The Sick Chick

I’m terrible about explaining myself. After all, if I don’t understand me, how do I think anyone else will?? But I shall give it a go, just for you…

My name is Juliann and I am chronically ill. I have more diseases than I can count on fingers and toes and you probably don’t want to know all of their names!  (Here’s a few to get you started: the biggies are Hypermobility Syndrome/Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (Hypermobility Type), Fibromyalgia, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, Type II Diabetes, Migraines, Allergies, Food Intolerances, Asthma, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Irritable Bladder Syndrome, Vulvodynia, Psoriasis, Sebhorreic Dermatitis, Cyclical Major Depression, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Attacks, Attention Deficit Disorder and many more…) But it’s enough to know that I am in pain every minute and that I struggle with fatigue and mental health problems constantly. Crafting is my way to try to deal with all of this: I *love* acquiring craft supplies, cooing over my collections, and then making new-to-me items out of my stash. Crafting helps with the pain (distraction), fatigue (peps me up when I get excited), and mental health issues (calms anxiety and provides a meditative state to help with depression). So I have made a resolution to craft as much as I possibly can and acquire as large of a stash as I can afford!

I am very inspired by other chronically ill people who are gifted crafters and will feature them on this blog periodically.  I also like to craft for charity – see my Crafting for Causes page.  I know what it is like to be dead broke (I haven’t been able to work in 7 years and can barely afford my medications, that hurts the ol’ wallet!) and to feel isolated so I am happy to do whatever I can to help those who are struggling.

Anyway, the types of crafts that I do include (but are never limited to): Loom Knitting, Beading, Felting (both needle and wet), Papermaking, Soapmaking, Candlemaking, Crochet, Scrapbooking, Stamping, Card Making, historical re-reaction (sewing, embroidering, luceting, lots more) and just about anything else!! I’m always happy to accept donations of unwanted craft supplies, drop me a line if you have something you want to offload or donate to my charity work!

One more thing…I’m an American by birth but I moved to the UK in 1997 and now have dual US and UK citizenship. I am currently in the process of moving from London to Raleigh, North Carolina, USA because my health has deteriorated to the point where my husband now needs extra help in looking after me and my parents have volunteered.  So like a good Gen-X’er, I’m living with my parents while my husband awaits his green card.  He’s Australian by birth and is going to be spending several months with his family (awaiting said green card) because his father is still quite ill and awaiting a kidney transplant. It’s going to be a difficult year for that reason, I don’t like being away from my husband for so long and he doesn’t like being away from me and our kitten!

I love love love to travel but that’s probably going to be on hold for a while since my husband’s not working much while with his family and my dad’s disabled and not working and I am disabled and not working so….my mom gets to support us all but that doesn’t leave a lot of room for pleasure cruises.  But I shall be at various places in spirit this year, such as BlogHer, Rhinebeck, I Knit Weekend, Woolfest and more.  Maybe next year, eh?

If there is anything else you want to know about me, feel free to ask! I’m happy to talk about any aspect of my life, probably *too* keen But I don’t want to bore you by putting it all here!

Send me some email!  Ask a question if you like and I shall try my best to answer it.