Happy New Year & 6 Months of Five Little Monsters

Happy New Year to everyone.  I am very excited for this new year, especially with regards to this blog. I feel like I am starting to get a better feel for what I want this blog to be. About 6 months ago I started this not knowing where it would go. I was really nervous about the idea of putting myself and my ideas out there for everyone to see. I think 6 months ago when I was just starting out, my vision for this blog was very different than it is now. I knew I liked making things and I thought maybe it would be a stepping stone toward possibly selling some of those things online, like opening an Etsy shop or something along those lines. Now I feel like that vision has changed a lot. Creating this blog has really helped me to recognize that what I love even more than just making things is the whole process of creating something, starting with a little idea in my head, figuring out a way to make that design turn into something, designing and creating it and eventually seeing the finished product. I realized that I don't necessarily want to be making the same thing over and over to sell. I want to be coming up with ideas, designing patterns, trying new techniques, and all of that kind of stuff. Now if I were ever to decide to open an online shop I think it would be as a place to sell patterns rather than finished products like I had originally thought. It has been such an exciting thing to see people using my patterns and making their own things, to read comments that people write, to see my ideas repinned on Pinterest or queued on Ravelry. I was terrified to publish my first pattern on here and yet it has been by far my most popular pattern. Seeing the response from that pattern has made me more confident in putting my ideas out there for everyone to see. In fact part of my plan for this year is to redo that pattern. I want to make it a little better by including gauge and more measurements so that it will be easier for everyone to get the size right. I also plan to make several more sizes from baby-adult. I am very excited to get started on that. I have plans to share a lot more patterns and ideas this year. The next week or two I will be sharing some of the things that I made for Christmas for my family. In other words, I hope you like doll accessories.

Now, I thought it would be fun to do a little recap of the first 6 months of 5 Little Monsters.

Most Popular Post:

These crocheted mannequin heads win by a landslide. I was really blown away by the response I got with these. As I mentioned above, I am working on a redo of these pattern that will include several more sizes. I am really excited about getting that done. 

Runner Up:

My second most popular post was my Triangles and Stripes baby blanket. I have never been very good at finishing crocheted blankets, even baby size, but this year I made three. Maybe not a lot but that is pretty good for me. This one was especially fun because it was something that I designed myself and seeing it finished was pretty awesome. I was really happy with the way that this turned out and it was really cool to have and idea and see it turn out like I had imagined. 

Lots and Lots of Crochet:

I have done quite a bit of crocheting over the last few months. These are most of the things that I have posted on here. It is kind of cool to see everything all together. Most of my posts have been crochet projects, I think because it is something that I can do pretty much anytime, anywhere. It is a very portable craft. The coolest part is that there are only about 3 things in that collage that I made from other peoples patterns. You can also see that it was a year of a lot of hats. probably about half of my crochet posts were hat posts. 

A Little Bit of Sewing:

I haven't done nearly as much sewing, most of it was for a wedding and a couple of the things were such a small amount of sewing that they hardly even count. I actually have done a lot more over the last month or two but I haven't posted it yet because it was for Christmas presents. A few of those projects will be posted over the next couple of weeks. One of my goals for next year is to post more sewing projects, although realistically there will probably always be a little more crochet. I am also hoping to include more other crafts as well, I only had one embroidery project and one knitting project this year.

Featured Projects:

Two of my project were featured on link parties on other blogs. My Triangles and Stripes Blanket and  my Textured Toddler Beanie were both featured on the the Hookin on Hump Day link party on Moogly and Petals to Picots. The Toddler Beanie was also featured on Link and Share Wednesday on Oombawka Designs. It was pretty exciting to me to see that of all of the things linked up one of my designs was in the 3-5 most clicked on. I mentioned at the beginning of this post how hard it was for me to start to put my stuff out there on the internet for anyone to see. I worried about whether or not anyone would like the things that I made. It was really awesome for me to see that people were interested in my patterns. It meant a lot to me to see these patterns featured, and the exposure was pretty nice too.

 I feel like it has been a pretty good 6 months. I have learned a lot about myself and what I want to do. I have tried lots of new things, like designing and writing patterns. I have enjoyed having this blog more than I ever imagined that I would. It has been a fun journey and I am excited to see what this year brings.