Happy Birthday blog!!! :-)

My blog is one years old already! Hurray.

This birthday is happening just as my life is taken amazing turn to the right. Last Friday moved to the French Alps for the winter. I cant believe how beautiful is is here, this is the view i get from my bedroom window.

So this blog is one year old, or rather one year and 6 days, but i missed the anniversary in the chaos of the move. Opps.

My life has taken a dramatic turn. These life changes don't mean that i am giving up my blog, or sewing, or knitting, it just means that i'll have new challenges. It is amazing i have three sewing machines in my new apartment/chalet, two of which are in my room. They are all vintage machine and will need a lot of maintenance before it is possible to use any of them. I really believe that this life was made for me.

        

When I started this blog I had only really just discovered the whole world of blogging, before this i had never really heard of blogging, would you believe.  I was trying to improve my crochet and sewing skills and searching the internet for different terms and techniques that would help me. There i discovered so many beautiful blogs, that were so inspiring. I knew that if i started a blog, i could never get close to the greatness of these wonderful blogs. But i wanted to give it a try anyway. Part of the reason i wanted to give it a try was because, me like many people harbor a secret desire to one day start my own business.

At the time when i started this blog i was desperate for any type of employment, so had just taken on a minimum wage factory job. Knowing that this job could not sustain me in the long run, and that this type of employment was unstable. The thought of starting my own business was very much at the front of my mind. I had no idea of what kind of business i wanted, but i thought (think) getting some skills that could help me along was vitally important. By keeping a blog i though i could improve on many skills such as writing, photography, blog maintenance etc that i could use for a business. I though this would be easy, but i also thought that i would probably give up after a few weeks. In reality it was so much harder than i first thought, the amount of effort and time you have to commit, really pushed me and i did not advance much as i would have liked. However, i loved keeping the blog. Over this last year i have become KnottedRose. This blog has improved and i am still committed. Though the idea of starting my own business has kinda of faded.

The Next Year

So here are some new year/ new blog resolutions. Even though this is what i am thinking about in terms of this blog, i have a sneaking suspicion that some of these resolutions/ideas will probably not happen and the actually path this blog will take might be quite different. 

• I want to keep improving this blog, if you are one of my very few regular readers, you'll see there have been many changes recently, and there are more to come. I am still not quite happy with the look of this blog. I would like it to have a more simple stream line look about it. I don't really want a plain white back ground, as this is just dull, but i don't want it to look overly cluttered either, so i'll keep trying out different colours and themes, until i am happy.

         

• I would also like to start providing more information on the blog. Up until now it has very much been a 'look what I've made' type blog. But as i plan to travel quite a lot in the next few months and years, i think that it is appropriate that i start providing guilds and reviews for fabric and yarn shops in cities that i visit. Because sometimes it can be a nightmare finding this information in English when visiting a foreign city.

• I would love to try to publish a pattern. I have been working on a the pattern for my cable bag for sometime, but have yet to get it perfect enough to share. I am also thinking about creating a mitten pattern, to start with, as it would be simpler to figure out how to present it. This might also help with some of the pattern problems i am having with my bag.

• As i am moving to the Alps for 5 months and then i plan to travel more, this blog, or even a sister blog will also be focusing on the travel aspect of my life. I have not quite worked out how this will work yet, because i am here to work and might not get the chance to work on two blogs, we'll see. I'll certainly get a better back drop for the photos i do take.

• My writing skills are not the best, i am so painfully aware of this, i actually did well at school despite completely failing English. So at some point i would like to spend some time improving my writing skills.

• Not to forget stuff that i would like to make. I still want to make the perfect dress. I have had several attempts, but have yet to get there. I also want to start making some harder garments, such as trousers and coats. Also i need to keep making basics, such as simple tees and tops, as it is these that i get most use from.