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ABRAMS BOOKS - Carey Jessica Carey

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170 pages

English

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Description

A thoughtful, purposeful approach to prioritize time for making, adding more meaning and intention to your life. From cooking and cleaning to children's events to business meetings to just about everything else, it's hard to ind quiet moments to just be. Jessica Carey has found that her best times for be-ingare when she is making. Hers is an inspiring approach to a beloved pastime, putting to use the meditative and therapeutic beneits of working with your hands. Featuring more than 20 different crochet patterns to inspire you as you make time for making, the book oiers instructions to those who want to begin their crochet journey and teaches how to crochet through detailed explanation and visual guidance. Projects vary in skill level but are all designed for readers to be able to free their minds, leaving space for stitch-repetition to kick in. Accompanied by essays focused on gratitude, creativity, and living with intention, among other topics, the book invites you to take time to reiect on these themes and their presence in your life. Jessica oiers support and encouragement so that you can strengthen more than just your crochet skills as you explore this adventure.

Informations

Publié par	ABRAMS BOOKS
Date de parution	06 octobre 2020
Nombre de lectures	7
EAN13	9781647000783
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0932€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

CONTENTS
Introduction
About Crochet
Basic Crochet Stitches
GRATEFULNESS MOTIVATION
Gemstone Blanket
Charlotte Beanie
Mulberry Shawl
Twisted Pretty Headwrap
Healing Blanket Scarf
PERSPECTIVE MINDFULNESS
Hygge Forever Beanie
Venus Scarf
Bobby Poncho
Dottie Infinity Scarf
Evelyn Cardigan
INTENTION
Handmade Dish Cloths
Long Live Love Table Runner
Midtown Puff Bag
Sensible Storage Basket
LOVE
AMIGURUMI
Mathieu the Cat
Blythe the Bunny
Bram the Bear
Iona the Unicorn
ACCEPTANCE FORGIVENESS
Courageously Beautiful Cowl
Halo Blanket
Nolan Top
Perfectly Imperfect Blanket
Worthy Blanket Scarf
Resources
Acknowledgments
INTRODUCTION
Pause.
Life has become so busy, hasn t it? From cooking and cleaning to children s events to business meetings to just about everything, it s hard to find quiet moments to just be . No social media, no emails, no kids needing a snack. Just you. Period.
As a Maker, I find my being moments while sitting alone with music and my crochet, and probably a healthy glass of Cabernet Sauvignon. As I work each stitch, I get lost in my thoughts, and I love to use this time to think about different things in my life, to explore potential outcomes to different issues, to piece together meaning in an otherwise unfortunate situation, to spend time in prayer, and to sit in the gratefulness that I have for all the lessons I ve learned and the experiences I ve had. It s a perfect life digestion situation for me.
Before we begin, I want you to take a moment to dive into yourself. Take a moment, or two, to just absorb life as it s happening around you. I want you to ask yourself how you re doing. Like, really: How are you doing? Are you happy? Are you sad? Are you angry? Are you confused? Are you simply wanting to get to the patterns and make some fun projects?
If it s the latter, don t worry. We ll get there. But in writing this book, I hope to offer more to your life than just some crochet patterns. I want to uplift you, encourage you, support you. I want to help you explore new perspectives, journey into yourself, and discover deeper meaning within your day-to-day, to really enhance the quality of your life.
Creativity has truly become a means of healing for me after my childhood and teenage years were spent dealing with different kinds of abuse, feeling unwanted, not knowing my place in the world, suffering from undiagnosed anxiety and depression, and so many other dark experiences. Meeting me today, you may never guess that I have the kind of past that I do, but that s because I had to go through the wringer to process those feelings and actually look internally to grow, heal, and repurpose the pain into strength.
During those moments when I felt like the world was falling apart and I had no control over anything, not even myself, I had a very hard time seeing life for what it really is-a gift.
Believe me, it took me years to view my life as a gift. Today, my life is full of seeing dreams come to fruition, watching my family grow and bond as a unit, feeling stable in myself and in my place in the world. . . . Before, it felt as if I was made only to get in people s way, to be used, or to make everyone s life more difficult. I never expected anything good to happen in my life, because nothing had shown me that I was worth more than the worst people had to offer. It took other life events and unconditional love from the most unexpected people to break that cycle for me and to help show me that I am worthy of being invested in, that I m worthy of being heard and believed in, and that I m enough just as I am-flaws, brokenness, and all. My husband has been an incredible piece of that puzzle, as he is the only person who has loved me just as I am, never leaving me to feel inadequate, even during my most difficult times. Friends, I ve got a lot of demons I am still trying to overcome, but being shown that I m worthy of love, despite my issues, has been something that has ultimately changed my life and my overall perspective of those around me.
