In my bio, I call myself a multi-crafter. I even share photos of my works because I can’t help myself.
In simple terms, it means I engage in multiple crafts. But there are layers to this label. Maybe levels is a better word. Some love all things fiber (the yarn hoarders). Some love all things needlecraft (cross stitching, embroidery, needlepoint, etc.). Some love mixed media because you can hoard every kind of medium found in traditional art stores or out in the world if you’re one of those who love to repurpose discarded things.
Then, there are the ones like me who become obsessed with all of the above either at separate periods in life or all at once. See what I mean? Layers. These are my main obsessions. There are others I won’t bore you with. Ironically, writing has been the cheapest craft of all and takes up way less space in my craft room!
I have enjoyed every crafting journey over my rapidly growing decades. But the one I went the most crazy for (while also engaging in knitting and crocheting) was the modern cross stitch wave (as opposed to the 80s wave and the 90s wave I also went crazy for… in bursts). The period started somewhere around 2014 with the first YouTuber stitcher creating a “Flosstube” channel. The stitchy video sharing blew up and reached a peak around 2018 or 2019 (which is where I came in) and is still going strong.
This fun channel belongs to a hard-working wife and mom in Pennsylvania. Karla is listed in my acknowledgments in Tigris Vetus because she’s also an avid reader and did an ARC read for me. I’ve been following her since 2019 (from my crafty account) and when I sent her signed books, she kindly featured them in her latest video.
This is the crossover part. The layers. The levels of multi… the obsessions that make a community.
Karla’s channel is called Craft_Adictk. She likes to work on full coverage, massive projects, and they are amazing.
Other amazing stitchers who have influenced me…
Mother and daughter, Pam and Steph of Just Keep Stitching. I have a T-shirt with their faces on it. They’re up to 350 plus videos with thousands of views.
Ellen Reid of Crash Test Dummies fame shares her Maximum Cross Stitch Power Hour. Talk about multi-crafting! She has recently become a designer of vintage samplers in between touring with the band.
Mostly, I felt the need to talk about a craft where the obsession has waned a bit since my Pod People took over my brain. I miss it. The obsession that is. I still stitch in my rare downtimes. But instead of rotating twenty projects, I’m rotating about eight. There are even layers in the amount of the obsessions inside the obsessions.
Happy stitching and happy writing or whatever craft is in the air tonight.
Oh and that 40-year obsession with cross stitch that keeps cropping up. It finally resulted in a finish for a project I started for my dad during the first craze – Finished in 2020 and fully finished (the term stitchers use to mean framed or otherwise finished for display) by my stepmom in 2022.
By D. L. Lewellyn 