November 14, 2019 • 53 mins
If you're about to give up on your dream, don't.
More often than not, the difference between success and failure is refusing to give up. And if you're scared? Kick fear in the face because fear is usually your best sign that you're doing the right thing and that you really care about the outcome.
In this episode of The BHooked Podcast you'll hear Jessica Carey's inspiring story of how she kicked fear in the face and went after her biggest dream. Through the ups and downs she had to keep the excitement and fear to herself but when you're hearing this, it's no longer a secret. When we recorded this episode, however, it was well before the cat was out of the bag. I had no idea what the secret was or what we were going to talk about.
About The BHooked Podcast
Brittany's primary goal is to inspire you and help you grow in your craft with The BHooked Podcast. Through her own stories and the stories of each special guest, you'll discover tips and tricks to improve your crochet and knitting skills and find inspiration to achieve your hobby goals. When you want to kick back and learn from yarn industry experts, grab some yarn and turn on The BHooked Podcast. There's never a shortage of all things crochet, knitting or yarn.
Support the Show on Patreon | You decide what the show is worth to you.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brittany (00:00):
You're listening to the Be Hooked Podcast, episode
142 with Brittany.
Well, hello there and welcometo episode 142 of the BeHooked
(00:35):
podcast.
I'm your host, Brittany, and Ijust want to say a big thank you
to you for tuning in today.
I've got something a littledifferent in store for you.
I have to say I have never goneinto a podcast interview not
having any idea what we weregoing to talk about.
And that was the case fortoday's episode.
So I want to make sure thatyou're aware of that, but I also
(00:57):
want to let you know that thisepisode turned out way better
than I could have ever imagined.
I don't think I could haveplanned a better chat.
Now you are probably familiarwith today's guest if you have
been a listener of the show fora while.
This is now her third timebeing on the show, and every
single time she always bringsthe goods, and that's why I was
(01:21):
pretty confident knowing thateven though I'd I didn't know
what the secret was or what wewere going to talk about.
I knew it was going to be goodand I could trust Jessica with
that.
If you follow Jessica from thehook nook on Instagram, you
already know what this secretis.
But as you know, I recordepisodes a little bit in
(01:43):
advance, so I had no idea aboutthe secret.
In fact, I was one of the firstpeople to know, and that was
such an honor and so veryexciting to hear this for the
first time.
But like I said, if you arefollowing the hook nook on
Instagram and just can whatshe's doing, you already know
(02:04):
what's going on.
Now, I don't want to spoil asurprise if maybe you haven't
heard what this secret Jessicahas, so I won't give any clues
as to what it is just yet.
But I do want to let you knowthat Jessica is hosting a
giveaway for this episode.
So make sure you listen all theway to the end of the episode.
(02:24):
I'll have the details for howyou can enter and, of course,
what you could possibly win.
All right, there are a coupleof details that I will have
listed for you in the show notespage, as well as how you can
enter that giveaway.
So it's very important that youremember the show notes for
today's episode.
And that is BeHooked.com slash142.
(02:45):
Just type that into yourbrowser, scroll down a little
bit.
You'll see the links andresources that we mentioned.
I'm sure you'll want to checkthose out.
And also on that page will bethe information for how you can
get in on this wonderfulgiveaway.
Alright, I don't want to delayanymore.
Here's my chat with Jessicafrom The Hook Nook.
Jessica, welcome back to the BeHooked Podcast.
(03:08):
How are you doing today?
I'm good.
How are you?
I am really good.
I am so excited about this andI kind of just can't wait.
I know you've got this bigsecret and I'm dying to know
what it is.
What it is, I'm sort of hearingit for the first time.
I literally have gone into thisconversation knowing nothing
(03:29):
about what we're going to talkabout and that has pretty much
never happened for any of theepisodes.
But I thought it to be veryfitting because I had you on in
episode 11.
You were my second interviewever and I was a nervous wreck
and it turned out so well.
That episode still today is oneof the most frequently listened
(03:51):
to.
We talked about sort of likeexpressing yourself and your
style through your craft,through crochet or through
knitting.
And then I had you back on inepisode 52.
We talked a little bit moreabout like garment making and
that sort of thing.
So I'll have links to those.
If you're listening and youhaven't heard those, you should
definitely check those out.
But I'm really just honoredknowing that you've been a big
(04:13):
part of the show here and havingthe opportunity to share in
something.
And you sort of thought of mewhen you wanted to share the
secret.
So I'm dying to know what itis.
Jessica (04:23):
Yes.
Well, by the time that thisairs, it won't be a secret
anymore, but it's super excitingto Have you be literally the
first person that I get to tellthis about because we have this
history.
And I look to you as someonewho inspires me.
And you do so much for thecommunity.
(04:43):
And so it was just, to me, veryfitting to be able to share
this with you.
So I'm really grateful that youwere even open to letting me
kind of show up with you havingno idea what i'm about to say
i'm putting a lot of faith inyou
Brittany (04:59):
girl i know you won't disappoint though I hope not.
Well, you know, the audienceknows that these are recorded a
little bit in advance.
So that's why it's still asecret as of right now.
But when you're hearing this onthe podcast, it's no longer a
secret.
But I thought it would bereally fun to sort of tee it up
(05:19):
this way so that you can get myinitial reaction because I
really have no clue what thisis, what you've been up to.
And yeah, what is it?
Give it to me.
Jessica (05:30):
So, I have been working with my team at American Crafts
since last summer, and we havebeen spending the last over a
year working on...
our brand new The Hook Nookproduct collection.
(05:51):
Yes, I can't even I'm just thethird the first time like I can
actually talk about it withsomeone.
So I'm still like having tolearn like what that it's okay
to talk about.
But I know American Crafts incase you aren't familiar is the
leading manufacturing companyfor the United States for craft
products.
And And they work with avariety of different brands and
(06:13):
different industries, but theyhave never worked in the fiber
industry before.
And I originally had an idea tocreate a certain product, the
Yarn Passport, which isessentially a scrapbook of
sorts, a textural journal, aspace where makers and fiber
(06:37):
lovers can create kind of keeptrack of special yarns that
they've used.
And so it's a very personal,textural amazingness that I felt
like I could really benefitfrom that I felt like others
might be able to benefit from aswell.
And so I had been able tosubmit a proposal to American
Crafts last summer to createthis one product, but I also
(07:00):
submitted ideas for additionalproducts and they said yes.
And within two weeks, I foundmyself in Utah, visiting with
them and meeting my new team andbeginning the processes of
creating our The Hook Nookcollection, which has products
ranging from yarn and hooks anddifferent accessories and all
(07:24):
like project bag, so manydifferent things that we built
and created over the last, overa year now.
And Joanne's stores is actuallythe first place store craft
store that has decided to pickit up and so that's very special
to me because i've been able toyou know first off i've shopped
(07:44):
at joanne stores my entire lifefor craft supplies like that's
been my go-to store since dayone and then i've been able to
work with the joanne indifferent ways over the last
handful of years.
And so to have them accept itand be excited about it and want
to be the first person, youknow, the first people, I
(08:04):
suppose, to help promote thisand share it with their
audiences and customer base, itis just so incredible.
And I'm so excited.
And I literally can't evenbelieve the day is finally here
because it's been a secret forover a year.
Brittany (08:19):
I can't even imagine.
How on earth did you hold thatin for so long?
Well,
Jessica (08:26):
I it was very, very hard.
And so I talked to Jen about myassistant, Jen.
She's I mean, anytime I had totalk to somebody about it, I was
just like, blah, Jen, you haveto have someone that you can
talk about it with.
But no, I mean, I don't know.
For me, I feel like I've kindof been a little bit more with
not withdrawn, but just not as aperson.
(08:48):
I don't know what the word islike online.
My online presence, I feel likehas been a little bit different
over the last year because Ijust don't know what like I can
say or because, you know, Ican't share the things that I'm
working on.
And so it's just been justtrying to figure out ways to
still come out with new things.
But it's it's.
I don't even know.
(09:09):
I'm just so excited that it'sfinally here and it feels weird
to be able to talk
Brittany (09:13):
about it.
Yeah, yeah.
Now I feel like there's animportant lesson there.
There are a lot of us in theaudience and myself included, we
find ourselves in thesesituations where we're working
on a big project and we're doingso in coordination with maybe
another brand or another creatorand we can't share what we're
doing yet at that point.
(09:34):
How did you navigate that?
How did you figure out what, toput on Instagram because
obviously you want to still bepresent.
That's still your community andyour friends and you wanna
share things with them.
But I'm sure you were superbusy with doing all of this new
stuff, like navigating these newwaters.
And yet you still had to findtime to do what you love and
(09:57):
like share that on Instagram.
So talk me through that alittle bit.
Do you have any advice tosomebody who might be in a maybe
similar situation where theyhave something big that they're
planning, but they can't reallytalk about it, but they still
want to be in their communityand contributing to them?
Jessica (10:15):
Well, I think for me, it was nice because it allowed
me to kind of explore differentways that I could show up for my
audience.
And that tended to be a littlebit more personal.
And so I chose to show upinstead of sharing so much of,
you know, the hook nook as abusiness brand.
I was able to kind of show upas Jessica.
(10:37):
And, you know, I've shared mystruggles with anxiety and
depression and, you know, beingable to connect with makers in
those more personal ways and,you know, to, you know, kind of
taking the lessons that I waslearning behind the scenes
personally and being able toshare those aspects with my
audiences.
And it also allowed me to, youknow, as a business, you know, I
(11:00):
still have to be finding waysto show up and be there for my
community.
And it opened up the doors tobe able to work with makers and
people in the community moredirectly.
And so, you know, opening upmy, my blog to other people to
contribute to instead of itbeing the hook nook being
(11:23):
meaning Jessica, it, it allowedthe hook nook to be everything
that I ever envisioned it to beand to, um, create a space for
other people to also be part of.
And that, you know, allowed meto still put out content for the
makers and also to create thisbigger community of makers who
(11:44):
get to contribute andcollaborate with us.
