Connecting, Creating, and the Joy of Making | Podcast Episode #60

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Crochet Community fosters the joy of making.

When you have someone to share your passion with you’re able to externalize your emotions and a crochet community gives you this outlet. You don’t need a huge circle of friends to crochet with but even having one person to share in your joys of making will bring all these things together – connecting, creating and experiencing the joy of making.

Special Guest

Back again to share her kind wisdom is, Melissa, a creative and talented woman behind Woods and Wool. We explore the importance of these three things, connecting, creating, and the joy of making, and why they are so important for us.

Episode Transcript

Brittany: 0:00
You’re listening to the B Hooked Podcast, session number 60 with Brittany. Welcome to episode number 60 of the B Hooked Podcast. I’m your host, Brittany, and I am so grateful that you’re here with me today. I have a really exciting message to share with you that is continuing our theme of Stitch Away Stress.

I’ll be honest, this is one of those conversations that… swayed in a slightly different direction than I had originally intended, but I’m so glad it did. Melissa and I were able to capture so many golden nuggets and I can’t wait to share it with you.

Before we dive into the show today, I have a couple of things that I want to remind you of. First of which is that offer that Yarnspirations is extending to you as a listener. Now this is an opportunity to save some money, so you want to make sure you listen in.

Yarnspirations is the online destination for knitting and crochet inspiration and the yarns that you see me use all the time. The yarns that you love—Bernat, Paytons, Caron, and Lily Sugar’n Cream. Well, because you are listening to today’s show, you can redeem a 20% off coupon when you order $40 or more from yarnspirations.com.

Now, if you’d like to follow along with my patterns and tutorials that are over on my website, behookedcrochet.com, then you know you’re going to need some yarn from Yarnspirations. And why not save a little bit of money, right?

So go to yarnspirations.com. Fill up your cart with all the yarn that you want, as long as the total is $40 or more. Then if you use the coupon code BEHOOKEDPOD, you can save 20%. That’s a big deal, right? 20%. So be sure you take advantage of that offer while it’s still available. Enter the code BEHOOKEDPOD at checkout.

I also want to let you know that the show notes page is available at BeHookedCrochet.com/session060. Melissa and I do talk about a few resources, and I will link to those as well, but the most important thing that I want you to take away from this little snippet is that that show notes page is for you.

That’s a place for you to continue the conversation, to ask your questions, and to know that I’m right here on the other side of the keyboard saying, “Continuing that conversation with you.”

We had Melissa back on the show just a few weeks ago. She is part of the Maker Strong community—actually one of the team members behind that amazing brand. And we talked briefly about being able to say no when it’s appropriate. That is a topic that is really top of mind for me this year because I am always one to kind of overextend myself, and I need to make educated decisions and say no when it’s appropriate.

So I got just as much out of that conversation—that 15-minute conversation—that I hope you did too. I just had to have her back. She is a powerhouse of inspiration, and today, she’s going to help us to not only understand how to maintain joy in what we do, but she’s going to break it down into more actionable steps.

Specifically, how you can form some meetups in person—how that has really transformed who she is, who she is online, and who she is as a person, and who she is as a brand. And then we take it one step further and we talk about the “why” behind doing things.

Because I do believe that “why” is the bridge between where we are right now and maintaining a stress-free business or hobby. As much as we don’t like to admit it, stress does come with those things.

I absolutely love what I do, but I’d be lying if I tell you that I wasn’t stressed at least a couple times a day. Even as a hobby crocheter, before this was my full-time job, I still experienced stress. I always wanted to make sure that I was fulfilling the requests of my family members. I wanted to make something for everybody, and then it just became a little bit overwhelming. I felt stressed because I felt like maybe I wasn’t making everybody else happy, and I really lost touch with my “why.”

So Melissa is going to share that information with us today. And now here she is. Melissa, hi, welcome back to the Be Hooked Podcast.

Melissa: 5:45
Hi, Brittany. Thank you so much for having me again.

Brittany:
Oh, it is such a pleasure. We had such a really wonderful conversation a few weeks ago when we had you on with Maker Strong, and I just had to get you back on because you have so much to offer the community, and I’m really excited about our topic today.

But before we get into any of that, I would really love to dive a little bit more into your story and how you began this journey with Woods and Wool. So can you give us a little peek behind the curtains?

Melissa: 5:45
Of course. So I started, like a lot of people, as a kid when my grandma taught me how to crochet. Now, to give you a little bit of insight, growing up, I live in Michigan, so we always went up to my grandparents’ lake house in the summers.

And my grandma was really big on crafts. So she was big on quilting, sewing, knitting, and crocheting. Her philosophy was that every woman should have some of those tools in her wheelhouse. So of course she taught me and all of my cousins how to do these skills.

