Time for my annual review!

That's right, y'all, it's that time of year when my boss (me) takes me (also me) into her/my office to discuss what happened over the last 11-12 months and what I see going forward in the future. If I still worked for the Enginerding Firm, this would be the place where they'd try to get me super excited about a 1% raise. Well. JOKE'S ON THEM, I MADE NO MONEY THIS YEAR! SO A 1% RAISE IS BIGGER THAN THEY THINK!

OK, let's get this annual review going, so I can cut out and go to my early staff Christmas party (and by that I mean my bed, with my pets, watching an episode of Murder She Wrote before I fall asleep at a shamefully early hour).

What are some of the most memorable moments of last year?
I barely even know where the last 10/11 months have gone, let alone what happened in them. Unrelated to work, there was being there with my friend Lesley for the last two weeks of her life. Fighting to get her out of the hospital and into Hospice. Spending the nights on very uncomfortable hospital couches that I didn't mind doing at all because Lesley has been a dear friend for ... *counts fingers* ... Thirty two years. But memorable, for work? I'd say getting those 1970s retro mushroom kitchen molds, pouring them, and doing a series on social media about the process from putting rubber bands around the molds to pulling them finished and glazed out of the kiln. Oh - and having fun experimenting with glazes, specifically learning the Frozen Pond technique.

What were your biggest challenges of the past year?
Lack of brain and body power. I get winded if I do too much (thanks, Long Covid) and I get so tired so easily if I do things like wedge clay for a long time, or stand for a long time, like when I'm glazing, or handbuilding. I can't hold a thought in my head longer than about a day and a half, which I know a lot of us with an ounce of compassion are feeling. Anyone with a drop of morality in them has been suffering since January (and before) and we just keep caring even through the care fatigue. So when I say "I'm tired" (which I say a lot) it's more than just "I need some sleep." It's more like "my brain is both going a mile a minute and is stuck in molasses and my body feels like even the hurts have hurts and I'm not sleepy per se but also I could go lay down for a week." So, brain fog and body fog were my biggest challenges in both work life and life life.

What worked or brought joy to the year? List five things that went better this year than you even thought they would. Can you continue those into the next year?
I... I ... this year has been so long, I'm going to have to look at my calendar to see if any of my past appointments will remind me of five things I've done or have happened! Good lord. Did I mention brain fog????

So. This year. And these are supposed to be work related..... Honestly I'm hard-pressed to think of five work-related things that went better this year than I thought they would and that I can continue into next year.

• Making new things brought a lot of joy - the times where I just sat at the handbuilding table without a clear idea of what I wanted to do, no deadline, not for a custom order, just to play and process.
• I did a series of social media posts on slipcasting, and while I thought people might be bored, or that I'd get the usual "slipcasting is cheating" clapback, people actually really enjoyed learning about what I had to say. It inspired conversation and I got to answer a lot of questions.
• The Patreon ceramics were fun this year, sticking to the same texture and color for the whole year. I don't think I want to do the same thing next year - mostly because I have some ideas for pieces that can't have the same texture - but I might do something similar the year after next.
• If I could think of a fourth thing, it would go here. 
• If I could think of a fifth thing, it would go here. 

What didn’t work or didn’t bring joy to the year? List five things that didn’t go as well as you wanted. How might you do things differently in the future?