And, you know, I've heardstories from the people who have
collaborated with us that beingable to be part of this has
been So encouraging for them andgotten them out of a rut and
allows them to see themselves ina new light.
And that's encouraging to mebecause that's kind of how I am
in my own self too, where Ialways envisioned myself to be
(12:08):
someone who wouldn't be able topan out into something that I
felt was meaningful.
And so to have all of thisstuff happen and to be able to
turn it around and give othersthe chance to feel what I have
felt has been honestly like themost amazing thing.
But I think it's just findingways that you can show up for
(12:31):
your audiences, even though it'smaybe not how you ideally would
like to be in that season.
Again, it's just a season.
And so finding a way to makethat season work until the next
season starts.
Brittany (12:44):
Yeah, I love that explanation saying that it's a
season.
And that's something that I'veheard of recently.
It has really helped me throughreally busy times.
Usually this time of year, ofcourse, is really busy for all
of us.
If we're makers, if we're justcreating things for fun, if
we're, you know, making giftsfor the holidays or that sort of
(13:04):
thing, it always seems likethis time of year, it's just go,
go, go and constantly creatingand you finish one thing, put it
down for a second, you pick upthe next project.
and get going, it's reallytough to not get burnt out
through that time.
And I find that I really needto slow down and remember why
I'm doing what I'm doing to sortof, I don't know, it just serve
(13:28):
as a reminder to myself thatthis is just a season that,
yeah, it's a going to last.
At some point, things will slowdown.
And that has certainly helpedme.
Now, I think it's really greathow you sort of shifted from
something that was a little moreof a personal brand, we'll say,
(13:51):
where things were very focusedaround you and what you were
making and the idea of turningthat into a way of hosting and
promoting your other makers,lifting them up, other
designers.
And that's how you've sort ofnavigated this season of your
(14:12):
life.
I think that is really cool andreally inspirational.
And I think our community canreally benefit from something
like that.
Whether you are somebody who'sa designer trying to make a name
for yourself, trying to justget your designs out there into
the world, or as somebody who isreally loving your patterns
(14:34):
when you're not as able tocreate as many patterns as you
want to.
It makes sense to supplementthat so that the people who are
coming to you for thatinspiration, for those designs,
always have exactly what theyneed from you.
I think that's really cool.
Jessica (14:50):
Thank you.
I'm really fortunate that somany people have been open to
the idea to collaborate with usbecause I It's been so
meaningful on our end to be ableto connect with other people
and to discover new people andto share literally like hidden
talents that, you know, wealways get caught up in the big
names and the people who are inthe forefront.
(15:12):
But, you know, there's everyonelike starts from everyone's
opens their Instagram page andeveryone starts at the bottom.
And it's just really nice to beable to show that the number
does not equate to quality.
And just because you have adifferent level of social media
following, that that doesn'tmean that your quality is less.
(15:36):
It just means that less peoplehave found you.
And so to be able to exposethese people to people who might
not otherwise have found themhas been so, so inspiring and
encouraging and motivating andhas just made all of this so
worth it to me.
Brittany (15:54):
For sure.
I always like to say thatsomebody who has a smaller
number of followers thansomebody else, that really just
means that that other person isjust the only thing that they
have is time on you.
They've just been doing it fora little bit longer.
Everybody grows on Instagram.
Everybody grows as a blog or abusiness.
(16:15):
And the only difference betweenthat person and someone else
really is just the time and thepersistency with trying to build
that community or continuing togo there because that's really
what you enjoy as a creator, asyour creative outlet.
Jessica (16:34):
Absolutely.
Brittany (16:36):
Yeah.
Now, gosh, I feel like I couldgo in so many different
directions here.
I'm and narrow it down to likeone question.
So I'm curious about this lineand what all is included and
what all can you say about it atthis point?
Let's talk to the person who iscrocheting for their hobby.
(16:58):
They like to make things andgift them.
Maybe they do things forcharity or that sort of thing.
What is it that your productwill help them with?
Jessica (17:08):
Well, the whole idea behind crocheting The whole
collection was being able torelate to the products.
When you walk into a store thatoffers craft products or yarn
or tools, they're typically thesame tools that our moms, our
grandmas, our great-grandmashave all been using because the
(17:29):
fiber industry itself hasn'treally had a refresh yet.
in a very, very long time.
And I felt that it wasimportant that as a lot of
physical stores are closingbecause of online sales, that we
could figure out a way to bringin new consumers back into the
fiber industry.
(17:49):
Because even though, I mean,typically it's viewed from
people who are outside of theindustry or the community, it's
viewed as more of a grandmacraft or something that your
grandma does.
And that's not the case at all.
And that's important to me toalways share is that crochet is
cool.
I mean, that's one of myfavorite tag lines.
And to be able to find waysthat bring in new crowds into
(18:16):
the stores to touch and feel andto experience that incredible
feeling that you get when youget to crochet or knit or any
fiber craft, And so the productsitself were created to be very
texturally appeasing orappealing and beautiful.
And the colors are just veryinspiring and make you want to
(18:41):
create with them.
And so for the person who iscreating as gifts of sorts, The
yarn is affordable.
That was our big thing, wasthat it was affordable to the
masses.
Because a lot of the time, thevery beautiful products have
(19:01):
that higher price point.
And it's very discouraging whenwe see these things, but we
realistically are unable to...
you know, pursue using it.
And so we created products thatwere beautiful and amazing and,
you know, wonderful qualitythat, um, suited a lot of
budgets and the yarn is just sodelicious.
(19:23):
And actually, so by this timeI'll, everything will be out
there, but, um, you know, I evenwere named all of the, the
products, all the yarn typesare, um, ways that I feel are
very relatable, you know, suchas we have small stuff, which is
a size three yarn and we havemain squeeze, which is a worsted
(19:45):
because typically that's, youknow, the most commonly used
weight of yarn used.
And then we have a yummybecause yummy, yummy Lux and
yummy tweed.
And it's very delicious, superjust yummy and fiber and then we
have ginormous which is exactlyas it sounds it's a size seven
(20:05):
jumbo and you know it just wewanted it to be something that
when people looked at it theyknew what it was they knew what
they were getting into and itwas something again relatable
and the packaging you know theteam that I worked with created
such beautiful packaging thatyou know I feel I Showcases my
brand and, you know, the feelingthat I want to emit from the
(20:27):
hook nook in the packaging.
And it's all beautiful.
It's all, you know, in terms ofquote unquote Instagrammable,
you know, the typically for meand a lot of the labels
sometimes are, you know, not on.
brand for me to, you know,photograph.
And so it's nice to be able tocreate a label and packaging
(20:49):
that, you know, I am excited totake a picture of because it
will match, you know, differentaesthetics.
And just thinking about themillennial crafter and thinking
about ways that people arecrafting today and the hooks
themselves we created to be, youknow, scientifically incredible
and, you know, to help withyour wrist pain and to help, you
(21:11):
know, give you a just amazingexperience while crocheting and
products or accessories that area little bit sassy and a little
bit fun and something that yousee and you just have to get.
Like it's, it's, I just, I feellike the whole collection is
just literally everything that Icould have ever envisioned for
(21:32):
it to be.
And it's a true statement ofeverything that I feel that I
would want to bring.
And as a consumer myself, Iwould want to go into a craft
store and see it and feel like,yes, this stuff was made for a
crafter like me, a maker likeme.
And I'm just so incrediblyproud of each and every product
(21:57):
that we built.
Brittany (21:58):
Well, I can't wait to get my hands on some.
And I'm sitting here thinkinghow this really goes full circle
to our conversation aboutexpressing yourself with your
craft.
Creating a project is so muchmore than just sitting down with
a pattern and working somestitches.
The choice that goes intoselecting the yarn, selecting
(22:18):
the colors, the tools that youuse, the stitch markers that you
have.
I mean, all of that, the entirereason why there are so many
different varieties of all ofthat stuff is because every
person gravitates to oneproject.
style or one particular thingthat they like, be it a certain
(22:40):
brand of yarn or a certaintexture of yarn or a certain
type of crochet hook, we sort ofpick our favorites and we stick
with them.
And it's more of an expressionof ourself as a crafter.
And I feel like this isprobably going to give us just a
new set of things to beinspired by and a new way to
(23:05):
express ourself, especially forthose people who have been
following you for a long time,the fans of your patterns, fans
of what you're doing, and justoverall like Jessica fans, they
already relate to you.
And now you've createdsomething for them that truly is
an expression of yourself.
I think that is really, reallycool.
Jessica (23:26):
Thank you.
I'm I'm really proud of it andexactly like you said, you know
Choosing our materials andchoosing our tools It's it's
more than just sitting down andworking up something.
It's you know It's a verypersonal experience.
Even if we are creatingsomething for someone else It's
us who are sitting down with theyarn running through our
(23:46):
fingers working each individualstitch, you know taking the
hours and hours that it may taketo create these projects and
that time invested should besomething that's meaningful to
you and that you feel excitedabout and proud of and more than
just creating things to createsomething it's it's to be able
(24:07):
to turn it into an experience issomething that i that's why i
crochet is because it is sopersonal for me and to be able
to use products that you knowall of the colorways and even
the the colorway names likeEvery aspect of each, every
little detail of every singleproduct, I was able to help
(24:32):
shift and edit and say, no, Idon't like that or no, it
wouldn't be used like that.
So having it be like this isimportant.
And it's the whole collectionis just literally everything
that I feel is needed in ourindustry to let others know want
to crochet and want to be partof this industry because again
(24:54):
it's not just something cool onthe instagram anymore it's it's
it's a very personal craft thattakes time to learn it takes
time to do and we should be ableto use materials and tools and
accessories that help you knowex whatever the word is i'm
(25:14):
trying to look for but It's alla personal experience and to
have things that share that bitsof ourselves in different ways
that we haven't been able tohave before is just literally
why I am so happy that we wereable to do this.
Brittany (25:31):
Yeah, and it seems so crazy to think that something
like this hasn't alreadyhappened before.
