Quarantine has been a weird time for all of us, but for Alexis, a UW-Madison junior, it’s been putting a major strain on her relationship, but it’s not the distance causing issues.
“I mean we’ve been together 3 years now, but my boyfriend Chet has gotten way too into crafts lately, and the worst-case scenario is here: he’s started an Etsy shop.”
Crafting has provided great stress relief for many people in this time of social distancing, whether it’s gardening, embroidery, or knitting sweaters out of cat hair, but for some people, a hobby can quickly spiral into an obsession. Alexis says Chet found a ball of yarn and some knitting needles in the closet a week into quarantine and has been in a frenzy ever since. “It started out kinda funny… he knit half of a scarf and we joked about it… but then he started embroidering and crocheting, and before I knew it, I had lost him.”
Chet finally began to realize he had a problem when Alexis caught him furiously browsing Pinterest late into the night. “It seemed like he wanted to change, he clearly saw I was upset,” Alexis remembers. “He promised he was just going to play Animal Crossing and drink like everyone else, and I really believed him.”
Etsy, famous for crocheted penises, furry art, and poorly made craft jewelry, was Chet’s final stop on his trip to rock bottom. Under the handle @QuirkyCottageCrafts, Chet began to sell his poorly-knit scarves, woke embroidery, and needle-felted anime characters in secret just to get rid of the massive pile of poorly made crafts piling up in his apartment.
“I’m so disappointed… I thought he was better than this,” Alexis recalled with tears in her eyes, “you think you know someone… and then one day the dark truth just spills out.” While Chet has apologized profusely and is seeking therapy, Alexis says there’s a lot of work that will need to be done to repair their relationship.
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