Happy New Year! After probably the craziest year we have seen collectively in our lifetime, it is a breath of fresh air to look forward to a better year ahead. While the COVID-19 pandemic is still raging through my country, there is a vaccine becoming available around the world. In all, we all hope that 2021 will end better than 2020 did!
I started this website exactly one year ago, and my business has changed so much in that time. No, I haven’t gone viral, or quit my day job, or had my Instagram account become verified. But this year I saw growth in my business that gives me hope that I will continue to develop Crowchet Creations into the small business I envision.
In order to really capitalize on any improvement in my business, I need to spend some time reflecting on this past year and preparing for what I want this next year to look like.
2020: The Year All Plans went Kaput
While 2020 started off seemingly ordinary, by March the United States went from, “You probably should think twice about going on a cruise to Asia,” to “Everyone quarantine at home for two weeks.” As a healthcare provider for my day job, I was on the front row of the pandemic and its implications for our society at large. While it’s hard to sum up a year like the one we’ve had, I can definitely say that in some ways the pandemic helped my yarn goals and in other ways it impeded my progress.
Last year, I wrote a blog post about 20+ Yarn Goals for 2020. While that is a great list of ideas, there were a few things that I was making my personal yarn goals for the year.
Attack My Stash 2020
First and foremost, I wanted to work through my yarn stash to decrease it by 75% in an effort I called #AttackMyStash2020. I wanted to be more intentional with the yarn I brought into my home in an effort to declutter, save space, and save money. You can read more about this goal and the steps I took to implement that goal here, as well as the monthly updates I published on my blog to continuously reflect and keep myself accountable here. I’ll be publishing my Year-End Review for this goal in just a few days, so make sure to check back to hear all about my successes and shortcomings for decluttering my yarn this past year, as well as my updated #AttackMyStash2021 goal. Overall, the pandemic made it harder to buy yarn, so my habit of perusing craft stores for fun was quickly cut short. I intentionally worked to buy less yarn and use more of what I had already, but the pandemic just forced me to turn to my own yarn for inspiration. It almost made me quit buying yarn cold turkey, so that now I only buy yarn for a specific project I am working on, and I never buy yarn just to try. However, my mental health took some blows from COVID-19, so while sometimes crochet was my escape from the world, I occasionally needed to put down my yarn and snuggle on the couch in front of mindless TV shows. In general, the pandemic helped me work through my yarn this past year. I used up more than 200 skeins of yarn in 2020! My yarn stash is definitely still a work in progress, so I will continue to work on using it up this year.
Publish a Pattern
I had another goal to publish my first crochet pattern- and boy did I do that! In total, I published eight patterns in my shops and had seven additional patterns offered for free on my blog. Wow! That far exceeds what I thought I would make, but I felt really inspired and tried to keep my momentum going this year. I designed all sorts of things, from toys to garments and accessories. I offered a variety of price points for my patterns, with some patterns sized inclusively for XS-5X and therefore costing more, some one size accessories and toys that still required testing for a little bit less, some quicker patterns with a low-cost ad free PDF option to supplement the free blog post, and some patterns exclusively on my blog for free. All that sounds pretty confusing, but I liked having the flexibility to design both patterns that were small and simple all the way to a complex garment and to price those patterns accordingly. My favorite designs were the Sweet Pea Vest, which I designed in less than 2 days since inspiration stuck hard, and the Sweet Pea Wrap Top, a maternity and nursing friendly top inspired by my fruitless search to find crochet patterns to fit my changing body as I prepared to become a first time mom. While sometimes frustrating to go over math issues or interact with testers that don’t follow through on their commitments, by the time I publish a pattern I am already excited to work on another design, especially one that my followers are also excited about. This year I hope to keep designing a variety of patterns.
Make a Blog Post
Yes! I did this! And I have since made many more. While I haven’t been as consistent as I would have liked, I have published at least once a month for #AttackMyStash2020 and usually at least one other time each month. As far as consistency goes, I am really proud of myself! With the start of a new year and a new website domain purchase, it can be easy to fall out of habit and waste your money. The fact that I have kept blogging, even if only a couple times a month, means that I have a good habit going and I can hopefully improve it.
