Let’s take a look back at 2020…

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Yep, it’s that time of the year again, when everyone looks back and try to make sense of the year that is coming to an end… I did it in 2019, but at the time no one knew that 2020 would be this… intense. Still, I started 2020 with stars in my eyes and very motivated to be organised and to push La rose du rang to new heights…

Sometimes I wonder if this is actually why everything went sideways… Mea culpa maxima.

How to describe 2020?

In pattern terms, it’s two knitting patterns and seven crochet patterns that made their way to my Ravelry shop.

2020 also saw me translate a few Akroche Tatuk patterns, but with all the events being canceled, including the Festival de la p’tite laine it’s been very quiet on the professionnal front… mostly because like the vast majority of parents I had my hands full of remote learning kids. Plus, when work places are forced closed and revenus go down, buying knitting and crochet patterns is not often considered essential. Nope, in 2020 we were all in the same boat… on fire… with one broken paddle.

Still, I worked very hard and even made and published my first stop motion movie… lol!

What do I have planned for 2021? I’d be curious to know what you would like to see, but my plans are simply:

– Lots of an art
– A pattern/guide to make your own custom mini doll
– We keep exploring our Crochet Universe
– More stop motion animations

What about the personnal front of 2020 for me?

Since forever, my brain always works with 150 tabs open. Now, it’s never been a problem before, but 2020 saw me drop the ball on a few occasions. Too much stress you say? You need some quality « me time »? All true of course, but my main problem was that my hobby? Remember that one thing that helps me relax? Knitting/crocheting? Also my job. Hard to find working on some plain socks relaxing when you need to be creating the next « big hit » pattern to help feel a bit more secure during this hellish year…

Still, mental health is important and I needed to find something to help me relax. First I thought journaling might be the thing. I got the perfect bullet journal, watch 20000 bujo youtube videos and promptly panic at both my lack of skills and at the thought of ruining the poor thing. Very. Relaxing.

However, through all of these videos, I saw a LOT of watercolor artists do their thing and wow… so pretty! And relaxing! So I got the BEST POSSIBLE supplies and put myself to work.

Yes, that was sarcasm, but really it was relaxing and I didn’t have to handle everything at that moment because I was concentrating on now creating a beautiful shade of grayish brown. Which is what happens when you mix the wrond colors. Ask me how I know…

Because I might be a little bit obsessive, I got a better watercolor set from Amazon. Still « cheap » overall, but I was still blown away because it was miles better than my cheap unicorn watercolors! And I was hooked! I started watching youtube tutorials and even got a free Skillshare trial membership.

And just like that, I started taking time daily for watercolors and to just shut the door on everything else.

Now, do you know that youtube hosts a gazillion unboxing videos? It’s actually through one of those that I discovered Beampaints… and since both my birthday and Christmas were coming up… I might have gotten very fancy paints!

And what does that mean for La rose du rang? Absolutely nothing… and it’s wonderful!

I’d be curious to know what « selfish » hobbies helped you through 2020?