Introduction and Goals

Hello everyone! My name is Bianca. This has been a long time coming. Making a blog has been a goal of mine for many years. Actually since I graduated from college in 2016, but especially during the pandemic. Being an English major and loving stories, writing is something that I have been drawn to for many years, but have since fallen out of. This blog I hope will not only give me a chance to talk about my passion for knit, crochet, and yarn, but will also allow me to get back to my old love of writing. For this first blog post I want to give some background on myself, mostly about how I got into crafts/fiber arts, and the goals I have for the blog.

The biggest hurdle has always been choosing what to blog about. I could never nail down a niche. To resolve this issue I did attempt to do a personal blog focusing on myself and my experiences in life. This was done in 2020. I was unhappy at my current job so I thought that if I could make a blog that it would open the door to new work opportunities, or eventually I could make at least a part time income from. Sadly I only made a few blog posts and I never got around to making more and publishing it. I think that not having a defined theme for the blog made it difficult to think of posts and make content. I also had a lot going on at that time looking for a new job since I knew that I could not support myself on blogging alone. Fast forward some years and now I left that employer and I am at a new administrative job. I do like it more than my previous jobs. However, I think a blog is a great opportunity for me and I will be able to make that long time dream come true. This blog will also allow me to get started writing again. 

Now about how I got into Fiber Arts. It first started when I wanted to make stuffed animals. My grandma and I used to collect beanie babies so stuffed animals have always held a special place in my heart because of that. That is why in college I decided to try and learn how to make my own stuffed animals. I have always been a creative and crafty person. I do remember always being told that I have an active imagination as a child. This was originally why I wanted to become a writer, but that is a story for another time. I would make crafts a lot with my mom and on my own as a kid. We would put newspapers down on the kitchen table and make crafts together like making our own silly putty, and play dough. We had this book that had a lot of DIY crafts and science experiments that I adored growing up. I also did a little sewing off and on. I remember making some fox ears and a tail for Halloween in High School to participate in a Halloween party. I hand sewed the entire thing while watching anime. It took forever, but I was proud that I did it all by hand.

Once I decided that making stuffed animals was something I wanted to try and pursue I researched some patterns on the internet and went to Joann fabrics to get materials to make a stuffed animal. I also asked for a sewing machine for my birthday. I got some green fleece and printed out  a pattern to try and make a lizard. It resembled something like a lizard in the end, but being a perfectionist I wasn’t happy with the result. It was difficult to sew the different parts and pin it properly. Learning the sewing machine was challenging, threading it, using the pedal and how to stitch the pieces together to make a stuffed animal. I got discouraged. 

I unfortunately do not remember exactly how, but I came across Amigurumi. I probably did some research on other ways to make stuffed animals. Anyway, I thought that they looked adorable and was interested in the idea of making a stuffed animal from crochet. I did remember that my grandma used to crochet. Unfortunately, she wasn’t in the best of health when I was younger and passed away before I had the interest in it and she could teach me. I did love the yarn she had and helped her wind the yarn into balls. So I guess there has always been some fascination with yarn. 

So I did research on crochet. I got some blue red heart super saver yarn to try and learn how to crochet. It did take me a while to get past just chaining stitches. Since I was only learning crochet via YouTube and didn’t have anyone to teach me in person. It was hard for me to learn a single crochet and get my hook through the chain stitches. Once I was able to master that after many videos and lots of trial and error I was able to make a few small squares and learn the basics like holding the yarn, tension, and keeping my edges straight. That is when I moved on to learning how to crochet in the round as a step to making Amigurumi. First thing I made was a bunch of little stuffed balls. So many… at least my dog at the time loved them! My first Amigurumi was a little blue bird from my first skein of yarn. I got some books on how to make Amigurumi and it made me happy to finally be able to create the stuffed animals I loved so much growing up. It also made me so happy to be able to make gifts for friends and family as well. Not only Amigurumi, but also blankets, dishcloths, hats, and such. Being in college it was nice to have an inexpensive hobby. 

Some of my first Amigurumi that I made back in college.

