I had the loveliest of chats yesterday with Marieke of Solace in Stitches for the Fasten Off Yarn-a-Long Designer Interview series!

And it's already available for you to watch!!

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Marieke and I have known each other (online only) for a few years now and it was so much fun to talk with her about what I've been busy with and what I'm hoping for in the coming year. It was more like catching up with a friend than an interview! And I might have rambled on even more, ha ha, if she hadn't refocused me to keep us on track. I just got excited!

Because it really has been an exciting year.

In January there was the Molokai Art Residency, which I wrote about nearly every day while I was there. It kicked off the start of my Island Abstracts Collection with some of the paintings that are a part of one of my 2026 calendars.

My first new design of 2025 was inspired by the little sand bubbler crabs I watched rolling up balls of sand on the beach and leaving behind little marks that I thought were bird tracks at first. The initial pattern draft is available on Patreon, but I ordered a gorgeous gradient yarn from The Blue Brick after I returned home and worked up a full sized sample that will be an officially published pattern in 2026!

Here's a peek, in case you haven't seen it yet:

In February, I worked up a new sample of Granny at a Rave for a re-release in collaboration with Marina from my old LYS in Virginia, Yarn Matters, for the Dogwood Fiber Trail. We used a lovely variegated yarn from CMS Supply Co paired with a cute speckled yarn that Marina dyed and used three full skeins for a nice roomy shawl!

That was a fun project to work on. AND I got to go back and see Marina for a short visit in March when we were at Fort Eustis for Patrick's promotion ceremony!

March was when the Spring Issue of Spin Off magazine released, featuring my Twilight Fade Pillow Cover Pattern using my own handspun yarn. I shared lots of fun pictures in a newsletter I sent out, which I should definitely convert into a blog post, don't you think!? You can read that here.

That was also a fun project to work on! I really enjoyed the color play.

I got to play with LOTS of ocean colored fiber in April, as I furiously spun and crocheted my large scale SAND and SEA and SKY tapestry for the Ocean Virtual Art Residency. That was another awesome experience!

In May I created the piece that would become my Twilight Tapestry and was later exhibited in the Aurora Borealis art show in downtown Honolulu. You can read about it here—that's another blog post that needs to happen!

May was also when I crocheted the shawl sample that I designed on Molokai. It actually spent the month of June alongside my work from Molokai at my local library, which kicked off my crochet classes there!

June was mostly summertime funtime other than that.

I got started on the scarf inspired by my Unscripted Florals Collection in July (another pattern on the docket for 2026!) and that was when the Aurora Borealis show was, too.

In August we got to go see my work in another art show on the Big Island (that piece is currently on its way to Shanghai!) and I also made my Kalaupapa Lookout in the Rain tapestry, which is my favorite one to date. Here's my newsletter about the Abstract Only art show in Hilo. Hopefully I'll have more to share with you soon about the second exhibition in China!

I made a couple cowls in September (more work on the Unscripted Florals patterns for 2026) and also got to start working on the green shawl that I showed in the interview video that is a collaboration with Ethan from Refracted Light Fiber Arts. I need to get FO pictures soon!

I found myself painting again in October, trying to finish up my Island Abstracts Collection at the same time as I got whisked away by the Toxic Florals, ha ha.

And then last month I had my first craft fair in well over a decade and started spinning again!! I also finalized the calendars and got those published, which was no small feat.

So yeah! It's been a very busy, very creative year!

I'm tired of pulling links, though, y'all, lol, so I'm all done now.

Thanks for joining me on this little jaunt down memory lane and I hope you enjoy catching up on some of my work that you may have missed or if you're new here!

Oh and I really did mean what I said in the video—I want to hear from you!

So don't be afraid to hit that reply button and say hi every now and again. And not just to me! If you get newsletters from other creatives that you enjoy, tell them!

In fact, how about this? A challenge, for all of us, because I need the reminder sometimes, too: once a week, pick someone's email to respond to. Tell them what you enjoyed about it or you can literally say "someone challenged me to reply to an email so I'm just saying hi" if you can't think of anything else to say! It'll make their day. Or it would mine, anyway, and I know many other creatives feel the same way.

Okay, I'm done for real this time. I need more coffee anyway.

Cheers, y'all!

-Connie

P.S. Although December seems like an odd time to hatch out babies, Mabel has taken up position on a small clutch of eggs in a box on our back porch, so I expect we'll have some new little fluffbutts running around soon!