Again, good god, this year. looks at calendar again

• I spent a lot of time in doctor's offices, getting a hearing check (I've had tinnitus for going on two years now and it's hard to hear out of one side) and multiple CT scans for my lungs and the usual yearly tuneups and stuff. Man, that list of things that needs to be tuned up after you hit 50,000 miles is a doozy! Granted, this might not sound work-related, except that my health has 100% impacted how much I can get done in a day.
• I spent a lot of money on house renovations. Yes, that's good in that now my house will be more solid/secure as we grow old together. As will my studio, since one of the things I got done this year was getting a new roof for it - which it greatly needed! But I just don't like spending money... especially right now with the state of things in the country. I don't want to spend money because it's not like I can just go... print some... the economy has to be strong enough that people want to spend money and right now I don't know too many people who are like YES I HAVE MONEY TO BURN!!!!
• Finding out my favorite source of soap fragrances (and where I got a good portion of supplies) is closing definitely did not bring joy. For a few years now I've been teetering on the edge of "unless I really raise the price of my soap I may have to stop making it" and them closing is sort of pushing me off the edge. I thought with the supplies I have now I'd be able to get through all of 2026 with soap, but I'm trying to make stuff for GLAM and a shop restock right now, and I don't think I'm going to have too much left after I'm done with this. I feel a little defeated - I love fragrances. I love soap. I love that people love my soap. But it's time consuming and expensive to make... and I don't understand why I don't feel like "time consuming and expensive to make" is a good enough reason to stop making it. Instead I have to wait until every supplier I use has either gone out of business or raised prices about 10% every three months, to justify no longer making it....? I'm weird.
• Making a different mushroom magnet to include in the first however many sales of the month didn't work out very well, but only because there were a couple of months where I didn't even have that many sales. Which is not the fault of the mushroom magnets! So I might do that again....? Maybe?
• Not having time and energy to do everything I wanted to do did not bring joy... which I guess is kind of a repeat of the first point, I guess. I'm tired of feeling constantly behind, even when ... I'm the boss! I set my own schedule and yes, while I have to do everything, it's not like someone is standing over me shouting about a deadline. So why do I work so hard? It's not like I'm ever going to retire, so it's not like I have to do everything RIGHT NOW... I can space it out a bit. 

What were the best lessons you learned?
That I shouldn't work to the point of exhaustion.

What generated the least amount of income? What are some ideas you have for next year that you suspect you shouldn’t actually do?
Yarn probably generated the least amount of income this year. Every month "make new Ravelry ads" has been on my list and I still haven't gotten to it - I think if I was advertising new colorways and yarn club over there, there'd be more interest in yarn. I was planning on making some new colorways and then after I dyed about five of them (which I think was maybe even LAST year???) I lost the pages I'd drawn them up on. I just found it a few weeks ago, and even though yarn didn't do well this year I still think I should do those colorways. I was contemplating bringing in a new base yarn or two, but I think I should hold off on those. And I've already mentioned this, but I will be phasing out soap this year. It's not just that soap makes the least amount of income; it makes the least amount of profit - you can find that other blog post if you're interested in more info on that.

What generated some income, but could have done better? What are some ideas you have for next year that might or might not be worth pursuing?
HaldeCraft as a whole generated some income, but could have done better. But! I don't think most of that was me. The economy, people's livelihoods, our jobs and our health care and our ability to put food on our tables has all been in a horrifying freefall tailspin all year. I do not blame anyone at all for not spending money on things I make. I see people supporting small artists and makers like myself when they have extra money, and I have some people on Patreon who have been an absolute GodSend to me this year - so I don't want anyone reading this to feel like I'm pointing fingers. If anything, I'm reaching out my hand in solidarity, not pointing fingers. I do have some ideas for next year that I do want to play around with - more large bowls and serving trays, more one-of-a-kind items, more fairy house and mushroom mugs and butter dishes. I've also had some ideas for planters I've been wanting to play with for years, and also birdhouses. I think all of those things are worth pursuing. Not worth pursuing.....? Continuing to make things that aren't selling, in different colors, hoping THAT will make them sell.

What generated the most income? What are some ideas you have for next year that are definitely worth pursuing?
Patreon generated the most income, which makes me feel guilty because I dropped the ball on a lot of Patreon things this year. Which means that next year, I want to put so, so much more of my energy into it! I'm already thinking about new/different/continuing things I can do.

What should you say no to next year?
I should say no to agreeing to spend my limited time and energy on things that I can tell right away are going to cost me (in money, in energy, emotional cost) more than they're going to benefit me.

What should you say yes to, more often?
I should say yes to letting go of things that no longer serve me. As the song goes, no longer lend my strength to that which I wish to be free from. I know I say this every year, but this coming year I'm going to "cull the herd" of underperforming HaldeCraft items and say "yes" to making less, more slowly, and better.