Or rather Creations by Ellen’s New Year’s Resolutions. I know it is cliché and I know it is almost the middle of January, so I am a bit late to the boat. But in order to actually stick to my goals for this year, I think I need to tell everyone what they are so I might actually do something towards them.
I’ve never really been one for making personal New Year’s Resolutions and if I have in the past, they rarely last beyond the first few weeks of the year. However, Creations by Ellen has been slowly growing each year and I want his year to be the year it grows even more. Am I talking about getting a million sales and making my fortunes? No! But I want to look back at the same time next year and be proud of what I have achieved.
So here are my goals for 2023. If you see I have not made progress with these, please feel free to publically shame me:
My Goals
1. Start a blog
I guess I have already made progress with this one, so that’s a good start. For years I have been using Social Media to try and reach other crafters and potential or returning customers, which has worked to a certain extent. However, I always wish I could say more and show more of my personality. I would like to help others by sharing what I have learned over the past few years and be able to explain why I have chosen to go down certain paths and made certain decisions.
This also helps me with a platform for goal number 2.
2. Write down and share my patterns
Patterns and I have a love/hate relationship. I am always on the hunt for projects with patterns written by super clever people who know exactly what they are doing. The problem is, I then try to follow that pattern and my hubris or maybe just simple stupidity gets in the way and I decide I could do it better. Can I? Most of the time - probably not, a small percentage of the time - yes I can.
So I mostly gave up trying to follow patterns and just make them up as I go, to greater and lesser success. So first and foremost, I will remember to write down my patterns as I create them – not months later when I want to remake a cool project but have to try and work out what on earth I did in the first place!
And then maybe I should share them. The second prong to this goal is to share these patterns I create and use my stubbornness to help other people in their hunt for cool projects. I would never put myself up there with the seasoned pattern writers, who are amazing at what they do. But maybe I could contribute to the crafting community in a small way and in doing so expand my current customer circle too.
3. Take better pictures
I look back on the first photos I took for my Instagram page with regret at how bad the photographs looked when I was starting out. They are badly framed, boring and sometimes blurry. Of course, technology improves all the time and my phone camera is probably twice as good now as it was then.
But it’s not all about having the best camera. I want to try and improve my product photos by assembling more interesting backgrounds and cleaning up how they are presented. I need to make it at least look like I have everything under control, even when I am taking a picture in the only clean and clutter free square corner of my flat.
4. Be prepared
Every year I get flooded with orders from September onwards and every year I berate myself for not having started making pumpkins and chocolate orange orders earlier. I always worry that I will end up making creations that will not sell and I will have wasted time, energy and yarn. Though I am yet to have a year where these products don’t sell.
So when I have a lull as summer comes and it is too hot for anyone to stand the sight of a yarn constructed creation of any kind, I will this year be preparing for the busier seasons that will come, in attempt to retain my sanity by the time Christmas comes.
5. Teach or inspire one other person to crochet
Lastly, I would like to pass on the gift of this craft I love so much. I think crochet is underrated and often forgotten when compared to knitting. Its versatile, it’s a cheap hobby and it does wonders for your mental health. I would like to have inspired someone to give it a go or even to teach someone the basics so that they can also see where crochet takes them.
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