I am a huge fan of Marie Segares. She's a crochet and knitting teacher, designer, blogger at Underground Crafter and podcaster living in New York. Her podcast is the Creative Yarn Entrepreneur Show and the episodes are packed with useful information about how to run your yarn business. When I was figuring out how to write and publish my first crochet pattern her mini series was invaluable. I'm a member of the Facebook group that is linked with the Show and when she asked for reviews for her book "Make Money Teaching Crochet: Launch Your Business, Increase Your Side Income, Reach More Students" I was only too happy to do so, having bought it when it first came out last summer.
The book is a extremely good hands-on guide to how to develop a part-time business teaching crochet. It would be perfect if you're just starting out and it will definitely be useful if you're already a teacher wanting to expand your business and make more money.
The book is wonderfully comprehensive and covers a wide range of essential topics in five sections: goal setting, business basics, marketing strategies, class preparation and teaching resources. Marie presents the information with all the options and then you work out how your own business is going to operate by filling in worksheets. The book is packed with so many good tips and valuable information. That's what Marie does well!
I found the first section on goal setting extremely useful and working through Marie's guiding questions really helped to clarify my next steps in teaching. I've been teaching just over three years now and this book inspired me to apply to teach at my very first Fiber Fest this Summer. Business basics covering business structure, payment, pricing and tax is aimed at those starting out. Marketing strategies is a really good section which all teachers would learn from. The quick marketing 101 overview is useful and I really liked the worksheet on how to figure out your competitive advantage. It's a book to return to over time because there is so much information in here. I've only really touched a few things here that I liked but there were many more! I'm very big picture in the way see things and operate and this book fills in all the details for me, which is really what I need.
For more information on how to buy the book visit Marie's Creative Yarn Entrepreneur website. And Marie has very kindly offered to provide a copy of the ebook version as a giveaway so just message me on your preferred social media channel within the next week (before midnight on August 26th ). You can be anywhere in the world! I'm on Instagram, Twitter, Ravelry and Facebook as Crafty Escapism and I'll pick one person at random to receive this book! Good luck and have a wonderful yarn filled week y'all.
I've probably mentioned already that I'm teaching a crochet sock technique class at Houston Fiber Fest on 23rd June. Oh yes, I'm going to be famous! I decided to design my own small sock which can be completed in the two hour class to introduce my twelve students to some of the techniques. I could have asked a designer for permission to use one of their patterns and I will definitely be recommending patterns from designers that I have made and loved but I do enjoy a bit of a challenge.
My main focus has been teaching rather than designing....oh and the odd bit of blogging obviously here on craftyescapism.com And I have written a few simple patterns for my charity crochet group Yak & Yarn before but have yet to publish anything officially.
I really didn't know where to start but after listening to the seven part Crochet & Knitting Design & Self-Publishing Mini Series by Marie Segares on her wonderful Creative Yarn Entrepreneur Podcast show I felt ready.
It has however taken me weeks to finally send the design off to my tech editor. Partly this was due to the pattern writing process itself. I started off writing and making one size and picking up my favorite hook for socks but after my test crocheter said she wanted to make a toddler sock I had to get into gauge and grading. Things then became a lot more complicated. I was finally happy with my design and made the small size but couldn't help tweaking it a bit. Then I thought I'd make the largest size to see how much yardage I needed and figured out my stitch count was out on my small size. Argghh!
Then I was distracted by other unrelated crochet projects - CALs and test crocheting that I really shouldn't have taken on but I have no self control whatsoever. And then of course there is the rest of my life when I am not doing anything crochet related! I do wonder how designers manage to get a whole book of designs out. It is an incredible feat!
I'm working on the content of my class so if you have any questions about crochet socks please do let me know. I will endeavor to answer and it will be super helpful preparation!!
This month is National Crochet Month and this year's theme is glamping. It's not too late to take part in all the fun....
Crochetville are currently hosting their 5th annual NatCroMo Blog tour featuring 80 designers, crochet-friendly local yarn stores, indie dyers and spinners. There are free patterns and tutorials and daily giveaways too! Here's the link to general information on the CrochetVille website. You can see what's going on each day on the CrochetVille blog and their National Crochet Month Facebook group.
The designers are my absolutely favorite thing about the Crochetville tour. I was delighted to see the inspiring Marie Segares kicking off the blog tour. Of course I had to make the camping trivet (her free pattern for the tour) being a big fan of camping (and Marie!) Being the thrifty Brit I made my own tshirt yarn out of my daughter's old choir t-shirt. It's amazing to see how simply pulling the cotton tight rolls it into functional yarn. Here's the fab video on How to make t-shirt yarn that I found on YouTube by Trisha at Upcycled Stuff.
I loved the projects by new-to-me designer Yuliya Tkacheva and figured out that she works in tandem at Cup of Stitches with Lena Fedotova, designer of the wonderful Entrelac Tunisian yoga top that I've just completed. I also discovered fellow Brit Amanda Perkins for the first time who designs the most beautiful crochet blankets. And the month is barely half way through!
The CrochetSpot blog are keeping things simple by celebrating National Crochet Month with a series of cute crochet applique patterns for us to make. I'm very taken with the cherry. CrochetSpot also mentions an International Crochet Month over on Ravelry. Their party runs for another week until March 19th.....
Have a wonderful week y'all! You'll find me in between weekly blog posts on Twitter and Instagram as @craftyescapism
I've decided that this year is going to be the year of the crochet garment. I have made a fair few knitted and crochet garments and designed a couple too but I can definitely finesse my skills. I plan to buy Top Down Crochet Sweaters by Dora Ohrenstein after reading a review by Susan Lowman on her Crochet Architect website.
I learned Tunisian Entrelac Crochet last year making a bright blanket for charity and wrote about it here. I enjoyed the technique so much and since this year is the year of the crochet garment I decided to tackle the Yoga Top by Elena Fedotova. I found out about Elena from Marie Segares in her Instagram #undergroundcraftertakeover. Here's the roundup on Marie's blog. Elena's geometric designs look so fresh and modern. I favorited the Yoga Top straightaway and I really love what she has done here with a traditional crochet granny squares on her Granny Fish Top.
I am now underway. The yoga top is bottom up and mostly seamless (yay for not having to sew sides together).I just love making these tiny squares because they are join as you go, and they just look so unbelievably cute. There are a few color combo suggestions and a blank chart in each size for you to colorize with your own color choices. I did have to restart after making a silly gauge calculation. Usually, I find one row is sufficient to measure horizontal gauge but with Tunisian Entrelac stitch the gauge reduces after adding a second and third row. My top was going to be a tight squeeze so I had to rip it all back and add additional squares. My husband likes to see me ripping items back. He says I'm getting more enjoyment out of the yarn and he's probably right.
Are you tackling something new this year? I'd love to hear.
