About

Based in downtown Turners Falls, Craft Knot Art began in the spring of 2023.

I had just moved to Massachusetts from Vermont and found myself in a major depressive episode. A lifelong knitter and crafter who also happens to live with various chronic illnesses, I was in an arthritis flare that arrived concurrent to a season of profound grief, both of which had been threatening my ability to create.

Before the move, with hands that simply were not working to knit, I was searching for a new outlet for my creativity. In late November, I received a beautiful set of ergonomic crochet hooks as a birthday gift. I was not convinced I would love to crochet, but I was desperate to find something that sparked joy within me in the same ways that knitting always had. I needed dopamine, and I needed it yesterday. But I also began the move to Turners in December. So, taking a back seat to the packing, moving, and settling into my new community, the hooks sat mostly unused.

It was not until early spring with a growing depressive episode that was making it real hard to participate in my life that I thought about those crochet hooks again. I was sitting on my new porch trying to boost my mood with the spring sun, loating how I was feeling when I made a conscious choice to try to create.

I pulled out one of those crochet hooks and tried something new- an octopus. It was not exactly perfect, and I had no idea how to crochet or embroider the eyes, but my brain started zinging, and the dopamine was finally flowing. From that moment forward, I have been creating joy from a string and a stick in the form of pops, fidgets, and funky creations that always make me smile. I hope they make you smile, too.

To learn more about my process, see some of my work, and learn how to care for one of my creations, check out the links in the buttons below: