#138 Minimalism for Makers & Crafters

Being a maker means lots of decisions and lots of "stuff".

Sometimes that can feel a little overwhelming; yarn that seems it'll never get used; pattern decisions; project decisions. Should I use this color or that color? Wait maybe that stitch instead of this one?

If you create with yarn, chances are you're no stranger to questions like these. A refreshing change of pace came in my chat with T from Debrosse, a maker, business owner and minimalist. In this episode I explored all the areas of minimalism as it relates to makers, yarn business owners and yarn enthusiasts in general.

About The BHooked Podcast
Brittany's primary goal is to inspire you and help you grow in your craft with The BHooked Podcast. Through her own stories and the stories of each special guest, you'll discover tips and tricks to improve your crochet and knitting skills and find inspiration to achieve your hobby goals. When you want to kick back and learn from yarn industry experts, grab some yarn and turn on The BHooked Podcast. There's never a shortage of all things crochet, knitting or yarn.

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Transcript

Brittany 0:00

You're listening to the Be Hooked Podcast, episode 138 with Brittany. Hey there, welcome to episode 138 of the Be Hooked podcast. I'm your host, Brittany, and as always, thank you so much for joining me today. I have a really special treat lined up for you today. I think you'll really find this episode interesting. Now, when I was coordinating this talk with my guest today, I had no idea how insightful and how wonderful this conversation would be. I connected with Teresa of Desbrosses, and she taught me so much about minimalism. It's interesting, as a person who crochets and a person who knits all the time, I have a lot of stuff. I have a lot of yarn, a lot of tools, and the last thing I would consider myself is a minimalist. But Teresa, she is a crocheter, a knitter, a designer, an all-around wonder woman, and she's a minimalist. Now, that's something I would have never thought possible. So I learned so much from T today about how to incorporate only the necessary and only the important things in your life. But another really big takeaway for me was to simplify things, simplify your projects. Now, as a person who's always looking to streamline processes and who really looks for the best, most practical way route to get from point A to point B, I never even thought to take that approach with my projects. I always thought the more, the merrier. The more color, the more stitches, always more complicated, right? To me, and I know I'm not alone in this, sometimes Complicated feels better. It feels like it's worth more in somebody else's opinion, but that's not always the case. And what I learned from tea today is to take a more simplified approach to creating your projects and you can enjoy the process a lot more in doing so. Not that I don't enjoy the process of creating a really intricate project, but I do put a lot more stress on myself in those situations and I know I'm not alone in that. Now, this is just one of the things that you'll hear T and I talk about on the podcast. She has a brand new book called Modern Crochet Patterns and Designs for the Minimalist Maker. And it's just a real treat. It's always a treat to sit down and talk to somebody who also has a maker business. And anytime I can share that conversation with you as another maker business, that warms my heart. It means I'm doing my job. I'm helping somebody who needs to hear this conversation. Now, if you don't have a maker business, don't tune out because I know there are some valuable tips that T gave about incorporating minimalism into your crafty life. Maybe not your actual life, but she did give some practical tips on on how you can minimize your yarn stash. And in the process, it seems to lift a weight off of your shoulders when creating that project and you can enjoy it more that way. Now, real quick, before we get started, I want to let you know that the show notes page can be found at behooked.com slash 138. I will have a link to where you can pre-order T's book. It will be available in various different places and I will have that linked in the show notes. So if you do want to pick up a copy, you'll hear me say how this might be a good gift idea for somebody in your family or in your life that you know wants to start crocheting but needs a little bit of help doing so. I think this will be a great book for somebody who's brand new to crochet, there are 16 different projects in it that T is certain a beginner can do. They really are modern designs. They really are things that you would want to wear and have in your home. So anyways, I will have a link to where you can pre-order her book in the show notes page. There were a couple of resources that we talk about. I will have that linked as well. So once again, the show notes can be found at behooked.com slash 138. All right. I am just as excited to dive into this conversation for a second time with T from Debrisay. T, welcome to the Be Hooked podcast. Thank you so much for being here today. Hey, Brittany. Thanks so much for having me. It is my pleasure. I have sort of been like Insta-stalking you for just a little bit because I love the photos that you share. I love the projects that you create. And one of the common themes that I have seen now is totally ironic because that's what we're going to talk about today is just how… simple and elegant and beautiful your projects are, the photos that you share. And now you sort of have some exciting news to share. So do you want to spill the beans? Yeah. So

Teresa 5:40

I wrote a book called Modern Crochet.

Brittany 5:43

That's amazing. I'm really excited to talk about that. We've done a few episodes here recently about makers who have sort of walked down this book journey path, and it's really, really exciting. I know there's a lot of listeners out there who want to do that. And so it's great to get some of your firsthand experience. But I also want to talk a little bit about minimalism because I feel like that's really really interesting for for for us as makers and it's the topic we haven't really covered here before so hopefully we can get into both of those we can talk about your book and that but before we do I would love to know a little bit about your story how did you start crocheting in the first place

Teresa 6:27

yeah okay so I'll try and give the quick notes of that story I actually started crocheting after my first trip to Haiti so I went pretty soon after the earthquake

