Winter crafting

 As winter time approaches, we may find ourselves with more free time, as we are unable to do our favorite outdoor activities.  It is a time of year where many people spend more time inside, and often look for ways to fill the time.  Crafting is a great activity to pick up in the winter, whether you consider yourself a crafter or not.

First, I think we need to bust up some impressions of crafting.  The first one is that you don't need to be 'good' or 'artistic'...and yes both of those are in quotes because I really dislike how these types of valuations are thrown around.  Crafting is a wonderful hobby, and the great thing about hobbies is you don't have to have any kind of skill.  The important thing is that you enjoy the process.  It's very much about the experiences and not about making a thing that has value or improving or any of the other judgments we level on the rest of our lives.  In fact, I might say that is the value of a hobby, it is something we do purely for the fun of it, and we give ourselves permission to be bad at it but still love doing it anyways.

Also, crafting is for everyone, young or old, irregardless of gender.  I promise I'm not going to go on a rant about the ridiculous gendering of things (I could, I have some great rants saved up!), but really there is no craft that can't be done by anyone.  If you wanna sew, carve wood, bake, paint, sculpt, scrapbook or forge metal...go for it!  If someone tries to give you a hard time...craft harder out of spite!  (Or find people who are happy to support you and ignore the rest)

Now, back to the bit about not having to be good at it.  It really doesn't matter if you have any experience at all, or really any knowledge about a thing.  If it looks interesting, try it!  There are resources all over for anything you can imagine.  I have talked to a few people who taught themselves how to forge metal (watching videos online), and that's pretty impressive to me.  There are groups for about every hobby and craft you can imagine, where you can chat with people who are just as excited about the craft as you are.

It also doesn't have to be something you do alone!  Poke about and you might find that there are groups in your town that meet up and craft together.  Our library (which is always a great place to find out information about anything) often does crafting workshops, where you can go and try out a craft.  Many are free, and the ones that aren't have a low fee (to cover materials).

You can also throw a crafting night, invite some friends and make a party out of it.  Potluck snacks and drinks (so you don't have to do it all), and have fun making things together.  One of the great things about crafting is it often is something you do with your hands, so it leaves you free to chat and hang out while you do it.  I used to go with my mom to her quilting group, and that was pretty fun (speaking as the only teen who went, it was still fun to chat with the older ladies).

Winter crafting can also be a time of experimentation.  Just because you try a craft doesn't mean you have to do it forever.  Maybe you don't like it once you get into it.  That's fine, put it aside and try something else.  Or maybe you like it just fine, but you don't want to get further invested in it.  Play with it for a season and then, when the weather warms up and you get into other things, you can set it aside.  Maybe you come back to it next winter or maybe you try something else.

Crafting can also become part of your spiritual life.  Crafting as devotion is nothing new, and maybe you find a craft that is associated with one of the deities you work with, or that is part of your cultural heritage.  Learning the craft brings you closer to that part of your spiritual life.  

You could also craft things that directly enhance your spiritual practice.  Making tools is something that a lot of people enjoy doing, and there are many different crafting options that can be used.  I've made wands, smudge fans, statues, offering stones and more!  Maybe you have seen some of those amazing videos of people making fancy scrapbook style BOS and you want to try your hand at that.  

You can also craft things to give away.  With holidays coming up, many people don't have family to share the holidays with, and gifting handmade things to retirement homes, hospitals and the like can make a huge difference in someone's life.  If you are enjoying making food items, you can gift those to friends and family (you might be able to gift to other places, but you would want to check first if they can accept home-made food items).  

And, if you are someone who feels a little down, or stressed over the winter and with all of the holidays, crafting is a great mental pick up and way to unwind.  There is a real sense of accomplishment when you make something, especially when you figure out how to do something that you were struggling with.  Many crafts also include things that appeal to our senses.  Fiber arts, metal and wood working all involve our sense of touch.  Baking and cooking invoke our smell and taste.  Painting and drawing utilize color.  Learning an instrument or singing gives us sound.  Engaging our senses helps ground us and energize us at the same time!

So, whether you think of yourself as a crafty person, an artsy person....or just a person, winter crafting is a great activity to explore as the weather turns cold and the nights get longer.  Look around and you will find crafting inspiration everywhere.  Let yourself be curious and see what crafts call out to you.  You might just surprise yourself!