What is the best craft for a working mum/parent?

You don't need to slow down, you need to find a hobby that fits in with your pace.

How many articles or blog posts have you read that is all about 'slowing down'?

Here are 5 top tips to slow down and find time for you....

How drinking water with a slice of lemon can help you to slow down and find inner peace....

OK, that last one was a bit of a stretch! But still, it's so annoying reading all of these titles which are really unrealistic because sometimes, we can't slow down. Being a working parent means that you don't often get much time to yourself and I don't know about you but when I get that time, I am mostly spending it on my phone doom scrolling and watching fail videos...

So I'm not here to tell you how to slow down, I'm here to suggest a way to help improve your mood and maybe get rid of the end of day stress by learning a new skill. Yep, I'm talking about crafting.

When I tell people that I run a craft business they often assume I do things like decoupage or mug painting (which I am totally up for by the way) but instead what I do is create crafting kits to help people that want to learn a new skill. My kits started off as knitting focused but I have now introduced crochet and soon, embroidery.

Bet you can't guess which craft I am going to recommend you give a go?

I won't leave you in suspense, it is crochet.

Now, I have been knitting for literally decades, I started when I was about 8 years old and am now 35 and still an avid knitter. When I was pregnant with my son Arthur, I spent most of my evenings knitting because I had the time to do so. When he was born however, that completely changed. I had no time to pick up my needles, and even when I did, I wan just too exhausted to read a pattern or try to remember where I had left off.

Crochet however is an easier skill to pick up and put down because of a couple factors;

One: You only use one crochet hook and have one 'live stitch' at a time. A live stitch is what I call the stitch that you are working with, if you drop this stitch your work will unravel which is soul crushing. With knitting you can use needle stoppers to keep your stitches secure but with crochet all you need is a single stitch marker to hold that live stitch and you are good to go!

Two: Most crochet patterns are repetitive which means you are doing the same thing for nearly every row. Take granny squares for example, the amount of work you do increase but the stitches and process stays the same so if you have to put the work down because little one has woken up screaming or you've just remembered that you boiled the kettle an hour ago but forgot to make that cuppa, you can plop the work down, be gone for 10 or so minutes and when you come back, your pattern is likely to still be at the front of your memory because you have been doing the same thing over and over again for what feels like years (in a good way obviously).

Three: Crochet is very easy to travel around with (depending on your project size obviously, a double bed cover might be a bit hard to carry after a while) which means it is also easy to stash around the house, not that you are hiding it for any reason! But as a mum myself, I have to keep my work or my projects in specific places so little hands can't get to them!

So if you are looking for something to give you a bit of peace that doesn't involve doom scrolling, I honestly think crochet is going to help you. Arthur's Crochet Kits has everything you need to get started; tools, materials, video tutorials and your choice of 10 coloured balls of yarn to work with. But if you don't feel like you want to commit to a new expense, there are lots of free tutorials on YouTube that you can watch to see if this is something for you.

I really hope you found this helpful and if you have any crafting questions, please do get in touch :)