But what was interesting was as many quilts as we made, I could never take those home. So when she taught me how to crochet, it was really cool because I had the hook and I had the yarn and I could take that home and I could keep going. So that was really special for me and it always brings me a little bit of nostalgia.

But what was really cool was at the time growing up, my best friend—and she’s still my best friend to this day—she also crocheted. So yeah, so that was really cool. So in middle school, my best friend had a really major surgery and it was kind of difficult for her because she couldn’t do a lot. So her summer was going to be pretty much spent on the couch.

So I would go over to her house—and I couldn’t drive at this point—so her mom would actually come and pick me up. We would go over to her house and we would sit and crochet. And that’s what we did for a whole summer. Now we also played a little bit of Nintendo and watched TV, but my best friend and I spent a whole summer crocheting.

And after that point, anytime we had a sleepover or a birthday party, you better believe we had our yarn and we had our hooks. And it was really interesting because at the time, I don’t even think I realized what I was doing or why I liked it. It was just a thing that my best friend and I did. Her mom had taught her, my grandma had taught me, and it was just a cool craft that we could share together.

Brittany: 7:48
Yeah, that’s so cool. So does she still crochet now to this day like you?

Melissa: 7:54
She does. And she actually went to the dark side. I’m just kidding. But she knits now too. So she does both. Her mom does both. And growing up, her mom would always be there to help us when we got stuck on things.

But her mom would make the most intricate crochet doilies. And yeah, really, really advanced stuff. They did Tunisian crochet, which I didn’t even know what that was called until a couple of years ago. But, yeah, her mom was always there as like a never-ending resource, and both of us still crochet to this day.

Brittany: 8:30
That’s so neat. What did you guys used to make? Like, do you have a project or anything that kind of sticks out in your mind, or did you just kind of practice and just make whatever?

Melissa: 8:39
I’ll admit I made dishcloths for, like, a decade. My mom would buy me crochet books and try to encourage me to learn new stitches. And I was just never interested in reading a pattern for some reason.

But my best friend, on the other hand, she would make like slippers or she tried some amigurumi. And I just wanted to make things that were square. I just wanted dishcloths. I would make scarves here and there.

And then for birthdays, we would make each other afghans, which was a really generous gift now that I think back on it. But we just—we loved making anything, and she really excelled at learning new skills. I have to believe that it was in her blood because her mom was so advanced.

Brittany: 9:29
Yeah, she probably just grew up watching her and it was a way of life. That’s really cool. So bring us into the next phase. Like, did you—have you pretty much crocheted all the time since then? Or did you maybe have a period where you kind of gave it up and then came back to it?

Melissa: 9:48
So crochet for me was always a here and there thing. Sometimes if I was inspired, like I made my sister a blanket for her birthday once, but if I didn’t have a really big reason to crochet, I would take breaks from it.

And in college, especially, you have so much stuff going on that you don’t really make the time to sit down and play with yarn. And also, I don’t know if it was like the coolest thing in the world to tell people, “Hey, I crochet.”

But it was always kind of there. I don’t think I ever really stopped, but I would pick it up and I would put it down and just kind of whenever I was feeling inspired to make something.

Brittany: 10:31
I think that’s the best way to go about doing it. If it’s not forced, then I feel like you can enjoy it a little bit more.

Melissa: 10:40
Definitely. Definitely. When it’s forced, it starts to feel like work.

Brittany: 10:45
Exactly. Yeah. So tell me about Woods and Wool. When did this concept come to your mind and how did it become what it is today?

Melissa: 10:53
So a couple of years ago, I started a new job and one of my co-workers—he’s actually an amazing knitter—and he had an Etsy shop and an Instagram. And I thought that was the coolest thing in the world. I thought he was so legit.

And again, at this point, I was just still making a scarf here or there, a dishcloth, nothing too intricate or too advanced. And I was so inspired by what he did. I didn’t want to feel like I was copying. But after a few months of just knowing him and being around him, I felt compelled to just start my own journey and start an Instagram.

And it was actually a trip up north. I was with my husband and we were going up again to northern Michigan—it seems to be a common theme here in my crochet story. But my husband, Austin, said, “What about the name Woods and Wool?” And I was like, “That is perfect.” And at that moment, it was just like everything clicked together. And I was ready.

Brittany: 12:00
So what did it look like in those early days? Was it just an Instagram page and an Etsy account? And maybe like, tell me a little bit how it’s evolved since then.

Melissa: 12:11
Yeah, so just started out with an Instagram page. And then I started an Etsy. So again, this was just about a year, year and a half ago. So not too long ago. And I was just really excited to sell cowls and scarves and hopefully pick up some traction on Etsy and then just share the craft with people on Instagram.

My biggest goal was always just to inspire people to look at handmade and to be inspired maybe to knit or crochet. So I did that for probably about six months. And then I wanted to make a triangle scarf and I could not find a triangle scarf pattern that I liked.