Brittany 6:37

and

Teresa 6:38

And just worked, literally did construction projects, so had nothing to do with crochet at all. But we were working with an orphanage that had come down during the earthquake. And after doing construction during the day, we got to hang out with the kids in the afternoon, and I just fell in love with them. One of the things that I had noticed about their home at the time was that they didn't have any bedding on their mattresses. And it just like really stuck out to me as something that I couldn't imagine, especially as a child and having grown up with crochet blankets myself. So when I came home, which was Atlanta at that time, I tried to go back to work on Monday and I just couldn't stop thinking of the kids. So I asked my mom if she could teach me how to crochet blankets like she had made for me when I was little. So I picked it up that way, made about 150 blankets over the next nine months and then went back to Haiti. They were small ones and full of color. So it's really funny where the business is now. But yes, I made that over the next nine months vacuum sealed them, packed them, went back by myself for a month. And then I worked with that orphanage director and three other directors to share and pass out the blankets for the children. And when I came back from that trip, it was like, okay, well, I can't just be like a blanket factory, you know, forever now, but like still really wanting to invest in those kids and be a part of their lives and sort of just not live for myself and what I was doing day to day. So that's when I decided to create the shop Day Berset. So it's named after one of the kids there. And then instead of making blankets and giving them those blankets, I'm making, you know, all kinds of things and 15% of everything that I make, I work with the directors at those same orphanages. We partner with three now. And so we work with them to sort of fulfill greater needs than just blankets. So we've covered surgeries. We've covered security when they have break-ins. We've done school sponsorships. We're covering soccer uniforms, just kind of a little bit of everything and sort of leaning on the directors in country to find out what their needs are and helping to support through crochet over here.

Brittany 8:51

Wow, that's really amazing. I know there's probably somebody in the audience who's also kind of touched by that story and maybe wants to participate. Do you have anything like that set up so that other people

Teresa 9:03

can help? Yeah, that's a good question. I do get a ton of support for people wanting to be a part of it. And I'm just so grateful for that because it really is a team effort and the need is always there. So right now, the best way to support has kind of always been supporting my work because I'll give the money that way. Recently, I did find out that there's a need for hats and sweaters for some of the kids, which trust me, I know Haiti is a Caribbean climate, but one of the orphanages just moved locations to the top of a mountain basically. And so it gets down into like the 60s and 70s at night and the kids think that's really cold. So I'll put together something after this and maybe we can link it where people could make hats and I can share where you can ship them.

Brittany 9:48

Oh, wonderful. That would be great. I know this audiences so incredibly giving of their time with doing like the Warm Up America Challenge every year. There are so many people who just really want to help. And so I would love to just have that in the show notes form if they're listening and they want to, or they have the free time to make some hats and sweaters to be able to donate those. So thank you for that. So you said the other way is to really support your work. Now, what does that work look like today?

Teresa 10:18

Yeah, that's a good question. So I first started making the blankets and then transitioned to basically just selling finished pieces. So scarves, hats, headbands. And now I've moved a little bit away from selling goods B2C, but now working a little bit more B2B and trying to support other makers. So I've been doing a lot of templates and tools for other makers and then patterns, of course, that you can sell the finished goods from. And then a masterclass where I'm sort of detailing just everything that I've put into practice to build what was a weekend hobby into a full-time career. And so, yeah, just trying to invest in other makers. And so there's a ton of tools and opportunities on daybrisee.com for that.

Brittany 11:04

Oh, wonderful. Okay. So I will have that information in the show notes as well. And now I want to transition a little bit to the central theme of your book, and that is about minimalism. I know I have heard that before. I'm sure a lot of people have heard that before. But when I really sit down and think about it, I can't pinpoint if I would consider myself a minimalist or not. So is that something that you can classify? Can you put a description on that? Or does that even make sense? That's a good question.

Teresa 11:39

You know, I think minimalism looks different to everyone. It sort of depends on what your starting point was. So I would be anxious to put words to it as to what it is but I can talk a little bit about what it is to me for me it sort of started when we moved to New York we have a 350 square foot apartment it's me and my husband and when we moved in we just like we couldn't fit right like 350 square feet is tiny and so so much of what we had to do was you know we're like putting stuff in the microwave to use as a cabinet you know you store sweaters in the oven and you know you're always making sure to like pull them out before you preheat and you know there's like toilet paper under the like coffee table basket like it's just everything is used to its fullest potential and over time what that does is it really forces you to figure out what you need and what you don't need and so you make really thoughtful decisions really intentional decisions every time you bring something into your life, whether that's a new book or part of your wardrobe or the food that you prepare. So yeah, so for us, it's actually been a need to think minimally and sort of pare down to just our favorite things or the things that we use the most, but also think strategically. So anytime I buy a pair of shoes or a new coat, like I have to figure out where that's going to fit in my apartment. And so I've almost never purchased something that's like a one-time use like oh I'll just get this pair of shoes because it will work at this wedding I have to attend this weekend it's always a hey what's the most practical pair of shoes that I could wear to a wedding and a work event and to the office and etc etc because I only have you know six slots for shoes and so those six shoes have to handle everything

Brittany 13:28

yeah

Teresa 13:28

so yeah so we've really enjoyed thinking like that and of course that has transferred over to how I think about my work Back when I was selling finished goods, what was happening was that I also had to store a year's worth of inventory in my apartment all year. And so it was integral to my process to figure out like, okay, so which pieces are selling the most? Because I don't want to keep, you know, 100 different SKUs of items in my apartment in every separate color. And so I would review my data a lot and just sort of figure out like, okay, everyone seems to be buying like these three colors. So in the future, I'm only going to carry these three colors, or everyone seems to be buying these five patterns, I'm going to ignore all the other complicated, more trendy ones and just stick to the five bestsellers. And so with my work, what you'll find, if you look at it at all, it's very simple. It's using very simple stitches, very few colors in all of the work. I try and strive for just a very classic traditional design that's not going to date itself or not just going to become an item that you make one time for this one thing, but something that you'll make and maybe remake every Christmas kind of thing.

Brittany 14:39

Yeah, yeah. So when you're selling finished goods, are you doing that on Etsy or are you going to markets or like craft fairs?

