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Happy new year!?

You may wonder why I put two different marks at the end of the title. Here’s why. On the one hand I am thrilled we made it through another year and on the other we are still in the same place we have been for two years now. In some ways we have made strides to change things yes, but on the other because of the lies and misinformation given in the US we have not made the changes we need to be further beyond then we are. Enough said on that.

It is a new year like it or not and I am looking forward and on to the positive things that I can and want to do for myself and my business. My business did see some growth in 2021. I continued to do well on Etsy and at the local markets which is great. I also branched out and decided that I need to build my business online beyond Etsy. I decided to partner with a up and coming marketplace company that I believe will be the new face of handmade online and in person. It’s taken the concept that Etsy did in the beginning but has moved away from which is focus on handmade sellers. People who create things handmade. Supporting them and encouraging them to succeed. But the other thing about this business is they are choosing to stay true to their mission as to have a handmade marketplace but also hugely to give their profits to children in need which is something I whole heartedly support and can get behind. Not many companies can or choose to do that. I have had nothing but positive feedback from everyone in this business whether it is other sellers and the original group of founders who are building this. I hope more people will check out and support them in the coming new year. The name of this wonderful business I think is perfect for it. Goimagine. Think about what that means. My goal or plan for this year business wise is to build up my business on this platform, and let everyone know they are out there and doing great things. So please check out goimagine.com and check me out there as nexusknits and on http://www.nexusknits.com.

Welcome to my new spinning wheel. As you know if you’ve read my other blog posts, I am a bicrafty person. I knit and crochet and my love of the fiber arts has no bounds. A few years ago I was introduced to the magic of spinning fiber contents into yarn by taking a class with a spindle. More on that later. Since then I was gifted my mother in law’s spinning wheel. I hadn’t been able to dive myself in fully to spinning with everything else going on the last two years and continuing to work throughout though. I also was having trouble getting the rhythm down to move the wheel with my foot as it is a one foot treddle. So I stopped for a while. But had been looking at these espinners as some of my friends had gotten some and were enjoying them. Thanks to having a job now that has made it possible for me to support my love o the fiber arts I was able to get this espinner the eew 6. It is also made by a small business called dreamingrobots. It was the most affordable one out in the market today and more portable. So this is my plan and goal for myself personally this coming year. To become a better spinner of wool fibers and eventually making yarn for myself to then knit or crochet something with the final product to put it all together. All of this follows my creed of my name. Finding connections in everything I do. Going from the sheep or animal that I have the fiber from to spinning it up on my wheel or spindle to then making something with it by knitting or crochet. Learning so much along the way. Here is a picture of just some of the wool I will be starting with.

One thing I know about the fiber arts, there is always more to learn and explore. I know I will never be bored. So, happy new year it is. Continuing to try to stay positive and focus on what I can control and do for my sanity and my own mental and physical health.

Til next time, stay well, be happy and let’s hope for more kindness in our world please. We surely need it.

Holiday mood

Hi, this morning i wanted to give you a taste of what I saw outside my window this morning. It took a while to get here but we finally have a decent amount of snow now. At least four inches. I think I can safely say we will have a white Christmas this year. It’s been cold enough long enough now to keep it around.

Now on to my thoughts of my craft today. As I continue to work on gifts and some winter projects. Do you know what the word bicrafty means? It means someone who is able to work on two craft skills. I would say that I am a bicrafty person. I enjoy working with crochet and knitting. Though if I add being a spinner too would that make me a tricrafter? Maybe. What do you think? Of course these all fall under the category of fiber arts. There are many other options that fall under that genre. I can pretty much say I will never be bored with this field of crafts. There’s always more to learn and create. Also, no matter how old you are you can work this skill. From young kids to older adults like my 94 year old aunt who has gotten back into knitting after a long time. She picked it back up during the pandemic and made nine shawls so far this last year.

Getting to hear stories like that from her and others that I have helped teach this skill too have helped me to build those connections as well. I have been thinking lately about my goals for 2022. What I would like to achieve in the coming year. How I will improve my little business forward. As well as continue to expand my skills for my own personal gain as well. I have some exciting plans and will be sharing them soon so stay tuned.

Are you in the holiday mood this year yet? Or is this time of year especially hard right now. What is your mood right now as we look to end this month and this year. I would love to know. Until next time. Take care and craft on.

December thoughts #2

I know it’s December fourth today and not two but the last two days have been hectic so I just didn’t have the energy to post. So here we are. One of my advent gifts was some needles and a pattern for the second and yesterday was the yarn to go with it. The pattern is for a table runner done in a plaid look by double knitting and double stranded knitting combined. A completely new thing for me so I’m excited to get started with it. I’ll insert picture here.