I'm like so thrilled for youthat you were able to do this
and that you powered through allof the, I'm sure, hard times
hard times that came withsomething of this magnitude.
But like I said, I think itreally just takes it full circle
(25:52):
and you definitely come acrossas somebody who is very
intentional in what you do andwhat you create and what you
say.
And I know this is in a way anextension of that.
Creating a project and beingmore intentional about it is
something I am trying to do moreof this year.
(26:13):
Now previously, I would createanything, anything I wanted to
with any type of yarn that Iwanted to that stood out to me
at the moment.
And what I found was that Iwasn't always using the thing
that I completed or I didn'thave an outfit that coordinated
with the crazy wild scarf yarnthat I had picked out.
(26:37):
And I'm finding so much morepeace and enjoyment in the
craft, having some intentionbehind it.
And honestly, I didn't knowthat this was going on until I
really sat down and thoughtabout it.
And it wasn't even me justsaying, aha, this is why I'm
feeling a little bit worn down.
(26:59):
It was hearing somebody elsesay that they're applying...
more intentionality into theirlife that made me sit down and
think about why somebody wouldsay that first of all, because I
find it really interesting.
I like the way people think andthe way they plan and how they
find motivation and that sort ofthing.
But when I thought about it formyself, I thought, oh, I really
(27:21):
need to apply more intention tomy projects.
And I feel like this issomething that you've always
done really well.
So for the person who might bein a similar situation where
they're just feeling likethey're not inspired by what
they have either started, likesay they're mid-project, they've
(27:42):
been working so many hours onsomething and they're just not
feeling inspired by it anymore,or they've just finished a big
project that they've spent weeksor months completing and it's
just not speaking to them likeit once did can you speak to how
you come up with a project idealike the intention behind it
(28:03):
and what fuels you through allof that hard all of that time
that you put into creating thatproject
Jessica (28:13):
yeah I so I've been there I mean I just actually
finished up writing my um myfirst book which is full of
crochet projects and uh to justsit and be super excited about
something for so long and thenit takes you know a long time or
you have other things to focuson or just the fire just dims
(28:33):
it's it's really hard to getback onto it but sitting down
and reminding yourself like wellwhy like why do I love this
craft?
Like, why has this beensomething that I've held on to?
And whether you're mid-project,you know, you can set that down
and just take a break from itfor a little bit.
Or just trying to rein in a newfocus of why and what you're
(28:57):
doing.
Because, again, it's verypersonal.
And, you know, even if we'redoing things for other people,
it's our time spent.
And if we're not doing thingsor creating things that make us
feel fulfilled.
I mean, at the end of the day,what is the point?
(29:18):
Because it's our time that wespent, no one else's.
And I just want to be proud ofmyself in each day and feel
like, all right, I did somethingthat makes me feel excited to
do it again tomorrow.
And, you know, when creatingnew projects, it's thinking
about, well, what kinds ofthings would I want to make?
(29:41):
Like what kinds of things do Iwant to wear or have or use?
And a lot of the times thatgoes bigger or deeper than the
final product.
It goes into, all right, well,I'm very, very textural based.
Again, why we created thepassport is because I love
(30:02):
journaling, but there's justsomething about textures that
just feed me.
And so thinking about projectlike oh well I want to make a
beanie but all right well whatkind of beanie am I making like
what kind of yarn am I going toyou know do I want to use in
this moment today do I want touse something that's very
squishy do I want to use a jumbodo I want to use something
(30:25):
that's small where I can makeyou know awesome detail with
like it just depends on sittingdown and having that discussion
with myself like what is it thatI want to do in this moment and
setting myself up to reachingthat goal of speaking to my
inner self and doing the thingsthat just, again,
(30:47):
intentionality, just that makethose hours spent worth it.
And, you know, I've worked onprojects that I do lose steam
on.
And, you know, I mean, ithappens to all of us.
And all that is, is, you know,taking a step back and maybe
taking a break from or changingup your idea entirely and just
saying, you know what, this isthe wrong yarn for this project,
(31:09):
or I need to change my hooksize, or I just need to
completely change my whole ideaof what it is that I wanted to
make in the first place so thatI can, at the end of the day,
feel like I did something formore than just someone else,
that I did something that madethe hours invested, something
(31:29):
that can further me in my ownmaking journey because again
it's just it's it's me that'sdoing it and everyone else just
gets to have the things that ispent hours on and so i don't
want to just sit and waste myhours for the sake of somebody
else's enjoyment because it'swe're all humans behind the
(31:50):
screens and we matter and umfeeling connected to your
projects is incredibly importantto me
Brittany (31:58):
Yeah.
I always say that time is ourmost valuable resource.
And I am the same as you.
I really put a lot of focus onhow I'm spending my time.
And I like to do a lot of selfchecks to figure out if the way
I'm spending my time right nowis just as valuable to me as it
(32:20):
was maybe a week ago when Istarted this.
And it doesn't necessarily haveto be projects.
I mean, this could be anyaspect of a maker business.
If you put your resources intostarting something new, maybe
you want to start a blog, you'reputting some time into writing
the blog posts, that time has todo something for you.
And I think for us as makers,it does even more for us because
(32:45):
not only does it give us theopportunity to to enjoy ourself
more and what we're creating.
It also gives us theopportunity to share something
with others, maybe share someknowledge, share a pattern,
share some inspiration.
But it can also go into therealm of physically giving
(33:09):
something to someone else.
And I think that's just reallywhat's so cool about this craft
and why I like to advocate forit so much and help people to
learn the craft so that they cansort of spread this around the
community.
I think the feeling that we getwhen we do these things, and
I'm sure you could agree withthis, is just why I do what I
(33:31):
do.
It's why it feels like mypurpose right now.
Jessica (33:36):
Yes, yes.
No.
And I speaking more on that,it's for me through all of, you
know, even before it when it wasjust a personal brand through
now to where it's become, youknow, a legitimate business.
I've learned so much aboutmyself.
I've learned new things about,you know, I, I, I've never, I,
(33:57):
you know, funny story is Iactually submitted a proposal to
Joanne stores several years agofor my own yarn brand, but I,
you know, I, no one, no one, youdon't know what you don't know.
And, you know, they said, youknow, well, we, you need to work
with the manufacturer and blah,blah, blah.
But, you know, years ago, I'mlike, I don't know how to do
that.
And so I let it go and just letthat a dream just fester in me,
(34:20):
but it didn't, I didn't knowwhere to go with it.
And so, you know, you learnmore, the more you let yourself
learn more and you have moreexperiences and you build on
your foundation and build andbuild and, you know, you are
willing to talk with otherpeople and to risk being told no
(34:41):
and to just putting yourselfout there in your dreams,
letting them have space to atleast, have the opportunity to
flourish um and i've learned somuch so much about myself
through all of these processesthat it's it all i mean i don't
(35:02):
have i don't have an endingstatement on that but it's just
like i'm just so proud to beable to be a maker because at
the end of the day i havelearned that i am fully capable
of doing anything that i set mymind to and i've never thought
that, you know, any of my big,crazy, insane dreams were ever
(35:23):
too big to ever happen.
It's, you know, I'm like, oh,well, that would be really cool
if this could happen.
And then it's, you know,thinking down the road, like,
well, what, what things can I dothat kind of get me closer to
that, even though I don't knowhow to get there?
How can I, you know, is thisdecision that I want to say yes
or no to?
Is that something that willbring me around and make it take
(35:45):
longer or maybe notnecessarily?
I don't know.
It's so personal.
Brittany (35:49):
I'm sitting here thinking, it reminds me of a
quote I recently found and Ilove it so much.
I have it on my computer screenso I can look at it every day.
And it's from Picasso.
He says, everything you canimagine is real.
And I believe thatwholeheartedly.
Anytime I have an idea, I liketo sit on it for a little while
(36:13):
to make sure that it's asexciting today as it was maybe a
week ago or a week from now ora month from now.
Sometimes ideas take a littlebit more time to develop,
especially bigger ones likethis, like the idea of
submitting a proposal for aproduct line.
That's a pretty big deal.
Once you have that self-checkand you know that, yes, this is
(36:36):
absolutely something that lightsme up, that gets me really
excited, that makes me feel likeI have a purpose in the
community, make it happen.
Just do whatever it takes tomake that happen.
For you, it was emailingsomebody that you...
maybe didn't have contact withbefore.
And yeah, you didn't know thedetails.
(36:57):
Like you said, you don't knowwhat you don't know.
I like to say that as well,because it's so true.
Often I feel a little sort offrustrated by the fact that you
don't know what you don't know,because it's not comfortable to
send an email to a brand or abusiness and Present to them
(37:17):
that you don't know something.
You know, it feels icky.
It doesn't feel great.
But it's totally human.
And it really is the firststep.
Now, it depends on what theidea is.
Let's say you want to write abook.
Well, the first step is, ofcourse, to come up with the book
idea.
But just email some publishers.
And you might have a contact.
(37:39):
You might not.
You might have to send a bunchof cold emails.
But...
That really is the first stepto building something like that.
Yeah, for
Jessica (37:49):
sure.
I mean, I feel like– so Ididn't– how I was able to send
in this proposal was– Jen Evans,she's been my main assistant
since January 2017.
She's worked with me in so manydifferent ways.
But she also works as themarketing specialist for the
(38:10):
Heidi Swapp brand, which is apaper crafting brand owned by
American Crafts.
And she's worked with Heidi forseveral years, I believe.
Don't quote me on this.
Jen, don't get mad if this iswrong.
But I mean, I believe thatshe's been working with Heidi
for about eight years.
So she's already been able toand she's worked also with, you
(38:31):
know, Craft Warehouse, which isan independent craft store.
She's done so many differentthings in other aspects of the
craft industry.
And I had this idea knowingthat she has experience in paper
crafting.
You know, again, my my firstvision was to create the yarn
passport.
And it was just something thatI personally really thought
would be so cool to be able tohave for myself and to be able
(38:55):
to share that with othersbecause, you know, we receive
all these yarns and materialsand fibers and textures that,
you know, we just sit on becausewe don't want to use it because
once we use it, it's used.