Teresa 14:46

So I did a little bit of both. I definitely started on Etsy and that was an incredible experience. And then once a year I would do New York City's Renegade Craft Fair, which is a huge fair here. It was an all weekend event. And yeah, so I would prepare for that. But again, that was one of those things where anything that I bought for setting up that booth. So like backdrops and tables and shelves and all of that, I had to figure out how to store that. Yeah. So anything

Brittany 15:20

that

Teresa 15:24

we could buy that I could also use at home, we definitely tried to do that. And then I also just worked really hard to pick out items that could break down to very small pieces. And so they're just kind of like tucked in every corner of my house. But now that I'm no longer selling finished goods, that was one of the huge things that I was able to do. able to sort of take out of my home as well as all the shipping all the pieces that go into shipping so I have I have my living room back and my husband has his closet back so it's been quite nice

Brittany 15:55

yeah well the reason why I asked that is because you mentioned that you keep or you did keep a year's worth of inventory at once and that's really interesting I have never really had a maker business it just wasn't in me to make the same thing over and over but I am really curious about how that works. And I know there are a lot of makers in the audience who maybe have never heard that before. What was it that drove what you felt was the need to have a year's worth of stock at once?

Teresa 16:26

Oh, yeah. So what happened was when I first opened my store, I had no idea what types of things would sell and what quantities. And so I just kind of made one of each thing, listed it, and then waited for it to sell. And then the following year, I kind of did the same thing, but I had a bit more traffic. And so everything was made to order, but it meant total chaos on my end in the holiday season, which was such a bummer. So basically an order would come in and then I would make it and ship it. And then at any given time, I had quite the backlog of it. And so eventually what I did, once sales were high enough and I went part-time at my original job as a designer, is my husband and I took a spreadsheet basically of all the past year's sales and then projected for the following year with whatever bump increase I thought I could do. Then we took that and basically prorated it out to figure out how many of each product I would need to make in each color each week so that by the time I got to Q4, I could basically ship those items that were all pre-made and not have to make new items during busy season.

Brittany 17:36

Is your husband an engineer? He works with data. Okay. My husband is an engineer by trade, too, and that is such – that's totally what he would do. It just reminded me of him.

Teresa 17:48

Yeah. It's super fun to have a partner who knows the numbers much better than you. So he loves figuring out that stuff for me.

Brittany 17:57

Yeah. Yeah. I think it's really helpful to have somebody like that, but it's, I don't think it's really a requirement. I wouldn't want anybody to feel like, oh, they can't do this because they're not as comfortable with data and that sort of thing. But I think it's a good thing to know that you can do that and that there are other people out there who might be able to help you set something like that up so you can make educated decisions about what you should make so that you can cut down on all those things, especially if space is limited like it was for you.

Teresa 18:30

Yeah. And so much of it too. I mean, we looked at the data so that we could have specific numbers, but I would imagine that most makers, myself included, could kind of think back on your previous year and what you remember having to make over and over and over again. So to a certain degree, the numbers are just bonus information. But if you know, hey, this scarf just always sells the best and this hat always sells the best and I can never keep this purple yarn stocked, then that's a really great place to start from too. You can Yeah, yeah.

Brittany 19:03

And you know, you said something else that really struck a chord with me too. And I think it's so relatable for makers, but also designers. You said that you looked at the pattern sales as well. And if there were only five that consistently performed really well, or that people really loved and bought, those were the ones that you stuck to. And I feel like us as designers, we're always on this content wheel struggle where we just feel like we're stuck. Like as soon as we finish a project, we don't even give ourself time to stop and enjoy it. It's on to the next thing. And we're just in this like race with ourselves and with each other to some extent. And I love how you don't make that a part of your life. And I want to just tap into that a little bit. What was your thought process? Were you afraid to not design so much and only focus on what did well? Kind of talk me through that.

Teresa 20:03

You know, I love what you said about the content real struggle. Is that how you phrase it? It's still true for me, just to be honest and not to set up anyone for failure here. But I think that the difference that I feel in what I do is that to me, the... the content wheel becomes less overwhelming to me if I know that I tend to work in these three colors and I try to use these three stitches kind of thing. So to me, um, having too many options. So if you're looking at like every stitch out there, every color out there, every type of yarn out there, I get really overwhelmed and tend to get paralyzed in being able to move forward with the next project and all the possible projects. And so I think a lot of people see my minimalist aesthetic as maybe being limiting, but I find that it actually makes that content wheel struggle a little less daunting and a little less overwhelming because I only have so many paths that I'm willing to take and so that sort of eases that burden a little bit

Brittany 21:08

yeah it's almost like it's sort of freeing like you know how they say well have you ever heard of Gretchen Rubin I have not, no. several different I guess categories that you could put yourself into so you can understand what makes you have that inner calm Yeah. And hearing you talk about minimalism, it's sort of shifting my perspective into that direction where it makes sense having things simple and having fewer options. All of those puzzle pieces are coming together that perhaps that is a lifestyle that I should gravitate towards.

Teresa 22:44

Yeah, I mean, it's... I find it really refreshing. I think it can sometimes look really limiting to the outside, but it just kind of depends on your personality type. I would say if you're someone who does not thrive in clutter or just really appreciates and finds cleanliness or tidiness to be rejuvenating, minimalism is a huge part of that. I've seen major differences through my work and through my personal life in trying to just cut all of the extra things that are making life feel a little heavier to me. So I I think in owning my own business, and a lot of makers might agree too, there's a lot of decision fatigue, especially when you're working by yourself. So everything you do during the day is a decision. And any one pattern you launch is probably 20 decisions compiled into a single final piece. So what needles do I want to use? What color? What yarn? What's the design of this? How do I want to launch it? All of that. Those are all decisions. And so Sort of my MO is to figure out like where can I pull decisions out and where can I limit my options for decisions? And then that way I find that I can sort of expand my potential and capacity each day. In the morning, instead of looking through a whole wardrobe of a bunch of different colors, do I want to wear black today or do I want to wear white today? It's a much easier decision. And so I just try and make those decisions easier for myself whenever possible.