I looked everywhere. I looked high and low. So then I sat down and I decided I was going to dedicate a whole Saturday to making my own triangle scarf pattern. I did. And that became my first pattern, which is the Everyday Triangle Scarf.

And I think I caught that designer bug. It was the most challenging, fulfilling, amazing experience that I had ever had with crochet. It was so different from just sitting and making dishcloths.

Brittany: 13:26
Yeah, there’s something that’s so gratifying about having a vision for something and having a need for it. I mean, you genuinely had a need because you tried to find something that spoke to you, a pattern that already existed, and it didn’t. And honestly, that’s kind of how I started designing as well.

I mean, a little bit was it came from the fear of reading patterns there initially because it kind of just looked like a foreign language. But oftentimes I found myself somewhat frustrated with all of the different options — or maybe not frustrated, but so much as overwhelmed with all of the different options. And for me, it was easier just to create the perfect pattern because I didn’t have to make a decision. I just, it would be, it would become perfect just because I kind of had my own personal stamp on it. So that’s cool. It’s really neat to hear that you kind of had the same roots in your designing start.

Melissa: 14:22
Yeah. And I think back to when I was a kid and my mom kept giving me different crochet books to try and, you know, inspire and encourage me to branch out and try patterns. And I kind of see it coming full circle now where I enjoy sitting down and creating from scratch more than I like to follow a pattern.

And when I do follow patterns now, it’s like I always have to find a way to make my own twist on it. I always have to change something so that it feels like it’s my own.

Brittany: 14:54
Yeah, that makes complete sense. It’s like you have just that natural, that natural creative bug in you there.

Melissa: 15:04
Yeah, and then I remember from there, last summer I released that first pattern. I was so excited, and I didn’t really think I wanted to release more patterns. I just felt so compelled with the first one. I had such purpose in making it, and I didn’t want to ever release a pattern just for the sake of releasing a pattern.

So a couple months later, you might know Chantel from Knittitude. Oh, yeah. Yeah, she released a pattern called the Chain Link Armored Cowl. And it’s this beautiful, chunky knit vest with this beautiful cowl neck. And I remember she was on Instagram Live and I was watching and everyone, including myself, was like, I need to make a crochet version.

And Chantel in that moment saw my comment and she said, Melissa, we should collab together. And you should make a crochet version. DM me after this Instagram Live. And I, I can’t even tell you what that felt like. It was the most elated feeling.

So afterwards I was messaging with Chantel and she said, I want you to create a crochet version. I think it’d be really cool for the people who don’t know how to knit. And I remember I went from so excited to completely second guessing myself. And I said, Chantel, I’ve only ever done one pattern. I totally understand if you want to go with someone else who has more experience or someone who’s been in the design world longer, someone with a bigger following. I would totally understand, you know, if you wanted to do that.

And she said, no, I want to work with you and I want to do this collaboration with you. And I—her believing in me gave me so much more confidence and faith in myself. And sure enough, just like with everything else, I was able to kind of engineer this pattern and keep it true to Chantel’s knit design, but still make it my own.

Brittany: 17:07
Yeah, oh man, that is such a cool story. I had no idea that was going on there in the background. I do remember seeing her pattern and just seeing how excited people were about it. But I had no idea that you guys were working together for a crochet version.

And that is so cool that despite your honesty with her of saying, well, hey, I’ve only done one pattern before. I understand if you want to go with somebody else—she saw something in you and that really, I mean, it speaks to her character. I love her to death. We just had her back on the show as well a couple of weeks ago talking about pricing, and that’s really, really cool. It’s good to know that you guys have that friendship together.

Melissa: 17:49
Yeah, she is the most amazing person and friend and mentor and I love her.

Brittany: 17:55
That is awesome. Well, I can see that—I mean, I can hear that—crochet is a huge part of your life, not just in terms of keeping your hands busy, but also kind of just filling you up on a whole different level.

So I want to move into why crochet is your love. Like, what is the reason why you love this craft so much?

Melissa: 18:24
This is a really hard question to answer, but I’ve given some thought. And there’s a lot of elements I love about crochet. I love different yarns and feeling the textures. I love the creativity. I love being able to design and wear something all your own and being able to say, I made this.

But I think the biggest driver for me is the way that it’s connected me with other people and being able to share that with others. The biggest compliment I can ever get is that I’ve inspired someone else to make something. And I can’t really articulate what it is that lights me up so much about crochet.

But when other people see that in you and you can inspire them to find a craft that they love, that’s really what keeps me going. And whether I’m in a public place making something or wearing something that I’ve made, I take such pride in doing that craft and having other people see how excited you are about it.

Brittany: 19:30
Yeah, I think that is so true. It’s when we find something that we are just so excited about that, I mean, we literally cannot hide this excitement. It’s natural for us to want to share it with people.

