2017 Creative Recap

Welcome to this year's creative recap. This might be the most projects I've finished in a year. The totals came out to 12 pairs of socks, 10 woven scarves, 3 sweaters, 1 hat, and 1 cowl.

My project total was boosted because I took up weaving and decided to weave a bunch of gifts. I really enjoyed trying out all sorts of different color combinations and ideas in each scarf.

I also took a watercolor class this year and got to learn how to do all sorts of techniques. 

This was the final for the class. We had to do an animal with lots of colors. I did a manatee with a Florida theme.

Connor and I got the daily comic site up and running. It can be seen at audrywithoutane.com

I also took up embroidery. Most of what I embroidered was practice for the USA quilt, of which I have made fantastic progress. I just have part of the Southwest and the South left to go.

I think the theme of this creative year was diversity. I had my hand in a lot of different areas and at times I got overwhelmed and had difficulty deciding which project I should work on next. I'm hoping that with some of these projects wrapping up I'll feel less scattered when it comes to my creative output.

2016 Creative Recap

This year was surprising productive considering how unwell I was for most of it. I did notice that it took me far longer to finish a pair of socks than it has in the past, but I still got a few pairs knit up.

I knit 5 pairs of socks (one which was knee-high), 5 hats, 2 cowls, and 1 shawl. 5 of those knits were gifts, 2 were shop samples, 1 was a design sample, and all 5 pairs of socks were for meeeeeeee. Looking at all my new pairs of socks, it seems that my love for self-striping yarn isn't going to end any time soon. Also, it looks like I spread the love around: each self striped pair was from a different dyer.

I put out five designs this year: two pairs of socks: Whiskey and Rye and Prance Past The Poppies; a mini collection called A Midsummer's Night Knit that had the Oberon Mitts and Titania Cowl; a shawl called Kelp Forest, which had been in development for over two years before I called it perfect.

Whiskey And Rye

I also started to paint again. At the beginning of the year I was obsessed with gouache.

By the end of the year I much preferred to play with watercolors. 

I also drew my daily comic, well, daily.

This year has been a tough one, but I learned that just doing little bits of art each day, or even weekly, add up to a large body of work by the end. I might have felt like I wasn't doing anything artistic all year, but clearly that wasn't the case. I'm proud of what I was able to accomplish. I hope that I can remember that feeling as I move into the new year.

Searching For Creative Fulfillment

Recently I've found myself creatively frustrated. It has taken me until now to determine that the frustration runs deeper than just not having anything come off of the needles. I realized that I have somehow turned all my creative endeavors into work. Since being creative is what fills me up, and all my creativity has been turned into work, I have felt quite empty. I started abandoning social events because I felt too drained. I've also had a sinus thing going on, which hasn't helped matters, but has forced me to be quiet enough to do some intense introspection.

I realized that when Connor is at work, I make sure I am hard at work all day. (I work at home, so my time is more flexible.) And when Connor is home, I spend time with him. What I need in my life to be fulfilled creatively is time dedicated to doing creative things for the fun of it... when I am alone. After having a good talk with Connor and hearing him say things like, "Of course you should be doing fun things for yourself." I have finally decided to give in and let myself have some time to play.

I've been dying to paint for quite some time now. There are so many ideas in my head, but I've not let them out for fear of not staying dedicated to some arbitrary deadlines I made myself. I've given up those deadlines. (Like having more patterns out for Stitches West.) Patterns will come out when they are good and ready. Today I painted for a bit instead. Because I have such a backlog of ideas, I found myself getting a little intimidated by the time I would need and the fact that I haven't painted in, well, years. So today, in the interest of just starting, I decided to paint a still life.

My Granddad had found this glass Japanese fishing float along the shores of New Zealand after a storm. After my grandmother passed away, the house was sold and he moved to a smaller place. I was allowed to choose one thing from their house to ship home. Dad told me his wallet regretted not having any limitations on the offer since the float isn't small and the shipping was quite expensive. But I'm happy I have it.

So that's what I painted today. Something small and simple.

Here's a close up. It's not perfect, but it's better than I thought I might be able to do after so many years of not practicing. I used gouache paints for those who might be curious.

I'd like to give Ann Wood some credit. She often writes about the difficulties that she encounters as a professional creative. I especially liked her post when she decided that she needed to start sketching regularly. It inspired me to just start and reminded me that it is ok to start small.

2015 Creative Recap

Welcome to the annual recap, where I learn that I was more productive than I thought I was.

According to ravelry, this year I knit 7 pairs of socks (3 of which had extensive stranded color work), 2 shawls, 2 cowls, 1 scarf, 1 pair of fingerless mitts, and at the very end of December, 1 hat. Not a bad showing. I feel like I knit more, but I think that is because I ripped many of my socks back multiple times.

This year I also got my blanket back from the weaver. I'm in love with it. It has become a kind of comfort blanket. Lucky for Connor, it is big enough to share with him.

The glorious blanket with me in Lassen Volcanic National Park

There were fewer pattern releases this year than previous years. I did manage to put out the Septet scarf and Fern Canyon socks. More were designed, but are still going through the process of being tested and photographed. I have high hopes for next year's output. I have 2 pairs of socks, 1 pair of fingerless mitts, and 1 cowl that will be released. And I have plans for sweaters. Lots of sketching has been taking place in the last two weeks.

The Fern Canyon socks taking a hike

This year I also had the opportunity to work with Carol Buchholz of Still Stranding. I've started with formatting her new patterns. We also spent a day together not too long ago doing a photo shoot for many of her upcoming patterns. You should check out her Hand Gussets and Offset Cubits Cowl in particular. We worked together to get both out. She's one to keep an eye on.

Offset Cubits Cowl

I'm hoping that this year I'll have continued opportunities to work with more designers to help them get their patterns out and businesses streamlined. It's a joy for me to see designers get their work out there.