Brittany 24:06

Yeah, I love that. I have heard so many times from just other podcasts or reading other books about productivity and lifestyle. I'm just really interested in that sort of thing right now and how people run their businesses and that sort of thing. But I've always heard that any opportunity you have to remove a decision from that part of your day, you're that much more likely to make the right decision when a really tough question comes up. So they'll suggest something like lay your clothes out the day before and then you don't have to decide what you're going to wear. Eat the same breakfast every day. I do that. I eat the same thing every day. I don't have to decide what I'm gonna make. And then that way, when I walk into my office and I have inputs coming at me from various different channels and questions that need answers, I can give that 100% of my brain power at that point. And I love how you're incorporating that into your projects, though, because that's next level. That's not really something that I have done before, but it's certainly something I should try out.

Teresa 25:20

Yeah, I would love to hear back how you sort of see the difference between before and after and if there's been more clarity or more bandwidth on your end.

Brittany 25:30

Yes, I would think so. You know, I was running through some things the other day. Have you ever gotten to the end of the day and you're just... Like you were saying, decision fatigue. I would say that's like every day. Yeah, I definitely feel that every day. But one day in particular, I was just really, really exhausted and really feeling like... things weren't working and certain areas of my routine and my processes needed an update or refresh. And I just sat down with a notebook and wrote down all of the projects that are on my plate right now that are stressing me out. Because just something about getting it out of your mind and getting it onto something that you can refer to later, that feels a little bit more freeing. But I was going through this exercise and I ended up writing out a decision filter. I'd heard a podcast where somebody said – you should really understand when and why you're going to say yes and when and why you're going to say no. And that's something I've always really struggled with is I'm sort of a yes person. I'm a people pleaser. I'm an opportunity seeker, all of those things. And so I'm constantly saying yes and I'm putting myself in positions where at the end of the day, I'm completely drained because of that decision fatigue. So I wrote down I think it was like eight questions that I'm going to ask myself if I'm presented with an opportunity. And if the answer is yes or no based on what the question is, that's how I'm going to try working through some of these requests that are coming in and that sort of thing so that I can make sure that I'm keeping my commitments in check, but also keeping myself in a situation where I can check out at the end of the day so I can be present with my husband and be a good daughter and be a good sister and all that stuff. And yeah, I don't know if it's something that anybody else has tried before and I'm certainly testing it out myself, but I will have to check back on that to let you all know how this decision filter is working.

Teresa 27:46

Yeah, I'm dying to know what your eight questions are. Can you share like one or two of them with us?

Brittany 27:50

Give me just a second. I've got my book in front of me.

Unknown 27:53

Okay.

Brittany 27:54

Okay, so my primary question is, is it going to teach somebody about crochet or knitting? Because at my core, that's really what I love to do. I love to design. I love... every aspect of what I do, but the bottom line is I want somebody to know that they can expect learning something from me. So that's really one of my most important questions. If it doesn't meet that requirement, then I have to really sit back and think about, okay, if it's not going to teach my audience something, what is it going to do for them? Because I don't want to do something that's just for me or certainly not just for money. I need to make sure that I'm having some integrity with the promises that I have made to them, to my audience. Yeah, there's another one that says, will it require me to work weekends or after 4.30 p.m.? And that's a tough one for me. I really struggle to check out that early. Most of the time, I want to sit in my office until… the very, very last second. Not because... Yeah, I

Teresa 29:05

was going to ask.

Brittany 29:06

I was like, wait, you get to finish working at 4.30? That sounds so fun. Well, that is really my goal. I know that when I do force myself to check out at 4.30, I go downstairs. I take care. We have a dog, so I take care of him, give him some attention. I will start prepping dinner. Now, my husband gets home a little bit later than that, but it gives me time to put some thought into what I'm cooking. So I don't know. I really enjoy cooking too. So sometimes I flip through recipes and that sort of thing. I might get the house ready. I have these silly little rituals that I just love the house to feel very homey and very inviting. So we've got some of those like wax melts sort of thing. So I'll turn some of those on and just light candles, like do stuff like that that just makes it feel like a very cozy space for me and for my husband when he comes home. And when I do check out at 4.30, I feel like I have the time to put into that stuff. But when I'm not checking out that early, when I'm working because I want to, not because I have to most of the time. Yeah. I get downstairs. I try to switch off that like work mode and go back into like normal mode. And I really struggle. And I feel like I rush through everything. And a lot of times like dinner doesn't work out as you want. And then you're cramming like a few stitches on your project. And for me, that just feels a little more chaotic. So yeah, I guess I am sort of Thinking about that minimalist approach and not really even knowing it, but just, I guess, realizing when I feel good and when I don't feel good has been a big driving force for me to sit down and write some of these questions down.

Teresa 30:58

Yeah, I love the intentionality behind that. and sort of figuring out like is this the best possible opportunity because at some point with our businesses I know when I was first starting everything was yes it was like this will grow the business yes I'll do it yes I'll do it yes I'll do it and then at some point you realize like okay not every opportunity is a good one and at some point these opportunities are actually coming at a cost whether it's something else that would be a better opportunity or it's my personal life because now I'm working you know longer over the weekend that sort of thing I will say as a total caveat on minimalism I It does not help me check out of work at the end of the day. Like you said, it's not usually a need to work, but always a desire.