And so I think that’s what a lot of us are here for. I mean, we’re kind of just here to share in that excitement with members of the Instagram community or our blog readers or wherever they may be. But I think it’s something that people can’t help but just be drawn to—somebody or something that is causing somebody else so much joy.

And I think even though we love crochet so much for so many different reasons, I think our main driving force is just to share the craft with other people and make sure that more people start to knit and crochet and that they see that it’s still cool. It’s not something that is outdated or not cool anymore, but a lot of people are doing it and a lot of people are getting a lot of benefits from it. So it’s really great to see so many people just sharing their genuine excitement for what they’re creating.

Melissa: 20:49
I completely agree. And I think that social media and blogging and podcasts like this, it’s just kind of that natural extension with the world that we live in now to connect with people outside of your day-to-day network that you see in person.

Brittany: 21:05
So you definitely share a lot of your passion on social media—so Instagram and through your website as well. But are there maybe some other ways that you’re sharing your crochet, like whether it be teaching somebody or just doing it out in public, like something that might be in person, maybe a little bit more personable?

Melissa: 21:29
Yeah. So I’ll take it back to when I started that new job. My coworker had an Etsy shop and I was so inspired by him and his work. We actually found another crocheter that we worked with. We work at a really large corporate America type of company, so we’re bound to have some knitting and crocheters there.

But we decided to get together and kind of have like a little sip and stitch over lunch. So we would meet up like once a month and just kind of catch up, bring our projects. And it was like the nicest break in the day. Like I never, ever thought that I would be able to sit down and crochet with other makers over a lunch break. But it was really relaxing, just nice to connect with people about something outside of whatever else was going on in your life or in work.

And from there, we were thinking, well, hey, let’s try and connect and bring in some people outside of our company and do a larger sip and stitch group. So I started with Instagram. And when I saw that people were from my area—because you can search on Instagram based on location—so whenever I would see someone that was from basically my little vicinity of Detroit, Michigan, I would reach out and say, hey, we’re starting a little sip and stitch. Would you be interested?

And every single person I reached out to was like, there was no one that was like, nah, I don’t think so. So we got this little group together. The first time we ever met was in the evening at a coffee shop and there were four of us. And it was so cool to meet other people. And I just remember all of us had that like giddy excitement—and we were all drinking caffeine too, so we were like extra excited.

And then it just kept growing because every single person that met that night also kept reaching out to people. So we started a Facebook group to kind of organize our sip and stitches, pick a date, pick a location—because we would just pick like a random coffee shop or wherever was kind of convenient based on who was coming. And the group just kept growing to the point where it really wasn’t realistic or fair to just take over a coffee shop for a couple hours.

Brittany: 23:50
Yeah.

Melissa: 23:50
So then we decided to move bigger and we’ve met up at like local yarn stores. We’ve met at Joanne’s. And it is so cool to think that that all started just by reaching out to somebody in a DM on Instagram.

Brittany: 24:06
Yeah, it’s crazy. I bet a lot of people haven’t even thought to do that—that you can like search by location and kind of form your own little community there right at home through that platform. That’s really great.

Melissa: 24:19
Yeah. And as—I’m kind of an introverted person—so it is a lot easier just to sit at home and knit or crochet by yourself. But those connections that you make at a sip and stitch or anything like that, they go a lot deeper. And you learn a lot from those people—not only about your craft, but about who they are. And you make real friendships through your craft, which is the most amazing thing.

Brittany: 24:46
It really is. Do something every day that scares you. And that’s how you can constantly keep that needle moving forward. And I’m in a similar situation as you. A lot of people might find it surprising to know that I’m very introverted as well. And that is something that it would scare me as an introvert. It probably scared you a little bit as an introvert too.

But like you said, the connections that came out of that—that is really the, that’s moving the needle forward. You’re constantly moving in the forward direction. You never know who you’re going to meet, who’s going to be there, who might need a designer, who might need an instructor. If that is your goal, or if your goal is to sell things, maybe they know somebody who knows somebody who needs to buy something—a triangle scarf or whatever it may be. And so those connections can be made through person.

And it’s so much more, I don’t know, I guess, personable when you’re doing that with somebody, like physically right there with you, rather than just doing it online over email or direct message or something like that.

Melissa: 26:04
Yeah, you just reminded me too. I was just looking at this quote this morning. And it’s a quote that’s something like, there’s no growth in your comfort zone and there’s no comfort in your growth zone.

Brittany: 26:20
That’s so true.

Melissa: 26:22
So regardless, you can stay stagnant and you can stay comfortable. But if you’re willing to just take that baby step outside of your comfort zone, that’s where like the magic happens. And I try and remind myself too, there’s your comfort zone, there’s your stretch zone, and then there’s your panic zone.

So you don’t want to push yourself so far that you’re going to panic. So for instance, if you were afraid of public speaking, you probably don’t want to start on a stage in front of 500 people. That would be your panic zone. But if you can start just by stretching yourself a little bit and speaking in front of maybe a dozen people or teaching a crochet class or something, that’s where you just start to take those baby steps and then amazing things.

