January Round Up

 It's been a while, hasn't it? I'll explain why. It's silly but I'll explain.

Two things have been putting me off both blogging and vlogging. Two things that don't really matter, but to my brain, they have been causing avoidance and sadness.

The first one is how I look at the moment. I have very low self esteem as it is, but because I've put on so much weight, have been so ill, have rosacea, and keep having allergic reactions to everything, I've been feeling really nervous of being on camera. It's rubbish because I know people don't really care what I look like, especially Yarny people, but it really gets to me.

The second one. Craftsnark. I was recently told about a Reddit called Craftsnark. I don't use Reddit, but I thought I'd have a look, because the subject being discussed (an AI generated image winning a yarn show competition) was one I was interested in.

I fell down a bit of a rabbit hole, clicking on various posts and reading some absolutely horrible things, both about yarn dyers as a whole, and actual named individuals, some of whom I would call friends. The parts that upset me the most were mainly about yarn dyers in general.

The things I enjoy doing as a yarn dyer were mentioned. Selling Superwash Merino/nylon as a base. Including extras in yarn orders, particularly teabags, snacks or stitch markers. I won't mention people personally, so ill just say that the comments about including extras were awful. Apparently people HATE it when we do this, because they just want the yarn. I had no idea, as I personally love extras when I order yarn.

The other one was advents. Ohhh, the comments. Basically, anyone who sells yarn advents cannot do anything right, ever. Charge too much, charge too little. Advertise too early, advertise too late. Include unnecessary extras, don't include extras at all. Take payment plans so that the PayPal refund protection runs out, don't offer payment plans so it excludes low income buyers. Honestly, it was enough to make me question everything, and it's made me feel really concerned about adding extras to my yarn sales. 

The last bit that made me feel like crap was about yarn vloggers and bloggers, but again, it was contradictory. There were lots of comments about how unprofessional and awful it is, when yarn vloggers include aspects of their personal lives, such as their health, pets, children, etc. There were also comments about solely yarn content being boring and monotonous. 

I have always included aspects of my personal life in my vlogs. I started my Wild Magic Yarns account as a way to connect with the yarn community, way before I started dyeing yarn myself. Of course I am going to include my personal life! Plus I film at home, where my son, husband and pets live, so chances are, some of them make an appearance sometimes. I don't want to change the way I do things. If it's unprofessional and puts people off buying my yarn, then so be it. 

I have done a lot of thinking about this over the past few weeks, and have come to the conclusion that I shouldn't care about anonymous opinions on the internet. It's hard to put that into action, though. I worry about everything, which is exhausting, and reading about things I haven't even considered before, has made things extra exhausting. 

The thing that shocked me the most about Craftsnark was the venom behind some of the comments. Some comments are just SO filled with hate. There are pile-ons on threads about specific yarn dyers, and I really don't like that at all. 

I really do put everything into planning and dyeing my yarns. I love the whole process, and it allows me to rest when I need to, which is a lot, and I can just lie back and be creative. It keeps me going, the buzz in my brain of colour and themes. The dyeing part is difficult because of my disabilities, but I love it, and I am so thankful that I have my son to do the physical bits. The best part is getting positive messages or seeing pictures of my yarn, knowing that people are enjoying them. Seeing negativity about some of the things I do as a yarn dyer made me do a bit of a double take, and it hasn't been nice. 

So there we have it. That's why I've been quiet, and worried about posting. I've been holding back ideas, thoughts, health stuff, projects, etc, because I let some anonymous people get to me. And they weren't even talking about me. How silly? I think the worst part for me is that there are people out there waiting for us to do something they deem as wrong, so they can post about it online. I don't like that feeling at all. 

Other than that, January has been OK. It seemed to go on forever, though. I actually don't mind that, because last year absolutely flew by. It has been a particularly bad health month for me, so I have done very little. I managed to get out of the house once, to order a new car, but other than that, I've not been outside the door. 

I've been working on a Habitation throw, a Jellyroll crochet blanket, my own Sweet Skein Society Blanket and some bits and bobs. I've made a little YouTube video showing some of these projects, but it's a Mish-Mash of everything in January, really. 

Apparently, in my part of Wales, it has rained every day so far in 2026. No wonder I'm feeling a bit dark. The daffs are starting to bloom, though and hopefully I'll see a blue sky any day now. Physically and metaphorically.