Brittany 31:41

And

Teresa 31:42

I know it could specifically be this industry, but we're doing this because we love it. We love the craft and it's a blessing to be able to turn that into work. But it does blur that line. So what I try and do is make sure that anything that's like a task, if it's administrative, if it's email, if it's some sort of coding that that happens during the day. And if I want to work at night, it has to be a crochet or knitting project that I've already started and I've already designed. And it's just like, you know, you're just going through rows kind of thing. But any sort of. thought work I try and make sure happens before four but I would say it's almost a daily struggle to like switch gears get home like you know put on your personal face and just like get back to the normal things that aren't work but

Brittany 32:32

it is I do the same too I don't really mind knitting and crocheting in the evening and actually it really helps me Yeah. Oh, it never stops. It never stops. Yeah. Yeah,

Teresa 33:10

for sure. You know, ironically, too, I almost never get to knit or crochet during the workday. Like there's just so many other demands on my time. And so it is funny that if I have like a really stressful, really like invested day and work when I get home at night, I'm like, oh, I just want to crochet

Brittany 33:28

something. I'm the same way. Now, I'm curious, do you do you do this full time or you said you do a part time? No, it's full time. Yeah, it's been full time for maybe three

Teresa 33:58

years now. Totally stressed.

Brittany 34:05

Yeah, I'm pretty comfortable, especially doing tutorials because I'm on the other side of the camera. But something that you might not think of as a consumer of a tutorial is that you typically have... like a tripod or something in front of you that you're straddling or you've got a camera on your face and your arms are like stretched all like awkward and weird and so no it's not a comfortable situation when you're crocheting under a camera but yeah

Teresa 34:35

that's so funny I'm glad to hear you say that though because I feel like I'm always like balancing in some like weird position to like make it look natural and it feels anything but natural yeah I'll even be like looking through the camera to crochet and just like the depth perception is like just off. They just miss stitches and stuff. Anyway, it's a totally different process than just like being in your pajamas at night with something on Netflix and making a blanket.

Brittany 35:00

Oh yeah. Oh yeah, for sure. Right now I'm working on a knitting project that's really taking up, like I'm really devoting all of my time to it. And I find myself during the day, even though I'm Doing work that I really do enjoy and that I love, I am like, man, I really want to go work on that knitting project because I can't wait to see it come together. That

Teresa 35:24

was really exciting. I did a new thing recently because I'm also the world's slowest knitter. is I actually will bring in a project to the office and just leave it next to my computer. And so anytime I'm sort of working through emails or waiting on something or uploading or editing, just something that's sort of like mentally heavy to process and I need a break, what I've been trying to do is instead of go to my phone, which is such a common habit for so many of us, I'll just pick up that project and work with a couple of rows on it. So it allows me to work on that super fun project during the middle of the day. And B, I just find it more relaxing as far as like if you're looking for a break from all the decisions or all the work and knitting a couple of rows, like always does it for me. And then the greatest thing at the very end of it is all of a sudden this thing is knit and you never really stopped and set aside hours to do it. It just sort of happened a couple of inches at a time. So I would maybe even bring that piece into your office.

Brittany 36:23

That's a good idea. I have not. tried that. So I'm going to have to. A lot of people ask if I knit or crochet while I'm on the podcast. And for me, first of all, I talk with my hands. Oh yeah, I'm doing it too. Right. You may occasionally hear me bump the microphone because I'm talking to my hands, talking with my hands. But I am not really that great about thinking and knitting or crocheting at the same time, if that makes sense, or talking and thinking about that. And working on it. So I am not able to do it while I'm on the podcast, but certainly there are some upload times and, you know, any opportunity really where you've got a couple minutes here and there. So I'll have to give that a try. That's a good tip.

Teresa 37:10

Yeah. I know how you like it.

Brittany 37:12

Yeah. Now, one other question came to mind about the whole idea of being a minimalist crafter, and that is the yarn and the stuff. it's really, really hard to not accumulate a lot of yarn. Is that something that you struggled with? And maybe do you have any tips for somebody who doesn't want to have a gigantic yarn stash?

Teresa 37:37

Yeah. So I think the first thing is really, it comes down to color, I think, because if you can minimize your colors, then you won't really end up having the leftovers from each type of yarn and each color. And they're all, like considered separate. So I don't know if that makes any sense. So right now I'll use like white oatmeal or black. And so if everything is made in those two colors, then the end of any skein can always be used for the next project. So I have almost no scrap yarn or I'll have scrap yarn for just each type of color, but I don't have like a hundred different types of scrap yarn if that makes sense so it's all going into the next project so that has been huge for me another thing that is just a win all around is actually in Haiti the past couple years when I've gone I've taught the kids and a few of their moms how to crochet and so what I do is I just sort of gather all of that whatever extra yarn that I do have and maybe it's been discontinued or maybe it's a color that I no longer use or it's just something that I love and I want them to have too I'll just kind of annually clean that out and bring it to Haiti with me and share it with the kids. And so that's also an opportunity for anyone who wants to donate extra yarn. I always do a collection, or I try to do a collection before I go every time if I have a suitcase room.

Brittany 38:57

Oh, cool. Okay. And that information can probably be found on your website too? Yeah. Okay. Awesome. Sounds good. What about different types of yarn? Like maybe not colors, but different fibers or the next shiny, fun, new yarn on the market. Do you find yourself... using those or do you find yourself still just kind of sticking with what you know and what you like to use?

Teresa 39:22

Yeah, that's a good question too. So I, um, Lion Brand Thick and Quick, I feel like it's just one of my go-tos for so many makers. That one has never failed me. So that one's definitely one of my go-tos. And then I probably have two or three other types of yarn that I really like. So Bernat Maker Home Deck has been really great. And then I usually use like a Woolies, um, or Vanna's Choice for weight core stuff. So I guess if I think back on that, I sort of have my go-to yarn for each weight. And then I have my go-to colors in each of those weights. So it's probably eight SKUs all in. And one of the things that I also like about doing that is when writing patterns, again, because I'm trying to not just come up with a thing that's trendy for this year or something that's super popular right now, is that these patterns... I want them to still work in five years. And so if I can use more trusted materials that have been around and sort of have a proven shelf life with the big box stores, I know that by the time customers get that pattern in that yarn three years later, like they'll still have access to the original materials that I've used. And I've really been burned in the past when I've written patterns on like this fun new tweed weight three type situation yarn that just gets discontinued in five months. And then the pattern sort of loses, it loses what kind of made it special. And so in that way, it prevents future work. And it also prevents future heartache for people that maybe buy a pattern and they really liked it for that yarn, but that yarn's no longer available. And so the pattern is actually a little bit different now to them than it would have been if it had been written on more standard materials.

