Changes to Patreon billing & life update

Hello, everyone! 2020 was a hell of a year, and 2021 is looking like it might be more of the same. I got through my first semester of university (well… eighth semester if you count my first degree from just over 12 years ago, but it’s my first semester of THIS university) and discovered, yes, I absolutely love studying Korean and Japanese. However, school really takes a lot of my energy, so I changed my Patreon from a monthly bill to just one tier which is per-creation. This means that you only get charged when I release a full pattern, but can still see my behind-the-scenes work if you pledge. Anyway, it’s still completely optional, of course, and the patterns I release through Patreon will eventually be available on the site for my normal fingerless gloves pattern pricing.

Another major change in my life the past year is that I have finally recognised, as a white and cis-passing person, that I am not only able to, but have a duty to use my privilege in life to stand up and speak out for marginalised people. I already had quite a few LGBTQ+ community friends and accounts I followed, but now I have been following more Black, Asian, and other POC designers on my Instagram page. It was easy to sympathise with queer people, many of whom look like me already, but I was unintentionally ignoring designers of colour almost completely. Of course, following, listening, learning, and appreciating are all good things to do, but I don’t think that’s enough on its own. Yu Ra from Knitboop Designs mentioned on her Instagram story how she chooses not to work with designers, dyers, etc. who don’t have an anti-racist or inclusivity statement on their social media or company webpage. Now, I understand that this message was more directed at large companies, but I felt moved to make my own statement and link to it permanently in my site’s top menu. If you’re interested, you can read what I wrote here; please do follow the links to amazing BIPOC makers that I’ve added. I have tried my whole life to not be racist despite the overwhelmingly white community I was raised in, but I now understand that it takes more to be truly, actively ANTI-racist – and I want to continue to do what I can to help dismantle white supremacy.

Lots of love and care.

Our own pattern shop!

Since Ravelry has recently doubled down on their stance against accessibility, I no longer feel comfortable sending people there to purchase / download my patterns. Thus, I’ve added a pattern store to my site where you can download them from me. You can pay via PayPal or Stripe. 🙂

My dear friend and sibling-in-wool Silver has asked me to host their patterns on my shop too, so I have added theirs. The proceeds from their patterns will be sent to them directly by me.

You can still support me on Patreon for early access to my new patterns, a coupon code for one of my paid patterns (which works on my new store!), and other goodies. Alternatively, you can send me some support via Ko-fi if you don’t want to worry about recurring payments. Thank you!

Writing patterns and getting ready to launch… something!

Hello again! 🙂

It’s been a few months since my last update and I’ve adjusted a bit better to lockdown life. I’ve got a few more fingerless mitt patterns planned out, and I’m still contemplating a shawl I’d love to make and share the pattern for.

I’ve also got some exciting news up my sleeve – but I’m waiting a week to tell you exactly what it is. So check back on my birthday, next Saturday, to see what I’m going to announce! It’ll be a way to support me and also get behind-the-scenes looks and exclusive patterns, and I hope you’ll be interested in it.

2020 Update

Hi, everyone. I know I left you all hanging last June with the promise of new patterns, but visiting my family took up all my time (in a good way) so I just didn’t get the designs out that I wanted to. I still have a fingerless mitts pattern and a hat pattern that I made last year up my sleeve, and I’ll see about getting those published soon. With the COVID-19 pandemic, I’m finding I have a lot of time on my hands, but I have also been dealing with anxiety and depression which have slowed my knitting progress.

I’m glad I got to visit my family last year as it looks as though it will be impossible to see them this year. I miss them. We’d had a trip planned for May but as you might expect, that’s been cancelled. I’m not sure when we’ll see each other in person again, which is scary, but the truth nonetheless.

In February, I officially became a British citizen. I have lived here for 8 years and I want to spend the rest of my life here, and it makes me very happy that I can call England my home forever. Once I became a citizen, I applied to start studying at the University of Sheffield (and was accepted!) in Korean Studies with Japanese. I have always been interested in languages, and while visiting my family last year, my sister got me into BTS, the Korean rap / pop band. I wanted to learn Korean to sing along and understand the songs better, so I started using an app called LingoDeer – and I’ve discovered that I absolutely love speaking and reading Korean. My end goal is to work as a translator or interpreter for Korean speakers in the UK. The Japanese classes available to me in this course are just icing on the cake, as I’ve been interested in Japanese culture for many years and being able to read and speak Japanese too would be wonderful.

I find the entire pandemic situation overwhelming and terrifying, but I’m trying my best to carry on despite it all. I’m staying home and safe, and trying not to get too stir-crazy during this lockdown period. I’m wishing for the best for everyone.

No pattern for June

I don’t have a new pattern for you this month, but I’ll try my best to get three patterns to you during the next one! I’ll be on holiday in America visiting my family and I anticipate having a lot of knitting and designing time. I’ll update with progress during each week of July. 🙂 Thanks for understanding.