My Anniversary Year Celebration Commences

Having just issued 2021's first quarterly-ish newsletter (and you can sign up for it here if you have not already done so), I used it to build on my previous blog post announcing this 10 year anniversary celebration.

One of the things I revealed in the newsletter was one of my main focuses this year: my own wardrobe. This is the year I get real about making a far larger portion of my own clothing. 

For me, this will be no small feat, as I am still a working designer AND now a working hand-dyer. Nevertheless, it is about time I put me significantly into this mix. As I've written so many previous times, I'm a maker at heart. I have slowly, over the last three years, begun to increase the hand-made pieces of my wardrobe. Now, however, my goal is far heftier: to make at least one piece (either top or bottom) in any new outfits I plan to add to my wardrobe going forward, in perpetuity. 

This means a few things: (1) I plan on getting very intentional with what gets added to my wardrobe; and (2) I have seriously got to get my hooks and sticks flying! I have no less than six - yes, six! - cardigan and pullover WIPs, and that's where I plan on making an initial dent. Of course, I also have so many other wonderful designs in my queue (my own designs as well as other designers) that I have my eye on making this year, and since I already have yarn on hand for several of them, I have all the raw materials needed to get this wardrobe-making party started. I am hoping to finish at least one thing per month for the remainder of the year (and you'll see more posts on this on my Instagram feed).

I characterized this personal making goal as "selfish" in my newsletter, and I suppose to an extent it is. However, it has a lot more to do with my desire to have the clothes I really want in a way that fuels my own ethical stance. If I claim to care about the environment, then I must be willing to ditch fast fashion. Full stop. If everyone just made one thing for their wardrobe, they would have not only new-found respect for all garment workers, the vast majority of whom work in sub-standard and dangerous conditions for poverty wages, but they would be far less likely to throw away their clothes after only a few wearings.

Now, you know I always want maker company, so this goal also has a community maker component to it. In order to celebrate my designs and yarns this anniversary year, I have devised a wee, yet clever, anniversary yarn + design club. For the next 10 months (beginning in February), club members will receive either yarn or a Voie de Vie design download. There are two months in which members will receive yarn; the remaining 8 months a pre-determined pattern. There's more detailed information at the club sign-up in my online store, but this is a natural extension of several prizes I donated during the most recent Indie Design Gift-a-long and Fasten Off Yarn-a-long. Rest assured, there will also be fun surprises, not to mention quarterly prizes! So, for an average price of less than $9 a month, a maker can get all kinds of making gratification for almost the remainder of the year! Slots are limited, however, because everything I do here at chez Voie de Vie has a personal component to it, and that will not be sacrificed, but instead celebrated (!) along with my creative anniversary. (also, there is no shipping charge on any domestic U.S. participants who sign up between now and the end of February). 

There will be ongoing posts about all this not only in my Ravelry group, but also on my Instagram feed (because I want no maker to feel left out or ignored, the monthly festivities will be ongoing in both places). I hope to see you in the maker mix ... and wish me luck on my wardrobe-making goal. I am gonna need it.

A Year of Anniversaries

 

Voie de Vie anniversary original art, (c) 2021. 
Mixed media with digital elements.

It is, amazingly, a new year - 2021!!!! While I usually take the first few weeks off at the beginning of the year to recharge and renew, the beginning of this year has been slightly different. While I have had an only limited presence on social media, it has been a far cry from restful. 

Nevertheless, I am so excited to finally fill everyone in on this most momentous of years - 2021 marks ten years I've been creating! I am absolutely blown away by this, truth be told. 

While there will be much more to write about in connection with the anniversary, I must mention the blog - I've been writing consistently on it for the last decade. That is unbelievable. Fittingly, this 1/1/2011 post fairly sums things up - a painting, a book, and a shawl. While I may have fallen for cowls over shawls, more writing and less reading, and hand-painting/dyeing yarn to painting on canvas (although I still do that!), there has been a clear theme over the last 10 years - creativity and making. It's something I cherish and never take for granted.

This year also marks a different anniversary for me - it's also the fifth season I will be curating/coordinating a summer Progress, Hope, & Happiness collection, complete with, as always, a making event. 

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A post shared by Voie de Vie (@denisevoiedevie) 

I still cannot believe how far I have traveled along this creative path - from my first designs in the 2011 VKLlive/Los Angeles fashion show, to starting my own line of hand-dyed yarns, with just shy of 150 designs and over 560 blog posts in between, it's been quite a ride. The handknit and crochet business has changed dramatically over the last decade (and so much over the last 2+ years as to be almost unrecognizable), and through it all I have weathered every twist and turn. I have learned a lot about the people in this industry and, equally, a lot about myself in the process. I am so proud of my ability to still be standing, with my own voice still firmly in tact, in this my 10th creative year. There is no doubt that there are more popular designers out there - but popularity for its own sake has never been my aim. To paraphrase Thoreau - we only hit what we aim for; in my case, that aim has been a small, authentically-me business of which I can be proud. 

I will have much more to write about and announce during this very special anniversary year, so I hope you will join me in this 12-month celebration. My maternal grandmere, a New England textile worker, is definitely smiling down on me with that smug I-told-you-so smile. Ok, meme, you had me pegged all along. 

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