Brittany 41:06

Oh yeah, that's a really good tip too. There are several patterns that I wrote several years ago that the yarn is no longer available and I am still trying to help some of those makers through what substitution to choose and that sort of thing. So it is sort of perpetual work.

Teresa 41:26

Yeah, totally. And that's like, again, with minimalism, one of the things I'm always trying to do is streamline the work and always trying to make sure that you don't leave customers with questions. Because any question I have, if I've sold 1000 of that pattern or 5000 of that pattern, that's potentially 5000 questions, and then, you know, multiply that across all the patterns. And so, yeah, trying to provide people with the best user experience. And sometimes that looks like, given the name of the yarn that I use, and potentially an alternate, and then that way, if something does happen, with the initial yarn that they have something else to fall back on before having to contact me and sort of losing confidence in their own ability to pull off the pattern.

Brittany 42:04

Yeah. And I have to ask because I really, really geek out on systems and processes and that sort of thing. Is there anything that you use to help you organize all of this stuff, all of your to-dos or maybe monitoring the questions that are coming in and that sort of thing?

Teresa 42:23

Oh, wow. So I wish I had more that I could say about the questions that come in. I definitely am handling it on an individual email basis. One of the things that I have been doing recently that has been really helpful is with each of my patterns, I've created like a click through link in the pattern to a page, a password protected page that corresponds to that pattern. And so on that page, I'm linking all of my customers to all of the supplies that I used. So A lot of times people will just like see my crochet hook in the picture and want to know specifically what brand that is. And so if I can answer that question before they ask it, that saves me time. It saves them time. And then on these pages, the other thing that I've been adding into it is sort of an updates section. So if something does go out of stock or if, you know, weight five yarn is just really difficult to find, I'll sort of give updates for how to, you know, use two weight force together and stuff like that. And so creating a common place where people can reference without out me having to individually chat with people has been super helpful. Yeah, that's

Brittany 43:29

a great tip too.

Teresa 43:30

Yeah. And then as far as my end, as far as managing everything that's maybe not so much customer facing, I use a platform called Airtable and it's basically spreadsheets, but I like to call them glorified spreadsheets. They're beautiful. They're super intuitive for users. And I basically just have a spreadsheet for, I'm going to pull it up right now. Actually, I have a spreadsheet basically for each type of thing that I'm doing. So, you know, marketing has its own spreadsheet and then tabs within that would be email, blog, Pinterest, Instagram. Products has its own spreadsheet and the tabs in that are patterns, merchandise, tools, that sort of thing. And so I sort of use, again, it's called Airtable. I sort of use it as a dumping ground to just collect and organize every thought that comes to mind and every project and every strategy. And then sort of each day when I'm working, I sort of pull from these spreadsheets to say like, okay, I'm going to move marketing forward in this way. I'm going to move products forward in this way. I et cetera, et cetera.

Brittany 44:31

Yeah. I've heard of air table. I've played around with it a little bit, but I haven't gotten in like really set anything up for somebody listening. Who's familiar with Trello. It's similar. It's I would say better Trello. And I mean that in a loving way, but right now I have, well, I have been a user of co-schedule for the last, um, three years, I believe. And I just recently, like so recently, I mean this week, started implementing Asana. Oh, cool. I've heard so much about it. So many people rave about it and they swear that it's like the greatest thing. And so I had to see what it was about. And I am really, really loving it. I think Asana is- is similar to Trello in the look of it. You can do boards. Like if you're familiar with a Trello board and each board has lists and then you have cards, you can set it up like that, but you can also set it up in list form, which is kind of similar to what you might see in Airtable. It has timelines and calendar view. I mean, it really like does everything. Yes.

Teresa 46:10

Yep, exactly the same. I've been on the free one since the beginning. And honestly, there's no functionality that I need and don't have.

Brittany 46:17

Yeah, yeah. I feel the same way about Asana right now. I don't see the need at this moment to pay for it, but if I do, it's two-thirds less than what Coach Angela is charging me. That's incredible. Yeah, yeah. So I think that's a good approach. Anyways, I don't want to get too off track with that. I will have a link to both of those in the show notes if you are a maker and you're needing some organization in your life. These are two – great platforms to try out. I'll also link to CoSchedule too. It's super useful, but for the right person. So I'll have that in the show notes as well. But I do want to shift gears a little bit to your book. It's so beautiful. I've been able to sort of flip through and see what it's going to be. Now, it is right now in the pre-order phases, so I feel really special that I I'm able to flip through it before anyone else, but tell me a little bit about the book. What's it called? Who's it for? And that sort of thing.

Teresa 47:15

Yeah, it's called Modern Crochet, Patterns and Designs for the Minimalist Maker. It features three sections. So it kicks off with fundamentals, which is kind of, you know, learning how to pick out your yarn and your hooks if you're a total beginner. But it also goes into how to read a pattern, which I sort of feel like at any stage in the process, we can always sort of sharpen our skills on what all the different types of things mean and do we know all the standard terms. Then it dives into 16 patterns. So most of them are going to be exclusive to the book, meaning that they won't be on my website. And then at the end, I sort of have an appendix of stitches and skills. So it's going over slipknot chain, slip stitch, single crochet, half double crochet. And all of those have full step-by-step photos, full written descriptions, and then there's online support with videos. The videos were not part of my contracting writing the book, but I personally swear by learning by video. So everything in the book has corresponding video tutorials to go with it. All shot in, as we mentioned, a totally awkward angle when I had no idea where to put things and like balancing over a tripod, but they're all there.

