Express yourself

This morning I have received an email from @lovecraftscom where crafters and independent designers are asked to create a blog post or Instagram post and tell about why they create. I have entered a similar competition organized by Lovecraft last fall. You can read my blog post here.
I have not won the blogger of the year at that time, but my entry was inspiring enough that Lovecraft has decided to feature a little post about me based on this entry from last year.
You can see my blog post about it here or read the article on Lovecraft website here.

Since I wrote that blog post nothing has really changed. I still love to create for the simple joy it brings me. Crafting has helped me to go through the pandemic and stay at home orders. I have managed to let go of everything that is going on in the world and for a few brief moments I felt calm and peaceful concentrating on one stitch at time.

Voyager Sweater

Being an independent knitwear designer have helped me through the difficult time when I was furloughed from my work. Even though the money I get from my knitwear design business does not cover my living expenses, it allowed me to feel as if I have contributed something into our family budget, however small amount it is.  I hope to expand and earn more as the time goes by.

Frances

If I were to win this competition by Lovecrafts I would use the money towards this new e-book, and hopefully an actual printed book project that I started to work on late last year. At first it was going to be just a few knitting patterns that are collection of whimsical and joyful ideas, inspired by fairytales and woodland creatures. An example of the patterns that would be in this collection is Frances.
This week I came with an idea to include in the collection few other things, like recipes, pictures and such. Like the dandelion honey, a sweet childhood memory of mine. Pictured bellow.

Dandelion Honey

Thank you for reading and visiting. It means the world to me, and it have helped to put food on our table these past few months.

Knitting and life

Earth

I hope that the world will be a better place once the dust settles in, the virus runs its course and peaceful protest achieve the changes that should have been in place for many years. Growing up behind the Iron curtains, participating in Velvet Revolution and watching the world evolve into something else than we hoped for is heartbreaking. This is not the world I wish our children would inherit from us, the adults.
My wish is for peace to the world.

In these turbulent times I have received some unexpected news from knitting world.
One of my patterns that was previously published in I Like Knitting online magazine, has been nominated for Indie Designer pattern of the month - June.

link here

Watermelon Pouch

It is a second time this year that one of my patterns have been nominated.  

Previously it was my Calypso Cowl, and coincidently both of these patterns were part of Top 50 patterns on I Like Knitting.

Blog post here

Thank you for visiting.

I Like Knitting Giveaway

photo by I Like Knitting

I Like Knitting Magazine has a wonderful giveaway during the month of August. They are launching a brand new web and their giveaway offers to win the Gold Club Membership.
You can enter here:
I Like Knitting Giveaway

Since some of my knitting patterns were published by I Like Knitting Magazine, my answer to the question "Why do I like knitting" is included in the video at their blog post.

photo by I Like Knitting

Why do you like knitting?

Social Media

Last month I posted my latest pattern for Voyager Sweater on Ravelry.
The pattern has reached within a day page 1 on Hot Right Now on Ravelry. It was wonderful to see my pattern there. It also made me think about social media and their effect on us.
Bellow is just my humble opinion.
It seems that the number of followers and likes across the various social media creates an illusion of who is and who is not succesful.  If I look at the number of the followers I have on any of the social media platforms I am definitively not successful. I am not an influencer and my patterns don't stay on page 1 for too long. Yet personally I feel deeply satisfied with my creative work. The simple act of creating brings me deep satisfaction and happiness. I don't get this kind of feeling from having x amount of likes. Sure it is nice and it is needed in order to reach more people, to be seen by others, even bring some income for all the hard work that I do in order to make my knitting patterns great. However the feeling of satisfaction about creating something is not there.

I started to write this blog post about a month ago. I left it unfinished for about a month. I actually took a month off from being present on any social media platform, except few check ins on Ravelry in my group to answer questions and follow up with the test knits for few of my upcoming patterns. It was an interesting experiment. It seems that my absence on social media went unnoticed and haven't really affected anything. I did not worry about how many people visited my blog, or FB page or Instagram. My knitting patterns continue to sell like before and I enjoyed the creative process of knitting one stitch at the time as always. 

I probably missed a lot of things that happened on the social media platforms, but I managed to enjoy quiet moments of peace and acceptance. Life goes on...