the miracle of crafting

Today's guest post is brought to you by Kelly of Kiser Krafts. She's sharing her story of how crochet & crafting saved her - and how it saves her every day. 

Hello. I am Kelly. I have a name…and now you know it. And thankfully, today, I know it too.

There was a moment in my life where I did not know it. Did not know who I was, where I was at, or how to speak. It was scary, unsure, and hard. The reason I had this lack of knowledge was due to an injury to my head, clinical ‘head trauma’, bleeding on my brain in the frontal and left temporal lobes. There were other injuries due to the automobile accident but we are not focusing on those. Today is the nine year anniversary since my accident.  The brain is an amazing muscle. I have clinical amnesia. This means I have no memory of past experiences, including walking, talking, and eating. Can you imagine a 22 year old having to be taught the ‘basics’ of life? Yeah, hard is almost an understatement. The neurologist handed me back to my parents with this statement, “She may be 22 years old physically, but she will always be a 3 year old mentally.” How do you handle THAT as a parent? Well, my parents did fabulous! They asked what therapies we could do to help. They were given several but the main one was crafting. I have always been creative and some things were so ingrained into my natural person that creating things helped draw my brain back.

The main craft that helps is crochet. Crochet literally saved my life. With crochet, I can live my life. I’m not sure if it is the rhythm of making loops or the calm you receive by just sitting still with only your hands moving but I know if I do not crochet; I forget. It might be small things but I forget. To forget is terribly scary for me. I fear waking again not knowing who I am or those around me who I love. Thankfully, I have recovered to my normal brain age mentality. You can ask my husband, there are moments where I am not my age mentally. But as soon as I create a crochet item, mentally I return. The steady rhythm and constant repetitive motion helps my brain sort itself. So while many crochet for fun (it is fun), I crochet to remember. Remember my name, my husband, my children and the needs of the God given day. Each day is new and fresh for me. Each day is blessings…even more so for the things I remember. 

My shop, Kiser Krafts, was born from my love for crafting. It really began with a love of socks and a birthday present.  I have had a collection of colorful decorative socks my whole life. I have also have always sewn. My mom gifted me a book where you turn the sock into cute animals. And that changed my view of sock forever! Never before that time did I think of cutting up a very good and useful sock! That was unthinkable! Now I see the animals in socks everywhere. It is almost as though the sock "tells" me what animals they want to be. At the time I received this book, I had just become a Mom for the first time, and knew these need to be made safe for small children so my new daughter could play with them. I shared the animals I was making  for her on the internet and a dear friend asked if she could put my sock animals into her shop. After discussing it over with my husband, I took the steps to make my hobby into a business, and started to sell my sock creations in her shop. Since all my initials start with K, I wanted thought it would be fun to carry it over to my sock making business, and thus, Kiser Krafts was founded!

My main product is Penny Pets sock animals, with the Sock Lion being a favored item. Crochet items are available during the cooler months, and more recently, decor items year round. The animals started only with a few different animals but have grown to more different ones, like mice, fish, and even tiny puppies! Also have tested new style eyes for safety and adding special creative things, like coffee cups. Crochet buntings have been added to help decorate a child's room, a picnic, or mantel for a party. Each item is unique and one of a kind! There are so many ideas I have for adding new things to the products at Kiser Krafts - just need time to bring them all to life! 

If I could share advice with someone just starting out, I would say while it seems you are getting nowhere at the moment, everything you are doing is taking you one step closer to where you want your business to be. Do NOT compare your middle to another's end. Remember, it takes time, effort, and patience. Do not give up in the middle of the journey...the best is still around the corner. 

Thank you for letting me share with you why crochet & crafting is, to me, a miracle. 

If you want to follow Kelly's story, here's where you can find her:

twitter/facebook/shop