Is finding part time work in I.T. unrealistic?

I like my current job writes: "Having worked full time in I.T. for the past 12 years, I would really like to work less for other goals and priorities in my life. I have asked my current employer and got shot down. It seems like everyone I know in I.T. works full time except for entry level help desk staff. Striking out on my own seems to be the only way to control the ball and chain around my ankle. However, my experience with independent consulting is either feast or famine with work coming all at once thus making part-time impossible, or the other extreme being even more likely. Is it a pipe dream in I.T.? Maybe a career in toilet cleaning is calling me. (FYI, I searched Slashdot for this topic but didn't find anything close. Do all I.T. people love their systems and money so much that we prefer to live at work? I know I do.)"