Brittany: 27:08
Yeah. I wonder how, well, I mean, you gave us some good tips on how somebody can start a group like this locally. Can you maybe think of any other ways that somebody, maybe somebody’s not a big Instagram user. How would somebody go about organizing a small get together that could maybe grow into something bigger like yours did?

Melissa: 27:35
I am very spoiled because I probably have half a dozen local yarn stores near me and I’m not talking about Joanne’s or Michael’s—I mean those little mom-and-pop type of shop yarn stores. Yeah, so a lot of them will have their own knit nights or they’ll do events, and that is an amazing place to go and meet other makers.

And even the owners themselves are usually a knitter or a crocheter. So it’s super easy to strike up a conversation with them because that’s what they’re there for—to be friendly, to talk about yarn, and hopefully so that you buy something. But I think those local yarn stores are really a very understated staple of the maker community because they bring products that you can’t get anywhere else and they’re probably some of the most passionate people about the craft where you can always learn something from them or again just meet other people that you wouldn’t have known otherwise.

Brittany: 28:36
That’s a really good tip too. I think even in smaller—thank you for watching!—maybe participate in some of their stitch nights. And if you meet some friends, then you could potentially start your own, maybe in a location that might be closer for you if you have to travel a little bit to go to that yarn shop.

So that’s great. I also think Facebook might be a good way, a good outlet for people to find and connect with other people. They might even have people in their friends list who crochet and they don’t know that they do. So even just putting out a post on your profile to try to find out if somebody else is into it might be a good way to start forming some meetups.

Melissa: 29:39
And even… like when I go to work, if I’m wearing something I made and someone compliments it, I’ll say, thanks, I made this. And from that, I’ve actually inspired a few people to learn how to crochet.

So I will schedule time for us after work or over lunch where we can sit down. I bring them everything they need to get started, which is just a hook and some yarn. And what has been so cool is when those people come back to me and say, “Oh my gosh, this is so relaxing. I can’t believe how much I’m loving doing this.”

And sometimes it’s someone who recently went through something really stressful. Sometimes it’s a new mom who doesn’t have a lot of time to herself and it just gives her that moment of peace and quiet and she gets to do something for herself. And my point is that you can always make friends and teach them how to crochet and they might love the craft just as much as you do. And if it wasn’t for you, they wouldn’t have even tried it.

Brittany: 30:42
Yeah, that’s such a good point. I want to tap into that a little bit too, because I know that for so many of us, it’s more than just a way to occupy our hands. So when you’re taking that time to teach somebody how to do it, you’re not just teaching them a skill. You’re almost like giving them a gift, a way to deal with some stress or emotions that they might be going through.

Can you elaborate on that any more?

Melissa: 31:16
I think if I’m going to answer your question, I hope I’m understanding right, but I’m trying to think about it in terms of the process that you go through when you’re learning something.

So from the get-go, people think that learning how to crochet is super easy. They’re just going to pick up a hook and yarn and they’re just going to go. And I think they’re really surprised at the concentration it takes to learn because their hands have never done that before.

So at first it’s kind of a way for them to shut out everything else in the world that’s going on around them and just focus on the yarn and the hook that’s in front of them. So I think it’s a way to turn off the outside world.

And then once you start getting good at it, you can sit and you can work on a mindless project and watch TV. And it’s just kind of like a therapeutic thing to watch your project in your hands in front of you building and turning into something beautiful.

Brittany: 32:12
Yeah, that’s a perfect way to answer it. I love the way you just reminded people that it’s not really easy in those first few weeks or probably even the first few projects somebody who’s brand new might find that very challenging.

But it’s interesting because—and while I’m speaking from a little bit of personal experience here—I have been trying to get my husband to crochet for pretty much the entire time that I have been designing and doing things with Be Hooked.

And so I finally got him to—and this was completely on his own—he was like, okay, I want to, I want to learn. I want to, I want to make something.

Yeah. And he loves really, really soft yarn. And so he was like, but you have to go get me some good yarn.

So I go into my studio. I grab some really soft merino like superwash yarn. And I’m like, okay, here is my hook. I taught him how to do some chains.

And it was funny. I mean, there’s a little bit of just kind of natural barriers between the two of us because I’m right-handed and he’s left-handed. But he’s the left-hander who, honestly, he only eats and writes with his left hand. He plays sports right-handed.

Did I just say that right? He eats and writes with his left hand and he plays sports with his right hand. And so he really could go either way.

And so a lot of that time was just trying to figure out what felt natural for him. And so he picked up crocheting right-handed, which was great for me because then I was really able to show him what he needed to do and how he should hold the yarn.

And I remember thinking that I have to remind him that this is frustrating, that you’re gonna be really terrible at it and it’s gonna be uneven and it’s not gonna look like mine.

