Charm and Strange Crochet

Disclaimer: I had to work really, really hard to write this post without a lot of self-pity. Some may have bled through anyway. I mostly apologize if it did. When I re-launched my business as Charm and Strange Crochet in 2022, my head was buzzing with business advice from a highly successful crochet business owner. Pam Grice of Crochetpreneur went viral overnight back in 2013 and had to hire dozens of crocheters to help her get her orders out. Now she makes high-six figures teaching people how to be successful in their own crochet businesses, whether they focus on selling products like I do or on writing patterns. So she MUST be right. A huge piece of her advice was to "find your niche." When I first started selling as Kate's Crochets, I sold basically anything I felt like. If I made it for myself or as a gift and I liked it, I'd sell it. Cat hats, nail polish cozies (lol who actually needs that?), crocheted flowers, baby hats and booties, adult hats and scarves, han...

Wow, if summer 2022 Kate thought she was busy, she'd have to sit down before hearing about what summer 2023 had in store for her! For starters: my husband Mark and I bought our first house! We closed the very weekend of Opa Fest, and moved in the following weekend. Yes - while crocheting up a storm in preparation for my first two markets ever, I was also in the process of packing and decluttering. To say it was a stressful time would be a pretty massive understatement! Embed from Getty Images stock clipart image used rather than a photo because I don't want to get doxxed with a photo of my real house ;) When we bought the house, it seemed like it was in great shape and we were looking forward to replacing carpets, painting rooms - the fun decorating parts of homeownership. Instead, we found out that the basement was in need of waterproofing, which led to all kinds of plumbing and electrical projects. And while we thought the roof had about 5 years left on it, when we got a few ...

This past weekend, June 10th, was the very first time Charm and Strange Crochet was present at an art fair. It was such a smashing success - not just the event as a whole with a great turnout, but for me personally as a business owner! In the weeks leading up to the Berkley Art Bash , I was getting really  nervous. What if I sell out of everything? That would be amazing, except that I have the Opa! Fest next weekend - and there's NO WAY I can replenish all of my inventory in just one week. So sure, selling out of everything would be amazing for that day, but I'd be screwed and embarrassed a week later when I show up to a 3-day event with maybe 25 items. Or, the alternative - what if nobody buys anything, and I'm left there trying not to cry all day while everyone walks past ignoring me? What if people think I'm overpriced and insult me to my face about it? Well, thankfully, neither of those extremes happened. I sold enough - enough to be happy with my day's income,...

With the holidays fast approaching, I want to be sure to have some in-person sales, but I don't feel ready to do a holiday market. Like, stock-wise or mentally. Renting a table at a weekend or even a one-day craft fair feels like something I'm really gonna have to psych myself up for, rather than try to find so close to last minute. That's a whole separate blog post ;) So instead of finding markets, I reached out in my local community Facebook group and I got a list of several different stores in the Metro Detroit area that stock local artists' goods! I spent an afternoon making a spreadsheet because that's the kind of person I am. Then I ended up contacting seven of them, and so far I have gotten a response from three! The first was Insp!re Marketplace , located in Twelve Oaks Mall. This store is juried, which means a panel of people decides whether or not to sell the goods. This is usually to ensure that the store is not flooded with a lot of the same types of ite...

If you follow me on social media, you probably saw my post about rebranding all the way back in May. Now it's August. What have I been up to all summer? Firstly, I commissioned a new logo from a friend of mine who is a graphic designer. My old logo for Kate's Crochets was sort of close to what I wanted, but I made that one in ten minutes using clipart and it was definitely far from perfect. The new logo from my friend is crisp, a little whimsical, and in my favorite color scheme! It's perfect: She made a header to match! It doesn't quite work here on Blogger with the layout I've set up (for now!), but you can see it in action over on my Facebook page .  The crocheted background that you see is the same fabric as the header image here on the blog: it's a shawl I've been working on a little at a time for months! It's not a pattern I plan to sell, but boy is it beautiful! Also in May, I got myself legitimate. I am now registered for a Sole Proprietorship (a...