But this way we have a memoryof it and like tell the story of
how where it came from, all thethings.
So I had talked to Jen, youknow, hey, I'm If I wanted to
(39:17):
create this product, how can Ido this myself?
And so she was telling me, youknow, typically it's done this
way and this way and this way,but it's going to be expensive.
And I don't I definitely do nothave the kinds of funds that
were necessary to make thishappen.
And so I, again, just droppedit and let the dream go because
(39:39):
I was unable to pursue it in theway that it typically is done.
And then a week or so later,maybe less, I don't can't
remember, but she had offered toput her name on the line and
say, hey, tell her boss atAmerican Crafts that I had this
idea for a product.
(39:59):
And I asked her boss if I couldsend in a proposal.
And so her boss eventually saidyes.
And which I about peed my pantswhen I heard that.
Yeah.
I spent a good week trying tofigure out, well, what the heck
is the proposal?
How do you write one?
What do you include?
What, I mean, what, I mean,again, you don't know what you
(40:21):
don't know.
And so I've spent so much timetalking to Jen and trying to
research, like, how do I do thisin a way that's professional?
Because this is a company that,you know, knows what they're
doing.
They are, they create suchincredible products.
And I was, I just really wouldbe so proud to work with them.
And, um, literally, I don'tbelieve that any other company
would be able to do what we wereable to do.
(40:43):
And after a week of working onit and, you know, trying at
least my best of what I feltlike it should be, I submitted
it and it took a month to hearback.
And eventually I did.
And I, it was as if the skiesjust opened and I could not
believe that, you know, ifyou're willing to just put
(41:04):
yourself on the line and dothings that you're uncomfortable
with and just again followwherever it is that your heart
is telling you that you reallyshould invest or try to tap into
here because creating productsthat speak to consumers like me,
like today's consumers, it wassomething that I really, really,
(41:28):
really wanted to do and Tofinally be able to do that with
literally the most ideal team ofpeople was just...
I sat and cried for so longbecause I was so grateful and so
happy.
Like you said, it was so muchhard work and it was so much
time and so...
(41:50):
Just, you know, again, I don'teven know how to make products.
I don't know what the rightanswers are in a lot of things.
And, you know, it's it's allright, Jessica.
Well, we've never worked in thefiber industry.
You know, we're going to.
let you kind of take control onthis which puts so much
pressure but you know beingwilling to stand up in that fear
as opposed to just revertingand being like oh indecisive I
(42:12):
had to learn how to dig deepinside of myself and what the
things were you know decide formyself the things that were
important and the things thatyou know I wanted to see and you
know how I my vision for thecommunity itself and the
longevity of the communitybecause you know i don't want
craft stores to be closing inthe next however many years like
(42:33):
you know we see all thesestores closing but i don't feel
that craft stores or anything issomething that should be
dismissed it's it's so it can beso healing and therapeutic for
so many people just to be ableto create with their hands and
so thinking about the longevityof the industry i just felt you
(42:54):
know what if I have everythingto lose I have everything to
lose and I'm gonna put it allout there and I'm gonna do my
best and this is what we came upwith and I couldn't be more
proud of every single thing thatwe have like oh my word I am so
excited for you to seeeverything I feel like it does
an amazing job of expressing whoI am and who I am as a maker
(43:17):
and who you know what the gistof things that I hear from the
community and I feel like thewhole collection itself is just
a whole brand new breath offresh air to an industry that
kind of hasn't had theopportunity for refreshing,
refreshment, whatever.
I'm just so proud that I wasable to feel uncomfortable for a
(43:46):
season of time to do these big,big things.
Brittany (43:51):
Yeah, I think the resounding message here is
really just to let your fearempower you and not hold you
back.
That's what it sounds like tome that you did.
You kicked fear in the face andyou said, hey, this is what I
want to do because this is whatI believe the industry needs.
And I mean, kudos to you formaking it happen, for powering
(44:14):
through all of those anxieties.
And I'm sure like, oh gosh,just, nervous situations.
I can't even imagine howuncomfortable a lot of that was,
but I'm really excited for you.
I'm excited to see these thingsand get them in my hands so I
can really relate thisconversation to that.
(44:36):
I know that I won't bedisappointed in any way, shape,
or form.
And I would love to end onwhere somebody can find this
stuff.
Now you mentioned it will beavailable in Joann's.
Can you give me a little moredetail about when somebody might
expect it?
I know sometimes some locationswill have certain things and
(44:57):
others won't.
And maybe if their locationdoesn't have it, is there
somewhere they can find itonline and that sort of thing?
Jessica (45:04):
Yes.
So it will be available inselect Joann's stores.
They will have it available ontheir website as well for online
purchases if it's not availablein a store near them.
That was incredibly importantto me that it was accessible to
anybody, that even if theyweren't able to go into their
(45:28):
local store and see it there,that they had access to be able
to purchase it.
So I definitely made sure thatthat was available to everyone.
So you'll be able to find astore list on my website.
I'll have a blog post showingall of the different products
that we came out with.
And then it'll also list outthe specific stores that it will
(45:49):
be available in real life.
Brittany (45:53):
Wonderful.
Okay.
I'll have a link to that postin the show notes.
So if you're listening, justhead over to the show notes page
for this episode and I willhave it there so you can check
that out.
And I'm sure you'll have somepictures on your Instagram feed
as well.
For somebody who doesn't knowwho you are, what's your
Instagram handle?
Jessica (46:12):
My Instagram is the.hook.nook.
And by this point, I've gotseveral little sneak peek
teasers up.
And yeah, I can't wait for youto see it.
Brittany (46:25):
I can't wait either.
I am so excited for you.
This was such an inspirationalconversation.
I know the really, like I said,the big takeaway here is just
to kick fear in the face.
Use that as your motivatorbecause typically, at least it's
always been true for me, if Igo into a situation and I feel a
little bit scared, Oh, yes,absolutely.
(46:52):
Yes.
Okay.
Well, Jessica, this has beenamazing.
Thank you so much again for thehonor to be able to share this
with the world for the firsttime, being the first person to
(47:15):
hear about it.
And I'm just thrilled to haveyou here on the show.
I'm so excited for you.
I'm so excited for what you'redoing in this industry and keep
rocking it, girl.
Awesome.
Thank you so much, Brittany.
All right, that was Jessicafrom The Hook Nook.
Jessica, thank you so much.
It was such a pleasure to sharein this little secret with you,
(47:35):
even though it's not really asecret anymore.
It sure was a lot of fun tochat with you.
And I'm really glad that wewere able to share some of those
real life stories with thelisteners here, because I know
that it's going to help somebodyin some way, shape or form.
It doesn't matter what you'regoing through, what you're
trying to accomplish right now,whether it's craft related,
(47:57):
crochet related, businessrelated, or just anything life
related.
Kick fear in the face.
Go after whatever you want toaccomplish.
Make that goal your goal, yourpersonal mission to make it
happen.
Because let me tell you, if youdon't try and if you don't
believe, you'll never accomplishanything.
(48:20):
I also want to make sure thatyou're encouraged that just
because somebody else might havesomething, might have achieved
something, might have a certainnumber of followers or whatever
it might be, just know that thatperson is only a few steps
ahead because of the time,right?
They maybe have gotten into ita little sooner than you did, or
(48:44):
perhaps that person made thatthing their goal.
Just because you don't havesomething that somebody else
has, that really just means thatit wasn't a goal of yours.
Because I know goals can beaccomplished.
I know dreams can come true.
And Jessica's story is abeautiful representation of
(49:05):
that.
All right, here's the giveawaybecause I know that's what
you're super interested in rightnow.
So all of the HooknookCollection products are
wonderful.
As you heard in the podcast,now it's really hard to put a
picture to what you're hearing.
So what I would encourage youto do is head over to the show
notes page, bhooked.com slash142, and scroll down until you
(49:30):
see the links and resourcessection.
I've included a post toJessica's website where you can
have a look at all of theproducts in this collection.
When you're on that page, youcan also have a look at the
items that will be included inthis giveaway.
Now, Jessica and her assistantJen and American Crafts put
together this really greatassortment package of their
(49:55):
different products.
So here is what will beincluded in the giveaway.
One lucky listener of the BeHooked podcast will receive a
yarn passport, a six differentcrochet hooks.
We have a 19 millimeter goldcrochet hook, a 25 millimeter
ruby crochet hook, a 35millimeter topaz crochet hook,
(50:15):
and then we get down to our morestandard sizes, an I gold hook,
a K ruby hook, an N onyx hook.
So those are the six hooks thatyou can expect in this little
assortment, as well as somecloth project labels, gold
darning needles, gold stitchmarkers, metal pins, and gold
(50:38):
word brooches.
So those are the goodies, andhere's what you need to do to
get your entry in for thisgiveaway.
You'll head over to the shownotes page, behooked.com slash
142, scroll down until you seethe entry form right there in
the middle of the page, andyou'll need to submit your email
address and your name, ofcourse, that way I can contact
you if you are the winner.
(50:58):
And we do ask that theparticipants are located in the
continental U.S.
That is where our sponsors canship to, so I do appreciate
that.
And when you submit your entry,be certain to pay attention to
that page, to that entry form.
It's going to give you someopportunities to earn additional
(51:19):
entries.
This is a really good giveaway,so you want to make sure you
get as many entries as youpossibly can.
So you'll do things like...
Follow BeHooked on Facebook,Instagram, Twitter.
Of course, you know I'm tryingto grow Twitter and to show this
community the value in Twitter.
So you'll get some additionalentries for doing that, as well
as subscribing to my YouTubechannel, subscribing to the
(51:41):
podcast.
And you can find all of thedetails and how to do that on
that entry form after you submityour initial entry.
One lucky winner will beselected completely at random on
November 22nd and I willcontact them via email.
So make sure you're looking atyour email on November 22nd and
(52:05):
don't forget your spam folder.
My email might end up in thatspam folder, which wouldn't be
good.