Brittany 48:25

Awesome. And there are quite a few projects in there to talk about a couple of those just so people have an idea of what to expect.

Teresa 48:33

Yeah, so there's 16 altogether. Some of them are actually crochet versions of my best selling knit patterns. I think most of my followers are maybe more so crocheters than knitters. I don't know why I don't know if that's my style or because crochet was my first love. And that just sort of comes through my work. But I've had a lot of crocheters asking for crochet versions of knit patterns. And so you'll find those in this book one of them is my coaster pattern so it's just like a little square coaster with a wooden ring on the edge I love adding wooden rings to things so that's one of the ones in there One of the patterns that has gotten the most feedback so far, just as far as people sharing their excitement about it, is the bobble pillow. It's also the cover of the book, but it's just a super blush, really lovely texture bobble pillow. And then, yeah, I'm just sort of flipping through right now. A faux fur cowl is in here. That was one of those patterns to our earlier conversation about using yarns that might be discontinued. That one's a little bit risky, but the faux fur yarn is just so lovely. It had It's so

Brittany 49:39

soft. I used it for the first time, gosh, a couple of weeks ago, and I joked on BeHooked TV that I want an entire outfit made of that stuff and just rubbed

Teresa 49:49

it all over my face. Oh my gosh, yeah, like a jumper. Yeah, it's so soft. Yeah. Oh my gosh, I love it. Yeah, I was really surprised by the quality of it and just the finished look of it. I love that you couldn't actually see any of the stitches. My mind is still kind of blown that it works that way, but yeah, super fun to work with. So yeah, the patterns overall are kind of a split between home decor and sort of scarves and hats. No garments. Everything is on the easier side for sure. But yeah, it's super fun. It's got a wide variety of projects. I think anyone can sort of find things in here that resonated with them or could sort of use these patterns as a baseline to say like, hey, I love the way this basket works. But in my house, I'd love one that was narrower and taller. And the patterns are going to sort of set you up for success to do that.

Brittany 50:36

Yeah. And I like how it's all really, really simple and really easy to read and easy to follow. I can imagine it being like a really good gift for somebody. If you know somebody in your family who wants to learn how to crochet, this might be a good opportunity for them to have some simple and easy patterns that don't really look simple and easy that they can try.

Teresa 50:59

Thank you for that. That's such a great compliment that they are simple, and they look simple, but and then they're also presented simple. That's like, always the goal of everything that I'm trying to do over here. I personally can find patterns to be overwhelming. And so I work really hard to just sort of pare everything down to the simplest possible way to explain

Brittany 51:19

something. Sure, though, that the process of creating this book was anything but simple. Do you want to talk a little bit about how that came about and how it ended up working out? I mean, obviously it worked out, but I'm sure looking back on it, you might think of things that... you could have done differently or that could have went better, or maybe it was all rainbows and unicorns. I'm not sure. How'd it go? I

Teresa 51:54

would never describe the process as rainbows and unicorns. I'm really proud of the book and I'm really proud of how it turned out. It's really cool to hold it in your hands and know that you made it. It's a very different experience than hitting publish on a PDF. So that was really fun and really rewarding, but it was a full-time job for sure. I signed contracts over Christmas break this past Christmas and then we started you know like the first Tuesday of the year and the first copy of the manuscript that turned in in May I believe so it's about five five months of just like I don't know that my brain ever turned off in that time as far as figuring out you know the exact patterns that I wanted to include I And then just working really hard to make sure that the support was there for those patterns. So typically with my patterns online, I'll just tell you the skill level and you'll decide for yourself if you can tackle it. But for the book, what I wanted to do was make sure that anyone who had never crocheted before, they wanted to pick it up and complete one of these patterns, that they had everything that they would need to do that. So if you're an experienced crocheter, you could pick it up and you could enjoy the book for the six If you've never walked down the yarn aisle before, you could also pick up this book. And so while all of that sounded like, you know, rainbows and unicorns, as far as an idea, I was like, oh yeah, let's make it, you know, super helpful and super inclusive. What you realize when you go to write a pattern is how much we know as makers that we don't know is like considered like industry knowledge, if that makes sense. So if I want to start a pattern and say, you know, chain 20, well, I first have to teach how to chain. And I actually first have to teach how to do a slip knot. And I then I have to explain that when a pattern is written, it's never going to say slipknot. It's just implied. And that's a super simple example, right? But if you think of something more complicated... Any single time I used a word or a technique in this book, it meant it needed a full paragraph explanation in the fundamental section. It needed photos. It needed video. And sometimes, again, this is the other funny thing about makers and the way many of us learn. I just learned from my mom. And so the number of technical terms I actually didn't know for things was amazing to me in this process. And so I worked with a tech editor, a Bless her. She was amazing. It would be a different book without her. But there were so many times in the process of writing the book that she would come in and say, okay, this is industry standard or this is the technical term you mean to use here. Or, hey, I know that row is short and you're calling it a short row, but by definition, it's not a short row. Here's what a short row technically is. And so it sort of felt a little bit like walking around with cinder blocks on my feet, like to move forward in any moment meant that there was six other tasks that then were tied to that next sentence that I wanted to write. So it did make me super grateful for the work on a day-to-day basis as far as publishing patterns and sort of not needing to lift someone from the ground up. But with this book, just wanting to make sure that if I was saying, hey, put this under the tree at Christmas for a friend who's never done this before, and I'm going to guarantee that they can complete all 16 patterns. It was a huge objective and a huge lift for me to take off the ground. And I just gave it 120% for those five months of writing. And I'm still sort of recovering from just how intense it was. I mean, you know. You wouldn't know how intense crochet knitting can be until you go to write a book.

Brittany 55:41

Right. And you were doing this on top of still running your business too, right?