And I think he felt those feelings, but he pushed through it.

And so after that initial hour or so that I had his attention to make a whole bunch of chains, I thought, well, we maybe will pick it up in a couple of months. He might get that bug again and want to try it again.

But it was like the next day. He’s like, okay, what are we going to make tonight?

And so even though he was a little bit frustrated with just not being able to do exactly what I was doing because I’ve been doing it for so many years and not being able to get the yarn to cooperate with him and hold on just be in the right place at the right time.

Even though it was kind of frustrating, he still tried it. And I really think that it’s because it was relaxing even though there’s a little bit of tension and if you can’t get it right and perfect, it still is repetitive.

And I think through that, it’s kind of therapeutic for a lot of people.

Melissa: 35:05
I completely agree. And what’s funny is I actually taught my husband how to crochet a couple years ago. He did not like it. But about a year ago, he actually taught himself how to knit from a YouTube video and he loves knitting.

Oh, that’s so cool. We’re a very divided household, but I think, and again, he’s kind of the person that I described in the beginning of this when he kind of just picks it up when he feels inspired and it’s not so much a daily thing, but it’s just kind of one of those tools in his tool belt that he likes to work on here and there.

But he’s found that his passion is really for woodworking. And I think it’s a lot of those same benefits that you get from knitting or crocheting where it’s just that fulfillment and creativity and satisfaction of making something with your—

Brittany: 35:57
Yeah. And that just brings me back to your name too. I didn’t know that he does woodworking. So it’s almost like that your name really just encompasses you guys.

Melissa: 36:09
Yeah. So in the very beginning of Woods and Wool, the intention was that it would also be woodworking.

Now, the problem with that is that woodworking projects take so long, and I just found it was really difficult to make everything very cohesive in an Instagram feed. It’s confusing for people.

But here and there, I still incorporate some of Austin’s projects once in a while.

But the woods part, too, really comes into play with our love of the outdoors and kind of that foresty feel. I love brands like L.L. Bean and Eddie Bauer and just those outdoorsy vibes versus like, you know, trendy brands, modern designs, I guess.

I love things that remind me of being outside.

Brittany: 36:59
Yeah, and I can totally see that through your feed too. I love how you’ve really held true to that brand almost. I mean, that kind of is your brand. Your own personal likes are really what you develop your brand into, and you can definitely see that.

You’re not confusing people, I don’t think. I haven’t seen any of the woodworking posts, so I’d love to maybe go back in your archives and check that out. I’m very fascinated by that.

I’m far from being able to probably do any of that stuff, but I can definitely appreciate what goes into that.

Melissa: 37:37
Yeah, if you ever see my Instagram feed, if you see honeycomb shelves on them, those are what Austin made. And then he’s made me a crochet hook, which was super cool. Oh, neat. Yeah, you know, just end tables, a lot of things, just like for our house, which is really awesome because I get to see them and appreciate them every day.

Brittany: 37:57
Yeah, and I think that goes back to how we spend our craft. A lot of times… It is a business for a lot of people, and it’s probably more than just a business for those same people. But really, it kind of all just starts from what we’re drawn to, what we like, what we might need. And it gives it so much more of a personal touch when you have made that for yourself.

Melissa: 38:28
Absolutely. I think it’s so much more meaningful and special than something that you bought at Target, which I love Target, but it’s a whole different level of purpose.

Brittany: 38:41
Yeah, it really is. The last thing I want to touch on is talking maybe to those people who have a business, whether it be selling things or whether they’re designers or bloggers, it doesn’t matter. If you have some kind of crafty business, in fiber, so knitting or crochet, and it probably spans other hobbies as well. Why do you think it’s so important for us to remember why we started?

Melissa: 39:10
I think if you don’t remember your why and why you started, it’s so easy to get caught up in the hustle. And sometimes we glorify being busy and it just starts to suck all the life out of you and it makes everything feel like work.

So for me, there’s the financial side of running a crafty business. There’s upkeeping a blog. There’s making sure that I always have enough beautiful pictures for my Instagram feed. And all of those things are really important to me, but I constantly have to fight to make sure that they’re not taking over.

So sometimes when I start to get really caught up in those feelings of being overwhelmed and feeling like everything is just… weighing on me, that’s kind of where I just pause and I say, you know what, tonight I’m going to pick up a yarn that I’ve been dying to work with and set aside my other projects. And I’m just going to sit down and I’m just going to create.

And it doesn’t have to be a design for a pattern. It doesn’t have to be a product I’m making for an order, just something for me. And that’s kind of always my way to stop and reset and just remember why I do what I do and it’s just that simple love of sitting down with your hook and with your yarn.

Another thing I really love doing is, again, I’ve talked about my best friend a couple times in this video or in this podcast, and since we grew up crocheting together, I know that she appreciates handmade things so much and it’s really special to both of us.

