2022 A Crafty Year In Review

2022 was a little strange in terms of my crafting. I was crafting nearly every day but what I was making changed a little. Shock horror I even had days that I didn’t craft, some days I just didn’t feel like it. I lost some of my craft spark towards the end of the year. As I mentioned in my previous post 2022 was stressful and to an extent my crafting took a hit as a result as I just didn’t have the energy or brain power to craft.

If you are not familiar with the blog I make all the gifts that I give for birthdays and Christmas. Each year I ask myself the question “Are you still having fun?” I will be honest and say for 2022 the answer was yes and no. No adults got Christmas gifts, chocolates or wine were an easy fix. Thankfully I started my kids Christmas gift making early so they were all finished in time. I think as the kids are getting older it is getting harder to make new and interesting gifts that I haven’t made before. For 2023 I’m still going to make birthday gifts for my nieces as they are already finished/started or planned out but I’m not sure about their Christmas gifts yet. As for the adults I have a couple of ideas in mind but I’ll see how the year goes if I get to making them or not.

I haven’t yet blogged all my makes for the year, thinking back I still have some from 2021 which I haven’t posted yet. One project yet to blogged from 2022 was the fact I knitted gloves, not one pair but two! Glove knitting was something I thought that would be really hard but they were actually very easy. They were my major knitting project for the year. At the end of 2021 I started a shawl but it got put in the too hard basket and I haven’t returned to it since. When I have brain power I will get it out and resume it.

All year I really tried to be more sustainable in my crafting. For years I have always shopped my stash first but now I am more conscious of what I was adding to my stash. For the most part I only purchased supplies if I had an intent to use them now and not “one day” I mentioned in my Year In Review post about the umbrella cover and reusable lid mats I made to reduce some of my single use items. I enjoyed making those and using them. I enjoyed using scraps or smaller pieces of fabrics in projects.

My most favourite item for the year was my yogurt cozy, it wasn’t the most glamorous project but it was practical. I used pieces of polar fleece from my old coat to make a custom fit cover or cozy to keep my yogurt warm in the yogurt maker as it set. I use it every couple of weeks. It seems to be working as my yogurt is coming out thicker now.

My big project for the year was my QAYG hexie blanket. I have almost finished all the individual hexies. I’m toying with the idea of assembling it by hand or machine joining it. It would be quicker by machine but then it isn’t fully hand sewn. I will fully decide once I work out some sort of order for all the pieces.

Doing the wardrobe stock take as my Me Made May challenge was a real eye opener to what I actually owned, as a result I didn’t make a lot of clothing as I didn’t need it. Doing a wardrobe stock take is an exercise I urge everyone to do, it gives you an appreciation of what you actually own. It is more sustainable and frugal to wear what you already own instead of going out and buying more or if you are a maker buying supplies to make more items you don’t really need. Since doing the challenge some items of clothing have worn out beyond repair mostly underwear and pj’s so I will be making some clothing items in the future. I’m not saying I will never ever again make an item that I don’t really need but I will slow down on my let’s call it extra clothing making.

I enjoyed making for charity again this year. Aside from the making of the charity bags and the handmade items I included in them I was also knitting for WIRES. I have a stack of pouches which I need to wash and post off. Knitting pouches was mindless knitting which I could do even if I was tired. I like using my skills to support charity. Some people contribute to charity via monetary donations, I prefer to use my skills.

For the last few years I have been documenting down what I have been making using pages from a sewing planner. This year I moved the planner to the bottom bin on the side of my sewing cabinet. It was in a bad spot that I couldn’t access it easily if I had packed away sewing area for the day and I ended up not using it. For 2023 I’ve decided to note it down in my diary instead. My diary lives on the lounge next to where I sit so I can pick it up and easily write down the projects as I finish them. Let’s face it I’m lazy and if something is too hard or requires too many steps than I just don’t do it. I’m trying to streamline everything so that it works for me in the easiest way possible.

Looking ahead to this year. I’m hoping to get back into my crafting more. I’ve signed up to Just Get It Done January declutter challenge so I’m hoping that physically touching or being around my craft supplies will inspire me to get in and want to use them. I’m still working on perfecting my craft spaces. In terms of actually crafting I want to try and use more scraps or smaller bits of fabrics in projects more so I may end up with some abstract pieces. As a maker my creative instinct is to want to make things but I want what I make to be useful.

Happy Crafting 

Cassiy

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