Crochet beanie patterns and handmade beanies for outdoor adventures
Oh, there's so much to tell you about me and my Etsy journey. I'll keep it relevant to my crochet expertise and answer a few FAQ's here.
How did you learn to crochet?
When I was in college, I was a nerd (surprise!) and I didn't party or do any of those wild things that you're supposed to do. Instead, I learned how to crochet. When I was a junior, I somehow befriended a woman named Colleen who was the secretary for our school chaplain. I remember being very stressed out over multiple papers for my Rhetoric and Communications Theory classes. Yes, I was a Comm major.
Anyway, this lovely woman, Colleen, must have seen the stress on my face and realized that I needed to relax. She invited me over to her home to get some quiet time to work on my papers, and on my break she taught me to crochet. I discovered that it was a huge stress reliever! I also discovered that I quickly became obsessed and everyone in my family received a crocheted item for Christmas that year. Somehow, all of those papers got written despite my crochet obsession and I graduated with honors.
How long have you been crocheting?
Well, let's see. The story above that I just told you happened in the fall of 2003. As I write this, it's 2014 so that would mean I've been at it for 11 years! Yikes! That makes me feel like an old lady, but old ladies are famous for their beautiful crochet, so it could be worse. ;)
Why did you start writing patterns and selling your work?
Here comes another story of higher education, stress and lack of funds. Do we see a theme here? This time it was 2011, and I was working on my Masters in Bilingual Education. I had to do student teaching to finish my Master's, and that meant that I didn't have time for a full time job. So, I was tutoring Spanish and doing odd jobs to pay my rent. Christmas was coming and I realized that I had absolutely no extra money to buy gifts for my family. I wracked my brain for anything else that I could do to bring in some extra cash, and I decided to try selling my crocheted beanies on Etsy.
I made a couple hundred dollars that first holiday season, and it was just enough to buy some gifts for the family and a nice teaching outfit for me.
I didn't start writing and selling patterns until 2013. I have a friend who works at Craftsy.com, so I had been thinking about making some patterns to post on that site. I had finally started teaching full time and I had the summer off. Glory hallelujah! All of that money stress was worth it after all. I had almost 3 months of earning my regular salary while doing absolutely nothing! So, I decided to design and write crochet patterns.
My first pattern was the Colorado Flag Crochet Beanie Pattern and I increase my pattern collection every month.
Why is your shop named Denver Whimsy?
Well, I live in Denver and I love it. As I mentioned above, my first pattern was for a Colorado beanie, and I want my line of beanies to represent the Colorado lifestyle. Fun, utilitarian, classic and outdoorsy without too many frills. The whimsy part is just a little bit of fun and creativity thrown in.