We're a week into Indie June (piloted by LoveKnitting) and I wanted to say so much before now but I've been a little engrossed in the final stages of some secret knitting!

As always there's lots I want to say but haven't been able to wrangle it all into something presentable - feel free to go through my Indie Biz tag for older posts. 

So yes, I've been engrossed in secret knitting. But my downtime from social media has produced more than that, and there's been plenty of new designs to photograph.  

These are all new designs that will be coming out later in the year - a tease, I know! I'm wanting to share these photos as Tom took them all, not me, and it's been a slow but positive change to how things happen round here. 

Tom's now the main photographer. My frozen right shoulder is a lot less painful than it was but I'm a long way from getting full movement back. Throw in what feels like the start of a freeze with my left shoulder and it's pretty clear that Tom's going to be primary photographer for the foreseeable future.

This is such an important change to how I run things. Handing over creative control with the photography is something I never thought I'd do, once I'd started doing it myself. It's a *huge* deal.

Tom's always had the skills with photography but it's having the eye for knitwear photography, and being able to continue my style with his flavour, that have taken time to refine. It wasn't easy when we first started working together - two creatives in a relationship is one thing but working together is obviously going to throw up some challenges! But we're through that now, and we work pretty well together I reckon. I'm still styling and directing, and I'm really appreciating an additional perspective on lighting and framing from someone who understands how I see things.

I think as indies we have to be fluid, we have to be able to bend with the changes and take a more organic approach (or at least, that's what I aim for). There are more changes ahead for me as my shoulders continue to be difficult, but they're good changes, simplifying how I work and approach things. I've no choice right now really, so I'll be teaching and travelling less in the future, and taking on fewer commissions and collaborations. Knitting is the lesser evil with my frozen shoulder; anything on the computer is the real culprit and being able to knit then pattern write at my own pace is crucial. 

And in all honesty, I've really enjoyed my social media downtime. I've produced some designs that I'm really chuffed with (wait till you see the secret ones!) and it feels like the drive that I had when I first started is back - it all feels fresh and uncomplicated. Digital sales (of single Hat patterns and eBooks) are still the biggest chunk of my turnover - >90% - and there's no sign of that slowing down.

I'll keep you all up to date as to when these new designs will be released! You can also follow along on Instagram and sign up to my newsletter, if you haven't already. And I'll aim to scribble down some more thoughts in the near future!