I’ve decided that for 2022 one of my resolutions is to try more new things in my world of fiber crafts. There are so many things and techniques, to learn. Doing more spinning is also on my bucket list as well. I will try to document my progress here as well. If you are interested in following along that would be great. Making connections to my craft by learning so much more.

Have you thought about a resolution for yourself for 2022 yet? If you have and want to share please leave a comment and let me know. I would love to see them. Till next time, stay well and happy holidays

December thoughts #1

Hi friends, it is December 1st and I have treated myself this year to some special advent boxes from some friends that are very cool makers I know and small business owners as well. So my thoughts for this month is to show you the fun I get to see each day hopefully, and to reflect a little on things from this month and as we near the end of this year what it has meant for me. So come along on this adventure with me.

As my name says I am a nexusknitter which means I find connections in everything I do and especially with my crafts. Here is a little video and photos from my opening some of my treasures today.

Opening a advent box

The first two are from the box in the video, the yarn is from another box.

I will try to blog a little bit on here everyday this month to show you a bit of the joy I see every day with this advent joy. Also to give you some insight into what I am looking to do through this last month of 2021. If you like to, come along with me.

The holiday season

Hello friends, I have been busy with work and my crafty life with getting ready for the holiday market I am participating in soon. I have been creating fun ornaments to add a festive feel to my display this year. I will have them for people to buy as well as for decoration. I think with all the talk and reality of supply chain issues for products out there right now, supporting handmade small businesses is key. Get yourself some things from small businesses and make your gifts unique and extra special for those special people in your life.

I will tell you that it has been a little bit and for me to really get into the holiday spirit this year. Trying to keep a positive attitude has been difficult at times. The whole negative vibe that has been going on and still continues is hard to take. I have though been trying to immerse myself in my craft and trying to focus on the things that make me happy and positive. My love of color and crafts especially with the fiber arts has been what has gotten me through so far and will again.

I pose this question out into the world. What makes you happy and brings you joy from the negatives around in the world today?

Something else that makes me happy is to help causes that I believe in. So these past few months I have rebranded my business with a marketplace that I can truly get behind and I hope more people will support. It is called goimagine. They not only want to support true handmade businesses to succeed on their marketplace but want to build a community that is positive and uplifting and the big part is they are giving their profits to children in need charities. For me, that sits right in line with my vision for my business which is making connections with my craft. So I started my business on this marketplace a few months ago and I have my own site through their help where you can go and purchase from nexusknits there as well as on my Etsy shop. I hope people will join me in supporting this mission and me by purchasing through my shop there. You will be helping to support a cause that really makes me happy to support as well.

My website is http://www.nexusknits.com. Let’s bring some joy and love to the world this holiday season instead of hate and negativity. Support small businesses and in turn you will do more good then you could ever know. Sending love and peace until next time,

The simple joys of morning

I’m looking out my living room window while drinking my morning coffee and thinking how nice and peaceful it is to just sit and take in the moment. My house is quiet, just me and the animals up. It is October 30, 2021. A year has past since I last wrote in this blog. A lot of things have changed in my world as well since then. I changed jobs after 7 years of being with a company. It was hard to do that but a decision I don’t regret still now. More to come on that later. But for now a simple thought this morning in the quiet is how I can just enjoy the peace, the taste and smell of my morning coffee and sit and reflect on the construction of two hats I am making. One is for my shop and one is a gift for my daughter. How do you spend your Saturday mornings? Is it watching cartoons with the kids, running around, do you sleep in? I would love to know. Do you take the time to just enjoy the simple pleasures of the morning.

This is a picture of some of the hat for my daughter. She picked the yarn. A beautiful autumn color. The stitch marker is one I made. I sell them in my shop. I love watching the seasons change and the colors of fall are so pretty. I love that I live in a state that I can see that.

With everything that has changed in the last almost two years now and still ongoing, the one thing I can still be thankful to say is I can still enjoy the nice quiet of the morning. My hope for you is enjoy the quiet moments in your day, take the time however small it may be and focus on the little joys that make you happy. For me as you can see is my craft of knitting and crochet. It gives me peace of mind. Hope you can take in the simple joys of the morning as well. Til next time.

Seasons are changing

Wow! Where did the time go. It is the end of aug and soon it will be fall. It is slowly starting to look and feel it around here in bozeman. Despite the pandemic , life still goes on. It just looks different due to it. With fall comes the need to get flu shots. Even more important then ever. But enough about that.