If you're super email savvy,you can add my email address,
Brittany at BeHookedCrochet.comto your trusted email list.
And that way it won't land inyour spam folder.
But anyways, that winner willbe contacted by me via email.
(52:28):
I'll ask for your shippinginformation and I will forward
that on to the folks over atAmerican Crafts so they can get
your prize out to you as quicklyas possible.
Okay, good luck.
That'll wrap up today's episodeof the Be Hooked podcast.
Thank you so much for tuning inthis week.
I really do appreciate it.
And I'll see you next week.
Bye-bye.
You're listening to the Be Hooked Podcast, episode
142 with Brittany.
Well, hello there and welcometo episode 142 of the BeHooked
(00:35):
podcast.
I'm your host, Brittany, and Ijust want to say a big thank you
to you for tuning in today.
I've got something a littledifferent in store for you.
I have to say I have never goneinto a podcast interview not
having any idea what we weregoing to talk about.
And that was the case fortoday's episode.
So I want to make sure thatyou're aware of that, but I also
(00:57):
want to let you know that thisepisode turned out way better
than I could have ever imagined.
I don't think I could haveplanned a better chat.
Now you are probably familiarwith today's guest if you have
been a listener of the show fora while.
This is now her third timebeing on the show, and every
single time she always bringsthe goods, and that's why I was
(01:21):
pretty confident knowing thateven though I'd I didn't know
what the secret was or what wewere going to talk about.
I knew it was going to be goodand I could trust Jessica with
that.
If you follow Jessica from thehook nook on Instagram, you
already know what this secretis.
But as you know, I recordepisodes a little bit in
(01:43):
advance, so I had no idea aboutthe secret.
In fact, I was one of the firstpeople to know, and that was
such an honor and so veryexciting to hear this for the
first time.
But like I said, if you arefollowing the hook nook on
Instagram and just can whatshe's doing, you already know
(02:04):
what's going on.
Now, I don't want to spoil asurprise if maybe you haven't
heard what this secret Jessicahas, so I won't give any clues
as to what it is just yet.
But I do want to let you knowthat Jessica is hosting a
giveaway for this episode.
So make sure you listen all theway to the end of the episode.
(02:24):
I'll have the details for howyou can enter and, of course,
what you could possibly win.
All right, there are a coupleof details that I will have
listed for you in the show notespage, as well as how you can
enter that giveaway.
So it's very important that youremember the show notes for
today's episode.
And that is BeHooked.com slash142.
(02:45):
Just type that into yourbrowser, scroll down a little
bit.
You'll see the links andresources that we mentioned.
I'm sure you'll want to checkthose out.
And also on that page will bethe information for how you can
get in on this wonderfulgiveaway.
Alright, I don't want to delayanymore.
Here's my chat with Jessicafrom The Hook Nook.
Jessica, welcome back to the BeHooked Podcast.
(03:08):
How are you doing today?
I'm good.
How are you?
I am really good.
I am so excited about this andI kind of just can't wait.
I know you've got this bigsecret and I'm dying to know
what it is.
What it is, I'm sort of hearingit for the first time.
I literally have gone into thisconversation knowing nothing
(03:29):
about what we're going to talkabout and that has pretty much
never happened for any of theepisodes.
But I thought it to be veryfitting because I had you on in
episode 11.
You were my second interviewever and I was a nervous wreck
and it turned out so well.
That episode still today is oneof the most frequently listened
(03:51):
to.
We talked about sort of likeexpressing yourself and your
style through your craft,through crochet or through
knitting.
And then I had you back on inepisode 52.
We talked a little bit moreabout like garment making and
that sort of thing.
So I'll have links to those.
If you're listening and youhaven't heard those, you should
definitely check those out.
But I'm really just honoredknowing that you've been a big
(04:13):
part of the show here and havingthe opportunity to share in
something.
And you sort of thought of mewhen you wanted to share the
secret.
So I'm dying to know what itis.
Jessica (04:23):
Yes.
Well, by the time that thisairs, it won't be a secret
anymore, but it's super excitingto Have you be literally the
first person that I get to tellthis about because we have this
history.
And I look to you as someonewho inspires me.
And you do so much for thecommunity.
(04:43):
And so it was just, to me, veryfitting to be able to share
this with you.
So I'm really grateful that youwere even open to letting me
kind of show up with you havingno idea what i'm about to say
i'm putting a lot of faith inyou
Brittany (04:59):
girl i know you won't disappoint though I hope not.
Well, you know, the audienceknows that these are recorded a
little bit in advance.
So that's why it's still asecret as of right now.
But when you're hearing this onthe podcast, it's no longer a
secret.
But I thought it would bereally fun to sort of tee it up
(05:19):
this way so that you can get myinitial reaction because I
really have no clue what thisis, what you've been up to.
And yeah, what is it?
Give it to me.
Jessica (05:30):
So, I have been working with my team at American Crafts
since last summer, and we havebeen spending the last over a
year working on...
our brand new The Hook Nookproduct collection.
(05:51):
Yes, I can't even I'm just thethird the first time like I can
actually talk about it withsomeone.
So I'm still like having tolearn like what that it's okay
to talk about.
But I know American Crafts incase you aren't familiar is the
leading manufacturing companyfor the United States for craft
products.
And And they work with avariety of different brands and
(06:13):
different industries, but theyhave never worked in the fiber
industry before.
And I originally had an idea tocreate a certain product, the
Yarn Passport, which isessentially a scrapbook of
sorts, a textural journal, aspace where makers and fiber
(06:37):
lovers can create kind of keeptrack of special yarns that
they've used.
And so it's a very personal,textural amazingness that I felt
like I could really benefitfrom that I felt like others
might be able to benefit from aswell.
And so I had been able tosubmit a proposal to American
Crafts last summer to createthis one product, but I also
(07:00):
submitted ideas for additionalproducts and they said yes.
And within two weeks, I foundmyself in Utah, visiting with
them and meeting my new team andbeginning the processes of
creating our The Hook Nookcollection, which has products
ranging from yarn and hooks anddifferent accessories and all
(07:24):
like project bag, so manydifferent things that we built
and created over the last, overa year now.
And Joanne's stores is actuallythe first place store craft
store that has decided to pickit up and so that's very special
to me because i've been able toyou know first off i've shopped
(07:44):
at joanne stores my entire lifefor craft supplies like that's
been my go-to store since dayone and then i've been able to
work with the joanne indifferent ways over the last
handful of years.
And so to have them accept itand be excited about it and want
to be the first person, youknow, the first people, I
(08:04):
suppose, to help promote thisand share it with their
audiences and customer base, itis just so incredible.
And I'm so excited.
And I literally can't evenbelieve the day is finally here
because it's been a secret forover a year.
Brittany (08:19):
I can't even imagine.
How on earth did you hold thatin for so long?
Well,
Jessica (08:26):
I it was very, very hard.
And so I talked to Jen about myassistant, Jen.
She's I mean, anytime I had totalk to somebody about it, I was
just like, blah, Jen, you haveto have someone that you can
talk about it with.
But no, I mean, I don't know.
For me, I feel like I've kindof been a little bit more with
not withdrawn, but just not as aperson.
(08:48):
I don't know what the word islike online.
My online presence, I feel likehas been a little bit different
over the last year because Ijust don't know what like I can
say or because, you know, Ican't share the things that I'm
working on.
And so it's just been justtrying to figure out ways to
still come out with new things.
But it's it's.
I don't even know.
(09:09):
I'm just so excited that it'sfinally here and it feels weird
to be able to talk
Brittany (09:13):
about it.
Yeah, yeah.
Now I feel like there's animportant lesson there.
There are a lot of us in theaudience and myself included, we
find ourselves in thesesituations where we're working
on a big project and we're doingso in coordination with maybe
another brand or another creatorand we can't share what we're
doing yet at that point.
(09:34):
How did you navigate that?
How did you figure out what, toput on Instagram because
obviously you want to still bepresent.
That's still your community andyour friends and you wanna
share things with them.
But I'm sure you were superbusy with doing all of this new
stuff, like navigating these newwaters.
And yet you still had to findtime to do what you love and
(09:57):
like share that on Instagram.
So talk me through that alittle bit.
Do you have any advice tosomebody who might be in a maybe
similar situation where theyhave something big that they're
planning, but they can't reallytalk about it, but they still
want to be in their communityand contributing to them?
Jessica (10:15):
Well, I think for me, it was nice because it allowed
me to kind of explore differentways that I could show up for my
audience.
And that tended to be a littlebit more personal.
And so I chose to show upinstead of sharing so much of,
you know, the hook nook as abusiness brand.
I was able to kind of show upas Jessica.
(10:37):
And, you know, I've shared mystruggles with anxiety and
depression and, you know, beingable to connect with makers in
those more personal ways and,you know, to, you know, kind of
taking the lessons that I waslearning behind the scenes
personally and being able toshare those aspects with my
audiences.
And it also allowed me to, youknow, as a business, you know, I
(11:00):
still have to be finding waysto show up and be there for my
community.
And it opened up the doors tobe able to work with makers and
people in the community moredirectly.
And so, you know, opening upmy, my blog to other people to
contribute to instead of itbeing the hook nook being
(11:23):
meaning Jessica, it, it allowedthe hook nook to be everything
that I ever envisioned it to beand to, um, create a space for
other people to also be part of.
And that, you know, allowed meto still put out content for the
makers and also to create thisbigger community of makers who
(11:44):
get to contribute andcollaborate with us.
And, you know, I've heardstories from the people who have
collaborated with us that beingable to be part of this has
been So encouraging for them andgotten them out of a rut and
allows them to see themselves ina new light.
And that's encouraging to mebecause that's kind of how I am
in my own self too, where Ialways envisioned myself to be
(12:08):
someone who wouldn't be able topan out into something that I
felt was meaningful.
And so to have all of thisstuff happen and to be able to
turn it around and give othersthe chance to feel what I have
felt has been honestly like themost amazing thing.
