I’ve been trying to make a list of everyone who has publicly acknowledged that they have a chronic illness and who also are crafters. Maybe they make their living crafting or just use it to cope with the everyday stresses of living with illness. However, this is obviously an impossible task — there are millions of people who fit this category! So I’m just going to do what I can and start the ball rolling!
Since this is Invisible Illness Awareness Week, I can’t think of a better time to start ah, taking names 😉
If you are, or know of, a person who is out about living with chronic illness (please don’t divulge secrets not your own!) who is into crafting, please please comment! Leave the blog, website, Twitter, Facebook, Etsy or other URL where we can find them so we can spread the encouragement!
And please don’t forget that I am crafting for the chronically ill & their support teams, donations of craft supplies & postage greatly needed!!
I have a blog, The Other Side of a Daydream (http://othersideofadaydream.blogspot.com) and I also Tweet: http://www.twitter.com/natzini
I suffer from FMS and CFS, plus underactive thyroid.
I crochet, knit and bead to help with pain and depression.
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/thegothicl
I have arthritis, coeliac disease and apnoea but I don’t let any of it define me, and I work full time. Crafting is my antidote to working in IT for a living.
In my free time I make transparency overlays and digital files for baby books and adoption books. I am an adoptive mom and was always looking for a book that told my son’s unique story.
I am an artist who lives with fibromyalgia. I work primarily with beads, but have many crafty hobbies.
I have fibromyalgia, IBS, TMJ and PCOS. I also love to knit and making other crafty things (specially in the months leading up to Christmas).
I am also participating in Invisible Illness Week, my blog is, Fibromyalgia is not my life.
http://www.FibromyalgiaIsNotMyLife.com
I don’t Twitter that often but my name there is TriciaFM
I make handmade cards, organic soaps and body scrubs.
Hi,
I was an Egyptian archaeologist. Chronic illness – Hashimoto’s, sleep apnea, and some as yet unidentified neurological and autoimmune issues – brought my career to a halt about 18 months ago. I took up crafting to have something to do and am hoping to launch an Etsy shop soon. I do crochet, knitting, a bit of sewing, and carve linoleum print blocks and stamps.
I blog at http://shovelingferret.blogspot.com
My twitter feed is http://twitter.com/shovelingferret
And I’m active on Ravelry as ShovelingFerret.
I fail big time at getting trackbacks to work properly, but I’ll be posting a blurb about this post and a link in the next day or so.
In the meantime “Hi!” to all my crafty, sickly peers. 😛
i have fibro, chronic fatigue, ibs, depression, ptsd, etc, etc, and i craft constantly! i twitter when i have the energy, and have a couple of etsy shops, but my blog links to all of those.
i sew mostly clothing and bags, and occasionally costumes and housewares, cross stitch and embroider, do mixed media art work, machine embroider, sometimes beading, various papercrafts, and i crochet. a bit of everything, really!
This might be jumping the gun a bit. I only just picked up cross-stitching for the first time since high school, because I’ve gotten into podcasts in a big way and needed something to do. I’m really enjoying it! I also found out there’s a great knitting store within walking distance and I plan to take their intro class one of these Saturdays. I’m @ZenMonkey on Twitter and I blog about disabled geekery.
I have FM, Endometriosis, Hashimoto’s, dysthymia, cervical herniated & bulging discs, osteoarthritis, etc.
My crafting so far is mostly my writing on The ICI Experience, but in my life before illness I loved to sew; anything with textiles. Now I’m trying to get into doing some collage work, some digital scrapbooking and some healing dolls.
I have another blog that I’m trying to get off the ground, My3FBlog: Form Follows Function, The ICI Art & Fashion Blog. I’m going to put an invitation out to anyone who would like to show their work on My3FBlog, drop me a line at sherril@theiciexperience.org
Happy crafting!
Forgot to give the url: http://my3fblog.blogspot.com/.