I wanted to also say that with fall brings about reminders of things like cancer awareness as well. Something that is important to me as a cancer survivor myself. I am ever so grateful for everyday that I have. With fall comes the reminder of breast cancer and I have members of my family that have survived it and ones who have not. So I will continue to help the fight in anyway I can. One new thing I am excited to announce is I am making some new stitch markers for my shop, nexusknits. They will be debuting in September and for all of September and October I will donate half the proceeds from the sales of these markers to the fight for breast cancer. The picture above shows some of them. I also make knitted and crochet knockers for those affected by breast cancer. Next my thoughts for the day.

In this time of division with politics and the pandemic please remember that we need to be kind to one another whether or not we agree. And we need to respect everyone. It is not ok to treat people differently. Enough said for today. Take care everyone and please be safe and help each other out by wearing a mask when you are out and about. It really does help even a little bit. Til next time.

What year is it? 2020 or 1960

As I sit this early morning trying to do some quiet morning knitting, listening to the birds out my window I couldn’t help but reflect on all the hurt in the world right now. Aside from the pandemic of COVID 19 we now have riots in our streets again from an injustice by some police officers. We have a president who doesn’t respect anyone. I know I’ve lost days during this pandemic with being home more and all but I didn’t think we had gone back in years too.

This is 2020 and every life matters and everyone should be treated equal. I guess I have never understood why that is a hard thing for some to understand.

I grew up in a intercultural household. I have cousins who are African American and family in Italy. So when I hear of people being abused and killed because of race or bigotry ,etc it hurts. When I was younger my first experience in school in Florida I was in a class where I was a minority of being one of two kids that were white in a class of African American kids. They were all friends. This was in the early 70s . My connections with friends and family shape my connections to my crafts. It is all connected. This country has been hurting and so unhealthy for the last three and half years especially. We need a major change to move forward and get back to some sense of peace and respect for one another. Enough said of news.

Knitting and crochet help me heal and find my sense of peace in this frustrating time right now. If I start my day and end it with some peaceful knitting then it helps to calm things. I hope you can find something for you to calm your nerves and be at peace. Let me know if you want in the comments. Til next time, be nice to one another and stay safe.

Daily life of a fiber lover

Hello, this blog post I thought I would put into words how I go about my day as a lover of everything related to the natural and synthetic fibers. Meaning yarn and wool, etc. With these days of being self quarantined and staying home more, my life has not really changed too dramatically. It just means more time for me to do my craft of knitting and crochet. I have just been using more of my stash of yarn lately. Though I have to say I have still bought more. I have done items for myself and family as well as for my business of nexus knits. With the future of the farmers markets up in the air right now for this summer I have been working to get my items I normally sell at those venues online in the shop in case I am not able to sell in person.

I work part time for MIchaels crafts store here in Bozeman as well in the mornings so am still surrounded by crafts. How do I find inspiration you might ask? Sometimes it comes from the yarn itself and sometimes if I see a pattern or a stitch that someone shows I think, that would be great in a dishcloth or shawl or hat, etc. Lately, Ive just made small items like hats with my own designs but am trying to branch out. If I really like a pattern someone has designed though and want to make it either to use for my shop I will make sure they are ok to sell items I have made from the pattern. I always credit the designer though.

Lately, I will have to say though, with this pandemic it has been really hard to keep my motivation going so I have had to go back to making things that are simple easy items that don’t take much thought like dishcloths and a simple blanket that I am loving just to keep working. The simple process of making the stitches and concentrating on that has helped me to relax and not stress from everything going on in the world right now. I’d love to know what you are doing to de stress. What is helping you. Till next time, be safe, stay well and please be kind to everyone.

Quarantine continued

Hi guys, I thought I would write a short blog post and voice my feelings on this continuing saga of new normal we are all in right now. I will admit for the most part I have tried to remain upbeat and positive as best I can. But, I do have moments of worry and frustration. I am still working part time through this crisis since I work for Michaels craft stores. We are categorized as a essential business. For the most part we have really good customers but we have had a few that have really made us wonder. Just a side note for anyone reading this, please be kind to one another. Please be respectful of the people putting themselves in harms way by staying open and working. We are trying our best to provide the best service we can and when we have people coming in and through fits and harassing our staff it is not good. Enough said. My rant for the day.

It has been snowing all day today. It is April 15th, 2020. We really want spring to come. This is also the day that normally we would have to have filed our taxes. For me it is also the day that my grandfather on my dads side had designated his birthday when he had come to country. Because of this pandemic and health crisis we are in, my knitting and crochet has been more and more important to my health then ever. I am currently working on a piece that is nice and simple that is calming and relaxing. Much needed right now. Hope you find your peace. Stay well and stay calm.