i’ve never been one for resolutions, but it just so happens my circumstances are changing right in line with the new year, so it seems like as good a time as any to take stock.

i started this blog before i even knew what blogs really were, as a way of documenting my learning process when i started sewing clothes for M. it’s still effectively my workbook. i write for the record rather than an audience and i include massive amounts of detail that i don’t expect anyone else to care about, but may come in useful for me in the future (and i find that writing out the process helps to fix lessons learned in my head too). also when i started i had a greater web presence elsewhere and didn’t want or feel the need to include personal information, unlike many blogs i now read. i’m still happier keeping my identity and - particularly - M’s private, hence the lack of personal photos.

but i find i spend more of my web time here than anywhere else nowadays, so i’d like to make this place a little more comfy, more homey, to reflect the whole of my life a little more. now i don’t intend to make this a general “what happened to me today” blog as i’m not a fan of those, but i’d like to broaden the scope to include M’s work as well as mine as a start.

i’d also like to invite more dialogue here. i’m not fixated on comments (good job too! i saw a blog strapline yesterday: “read by one person since 2003″ which made me chuckle) but i know i have visitors, and i’d like to make it more inviting for them to participate. i think it’s much easier to join an existing conversation than start one from scratch, so i’m sure that linking up outside the blog is a way to kick start this. i hugely value the connection i get with the wider craft community when i participate in various communities, so i’m planning to make more time to do that.

in the meantime, as a small experiment, readers! if you’re out there please comment on this post and make yourself known. i don’t bite much

i need to do general housekeeping here, tidying up, moving the furniture around a little and the like. we’re due a wordpress upgrade and i’d like a change of look. my original style guiding light was to keep the place simple, accessible and quick to load. while i hope i can maintain accessibility i think the look is a little austere and now the world (the majority of my visitors, at least) has moved on to broadband - and i’m told we have a nice fast server now too - i don’t have such a great need to limit the number of pictures. so don’t be surprised if the place looks slightly different (or slightly broken!) over the next few weeks.

the motivation behind all of this is that i have more time to devote to the blog and my crafting in general being in the process of handing over a voluntary position i’ve held since just after M was born. this leaves me with more spare time and a feeling of lightness at having the responsibility off my shoulders. not that it was a particularly responsible post, but i’m a terrible procrastinator when it comes to “work” work so the pressure of being constantly behind would loom over me permanently.

so i have a brief window of opportunity between now and the end of may (when i’m facing a new responsibility of a whole different order) to craft my socks off and to get back into the community side of crafting that i’ve always enjoyed so much. i hope a few people will come along with me for the ride.