So I do the crocheting thing… I’d like to learn to knit but it’s so frustrating to be so slow at it. I mostly make things for others as gifts, to make them feel loved.
you can follow me on twitter : thepinkwoobie
or my blog: http://bandanasandkeens.blogspot.com
I have Sjogren’s Syndrome with neurological involvement, Autoimmune Pancreatitis, Autoimmune Hepatitis, Arthritis, Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, Fibromyalgia, etc
I am obsessed with scrabooking. I also paint, knit, and decoupage. I recently wrote a blog entry on my blog Novel Patient (http://novelpatient.com) about all the types of “Art Therapy” I do: http://novelpatient.com/2009/09/06/art-therapy/
I also run a blog community for people with chronic illness called Novel Patient Community (http://community.novelpatient.com) in which I maintain a blog where anyone can post anything creative (writing, art, photos, etc) related to chronic illness: http://community.novelpatient.com/creativecorner/
Finally you can find me on Twitter @novelpatient (http://twitter.com/novelpatient).
I craft when I have the energy and strength – all sorts of arty and crafty pursuits, whatever I can do while lying in bed and with weak arms. Actually, a surprising amount!
You can find me on twitter as @rickybuchanan or on the web lots of places. Crafty pursuits are journalled, when I have the time, at my dreamwidth journal Journalling/Journeying.
IBS and depression. Mother to 21 yo with cerebral palsy, ulcerative colitis, developmental disabilities, and seizures.
Yarn and beads keep me sane – mostly.
Twitter – http://twitter.com/KnittingMuse
Blog – http://knittingmuse.blogspot.com/
I have chronic back pain/spine problems, depression, social anxiety, and panic attacks. I make my own greeting cards as a way of venting, as well as to feel productive.
And I too am also loving Invisible Illness Week and the conference as well! I even got a question answered on air yesterday. The topics, guest speakers, and their answers and knowledge are a huge blessing, in my opinion.
Hi,
I have IBS/FMS/M.E. and a bunch of other stuff.
I used to do calligraphy until the pain got too much, and now I’m doing Elizabethan embroidery.(ie 1600-1700ish historical style).
I’ve found heaps of other FMS/ME and Lupus sufferers out there doing the same thing
My blog is at http://elmsleyrose.blogspot.com/
I have ME/CFS, limited mobility and a young family. I have always enjoyed crafts but being able to knit, sew, embroider and crochet has kept me sane when being hosebound would have driven me crazy.
I have FM, Endometriosis, Hashimoto's, dysthymia, cervical herniated & bulging discs, osteoarthritis, etc.
My crafting so far is mostly my writing on The ICI Experience, but in my life before illness I loved to sew; anything with textiles. Now I'm trying to get into doing some collage work, some digital scrapbooking and some healing dolls.
I have anothef blog that I'm trying to get off the ground, My3FBlog: Form Follows Function, The ICI Art & Fashion Blog. I'm going to pu5 an invitation out to anyone who would like to show their work on My3FBlog, drop me a line at sgerril@theiciexperience.org
Happy crafting!;
I make handmade paper, do paper-castings, make greeting cards and do some scrapbooking while living with lupus.
http://sherryspaperie.etsy.com
I raise alpacas, knit, felt, aspire to card and spin my fiber. Occasionally I make stained glass items.
I have Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, also called RSD. It doesn’t have me. After a long period of struggling to stay alive and avoid losing use of my left arm, I am slowly improving. With CRPS you have to keep using your most painful places to avoid atrophy.
I find alpacas to be good therapy because caring for them makes me move. Crafts are wonderful for keeping my arm mobile. I have stellate ganglion pain blocks as needed but haven’t had one for six months–down from twice a week.
Even people who know you have CRPS and are in terrible pain look at you and say how good you look and that it must be something you can control by getting out and doing things and to the uneducated it looks as though that is true since when you are feeling OK you get out and do things.
Crafting, determination, and a couple of good doctors who figured out what was wrong have saved my life.
I use embroidery and paper crafts as a way to minimize the constant hum of my paranoia from my depressive disorder with psychosis. In combo with medicine it usually works like a charm!
I just had a coming out post about my chronic migraines on my blog Simple Savvy last week. I love to knit and like to sew, and other than that I’m a dabbler. I can’t help it.