The Hiatus Is Coming To An End

It's taken a lot longer than I would have originally thought - but we are back. Where have we been? Did we REALLY leave?

A lot has happened, and an unfortunate sacrifice had to be made. Shop updates have not been happening beyond the crochet standpoint (namely market restocks) and our social media presence has been sparce at times. We never left, but we weren’t truly here.

Allow me to explain why…

In the late months of 2022, we began looking to buy a house, which presented far more complexities than searching for a rental property.

We are a team of two (or four, if you include the cats), and Accessories by Antoinette was one of the pieces that had to be nudged to the side. While one works a very stressful and tiresome full-time job, I took on the position of ‘secretary’ and ‘full-time house hunter’. As my own boss, I had the flexibility to be able to prioritise the search for our pending move.

We knew we needed something cat compatible, work compatible and budget compatible. And since we are homebodies who hate moving house: we ideally didn’t want to find a ‘rest-stop’ property that we would have to move from in a few years-time.

Looking at properties was the first thing I did in the morning and the last thing I did at night – and we didn’t tell a soul (aside from my grandpa who had only recently come back into our lives, and was a champion with helping to search for potential properties). With the renewal deadline of our then-current rental lease looming over our heads, shop updates had to wait.

Then the greatest thing happened: we got our house.

With the help of friends, we moved in the day after we got our keys, on the 15th of April, 2023. We thought the cats would struggle with the move, especially Jasper with his anxiety disorder. However, the cats truly did settle in better than the humans did. The first night in our new home, Jasper comfortably settled down on the couch, and the duo had great fun exploring their new home.

Everything was perfect, and I was (foolishly) under the impression that I would have the new craft room set up by the end of May, 2023.

And then the crash happened.

The chaos of house hunting, the constant impending fear of homelessness, and trying to keep a small business on top of a world that never slows down – it was all too much. We were both severely burnt out, and made it our mission to carry on at markets and slowly build our stock (and ourselves) back up.

Within this time, I focused on optimising the craft room. I decided that if this was going to be my permanent space, it to be as great as I could make it. It meant sorting where everything was going to go, optimising storage space, and diving into some exciting projects.

With my grandpa’s help, we created a built-in desk complete with storage space – all while utilising the legs of a broken gazebo to save money and reduce the waste going to landfill! He also had the brilliant idea of creating some storage space above the craft room door, and has been a huge help in creating the dream crafting space that I thought I would never have.

To go from domestic violence, from rental to rental, to a place to call our own has been an incredible adjustment that still doesn’t feel like reality. There are often days that I stand in the craft room in awe, wondering at what point I am going to wake up and find that reality is something different to what I know today.

We have journeyed from rags to riches – not in a monetary sense but in something far more valuable than that. We have a safe place to call home and to heal, and have met so many wonderful people and communities through my work.

This hiatus was unexpected and unavoidable, but necessary. It has given us breathing room and some time to reflect and recentre ourselves for the upcoming years of business. And now that less renovations are being done around the craft room and our home in general, I have been able to prioritise my art once again.

And so, I am excited to share that our next shop update will be on the 7th of October, 2024! And here is a sneak peek of some of the magical accessories coming your way...

Thank you for your ongoing support and patience during these times. Through a pandemic, and an intermittent hiatus, you have never let us down, and we are so very grateful for you all.

Accessories by Antoinette is back and better than ever!

With love,

Kimberley (they/them)

Accessories by Antoinette