The year of 2024 has been blistering with its ability to make avoiding difficult challenges as untenable as ever. There were heavy losses, great wins, and facing the actuality of it all. I think if there was one or two categories being affected in my life, I would be OK, but it feels like all aspects of my life were touched in different ways. With new challenges, I tried my best to rise to the occasion. I may have only tread water, but I’ve made it so far. Looking ahead rather than focusing on how hard everything was is keeping me afloat.

I have reason to believe, “Maybe this year will be better than the last”

The Counting Crows

My Knitting Journey in 2024

These challenges affected my knitting this year. Looking at my Ravelry, I can see how the number of projects I finished was very low. While it says six total, four were handknit. Two of those handknits were sweaters, so those are big ticket finishes. I did not track all the machine made items I created, but there were about 30 chickens, several ear warmers, scrunchies, and double layer beanies. It was a successful year at my markets, but I think I’m going to refocus my attention on fiber arts festivals rather than craft shows. Those type of shows would give me the ability to focus on vending my merchandise over my ready-made items.

The Seed Dot Beanie version 2 test knit has been on a long hold as testers finished with their edits. Everyone completed their test and prizes were sent. The tech edit came back as well. I need to implement the changes to the pattern and then do a couple new samples, especially in Super Bulky. I got a wonderful new notion that gives brim sizes for each yarn weight. I’m planning on using that to help fix the Super Bulky issues my testers were having.

Looking Ahead at What is Next in Queue

My Slip On Your Shoulder test knit is finally complete! I’m so excited with how it came out, bringing my vision for this pattern to life in a beautiful fade that created a sunset-like view. It fits my wonderfully. Mary from blametheknots has been gracious and kind with allowing me to extend my deadline to finish up my test as nerve pain got in the way. It was an interesting way to create a sweater and i learned a lot while knitting it up. Let me know what you think of it in the comments below!

For my next project in queue, I do have another sweater that was on hold in the form of my Calliope as well as the circular shawl I wanted to create. Most importantly, I plan on making a beautiful shawl for my sister in law as a gift for her wedding. These are lofty goals as my hands have been dealing with the brunt of my physical pain I deal with lately.

Gratitude for How My Health Has Improved

I have been dealing with nerve pain. Particularly, the pain seems to enjoy affecting my left hand the most, making knitting a difficult activity. My focus has been managing the pain by taking more rest. This ends up affecting everything – from crafting to podcasting to everything in between.

Editing podcasts hasn’t been an issue for me, but recording them has. It is super difficult to record an episode when you’re in active pain. We normally record during a weekday evening after 6pm. The worst time for me is between 6-8pm because my larger dose of pain medication isn’t until 8pm. This makes the few hours before that dose difficult. I do plan on talking to my doctor about it, but in the meantime, I keep bowing out of recording. The group has been understanding of my predicament.

I do have much gratitude for the state of my physical health besides the pain. This time last year I was having a hard time walking around, hobbling with my cane. I had just started outpatient physical therapy to learn to walk again. We didn’t know what caused my problem and everything felt up in the air. Being able to walk without my cane normally for most of the time has beengreat. Having a formal diagnosis that makes sense with a treatment plan has been relieving. I have a great primary doctor when last year I was in-between doctors. There is many progressive steps towards a better healthy future. 2025 looks bright to me in this aspect.

Love for My Family and Losing My Father

Outside of my health, my family has been thriving. My kids are making wonderful strides in school. My relationship with my parents is in a good place, although my father did pass away. It will be the first holiday season without my father. He passed during the summer, and his birthday is coming up. He was too young to go. I’m happy to have been able to spend the last few years with him so closely by living so nearby.

We were very close. I always felt I could ask him for advice and confide in him. We have a similar love for technology, problem-solving, and having a “get it done” attitude. He was also hilarious and witty. He had strong values and always fought for what was right, even when everybody else was against him. There are so many ideas brimming for projects I would love to work on in honor of my father, but I have to take it slow. In the meantime, I will try to honor his legacy by being reliable, honest, loving too hard, and laughing a lot. I am happy he is in a better place and is reunited with my late brother as well.

Watching Yarn Saver Flourish

Building Yarn Saver as a business has been such a joy. The model is working. When items go up in the website, they sell well. Currently 80% of the original inventory is sold. I’ve had great success in processing new intakes ready to go up on the website. It takes quite a bit of time for me to get those items up, due to needing to pace myself, but being able to pay someone for their items has been fulfilling to create this lifecycle for fiber. I enjoy re-homing yarn for new projects and ideas. My goal is to continue to refine the business and hopefully watch it take off with my hard work.

Looking Ahead to 2025

Although I cannot predict what the coming year might look like, I am going to be hopeful yet cautious. I’ve set my family up for success as best as I can, and this is the first time in a while we have been able to just breathe. Yes, we had major hurdles the past 12-18 months, but I cannot let that deter me. Looking ahead, my fiber arts goals for next year include:

1. Continuing the process of creating better, clearer layouts of my existing knitting patterns similar to the Seed Dot Beanie 2.0.
2. Building Yarn Saver into a larger piece of my business plan as a fiber artist.
3. Doing more in-person events for Pardon My Stash.
4. Attending my first fiber arts festival as a vendor with my graphic artwork and merchandise.
5. Knitting at least one luxury item for myself.

I know the next year feels daunting for some, especially in the United States, but I would love to hear about your goals as well. They do not need to be massive goals; even a goal to make it through counts. I think most of us can agree that being able to tread the waters like I did for this year is a success in itself. Having hope and ataying positive is a good exercise for our body, especially when it comes to stress. It is so easy to doomscroll, but I want to hear about what looking ahead looks like for you. Let me know in the comments what you’re looking forward to.

Regards,

Christina