But I think it's just findingways that you can show up for
(12:31):
your audiences, even though it'smaybe not how you ideally would
like to be in that season.
Again, it's just a season.
And so finding a way to makethat season work until the next
season starts.
Brittany (12:44):
Yeah, I love that explanation saying that it's a
season.
And that's something that I'veheard of recently.
It has really helped me throughreally busy times.
Usually this time of year, ofcourse, is really busy for all
of us.
If we're makers, if we're justcreating things for fun, if
we're, you know, making giftsfor the holidays or that sort of
(13:04):
thing, it always seems likethis time of year, it's just go,
go, go and constantly creatingand you finish one thing, put it
down for a second, you pick upthe next project.
and get going, it's reallytough to not get burnt out
through that time.
And I find that I really needto slow down and remember why
I'm doing what I'm doing to sortof, I don't know, it just serve
(13:28):
as a reminder to myself thatthis is just a season that,
yeah, it's a going to last.
At some point, things will slowdown.
And that has certainly helpedme.
Now, I think it's really greathow you sort of shifted from
something that was a little moreof a personal brand, we'll say,
(13:51):
where things were very focusedaround you and what you were
making and the idea of turningthat into a way of hosting and
promoting your other makers,lifting them up, other
designers.
And that's how you've sort ofnavigated this season of your
(14:12):
life.
I think that is really cool andreally inspirational.
And I think our community canreally benefit from something
like that.
Whether you are somebody who'sa designer trying to make a name
for yourself, trying to justget your designs out there into
the world, or as somebody who isreally loving your patterns
(14:34):
when you're not as able tocreate as many patterns as you
want to.
It makes sense to supplementthat so that the people who are
coming to you for thatinspiration, for those designs,
always have exactly what theyneed from you.
I think that's really cool.
Jessica (14:50):
Thank you.
I'm really fortunate that somany people have been open to
the idea to collaborate with usbecause I It's been so
meaningful on our end to be ableto connect with other people
and to discover new people andto share literally like hidden
talents that, you know, wealways get caught up in the big
names and the people who are inthe forefront.
(15:12):
But, you know, there's everyonelike starts from everyone's
opens their Instagram page andeveryone starts at the bottom.
And it's just really nice to beable to show that the number
does not equate to quality.
And just because you have adifferent level of social media
following, that that doesn'tmean that your quality is less.
(15:36):
It just means that less peoplehave found you.
And so to be able to exposethese people to people who might
not otherwise have found themhas been so, so inspiring and
encouraging and motivating andhas just made all of this so
worth it to me.
Brittany (15:54):
For sure.
I always like to say thatsomebody who has a smaller
number of followers thansomebody else, that really just
means that that other person isjust the only thing that they
have is time on you.
They've just been doing it fora little bit longer.
Everybody grows on Instagram.
Everybody grows as a blog or abusiness.
(16:15):
And the only difference betweenthat person and someone else
really is just the time and thepersistency with trying to build
that community or continuing togo there because that's really
what you enjoy as a creator, asyour creative outlet.
Jessica (16:34):
Absolutely.
Brittany (16:36):
Yeah.
Now, gosh, I feel like I couldgo in so many different
directions here.
I'm and narrow it down to likeone question.
So I'm curious about this lineand what all is included and
what all can you say about it atthis point?
Let's talk to the person who iscrocheting for their hobby.
(16:58):
They like to make things andgift them.
Maybe they do things forcharity or that sort of thing.
What is it that your productwill help them with?
Jessica (17:08):
Well, the whole idea behind crocheting The whole
collection was being able torelate to the products.
When you walk into a store thatoffers craft products or yarn
or tools, they're typically thesame tools that our moms, our
grandmas, our great-grandmashave all been using because the
(17:29):
fiber industry itself hasn'treally had a refresh yet.
in a very, very long time.
And I felt that it wasimportant that as a lot of
physical stores are closingbecause of online sales, that we
could figure out a way to bringin new consumers back into the
fiber industry.
(17:49):
Because even though, I mean,typically it's viewed from
people who are outside of theindustry or the community, it's
viewed as more of a grandmacraft or something that your
grandma does.
And that's not the case at all.
And that's important to me toalways share is that crochet is
cool.
I mean, that's one of myfavorite tag lines.
And to be able to find waysthat bring in new crowds into
(18:16):
the stores to touch and feel andto experience that incredible
feeling that you get when youget to crochet or knit or any
fiber craft, And so the productsitself were created to be very
texturally appeasing orappealing and beautiful.
And the colors are just veryinspiring and make you want to
(18:41):
create with them.
And so for the person who iscreating as gifts of sorts, The
yarn is affordable.
That was our big thing, wasthat it was affordable to the
masses.
Because a lot of the time, thevery beautiful products have
(19:01):
that higher price point.
And it's very discouraging whenwe see these things, but we
realistically are unable to...
you know, pursue using it.
And so we created products thatwere beautiful and amazing and,
you know, wonderful qualitythat, um, suited a lot of
budgets and the yarn is just sodelicious.
(19:23):
And actually, so by this timeI'll, everything will be out
there, but, um, you know, I evenwere named all of the, the
products, all the yarn typesare, um, ways that I feel are
very relatable, you know, suchas we have small stuff, which is
a size three yarn and we havemain squeeze, which is a worsted
(19:45):
because typically that's, youknow, the most commonly used
weight of yarn used.
And then we have a yummybecause yummy, yummy Lux and
yummy tweed.
And it's very delicious, superjust yummy and fiber and then we
have ginormous which is exactlyas it sounds it's a size seven
(20:05):
jumbo and you know it just wewanted it to be something that
when people looked at it theyknew what it was they knew what
they were getting into and itwas something again relatable
and the packaging you know theteam that I worked with created
such beautiful packaging thatyou know I feel I Showcases my
brand and, you know, the feelingthat I want to emit from the
(20:27):
hook nook in the packaging.
And it's all beautiful.
It's all, you know, in terms ofquote unquote Instagrammable,
you know, the typically for meand a lot of the labels
sometimes are, you know, not on.
brand for me to, you know,photograph.
And so it's nice to be able tocreate a label and packaging
(20:49):
that, you know, I am excited totake a picture of because it
will match, you know, differentaesthetics.
And just thinking about themillennial crafter and thinking
about ways that people arecrafting today and the hooks
themselves we created to be, youknow, scientifically incredible
and, you know, to help withyour wrist pain and to help, you
(21:11):
know, give you a just amazingexperience while crocheting and
products or accessories that area little bit sassy and a little
bit fun and something that yousee and you just have to get.
Like it's, it's, I just, I feellike the whole collection is
just literally everything that Icould have ever envisioned for
(21:32):
it to be.
And it's a true statement ofeverything that I feel that I
would want to bring.
And as a consumer myself, Iwould want to go into a craft
store and see it and feel like,yes, this stuff was made for a
crafter like me, a maker likeme.
And I'm just so incrediblyproud of each and every product
(21:57):
that we built.
Brittany (21:58):
Well, I can't wait to get my hands on some.
And I'm sitting here thinkinghow this really goes full circle
to our conversation aboutexpressing yourself with your
craft.
Creating a project is so muchmore than just sitting down with
a pattern and working somestitches.
The choice that goes intoselecting the yarn, selecting
(22:18):
the colors, the tools that youuse, the stitch markers that you
have.
I mean, all of that, the entirereason why there are so many
different varieties of all ofthat stuff is because every
person gravitates to oneproject.
style or one particular thingthat they like, be it a certain
(22:40):
brand of yarn or a certaintexture of yarn or a certain
type of crochet hook, we sort ofpick our favorites and we stick
with them.
And it's more of an expressionof ourself as a crafter.
And I feel like this isprobably going to give us just a
new set of things to beinspired by and a new way to
(23:05):
express ourself, especially forthose people who have been
following you for a long time,the fans of your patterns, fans
of what you're doing, and justoverall like Jessica fans, they
already relate to you.
And now you've createdsomething for them that truly is
an expression of yourself.
I think that is really, reallycool.
Jessica (23:26):
Thank you.
I'm I'm really proud of it andexactly like you said, you know
Choosing our materials andchoosing our tools It's it's
more than just sitting down andworking up something.
It's you know It's a verypersonal experience.
Even if we are creatingsomething for someone else It's
us who are sitting down with theyarn running through our
(23:46):
fingers working each individualstitch, you know taking the
hours and hours that it may taketo create these projects and
that time invested should besomething that's meaningful to
you and that you feel excitedabout and proud of and more than
just creating things to createsomething it's it's to be able
(24:07):
to turn it into an experience issomething that i that's why i
crochet is because it is sopersonal for me and to be able
to use products that you knowall of the colorways and even
the the colorway names likeEvery aspect of each, every
little detail of every singleproduct, I was able to help
(24:32):
shift and edit and say, no, Idon't like that or no, it
wouldn't be used like that.
So having it be like this isimportant.
And it's the whole collectionis just literally everything
that I feel is needed in ourindustry to let others know want
to crochet and want to be partof this industry because again
(24:54):
it's not just something cool onthe instagram anymore it's it's
it's a very personal craft thattakes time to learn it takes
time to do and we should be ableto use materials and tools and
accessories that help you knowex whatever the word is i'm
(25:14):
trying to look for but It's alla personal experience and to
have things that share that bitsof ourselves in different ways
that we haven't been able tohave before is just literally
why I am so happy that we wereable to do this.
Brittany (25:31):
Yeah, and it seems so crazy to think that something
like this hasn't alreadyhappened before.
I'm like so thrilled for youthat you were able to do this
and that you powered through allof the, I'm sure, hard times
hard times that came withsomething of this magnitude.
But like I said, I think itreally just takes it full circle
(25:52):
and you definitely come acrossas somebody who is very
intentional in what you do andwhat you create and what you
say.
And I know this is in a way anextension of that.
Creating a project and beingmore intentional about it is
something I am trying to do moreof this year.
(26:13):
Now previously, I would createanything, anything I wanted to
with any type of yarn that Iwanted to that stood out to me
at the moment.