For much of my life, I never knew what it was like to have people who were there for me through thick and thin, and believe me, a lot of my life was thick as molasses. But we ll save that story for another time (or book). It s true what they say: Without the rain, there would be no rainbows. Without the pain, there would be no gratefulness or growth. We should view our dark moments as something to be grateful for, as they have helped shape us into who we are today, and we wouldn t be here without those moments.
I don t have any special items or memorabilia from when I was a child. I have only a simple scrapbook I made as a teenager of the few pictures of myself growing up I was careful to never lose. I had always wanted to be a recipient of something that was bigger than myself, something that helped show the meaning of life beyond my own generation-a family heirloom, if you will. I want my children to know that their childhood is worth remembering. To make that happen, I wanted to create something that would help show just how important and worthy my children are to me. I was determined to break the cycle and do better and leave my children with more than I had, and just be able to have the security I had felt I needed.
As my daughter neared her first birthday, I decided I wanted to learn how to crochet so I could give her some special gifts that would be handmade by her mama and that she could keep as she grew older. The kind of mother I had as a child may not have been the kind of mom I needed, but I knew I could use those pains and lacks from childhood as reminders of how I can be there for my own daughter. I choose to believe we re all doing the best we can, even when we re thrown into a situation we aren t prepared for. Just because certain actions are familiar because that s how you were treated, it doesn t mean that you can t learn from how that felt and begin healing those wounds for the next generation.
What I didn t anticipate when beginning my journey with crochet was all that was to come: the newly discovered self-worth, the pride in recognizing I can do anything I set my mind to, the incredible people who have joined my life, the business opportunities that have arisen. And now being able to accomplish my biggest life goal to date-to write my first book. For as long as I can remember, I ve always held words near and dear to my heart. I took creative writing courses and AP English Language and Composition in high school. To read books and escape into another world, another person s imagination, to share in their perspective, was something I lived for. To be able to sit here today and type, on a laptop of my very own, ideas and thoughts for you to consider for yourself is something I only ever dreamed of. To be able to combine both writing and my joy for crocheting into my first publication is an extreme honor I do not take lightly.
As the hours spent crocheting have increased over the years, I ve realized so many things. Though the projects I make have varied, my hands are kept busy working each repetitive stitch, and it leaves my mind open to think and explore. I used to focus on gifts for my kids (and still do from time to time), but lately I ve found that my creativity has expanded into personal makes-things that I, as an adult woman, want to see in the industry and designs that feel like a representation of my style. As I work those stitches, I explore thoughts of healing in my everyday life that I have previously neglected, or just pushed to the side. The more I crochet, the bigger the gift I am able to give myself, it seems.
As I keep working, I ve learned to bridge the gap between simply making something and making something with meaning . I believe you can do the same. In each chapter, we ll highlight a different topic, and I ll share some of my perspectives regarding it and how we can meditate on these ideas as we create. Too often, we don t give ourselves any time during the day when we can fully decompress, explore ourselves and who we want to be, and really get back to those personal journeys of growth and goodness.
Throughout these chapters, we will delve into themes around gratefulness and motivation, perspective and mindfulness, intention, love, and acceptance and forgiveness. Each theme was chosen because, for me, when I give myself time and space to practice these things I am able to grow more in my overall being, and I want to share that opportunity with you.
GRATEFULNESS MOTIVATION: Though sometimes it s hard to feel this way, life is beautiful. Being grateful is a mental adjustment that allows you to view your life as the rainbow that it is, or can be. With gratefulness comes the motivation to find more opportunities to practice this outlook in your life and discover even more ways that your life is already shining.
PERSPECTIVE MINDFULNESS: As we journey through all these themes, it s important to grant them permission to loiter in your thoughts, to broaden your entire view and your unique perspective. We can use our new wisdom to move forward on our path and implement new ways of thought. It is up to us to be responsible for ourselves, and being willing to expand our mind is part of that responsibility. It creates a juiciness in life and leaves you wanting to quench that thirst.
INTENTION: Each day, we are given many opportunities to make decisions ranging from what time to wake up, to choosing a salad or a pizza, to doing the laundry today or next week, and so much more. If we choose to take the time to think through our decisions and base them off longevity versus instant gratification, we can learn to be more intentional and benefit ourselves, and others, exponentially more. Intentionality is the glue behind all things, and we can begin today with singular decisions in each moment to better our tomorrow.
LOVE: Life takes on a whole new meaning when we