Etsy Shop and Other Sales Growth
I started my Etsy shop at the end of 2019, and this past year I reached the benchmark of 50 sales! I told both patterns and physical items since I enjoy making both. And although my goal to participate in a spring craft fair was impeded by the pandemic, I was still able to participate in an online craft fair in the spring hosted by my friend @lizs_indiana_attic. I also had my physical products placed in an artist co-op shop called Creative Collections (2907 Race Street in Fort Worth, Texas, USA). The past four months, I have made more money from sales than the cost of renting a spot in the shop, which I consider a big accomplishment. I even did a (socially-distanced) craft fair in December with quite a lot of sales considering the low turnout, and a couple people came to my booth and recognized my work from the co-op! With visual recognition in the community, I am much more likely to make sales and grow my business locally, which is really exciting.
Pattern Testing Galore
When I first started Crowchet Creations, I primarily pattern tested and sold physical products. During 2020, I still tested a lot of patterns from many designers, new and familiar to me. In total, I finished 29 pattern tests and have one pattern test in progress. I enjoy making a variety of items and learning new skills will different makes, and I also enjoy interacting with numerous designers and makers. I feel that it makes me a better crochet and designer when I do pattern tests. I am really grateful that even though my body was changing this past year through pregnancy and the postpartum period, I was able to complete so many pattern tests.
2021 Goals
This year, I will be building a lot on my goals from last year. Gotta keep a good thing going, right? I did not use up as much of my yarn stash in 2020 as I had hoped, so I will continue to #AttackMyStash2021. I set some goals last year to help me purchase less yarn and try to use up my stash. However, not all skeins of yarn are created equal in size. I started 2020 with approximately 10 totes full of yarn, and while I hope to decrease the total amount of yarn I have, I think my end goal is to decrease the space my yarn takes up. I still need to take some time to reflect on my yearlong goal (that blog post should be coming up in a couple of days!), but I expect that I will set the same goal of using up 75% of my original yarn stash. Ideally, however, I really hope to condense my yarn into only one or two tote bins. I want to only be left with yarn that brings me joy and that inspires me to create. I have a ways to go but I will continue the habits that I created and sustained in 2020 into this new year.
I hope to continue publishing a variety of patterns in 2021. This past year, I have seen some gaps in the crochet community for patterns intended for certain demographics. Even though many people I talk to started to crochet when they were pregnant or at home with little children, there aren’t very many garment patterns appropriate for maternity or postpartum bodies. This needs to change! I hope to come out with more designs specifically for this demographic. My stretch goal is to work on publishing a crochet book of these designs, but we’ll see if I can find the resources to help me accomplish that this year. I also hope to design some Mommy and Me specific pattern bundles. I don’t want to set a goal for the number of patterns I hope to design, but I hope to keep my momentum going and continue to create as inspiration comes.
I hope to continue selling my makes at in-person craft fairs, online, and in the Creative Collections co-op. My goal is to reach 100 sales on Etsy! That is totally doable. With a newborn in tow, I am not sure how much I will be able to make, but I can definitely continue to grow my Etsy shop. I want to refine my brand and limit the physical items I market to better fit my brand, but I have to sell my old stock first. And as I clear out more stock I’ll make even more room in my home! As I’ve mentioned in other blog posts, my craft room is also my little one’s bedroom. And while she sleeps in our room currently, she will start transitioning to her bedroom before too long and the more room I can make in that small space the better!
While I love pattern testing, I want to be more selective about the tests I agree to. 2019 was definitely the year where I overstretched my commitments and often crocheted like mad to meet testing deadlines. 2020 was better, but since I am now a full time mom, part time nurse, and part time crocheter, I need to budget my time better to put my mental health first, my business second, and any optional pattern testing after that. I think I will try to only volunteer for one pattern test at a time so that I am not spread too thin between different projects for myself and others.
This year, I also really want to learn to knit. I vaguely know how to, but I am a little scared to try learning more since I am such a novice. I don’t think I could even read a knitting pattern! So I want to tackle this fear and expand my creativity. If I make one knit project that is not a scarf this year I will be happy.
I would love to expand my skills as a designer by taking a tech editing course. This would allow me to learn how to better calculate yardage for patterns and size my designs for sizes other than my own. I am fairly good at math, and would love to be more competent at creating my patterns before they reach my testers.
Finally, I am hoping to register my business this year. My income definitely falls below the threshold for requiring me to register my business, but I want to take Crowchet Creations more seriously and keep better records to help with taxes each year. And that way I am prepared for when my small business income is large enough to necessitate being registered. Overall, I am excited for growth in my little business and hope that you can join me as I continue to develop as a small business owner.
What are your yarn goals this year? How did 2020 go for you and your crochet resolutions? You can share with me at Instagram @crowchetcreations or through the hashtag #crowchetcreations. Let’s be friends! I sell my patterns here on this website as well as through Ravelry and Etsy (where you can also find some physical items).
XO, Emily
