Sweetpeas, a pandemic, and running a crochet business

One of the strangest, and trickiest, things about running a business in this pandemic has been the not knowing. Not knowing how to respond, how long it will last, what everything will look like when we eventually emerge. Much like our so-called leaders, I'm making it all up as I go along.

I'm fortunate in that I have very little overheads. I don't employ other people, or hold stock that could go off, or rent premises that have suddenly become unaffordable. Our household doesn't rely on my income; That of my partner has remained stable and enough (what a luxury!).

Nevertheless, this Thing that I created over 4 years ago, which feels very much like an extension of my identity (and which has driven it, in some ways. Who knew that my Queer self would find room to peer out, shyly but very much THERE, from behind all the skeins of fluff??) - I didn't want it to disappear. Knowing what "it" was though, nevermind which direction to go in, was far harder to figure out.

I spent a good chunk of March painting frantically, bolted to my chair by severe anxiety. As one event after another was cancelled, as the commissions were retracted and the collaborations fell away, I started experimenting with making tool rolls. As though having something physical to sell might staunch the panic, this feeling that everything was trickling irretrievably through my hands. I realised I am not a professional sewist, and shelved the tools rolls.

I did carry on working on a couple of independent designs, without much conviction but just... Well I just did and did and did on autopilot, for what else was there to do. And all the while, Spring sprung like nothing had happened, until there were handfulls of sweetpeas but definitely no cucumbers.

Then in early May came an email that switched the light back on, as it were. There was mention of "curated content", "specially selected" and "exclusive discount" and for the life of me I couldn't see where the sender of said email was putting in any work at all. In the middle of SODDING PANDEMIC with thousands of people LOSING THEIR LIVELIHOODS. So that was a NO.

Instead, I finally did something I'd been (needlessly, for it was actually very easy) pondering for months: put in place an accessible pricing structure for my patterns. No more launch discounts, instead a maximum price that truly reflects all the work I put in, plus two permanently available discount codes that anyone can use, at any time. To coincide with the new pricing structure I released a new pattern, the Light Falls Shawl + Scarf, and it did well. It made me happy - the design, the collaboration with the yarn producer, how it was received. This is what "it" was. All along.

"It" has been long overdue a re-vamp, too. You know how it is with the Best of Intentions; I hit publish on the first draft of the Emmy + LIEN website four years to just get SOMETHING out there, and there of course it stayed. We still have boxes in the basement, un-unpacked, from when we moved house five years ago.

New logos, new webshop. More prominence for my illustrations alongside the crochet designs. I've got one new design and one re-release planned by the end of the year, and (PRAISE BE) I had a new commission confirmed this week too.

Within a month or so, I also hope to announce a new project that will see me paying forward the many, many priviliges I benefit from.

Stay tuned, and stay safe, dear ones.