And what I found was that Iwasn't always using the thing
that I completed or I didn'thave an outfit that coordinated
with the crazy wild scarf yarnthat I had picked out.
(26:37):
And I'm finding so much morepeace and enjoyment in the
craft, having some intentionbehind it.
And honestly, I didn't knowthat this was going on until I
really sat down and thoughtabout it.
And it wasn't even me justsaying, aha, this is why I'm
feeling a little bit worn down.
(26:59):
It was hearing somebody elsesay that they're applying...
more intentionality into theirlife that made me sit down and
think about why somebody wouldsay that first of all, because I
find it really interesting.
I like the way people think andthe way they plan and how they
find motivation and that sort ofthing.
But when I thought about it formyself, I thought, oh, I really
(27:21):
need to apply more intention tomy projects.
And I feel like this issomething that you've always
done really well.
So for the person who might bein a similar situation where
they're just feeling likethey're not inspired by what
they have either started, likesay they're mid-project, they've
(27:42):
been working so many hours onsomething and they're just not
feeling inspired by it anymore,or they've just finished a big
project that they've spent weeksor months completing and it's
just not speaking to them likeit once did can you speak to how
you come up with a project idealike the intention behind it
(28:03):
and what fuels you through allof that hard all of that time
that you put into creating thatproject
Jessica (28:13):
yeah I so I've been there I mean I just actually
finished up writing my um myfirst book which is full of
crochet projects and uh to justsit and be super excited about
something for so long and thenit takes you know a long time or
you have other things to focuson or just the fire just dims
(28:33):
it's it's really hard to getback onto it but sitting down
and reminding yourself like wellwhy like why do I love this
craft?
Like, why has this beensomething that I've held on to?
And whether you're mid-project,you know, you can set that down
and just take a break from itfor a little bit.
Or just trying to rein in a newfocus of why and what you're
(28:57):
doing.
Because, again, it's verypersonal.
And, you know, even if we'redoing things for other people,
it's our time spent.
And if we're not doing thingsor creating things that make us
feel fulfilled.
I mean, at the end of the day,what is the point?
(29:18):
Because it's our time that wespent, no one else's.
And I just want to be proud ofmyself in each day and feel
like, all right, I did somethingthat makes me feel excited to
do it again tomorrow.
And, you know, when creatingnew projects, it's thinking
about, well, what kinds ofthings would I want to make?
(29:41):
Like what kinds of things do Iwant to wear or have or use?
And a lot of the times thatgoes bigger or deeper than the
final product.
It goes into, all right, well,I'm very, very textural based.
Again, why we created thepassport is because I love
(30:02):
journaling, but there's justsomething about textures that
just feed me.
And so thinking about projectlike oh well I want to make a
beanie but all right well whatkind of beanie am I making like
what kind of yarn am I going toyou know do I want to use in
this moment today do I want touse something that's very
squishy do I want to use a jumbodo I want to use something
(30:25):
that's small where I can makeyou know awesome detail with
like it just depends on sittingdown and having that discussion
with myself like what is it thatI want to do in this moment and
setting myself up to reachingthat goal of speaking to my
inner self and doing the thingsthat just, again,
(30:47):
intentionality, just that makethose hours spent worth it.
And, you know, I've worked onprojects that I do lose steam
on.
And, you know, I mean, ithappens to all of us.
And all that is, is, you know,taking a step back and maybe
taking a break from or changingup your idea entirely and just
saying, you know what, this isthe wrong yarn for this project,
(31:09):
or I need to change my hooksize, or I just need to
completely change my whole ideaof what it is that I wanted to
make in the first place so thatI can, at the end of the day,
feel like I did something formore than just someone else,
that I did something that madethe hours invested, something
(31:29):
that can further me in my ownmaking journey because again
it's just it's it's me that'sdoing it and everyone else just
gets to have the things that ispent hours on and so i don't
want to just sit and waste myhours for the sake of somebody
else's enjoyment because it'swe're all humans behind the
(31:50):
screens and we matter and umfeeling connected to your
projects is incredibly importantto me
Brittany (31:58):
Yeah.
I always say that time is ourmost valuable resource.
And I am the same as you.
I really put a lot of focus onhow I'm spending my time.
And I like to do a lot of selfchecks to figure out if the way
I'm spending my time right nowis just as valuable to me as it
(32:20):
was maybe a week ago when Istarted this.
And it doesn't necessarily haveto be projects.
I mean, this could be anyaspect of a maker business.
If you put your resources intostarting something new, maybe
you want to start a blog, you'reputting some time into writing
the blog posts, that time has todo something for you.
And I think for us as makers,it does even more for us because
(32:45):
not only does it give us theopportunity to to enjoy ourself
more and what we're creating.
It also gives us theopportunity to share something
with others, maybe share someknowledge, share a pattern,
share some inspiration.
But it can also go into therealm of physically giving
(33:09):
something to someone else.
And I think that's just reallywhat's so cool about this craft
and why I like to advocate forit so much and help people to
learn the craft so that they cansort of spread this around the
community.
I think the feeling that we getwhen we do these things, and
I'm sure you could agree withthis, is just why I do what I
(33:31):
do.
It's why it feels like mypurpose right now.
Jessica (33:36):
Yes, yes.
No.
And I speaking more on that,it's for me through all of, you
know, even before it when it wasjust a personal brand through
now to where it's become, youknow, a legitimate business.
I've learned so much aboutmyself.
I've learned new things about,you know, I, I, I've never, I,
(33:57):
you know, funny story is Iactually submitted a proposal to
Joanne stores several years agofor my own yarn brand, but I,
you know, I, no one, no one, youdon't know what you don't know.
And, you know, they said, youknow, well, we, you need to work
with the manufacturer and blah,blah, blah.
But, you know, years ago, I'mlike, I don't know how to do
that.
And so I let it go and just letthat a dream just fester in me,
(34:20):
but it didn't, I didn't knowwhere to go with it.
And so, you know, you learnmore, the more you let yourself
learn more and you have moreexperiences and you build on
your foundation and build andbuild and, you know, you are
willing to talk with otherpeople and to risk being told no
(34:41):
and to just putting yourselfout there in your dreams,
letting them have space to atleast, have the opportunity to
flourish um and i've learned somuch so much about myself
through all of these processesthat it's it all i mean i don't
(35:02):
have i don't have an endingstatement on that but it's just
like i'm just so proud to beable to be a maker because at
the end of the day i havelearned that i am fully capable
of doing anything that i set mymind to and i've never thought
that, you know, any of my big,crazy, insane dreams were ever
(35:23):
too big to ever happen.
It's, you know, I'm like, oh,well, that would be really cool
if this could happen.
And then it's, you know,thinking down the road, like,
well, what, what things can I dothat kind of get me closer to
that, even though I don't knowhow to get there?
How can I, you know, is thisdecision that I want to say yes
or no to?
Is that something that willbring me around and make it take
(35:45):
longer or maybe notnecessarily?
I don't know.
It's so personal.
Brittany (35:49):
I'm sitting here thinking, it reminds me of a
quote I recently found and Ilove it so much.
I have it on my computer screenso I can look at it every day.
And it's from Picasso.
He says, everything you canimagine is real.
And I believe thatwholeheartedly.
Anytime I have an idea, I liketo sit on it for a little while
(36:13):
to make sure that it's asexciting today as it was maybe a
week ago or a week from now ora month from now.
Sometimes ideas take a littlebit more time to develop,
especially bigger ones likethis, like the idea of
submitting a proposal for aproduct line.
That's a pretty big deal.
Once you have that self-checkand you know that, yes, this is
(36:36):
absolutely something that lightsme up, that gets me really
excited, that makes me feel likeI have a purpose in the
community, make it happen.
Just do whatever it takes tomake that happen.
For you, it was emailingsomebody that you...
maybe didn't have contact withbefore.
And yeah, you didn't know thedetails.
(36:57):
Like you said, you don't knowwhat you don't know.
I like to say that as well,because it's so true.
Often I feel a little sort offrustrated by the fact that you
don't know what you don't know,because it's not comfortable to
send an email to a brand or abusiness and Present to them
(37:17):
that you don't know something.
You know, it feels icky.
It doesn't feel great.
But it's totally human.
And it really is the firststep.
Now, it depends on what theidea is.
Let's say you want to write abook.
Well, the first step is, ofcourse, to come up with the book
idea.
But just email some publishers.
And you might have a contact.
(37:39):
You might not.
You might have to send a bunchof cold emails.
But...
That really is the first stepto building something like that.
Yeah, for
Jessica (37:49):
sure.
I mean, I feel like– so Ididn't– how I was able to send
in this proposal was– Jen Evans,she's been my main assistant
since January 2017.
She's worked with me in so manydifferent ways.
But she also works as themarketing specialist for the
(38:10):
Heidi Swapp brand, which is apaper crafting brand owned by
American Crafts.
And she's worked with Heidi forseveral years, I believe.
Don't quote me on this.
Jen, don't get mad if this iswrong.
But I mean, I believe thatshe's been working with Heidi
for about eight years.
So she's already been able toand she's worked also with, you
(38:31):
know, Craft Warehouse, which isan independent craft store.
She's done so many differentthings in other aspects of the
craft industry.
And I had this idea knowingthat she has experience in paper
crafting.
You know, again, my my firstvision was to create the yarn
passport.
And it was just something thatI personally really thought
would be so cool to be able tohave for myself and to be able
(38:55):
to share that with othersbecause, you know, we receive
all these yarns and materialsand fibers and textures that,
you know, we just sit on becausewe don't want to use it because
once we use it, it's used.
But this way we have a memoryof it and like tell the story of
how where it came from, all thethings.
So I had talked to Jen, youknow, hey, I'm If I wanted to
(39:17):
create this product, how can Ido this myself?
And so she was telling me, youknow, typically it's done this
way and this way and this way,but it's going to be expensive.
And I don't I definitely do nothave the kinds of funds that
were necessary to make thishappen.
And so I, again, just droppedit and let the dream go because
(39:39):
I was unable to pursue it in theway that it typically is done.
