheting were soothing and gave me time to reflect on life. As a result, I ran out of all my yarn and quickly went to buy some more online. Crocheting gave me a temporary purpose and was a good source of entertainment in my isolated life.