2020!

Happy New Year, everyone! It’s that time of the year when everyone is focusing on their resolutions and reflecting on their past year. AKA exactly what I’m about to do here! 

First off, THANK YOU! If you’re reading this, you are a part of my journey and I am SO grateful for your support. 

Reflecting on 2019

For me, this year has been about two things- being more eco-conscious and of course, Ollie + Holly!

I launched this site in January 2019. At the beginning of the year, I lacked a lot of confidence and was down on myself a lot of the times. I compared my work and its popularity to others’ who have been in this for a much longer time and that was pretty tough on my mental health. 

As my site and audience grew, however, I loosened up a bit. Instead of being very vague about what I do when people ask, I now confidently tell them that I’m a crochet designer. It’s such a huge deal for me to be able to get to a place where I feel comfortable saying that. 

I also survived a site migration (yay!) and would like to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who was so patient during that time. 

After a full year of creating patterns, here are my top 3 favourites from 2019:

Check them out by clicking on the photos! 🙂

2019 is also the year that I, like many others, became significantly more conscious about the environment and climate change. I began following Kathryn Kellogg (from Going Zero Waste) after she was featured in National Geographic back in May 2018 in an article that talked about the Zero Waste movement.

Honestly, I didn’t really do anything about it initially because I was a little bit worried about whether or not I would be able to do a good enough job at it. But her posts are very informative and encouraging. If you’re looking for more information about the Zero Waste movement, definitely check her site/instagram out! 

So earlier this year, I challenged myself to create less waste. I’m glad to say that I’m keeping up with that. I’m still by no means creating absolutely no waste, but I’m going in the right direction.  

And for those of you who have been following for a while and are curious, I’m still using my Reusable Crochet Produce Bags and Reusable Crochet Cotton Pads religiously. (Seriously, go make them. They’re awesome!)

Resolutions for 2020

My plans for Ollie + Holly this year is very similar to what I set out to do in 2019. I want to create more patterns to expand my growing pattern library. I love seeing you guys enjoy my patterns, so there will definitely be more to come this year! 

I also want to expand a bit and experiment with different outlets this year. I would love to create video tutorials for some of my simpler patterns to help anyone who is just starting out on their amigurumi journey. 

As to whether or not I am going to start selling physical items, I’m not too sure. That’s something I would love to do in the future, but there is still so much on my current to-make list for me to check off. 

As you may have guessed, my personal goals for this year has a lot to do with being more eco-friendly.

This year, I want to travel significantly less by air. We just booked a train to Vancouver for the summer, and we’re planning to drive down to New York sometime in the summer as well. Should be fun!

I have also decided to not purchase any new items of clothing unless I absolutely need it. I recently watched the Patriot Act episode on fast fashion and was in shock from everything I learned. For example, this tidbit: In 2015, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from textiles production totalled 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent, more than those of all international flights and maritime shipping combined. Yeah.

I’m keeping to those two for now, but I’m sure the list is going to expand throughout the year. 

Thank you so much reading! Let’s have a great year! 🙂

Cover Background Photo by Lukáš Dlutko from Pexels