Standing on a crossroad…

It has been a long time since I sat down with a nice cup of tea to write something down here instead of crocheting, introducing, and publishing. This Sunday I felt the urge to get back to this as being an author, I also love to write things down often. Writing a crochet pattern can’t be counted toward writing a proper story, so I like to take this part of myself up in the next months – something I also showed off a little already in my books.

And when I say books, it directly brings me to the main subject of today’s writing. Over the past two years, I have taken up the ability to make books. Journey, Gallery, and Crochet Journey are the products of that. Independently all great books with strong and good pattern work in them. Even today, I am happy to see that many of you use the patterns out of the books and are so cheerful and positive about them. My goal was to achieve a printed piece of my work that would leave a mark in the land of crochet today – but even more in the future. I sometimes had the dream that my book would be discovered about thirty years later by a young adult, giving him/her/them the inspiration to start crocheting. To pass on this beautiful way of crafting and even more important – a way to allow yourself to relax and create a moment of rest in a society 24-hour society.

However, in the past months, a lot of things happened behind the scenes. Things that have changed my view on the books made so far; Journey, Gallery, and Crochet Journey. The joy and pride I felt for these books are slowly vanished. I am fine with the fact my patterns are still out there in a beautifully preserved way. Still, I don’t feel the great joy of how the books we’re made anymore and especially taken care off after their release. The why for this feeling is something I will not share for certain reasons.

It also made me think about how I could turn this feeling in a different direction. As I already started publishing a booklet for the Seaside Serendipity pattern last year, I already knew this was a good way to still offer some printed work – but in a way, it is 100% me with no income from third parties. Although I continued printing smaller booklets from different patterns, this is also something I will keep doing. I have seen many people in the crochet community find it hard to work with digital patterns or still like a paper version better as it is also better to store. I love the fact that digital patterns deliver a very large reduction in paper usage – and a direct way of getting a pattern. But, I also love a printed pattern that you can look into every moment you like without the income of a digital device. So, both ways are offered from my side.

And to get back to how to change a feeling, this is what will be the future. I have learned a lot from printing and publishing these booklets so far, and it also made me think that the quality of publishing could improve on certain levels. These last months I have taken different roads to get better at these things and started seeing results. This movement has given me pretty great solutions and options to go on.

As the title of this post tells, I stood at crossroads. Are you gonna trust a guide that tells you which road to take will be the best and shortest track? Or do you trust your own feeling and although you will walk an extra mile, the finish will be made with a far better feeling. The path to this crossroad has become clear these last weeks, and I now know what to do. Once again I have experienced that laying your talent in others’ hands will not turn out in a good way and only delivers a lot of injustice and stress. For this reason, it has become very clear from this moment on I have to keep things in my own hands. The only person you can trust fully will be yourself. And this is the way to go.

So, for any future pattern work to purchase, you can expect a printed booklet as an option besides the digital version. But, for sure there is more that I am working on these next months. What it will be and how this will turn out, is something I will share when the time is there.

Have a great day and week! Once again, thanks for following, liking, and making patterns from my hand. Without you, I would not have the opportunity to be able to make choices like these.