One of the best things about crafts for me is that I can personalize them however I want. As I’m making something by hand, I can personalize it with whatever I choose. There’s a huge sense of liberty in this. And I’ve been taking notes from Deviant Goods’ Fuck Cancer hats and Planet Cancer’s wares.

Because all too often in this world we’re so worried about being nice and offending someone, when all you really want to do is scream and say, ‘this sucks!’ That’s what I feel like yelling everytime someone I love gets sick when all that comes out of my mouth is ‘I’m so sorry. I will be with you each step of the way.’ Suddenly I get angry and scared and just want to hug them and tell them everything will be okay.

But I want to be strong and supportive, so I just say the nice things. But cancer isn’t nice.

For Christmas, I made knitted my grandfather a hat in the hopes that if he’s feeling low, he will put it on and know that it was knitted with all my heart and wishes that he get better and stronger faster. He’s been through so much the past few months, I wanted to give him something that was something close to a hug even though I wasn’t always close by.

Someone I told about the hat asked, ‘can’t you buy one that’s storebought?’ I answered, ‘yes, but that’s missing the point. The point is that everything I make was crafted with my own two hands and on purpose and with emotion. Something storebought might be less time-consuming, but it’s not made with love and strength and hope.’

Sometimes the right way isn’t always the nice one.