Why “Stitch Your Creativity”?
I will be the first to admit I am an over-thinker. It’s a character flaw that I am actively working on, mostly because it drives other people mad, but more so because its insanely exhausting. Recently though, I found myself doing all the mental gymnastics that I typically do when I overthink a problem. The problem in question was what to name my business.
I assume the role of choosing a business name is not unlike choosing a name for an expected child. New parents are often asked with curiosity what names they have chosen for the soon to be new family member which will be quickly dismissed as countless unasked for suggestions come forward. That is unless you are my parents and are found to be surprised that instead of a baby boy like you were planning on, a baby girl arrived and you don’t have name. The only logical thing to do in this case then would be to listen to their 4-year-old daughter as she named her brand-new sister after herself. (Lisa is a derivative of Elizabeth and everyone called her Liz, but I digress).
I went around in circles on coming up with a business name thinking I had the best idea, only to find out that I was in fact not as clever as I believed to be. The process would consist of coming up with a name, looking it up on the NY state business lookup site and then verifying that links to social media, domains, and blog sites were open. The process of elimination felt endless.
After going through this exercise more times than I wanted to count, I finally stopped chasing my tail and instead asked myself, “Why creativity?” “What do you get out of being creative?” and “What do you hope others will gain from leaning into their creativity?”.
For me, creativity is a form of meditation and prayer. More specifically, stitching, the art of weaving in and out has a methodical movement that possesses a calming effect to the most anxious ridden person (I’m not naming any names but am looking in a mirror).
Stitching has been my go-to creative modality since I was a child when my adoptive grandmother Bernice taught me how to stitch on plastic canvas. To this day, I have one of my first projects next to where I keep my apartment keys, a tiny little cross bookmark with pastel rainbow-colored yarn, a light pink rose hot glued to the center, and the back covered in white felt with my 6/7-year-old handwriting with my name and year, and light pink ribbon at the bottom to match the rose. I love this piece more than I can tell you.
The little cross brings fond memories of doing craft projects with Bernice, sitting in her craft room, surrounded by her beautiful creations, being memorized by how a simple piece of yarn could make something so beautiful. The cross brings back memories of how sad I was to leave my unfinished projects and Bernice behind, impatiently waiting for the next time that I could came into town to visit her and “Forvald” (her husband, Thorvald), so I could get right back to work. But ultimately, the cross brings back the memories of her love for me.
As I got older and spent more time with my maternal grandmother, Grammy, I would watch her crochet doilies. Watching Grammy weave precious white thread into delicate, intrinsic, patterns was enchanting. She taught me the basic crochet stitches starting with creating a foundation chain, working in the round, single crochet, and double crochet. I tried to keep up with crocheting but as I grew out of my childhood and entered adolescence, I was more interested in weaving seed beads into jewelry for my friends and sister. I wouldn’t pick up a crochet hook again until the Fall of 2015, when I took a beginner crochet class and without thinking the muscle memory of the years prior kicked in. I knew the stitches, but I needed refinement.
Returning to crochet was a salve on my life. It was during a season when I was drowning in grief, the question of “what could have been”, and healing a shattered heart. I would sit in my chair, with FRIENDS showing in the background, and just weave the pretty yarn in and out, in and out, in and out, as Kitty played with the ball of yarn at my feet. It was in these quiet moments that I would talk to God.
I intentionally made things that were easy to crochet so I could focus on my conversation with God and not be bogged down with counting stitches or needing to change a stitch by following a pattern. No, I simply wanted to hear the voice of God, having one on one time with Him as I stitched away.
One project I remember making during this time was a “baby blanket” for my cousin’s little girl. I use quotes around baby blanket because the finished product was anything but a baby blanket. It was more of a twin-size quilt. The hilarity of the size difference between a little baby and her new blanket brings me so much joy, but it also brings peace to my heart. It’s an archival of the prayers that I spoke to God while I was busily stitching away. Our conversations were hard, raw, and full of tears, but they were also cathartic. That’s when I would hear His voice, just when I didn’t think I could take anymore, He showed up telling me exactly what I needed to hear, bringing self-discovery and clarity into my next season.
Why “Stitch Your Creativity”? After spending some time reflecting on the role that stitching had in my life and the role it served as a catalyst for connection to others, including God, it only made sense for me to incorporate it into my business name. My goal for working with clients is to provide them with the opportunity to also hear God’s voice, to seek their own self-discovery and clarity. I want to provide a safe space for them to see that creating is a form of meditation, prayer, and at times, worship. By weaving our creativity into our daily lives, we then are living proof of the fact that The Creator created us to be creative.