So when she had a baby a couple years ago, I made her the most intricate Noah’s Ark crochet blanket that was the most challenging project I’ve ever done. And that gave me so much more purpose and fulfillment.

And so I just think it’s really important to stop and do the things you love for the people you love, whether that’s yourself or your family. But just remember that it’s okay to, as they say, do selfish knitting or selfish crocheting. It’s really not selfish at all. It’s just bringing you back to why you love what you do.

Brittany: 41:27
Yeah. And I really love how you said that it gave you so much purpose. I think that we lose sight of that as we’re—I mean, if we’re designing for our business, we really just tend to maybe forget how relaxing it really is to just follow somebody else’s pattern every once in a while or just make something and not write everything down.

That is like my natural instinct. It doesn’t matter what I’m doing—I do follow patterns and I really do enjoy that aspect of it—but I still find a lot of joy from just grabbing some yarn that spoke to me at that time and just seeing what it becomes, playing with different stitches and playing with different shapes.

But I have to fight my natural ability to want to just write everything down as I go because that really shifts me into my work mode and not my enjoyment mode. And it’s nice when I’m able to fight that—just the feeling of, not even—I don’t want to make it sound worse than it is. It’s not like a weight off my shoulders or anything like that, but I just feel so much more relaxed, free. Free, yes.

Melissa: 42:48
I can relate to that and sometimes for me it’s finding a happy medium.

So last fall there were some family friends—friends of my family—and it’s a husband and a wife. The wife always has done beautiful handmade rugs on these giant looms, and the husband always did a lot of woodworking.

So I actually have some wooden boxes and cutting boards and things that he’s made, and last fall he passed away suddenly. I remember my mom told me the news and it was very sad, but I remember looking and seeing, I have this wooden crate that he made and I have a bunch of yarn in it.

I just remember sitting in my living room and looking at that crate and thinking, how special is it that as a maker, your legacy kind of lives on. And I get to look at that every day and be reminded of how happy he felt when he was making things. And that I get to have that joy too, of having this beautiful crate to keep my yarn in.

And so I was thinking about that and I decided that I wanted to make the wife, who is now a widow, something beautiful. So I was thinking through all these ideas in my head and I ended up making her this really beautiful shawl.

And throughout the process, I wrote down the pattern just in case and then I decided that it was really important not only to share that shawl with her as something beautiful to bring her some light and some love in her time of grief, but I decided that by sharing that pattern too, I could also have that beautiful reminder in the world that just shares something beautiful and that can help people in ways that you don’t even know.

So that’s actually the design and the pattern I’m working on now is kind of just inspired by this woman and her husband and the way that they lived as makers and crafters and creators.

And it just really inspired me not only to give something to her, but also that if I release that pattern, that’s kind of a reminder for other people and maybe they have somebody they could make that shawl for.

And I have to admit, I loved the shawl so much I had a really hard time giving it away, but just kind of that reminder that making is so much greater than just a hook and yarn or needles and yarn. It’s a whole nother world of meaning and purpose.

Brittany: 45:25
It is. Man, I couldn’t have said that better myself. That is so true. And I think the more we realize that and the more we just take your advice and not just make something just because we finished a project, but make something for a real purpose, then I feel like you can really tap into those benefits even more.

When you have a real purpose, you have almost like a different kind of motivation and a driving force behind that. And then even for you taking it one step further, sharing that pattern with the world so that other people can maybe use that item as a way to kind of promote somebody else’s legacy or to kind of let that live on—that’s so cool how you’re sharing that with the world.

Melissa: 46:20
Absolutely. And I think, too, some of the things that my grandma’s made me—she knits all of her grandkids socks. So I probably have like, I kid you not, like 20 pairs of hand-knit socks. I have a sweater she made me. I’ve got beautiful quilts. And those are things I’m going to cherish forever.

So I think it’s really special when you’re able to share your handmade items with somebody, whether you’re teaching them to knit or crochet, you’re making them something, you’re sharing a design—whatever way that is, it’s just the best.

Brittany: 46:55
Yeah, it really is. And this has really been an eye-opening conversation because I think we do tend to lose sight of why we started.

And I think maybe some advice would be just to… if they don’t have a why, figure out what that why is. And if they do, maybe just remember what that why is.

Do you have any advice for somebody who maybe doesn’t have a why? Is there a good way to figure out why something is so important to you? Or does that just kind of happen naturally?

Melissa: 47:32
I don’t know.

Brittany: 47:33
It’s such a strange… I guess I’m a super logical person and I guess I kind of think about philosophical things in a way.

Melissa: 47:44
I think about makers make and open businesses and craft for all different types of reasons.

But one example I think of is when people say, “I want to open an Etsy shop to make money.” Now, that’s a pretty obvious connection, right?

