We are excited to have a guest blogger at Welcome Home. Rohn Strong is a full-time crafter, blogger, and television personality.

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I’m a reader. Like most romance readers I’m what they call, voracious. Two to three books a week is my average. I’m sure a few of you out there have me beat by a long shot!

I’m also a knitter, crocheter, quilter, and all around crafter. Life just isn’t the same without a little yarn in it, am I right?

When I first read through Debbie Macomber’s, A Good Yarn, a quote hit close to home, “We get so busy that it’s easy to let some things slide. We can either pick them up again, or let them stay lost…I never thought about knitting like that though.”

In this world, it’s easy to let things slide. When we knit, we can’t really pick up a book. Trust me, I’ve tried a few yoga poses to hold the pages with my feet. It didn’t end well. As a knitter, it’s the eternal struggle. Knit or read? I know, I know, you’re probably thinking, “Rohn…why not audiobooks?” Honestly? I’d never thought about it. I’ve never been a fan of audiobooks. Too often I’d sit down to listen to them and fall asleep. Without fail!

That was until I started to Listen While You Stitched! It’s been magical! I can listen and stitch all at the same time. I never have to worry I’m missing out on my favorite book or knitting project! I get to do both. How great is that? I just wrapped up re-listening to 16 Lighthouse Road. Cedar Cove is my heart home. It might not be real, but when I’m listening to the story, stitching at my hat or scarf, I’m there knitting along with Charlotte. Sometimes, my heart needs my hands to work through what it’s going through. Life isn’t easy, is it? My escape has always been books. The more I listen while I stitch, the better I feel. Yarn and books don’t solve my problems, but they do let me take a break once in a while

Audiobooks allow us the space to live life, which can often be overwhelmed with deadlines and endless carpools and all that laundry that never ends, and listen to the stories our hearts ache for. We can knit along with cowboys struggling to find love in Texas. We can quilt while listening to a messy divorce that just isn’t as simple as we thought. We can even crochet while trapped in Alaska for Christmas (have you read Alaskan Holiday yet?).

For me, romance is the hope and expectation that happiness can be achieved. Even if just for those three hundred pages. Knitting is the calm in the storm that allows me to sort through life one stitch at a time. When I get to do both? Well, as Debbie wrote, “Your heart has to let your head know what it wants.”

Right now? My heart wants to Listen While You Stitch.

Xoxo,
Rohn Strong

You can see more of Rohn’s work on his blog rohnstrong.com.