Another Mild November

Hiya! This post is sort of a ramble about where I am and where I’m headed as I put the finishing touches on the work of 2022 with Morale Fiber 🙂

Shop Platforms

My year-long effort of file updating and uploading has finally reached the goal! All of my pattern PDF’s are nestled cozily in my new shop front via Ko-Fi, a lovely platform where I can sell my digital files AND my physical items without having to pay a fee to the website. Because I pay a yearly subscription instead of Ko-Fi taking commission on each sale, this platform is the most lucrative for me and if you like it as much as I do, please feel encouraged to buy from that shop for all my future pattern releases!

Ravelry is of course still a reliable workhorse for me, as they are set up to manage digital file sales in ways that Ko-Fi isn’t right now – and so I encourage purchases through Ravelry as well if you are so inclined! Ravelry takes a smallish percentage of my sales, and I’m happy to pay that to them for their continued excellence in pattern distribution tools.

As for Etsy… well… we don’t talk about Etsy -_-

Contacting Me

Part of the effort to update all my files was to switch over from my OLD contact e-mail to my new contact e-mail, regina@moralefiber.blog. My old e-mail will be closed as of the end of this year. I have also made a huge effort to streamline my business platforms, because having 10+ different social media accounts to manage and answer questions on was way too cumbersome and resulted in me feeling frantic AND missing people’s messages! So, my Facebook page closed it’s direct messages (the page is still active, just can’t message me there), I closed TikTok, Twitter, Patreon, and my Facebook group.

Do you know how that makes me feel? Hugely relieved.

I have been slowly realizing over the last couple of years how damaging constant social media engagement is for my mental health. And though I am still SO enthusiastic about making new patterns and sharing them with everyone, my goal is to focus much more in the future on centering my art around just a few carefully selected platforms. You can navigate all my currently active socials through my LinkTree!

Home, Home on the Blog

The primary platform I want to operate around in the future is… this one! My new contact e-mail centers on this site, and having finally updated the layout of this blog, I’m much happier with it’s navigation (ok, I still can’t figure out where the subscription button should be, but have patience). A few clumsy tries at integrating Instagram into the actual blog posts didn’t work out so great, but I can still cross-post using good ol’ copy-paste.

The next big integration I want to try out is… beta testing! Whereas before I was using a Facebook group for pattern testing, it would be hard to manage that while also trying to limit the time spent on social media 😉 My idea is to post patterns to be tested here on the blog, then either limit access to a group of volunteers before releasing the tested pattern, or releasing a Test-Only “beta version” that allows open-source testing of the pattern for anyone patient enough to try it out before it’s perfected 😀 That last method might be a bit of chaos, but I’m still thinking things over so we’ll see. Plus, I like chaos sometimes.

Seasons Change

To be honest, I can’t believe this year went by so fast. I do feel a little disappointed at that – I didn’t get nearly the amount of work done on new designs that I wanted to! Okay, I did release some designs I really love (like the Fortune Teller’s Shawl) as well as making some projects that I’m proud to put in my portfolio. Tutorials happened, videos were edited! Not to mention updating and uploading 54 pattern files across 3 different shop platforms (162 individual edits and uploads!!!) However, I recognize that life is about ebb and flow. This year did not see the publication of some of my most treasured future designs, but I did need the time to catch things up and make them copacetic.

I cleaned up my digital affairs, made sure my older work is up to snuff, and most importantly of all, worked on managing my mental health at the same time I am managing my passion.

And yes I realize most of what I’m saying in this post are things I said at the beginning of 2022 😉

But yeah… I did say it was a ramble, didn’t I?

Featured Designs

Okay, so here are some things I definitely did in 2022! 🙂 Just for funsies, to remind myself it wasn’t all wrestling around to fix mis-converted PDF files.

Some brand new crochet designs this year included the Domovoy Cap (top left, free pattern), The Delta Top (top middle and bottom left, free pattern), the Ruta Pixie Belt (top right, based on my free tutorial series), and the Fortune Teller’s Shawl (bottom middle and right, paid pattern).

Some older designs that got updated or reworked this year included the Flower Child Pullover (top left, paid pattern), the Vintage Derby Hat (top middle, free pattern), the Lotus Mandala Throw (top right, free pattern), the Freewheelin’ Poncho (bottom left, paid pattern), the Cottage Vest (bottom middle, paid pattern), and the Leafy Tam (bottom right, free pattern).

So yeah. I made some stuff! Actually gathering all those projects together makes me feel pretty accomplished 🙂 I think I’ll take this motivation and get back to working on the next free pattern I plan to offer – it’s a chunky one so get those big hooks ready <3

-MF