But if you can think about that one step farther and maybe they want to make money so that they have a little extra money around Christmas time to give their kids the most amazing Christmas ever. Or maybe that money is to invest in a honeymoon fund because they’re going to be getting married soon.

So you kind of have to set aside time to just reflect and think about that because things aren’t always what they seem at the surface level.

So for me, it’s pretty obvious. I like to make stuff because I think it looks cool and I have a lot of fun wearing it. But when I really think about what keeps me going, that’s my why.

Brittany: 48:45
Yeah. I can completely relate to that too. My why, if I could put my finger on really just one why, because I do feel like I have multiple reasons to do what I do. And honestly, for me, it’s really just… I love that. And I love that.

Melissa: 49:28
You say it’s a small thing, but it’s not because when that person gets to the other side of that problem and they have overcome it, they’re going to feel such a sense of self-confidence and achievement. And you had a part in helping them feel that.

Brittany: 49:45
Yeah, and that’s a big deal. That’s a big deal to a lot of people. Although it might seem on the surface that, oh, well, I can’t keep my edges straight. That feels like a small problem. But the sense of satisfaction that comes from overcoming that problem, that’s the reason. That’s the big deal.

Melissa: 50:07
Absolutely. I remember, I didn’t include this in the story, but for the first probably year of crocheting, I couldn’t figure out why my best friend’s single crochet looks so much better than mine. Hers looked tighter and neater. And I ended up learning at some point that I was actually doing it wrong. I was like adding in an extra yarn over or something.

It’s just funny because you just… never know until you sit down with other people or just grow and learn and you can be that source of knowledge for people to make sure that you know they’re learning the best that they can and that they’re growing their skills and that’s so cool every time you learn something new.

Brittany: 50:50
Yeah it really is. Man, I appreciate you so much coming on and talking about a topic that is so important, I think, to so many people, whether we realize it or not. So I really genuinely thank you for being here.

But before we wrap things up, I want to give people a chance to connect with you because you’re a real inspiration in the community. And I think a lot of people can really benefit from just becoming your friend. So where would you send them? Well,

Melissa: 51:20
First of all, thank you so much for having me. You are such a pleasure to talk with. And I love these type of real heart-to-heart conversations.

If anyone wants to find me online, the best place is on Instagram at woodsandwool. And then I also have a blog, which is woodsandwool.com, where I’m always posting patterns or tips for makers and just anything really that’s on my heart or on my mind. So those are the two best places to find me. And I would love to hear from you.

Brittany: 51:52
Yeah. Well, we will definitely include links to that in the show notes. And the “and” is spelled out in all of this too, by the way, just in case somebody is searching right now. Otherwise, I will have a link to your website on the show notes page, as well as your Instagram handles, because that’s where you like to hang out.

And I too really encourage people to check you out because not only are you sharing beautiful things on Instagram, but your posts are always real. And there’s a purpose for each post, which I really, really like in Instagram. You’re sharing a message or sharing a story. And I think that a lot of people can benefit from seeing that in their feed.

Melissa: 52:30
Thank you. That means the world to hear because it can be really scary to put yourself out there. But when one person reaches out to me and says, thanks, I really needed to hear that today, it just always reminds me that that’s what’s most important — always be real instead of trying to be perfect because perfect doesn’t exist.

Brittany: 52:52
Right. It really doesn’t. Well, Melissa, thank you so much. It has been such a pleasure having you back on the show today.

Melissa:
Thank you so much for having me.

Brittany:
Melissa, I know you’re listening into the show and I want to say just a thank you once again. I really appreciate the message that we were able to capture that you shared with us here today. I think that it has a lot more power than we might even realize.

Connecting with people online and offline is one really big way that we can share our passion with other people so that we can stay in tune with our why. I really think that this is a message that we all needed to hear today.

Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode.

Once again, I’d like to thank our sponsor, Yarnspirations, for allowing me to bring this episode to you today. Whether you knit or crochet, Yarnspirations is your online destination for free patterns and, of course, the yarn you love — Paton’s, Bernat, Caren, and Lily Sugar and Cream.

I want to remind you again that they have extended an offer to save 20% off your order of $40 or more to BeHooked podcast listeners. All you need to do is go to yarnspirations.com, fill up your cart with whatever yarn your little heart desires, and enter the coupon code BHOOKEDPOD at checkout. That’s B-H-O-O-K-E-D-P-O-D.

I’m sitting here looking at our lineup for the next few weeks, and I just cannot wait to share some of these guests with you. So if you haven’t done so already, go ahead and subscribe to the show.

And if you are a listener of the Explore Your Enthusiasm podcast, which I do highly recommend if you haven’t checked that out, well, I think that you will be very pleased with next week’s guest. That’s a huge clue for you and a huge teaser about next week’s show, so be sure to tune in next Thursday same time same place.

Thank you so much. I appreciate you. Have a good day. Bye.