Cutting through the darkness

As far back as I can remember, As far back as I can remember, I've always had a drive to artistically create, but it didn't always involve scissors. In preschool, despite good marks across the board, the one area that I needed to work was my cutting skills. I've always been very determined to work hard in order to overcome any obstacles - I like to think that my love of macrame was born very early on from my desire to create and my determination to improve my skills with scissors. It was also this determination, along with the help and encouragement from my family and friends, that inspired me to create my own small macramé craft business: Prairie 724 Knots. Cutting through the cotton cords, creating wall art, plant hangers and earrings using macramé knots and scissors to shape each project pulled me through such an incredibly challenging year.

I definitely got my drive to be creative from my mom. When I was little, she made a really cool macramé rope to hang my stuffed animals on. As I got older, I watched her create beautiful plant hangers for family and friends welcoming new babies. I always admired her ability to create such beautiful personalized gifts.

I started ballet when I was 4 years old, and I've been teaching and dancing professionally for over 15 years. When the 2020 pandemic hit, all my performances and my students' recitals were put on hold. I was thrown for a loop, shocked and devastated not just for losing my own opportunities to perform, but my heart broke for all my young students whose hard work and dedication never made it to the stage. I struggled to stay motivated, and I struggled to keep morale up among my students -- we all missed the stage. I couldn't move the way I was used to, sailing across the stage, that feeling of flying through the air with jumps and pirouettes, it was all paused indefinitely. I needed to do something. I tried running, working out more, taking classes online in my small apartment, but I felt like something was missing. I needed a new way to continue to create. It couldn't be in the studio, or the stage, but I needed to find something.

After losing my creative outlet for the last 32 years, I lost another piece of my heart when I found out my rescue pup had a terminal brain tumor. Prairie really did rescue me - she was my companion, my comfort during tough times, and she loved everything and everyone she met. I called her my therapy dog as she was helping me cope with the loss of my career, and her little cameos helped cheer my students up during our virtual ballet classes. She was so much more than a dog.

Heartbroken over the passing of my beloved pup, and the loss of live performance, I was still searching for something that would help me through everything when I remembered the spiralling stuffed animal hanger my mom had made in my room. I decided to give macramé a try.

I started with a plant hanger and moved on to more advanced styles, earrings in the shapes of leaves, wall hangers, fun necklaces. Organizing and knotting the cords, cutting everything into something beautiful that could be enjoyed by others, it got me through the darkness that 2020 brought. I was able to find something to bring me joy and keep me inspired despite all I’d lost in 2020. I consider my macramé a tribute to the pup who brought so much happiness into my life, so the Prairie 724 Knots name is dedicated to my sweet pup, as July 24th was the wonderful day our Prairie dog came into our lives.

As things slowly inch closer to the way they were before the pandemic, I'm thrilled I can be back on stage, and that my students can perform again. I'm also so incredibly grateful that creating art from macramé helped me through this difficult time and that I can continue to create things for people that can bring a little bit of joy into their lives the way dance and Prairie brought so much joy into mine. It's been a long journey from a four year old dancer who needed to work on her scissors skills, to now, a woman creating her own small macramé business. I have so much gratitude for my family for inspiring me, and for my mom who first introduced me to the art of Macramé. Her continued creativity has influenced my dance career and now macramé. I'm so grateful to my mom for introducing macramé to me and for being able to use this craft of tying knots and shearing cotton to help me through such a dark time in my life.

always had a drive to artistically create, but it didn't always involve scissors. In preschool, despite good marks across the board, the one area that I needed to work was my cutting skills. I've always been very determined to work hard in order to overcome any obstacles - I like to think that my love of macrame was born very early on from my desire to create and my determination to improve my skills with scissors. It was also this determination, along with the help and encouragement from my family and friends, that inspired me to create my own small macramé craft business: Prairie 724 Knots. Cutting through the cotton cords, creating wall art, plant hangers and earrings using macramé knots and scissors to shape each project pulled me through such an incredibly challenging year.