Teresa 55:46

Yes. So, yeah. So, you know, and because it's so customer facing, if someone has a question about a pattern and then multiply that by, you know, however many hundred per week as far as emails and DMs and comments, that all, no, I can't take a break from that, like ever. And so, yeah, that's still all ran in the background. I still had to, you know, publish to Instagram every week, sort of keep chatting, engaging with my audience and being a part of the community and their world. And everything that I was working on was actually secret. And so it posed quite the challenge to figure out how to talk about what I was doing without telling them what I was doing. And then every now and then, I actually felt like for the sake of the business, I had to produce this other content on the side just to keep the business moving forward as well. So it was, yeah, it was a lot of hours and a lot of work. And I'm really, really grateful to be on the other side of it.

Brittany 56:37

Yeah. Now, knowing how difficult that was, would you recommend somebody move forward with, let's say that this is their ultimate goal. They want to publish a book and maybe they already have a full-time job or they have a business like you and I do. Would you say that it was worth it in the long run? And should they strive for that?

Teresa 57:02

I would say yes, I would say still do it. I would do it again, as well. Okay, let me clarify, I would do this book process again, like I would still say yes to this, I am saying no to a future book for the time being. I think the biggest thing to keep in mind with doing a book is if you can just go into it knowing that it's a totally different ballgame than anything digital. It seems like it should be in the same realm of digital. You're writing a pattern for a book or you're writing a pattern for a PDF, but to me, it felt like a very different process. It took everything that I had. If you want it, I would say be ready to give it everything that you have and also make sure you really want it. I definitely would not view it as like, you know, oh, this like simple thing to create passive income on the side because it's only going to be as good as the amount that you give it. And if you sort of fathom the weight of something in print on bookshelves worldwide, like it's an astounding weight. And so I think it'd be pretty hard pressed to imagine wanting to do it without giving it your all. So anyway, I'm rambling. I would just say know what you're getting into and be ready to give it everything that you've got.

Brittany 58:15

Yeah, I think that's really great and really practical advice. I think not that I have experience with writing a book, but having experience with knowing what to say yes and when to say no, doing that decision filter exercise, figure out what it means to you to say yes to that opportunity at that point or that season of your life. Because when you're saying yes to that, you probably do need to say no to one or several other things in order to give it your all. And I think that is one way of just being prepared that you can go into it knowing that you can fulfill that commitment. I mean, when you hit publish online, you're still putting your name and your stamp on that, but it feels a lot more tangible when it's a book. It's not like you can just go back and edit that post and re-upload if you make a mistake. It's quite different for a book. So anyways, I appreciate that advice. I know this is something that I have been considering myself. I know it's certainly a goal for me. I'm not sure when in the future but I think it would just be a really wonderful experience especially to be able to share as well so I appreciate your perspective that has helped me and I know you've helped a lot of listeners as well now the last thing I want to ask because I think it would be wonderful for somebody to pick up this book like I said to give it to somebody who has never tried crochet before and by the way we did not coordinate that at all I That's what I saw when I flipped through the book. I saw something that I could give to my sister who has never crocheted before, who wants to know how to do it. So where can somebody pick up a copy and where can they pre-order it now? And like, when will it be available on shelves and whose shelves might it be on?

Teresa 1:00:12

Okay. Yeah. So the easiest place to find the answers to all of those questions is faberzee.com backslash book. So what I've done there is I've highlighted a bunch of interior spreads so you can sort of get an idea for the aesthetic of the book, the way the content is laid out, the density of it, all of that. And then on that page, it has all the current retailers that have it available for pre-order. So Amazon has it in a number of countries as well. Target has it. Walmart will have it soon. Barnes and Noble. Books a Million. So those are all the pre-order locations. And then I'm actually still waiting to hear back from my publishers and the sales reps on store shelves, but it should be available wherever books are sold. I know Barnes & Noble has already placed their first PO, and we're waiting to hear back from Anthropologie and West Elm and all of those stores right now. But Modern Crochet, Debra Zay, wherever books are sold.

Brittany 1:01:07

Wonderful. Okay. I will have all of that linked in the show notes page. And T, thank you so much. This was such a fun conversation for me. I know it was fun for listening and it was just

Teresa 1:01:18

wonderful. Thank you. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for having me. I had so much fun and I feel like I want to do this again and interview you next time because there's so many things I want to learn from you. I

Brittany 1:01:28

would love that. I think this is the start of something more than just this one podcast episode. That's for sure. Awesome. Well, thank you again. It was so nice to chat. All right, that was T from Debrose. Once again, I will have all of her book information where you can pre-order it over on the show notes page. You can find that at behooked.com slash 138. I do encourage you to check that out to support her if that is something that you're really passionate about. I really love her cause and her business structure and the things that she's doing for those orphanages. So if you want to know how you can participate in that, I will have a link to her website where you can get all of that information. Now, wasn't that a really insightful conversation? I mean, I can't be the only one who was super thrilled with that. I had such an amazing time talking to team, learning so much from her about her lifestyle and how she incorporates her craftiness and her business into sort of her core values and from something that maybe wasn't a choice, more of a necessity, but now it's become a way of life for her. And I find that extremely inspirational. So thank you, T. I had an amazing time chatting with you. I'm so glad we were able to share this message with the entire audience here on the Be Hooked podcast. So thank you. I also want to say a big thank you to you as a listener. And if you haven't already subscribed to the show, I would love for you to do that or to consider doing that. Because even though it doesn't seem like a big, huge deal, it really is a big help to the show. I see that subscriber number and that lets... These podcast players know that this is a podcast worth listening to for other makers and for other crocheters. So thank you if you have subscribed. Thank you if you have left an honest rating or review. I love reading those as well. And that's all for today, friend. Thank you again for tuning in week after week. I really appreciate you, and I'll see you next week.