Probably about a year, year and a half or so after learning how to crochet I learned how to knit. I remember first learning knitting when the ruffle scarfs were popular and not having success crocheting them. However, I was determined to use this beautiful ruffle yarn I bought locally. After some internet searching for tutorials I watched someone knitting one out of curiosity. It didn’t look too difficult, so I got some needles and figured out how to knit the ruffle scarf. I thought that the motions were fun so I decided to explore how to knit as well. I remember knitting coming a little faster to me than crochet but I always figured it was because I learned crochet first and it was easier to translate into knitting. 

Fast forward and I have been crocheting and knitting off and on since then. Sometimes taking breaks for other hobbies, like video games, or life getting in the way. It has always been a hobby of mine and when I would take a break I always felt a little sad when I realized I wasn’t making as much. Now I like both crochet and knitting. For some time I preferred knitting, funny how that works, but now I have been crocheting a lot more and it has reminded me of why I fell in love with crochet and yarn crafts from the start. 

Now enough about my Fiber Art background. I want to outline my goals for the blog. I do expect that the blog will change as time goes on as I develop a better feel for blogging and I believe there is potential for growth. This post is kind of a way for me to keep track of my progress here and also for readers to, hopefully, see the history of the blog as well. 

Crochet pumpkin I made last fall.

The kinds of things I am wanting to post are:

•  Finished project Posts

•  Informational or Educational Posts

•  Reviews

• *Designs/Patterns

•  *Craft Fair Posts. 

I want to go into more detail about each category.

Project Posts 

These posts will outline an entire completed project. I want to include any critical information that I think would be helpful to know. I want to list what yarn was used, any equipment, an estimate of time it took to complete, my finished thoughts and other useful information I gathered. I know it could possibly be tricky to get an accurate amount of hours needed to complete the project, but I hope to do my best. These will be either projects from patterns from other designers or my own patterns or creations. These posts will be more sporadic and unpredictable than the update posts since it relies on when I finish the project. I would like to try and post progress updates to projects on social media as well. The blog post however will go into greater detail and outline everything for that project. 

Informational/Educational Posts

Another type of post that I would like to make are posts that cover a certain topic, question or teach something. These posts will go over a topic that I had an idea for, something that I thought would be helpful to post or in the future cover questions that people have that I think would make a good blog post. I might even try to do some tutorial blog posts or videos if I find that there is a need for one or that it is requested. These posts will also include list type posts as well. These would be like a list of patterns of a specific concept or type of project like a blanket. I would also do them for products and equipment as well. 

Review Posts

I would also like to do some review posts. If there is a new product such as a new yarn, equipment, supply, hook, needles, or trinket that I have that I feel I can cover about in enough detail for a post then I will do a review post on the product. I do want to make sure that if I do a review post that it is an honest review of the product. If I recommend something I want to make sure that it is a product that is of quality or that I use myself. Review posts will probably be fewer than the other categories above. 

Designs/Patterns 

At this time I have not designed any patterns myself. Well at least anything professionally.  So, for the early days of the blog patterns won’t be frequent. On projects that I make my own pattern I usually just do my own shorthand and quick notes on what I did to make the object. If I make a pattern for the blog in the beginning it will probably be free and just posted on the website. However, in the future this is something that I would like to explore more and make more professional patterns that I feel comfortable asking money for. I would love to become skilled at writing my own patterns and hope that these become more frequent in the future. 

Craft Fair Posts

Another idea for a post I had, but would be infrequent, or vary depending on the season, is a craft fair blog post. I want to describe my experience at the craft fair overall, the planning process, what I made, what sold, and other interesting details. My goal at the start isn’t to sell finished objects online. Again though depending on things develop this might change in the future. Unfortunately, I don’t feel like I have the experience and time to dedicate to an online shop currently. I do however like the idea of planning and selling some finished objects at local craft fairs. 

These are just some of the posts or at least the regular ones that I had ideas of posting. Now as always if something comes up that I would like to post about, but it doesn't fit in these categories I would still like to post about it as long as I have enough to write a decent post. I will post miscellaneous posts infrequently as they come up and probably won’t be on the regular posting schedule that I develop. There is also the possibility to post some personal updates if the need or want arises.

Well I think that this blog post has gone on long enough. It was nice describing my background and my hopes for the blog in the future. I would like to try and make posts similar to this one that talk about the blog itself and how things are developing. I do want to say thank you for taking the time to read my first, probably clunky, blog post. As I gain experience I hope that posts will be more streamlined. I have high hopes for this blog. Until the next post, have a wonderful day and create something that you enjoy!