And then a week or so later,maybe less, I don't can't
remember, but she had offered toput her name on the line and
say, hey, tell her boss atAmerican Crafts that I had this
idea for a product.
(39:59):
And I asked her boss if I couldsend in a proposal.
And so her boss eventually saidyes.
And which I about peed my pantswhen I heard that.
Yeah.
I spent a good week trying tofigure out, well, what the heck
is the proposal?
How do you write one?
What do you include?
What, I mean, what, I mean,again, you don't know what you
(40:21):
don't know.
And so I've spent so much timetalking to Jen and trying to
research, like, how do I do thisin a way that's professional?
Because this is a company that,you know, knows what they're
doing.
They are, they create suchincredible products.
And I was, I just really wouldbe so proud to work with them.
And, um, literally, I don'tbelieve that any other company
would be able to do what we wereable to do.
(40:43):
And after a week of working onit and, you know, trying at
least my best of what I feltlike it should be, I submitted
it and it took a month to hearback.
And eventually I did.
And I, it was as if the skiesjust opened and I could not
believe that, you know, ifyou're willing to just put
(41:04):
yourself on the line and dothings that you're uncomfortable
with and just again followwherever it is that your heart
is telling you that you reallyshould invest or try to tap into
here because creating productsthat speak to consumers like me,
like today's consumers, it wassomething that I really, really,
(41:28):
really wanted to do and Tofinally be able to do that with
literally the most ideal team ofpeople was just...
I sat and cried for so longbecause I was so grateful and so
happy.
Like you said, it was so muchhard work and it was so much
time and so...
(41:50):
Just, you know, again, I don'teven know how to make products.
I don't know what the rightanswers are in a lot of things.
And, you know, it's it's allright, Jessica.
Well, we've never worked in thefiber industry.
You know, we're going to.
let you kind of take control onthis which puts so much
pressure but you know beingwilling to stand up in that fear
as opposed to just revertingand being like oh indecisive I
(42:12):
had to learn how to dig deepinside of myself and what the
things were you know decide formyself the things that were
important and the things thatyou know I wanted to see and you
know how I my vision for thecommunity itself and the
longevity of the communitybecause you know i don't want
craft stores to be closing inthe next however many years like
(42:33):
you know we see all thesestores closing but i don't feel
that craft stores or anything issomething that should be
dismissed it's it's so it can beso healing and therapeutic for
so many people just to be ableto create with their hands and
so thinking about the longevityof the industry i just felt you
(42:54):
know what if I have everythingto lose I have everything to
lose and I'm gonna put it allout there and I'm gonna do my
best and this is what we came upwith and I couldn't be more
proud of every single thing thatwe have like oh my word I am so
excited for you to seeeverything I feel like it does
an amazing job of expressing whoI am and who I am as a maker
(43:17):
and who you know what the gistof things that I hear from the
community and I feel like thewhole collection itself is just
a whole brand new breath offresh air to an industry that
kind of hasn't had theopportunity for refreshing,
refreshment, whatever.
I'm just so proud that I wasable to feel uncomfortable for a
(43:46):
season of time to do these big,big things.
Brittany (43:51):
Yeah, I think the resounding message here is
really just to let your fearempower you and not hold you
back.
That's what it sounds like tome that you did.
You kicked fear in the face andyou said, hey, this is what I
want to do because this is whatI believe the industry needs.
And I mean, kudos to you formaking it happen, for powering
(44:14):
through all of those anxieties.
And I'm sure like, oh gosh,just, nervous situations.
I can't even imagine howuncomfortable a lot of that was,
but I'm really excited for you.
I'm excited to see these thingsand get them in my hands so I
can really relate thisconversation to that.
(44:36):
I know that I won't bedisappointed in any way, shape,
or form.
And I would love to end onwhere somebody can find this
stuff.
Now you mentioned it will beavailable in Joann's.
Can you give me a little moredetail about when somebody might
expect it?
I know sometimes some locationswill have certain things and
(44:57):
others won't.
And maybe if their locationdoesn't have it, is there
somewhere they can find itonline and that sort of thing?
Jessica (45:04):
Yes.
So it will be available inselect Joann's stores.
They will have it available ontheir website as well for online
purchases if it's not availablein a store near them.
That was incredibly importantto me that it was accessible to
anybody, that even if theyweren't able to go into their
(45:28):
local store and see it there,that they had access to be able
to purchase it.
So I definitely made sure thatthat was available to everyone.
So you'll be able to find astore list on my website.
I'll have a blog post showingall of the different products
that we came out with.
And then it'll also list outthe specific stores that it will
(45:49):
be available in real life.
Brittany (45:53):
Wonderful.
Okay.
I'll have a link to that postin the show notes.
So if you're listening, justhead over to the show notes page
for this episode and I willhave it there so you can check
that out.
And I'm sure you'll have somepictures on your Instagram feed
as well.
For somebody who doesn't knowwho you are, what's your
Instagram handle?
Jessica (46:12):
My Instagram is the.hook.nook.
And by this point, I've gotseveral little sneak peek
teasers up.
And yeah, I can't wait for youto see it.
Brittany (46:25):
I can't wait either.
I am so excited for you.
This was such an inspirationalconversation.
I know the really, like I said,the big takeaway here is just
to kick fear in the face.
Use that as your motivatorbecause typically, at least it's
always been true for me, if Igo into a situation and I feel a
little bit scared, Oh, yes,absolutely.
(46:52):
Yes.
Okay.
Well, Jessica, this has beenamazing.
Thank you so much again for thehonor to be able to share this
with the world for the firsttime, being the first person to
(47:15):
hear about it.
And I'm just thrilled to haveyou here on the show.
I'm so excited for you.
I'm so excited for what you'redoing in this industry and keep
rocking it, girl.
Awesome.
Thank you so much, Brittany.
All right, that was Jessicafrom The Hook Nook.
Jessica, thank you so much.
It was such a pleasure to sharein this little secret with you,
(47:35):
even though it's not really asecret anymore.
It sure was a lot of fun tochat with you.
And I'm really glad that wewere able to share some of those
real life stories with thelisteners here, because I know
that it's going to help somebodyin some way, shape or form.
It doesn't matter what you'regoing through, what you're
trying to accomplish right now,whether it's craft related,
(47:57):
crochet related, businessrelated, or just anything life
related.
Kick fear in the face.
Go after whatever you want toaccomplish.
Make that goal your goal, yourpersonal mission to make it
happen.
Because let me tell you, if youdon't try and if you don't
believe, you'll never accomplishanything.
(48:20):
I also want to make sure thatyou're encouraged that just
because somebody else might havesomething, might have achieved
something, might have a certainnumber of followers or whatever
it might be, just know that thatperson is only a few steps
ahead because of the time,right?
They maybe have gotten into ita little sooner than you did, or
(48:44):
perhaps that person made thatthing their goal.
Just because you don't havesomething that somebody else
has, that really just means thatit wasn't a goal of yours.
Because I know goals can beaccomplished.
I know dreams can come true.
And Jessica's story is abeautiful representation of
(49:05):
that.
All right, here's the giveawaybecause I know that's what
you're super interested in rightnow.
So all of the HooknookCollection products are
wonderful.
As you heard in the podcast,now it's really hard to put a
picture to what you're hearing.
So what I would encourage youto do is head over to the show
notes page, bhooked.com slash142, and scroll down until you
(49:30):
see the links and resourcessection.
I've included a post toJessica's website where you can
have a look at all of theproducts in this collection.
When you're on that page, youcan also have a look at the
items that will be included inthis giveaway.
Now, Jessica and her assistantJen and American Crafts put
together this really greatassortment package of their
(49:55):
different products.
So here is what will beincluded in the giveaway.
One lucky listener of the BeHooked podcast will receive a
yarn passport, a six differentcrochet hooks.
We have a 19 millimeter goldcrochet hook, a 25 millimeter
ruby crochet hook, a 35millimeter topaz crochet hook,
(50:15):
and then we get down to our morestandard sizes, an I gold hook,
a K ruby hook, an N onyx hook.
So those are the six hooks thatyou can expect in this little
assortment, as well as somecloth project labels, gold
darning needles, gold stitchmarkers, metal pins, and gold
(50:38):
word brooches.
So those are the goodies, andhere's what you need to do to
get your entry in for thisgiveaway.
You'll head over to the shownotes page, behooked.com slash
142, scroll down until you seethe entry form right there in
the middle of the page, andyou'll need to submit your email
address and your name, ofcourse, that way I can contact
you if you are the winner.
(50:58):
And we do ask that theparticipants are located in the
continental U.S.
That is where our sponsors canship to, so I do appreciate
that.
And when you submit your entry,be certain to pay attention to
that page, to that entry form.
It's going to give you someopportunities to earn additional
(51:19):
entries.
This is a really good giveaway,so you want to make sure you
get as many entries as youpossibly can.
So you'll do things like...
Follow BeHooked on Facebook,Instagram, Twitter.
Of course, you know I'm tryingto grow Twitter and to show this
community the value in Twitter.
So you'll get some additionalentries for doing that, as well
as subscribing to my YouTubechannel, subscribing to the
(51:41):
podcast.
And you can find all of thedetails and how to do that on
that entry form after you submityour initial entry.
One lucky winner will beselected completely at random on
November 22nd and I willcontact them via email.
So make sure you're looking atyour email on November 22nd and
(52:05):
don't forget your spam folder.
My email might end up in thatspam folder, which wouldn't be
good.
If you're super email savvy,you can add my email address,
Brittany at BeHookedCrochet.comto your trusted email list.
And that way it won't land inyour spam folder.
But anyways, that winner willbe contacted by me via email.
(52:28):
I'll ask for your shippinginformation and I will forward
that on to the folks over atAmerican Crafts so they can get
your prize out to you as quicklyas possible.
Okay, good luck.
That'll wrap up today's episodeof the Be Hooked podcast.
Thank you so much for tuning inthis week.
I really do appreciate it.
And I'll see you next week.
Bye-bye.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.