Its now October and time to introduce our Designer of the Month. Please say hello to Rosemary.
Hello Rosemary and welcome to the blog. Thank you for agreeing to be my Designer of the Month. Tell us a bit about yourself - what do you do?
Rosemary:
Hi Mo. Thank you so much for having me here. It am so delighted that you asked me. My name is Rosemary Hill, I live in Waterville, County Kerry. I love to crochet and one of my other hobbies is beach combing - I like to combine the two passions, and often bring my crochet to the beach with me and pass a couple of hours enjoying the peace and quiet.
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| One of my favourite places to work |
How did you get involved with your craft?
Rosemary:
I only learnt how to crochet about four years ago and after a few initial wobbles I kind of took to it
like a duck to water and haven't looked back since. My good friend Carrie
(from CherryBlossomTattoo) encouraged me to open an Etsy shop and it really took off too! In the last year or so I've branched out
and as well as my crochet accessories it now includes pretty beach stones in tiny crochet bags, and more
recently 'treasures' such as pieces of sea glass (or mermaid's tears) and teeny
tiny sea shells in little glass vials.
Mo:
Describe a typical day
Rosemary:
A typical day would be .... crochet crochet and
more crochet! If the weather's suitable then I head to one of our local beaches
with my bag, camera and whatever I'm working on at the time. I always try to
remember my camera, as you never know what you'll find, and of course the
scenery here is just out of this world. In the last few months I've had some
greetings cards printed with my photos and have these for sale in my Etsy shop
as well. From March til October you will find me working on the Valentia Island
car ferry but we close down for the winter months and it's then that I fully
concentrate on my crochet.
Mo:
You have developed your shop since you opened it from accessories to now beautiful cards, do you have any future ambitions or plans that we can look forward to?
Rosemary:
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| Crocodile Stitch Fingerless Mitts - my favourite stitch pattern |
You have developed your shop since you opened it from accessories to now beautiful cards, do you have any future ambitions or plans that we can look forward to?
Rosemary:
I was so thrilled to reach my
goal of 400 sales on Etsy recently, I guess my next 'goal' is to make 500 sales
there - though I don't tend to focus that much on goals; I like it when things
just 'happen'. This year a local shop has started selling my items, which I'm
very proud of, I'm still so flattered that they asked me - and it's been quite
successful so far.
Mo:
Are there any other designers or bloggers that you follow that inspire you?
Rosemary:
My good friend Carrie has been my Etsy guru, here is her shop cherryblossomtattoo and she has a
lovely sewing/crafty shop on Etsy too.
ChoColettes have the amazing chocolate shop
in Cahirciveen and they sell some of my bits and pieces ChoColettes
My very good friend Shirley
has an Etsy shop too SASSISOCKS and I love to see what she's making next -- she makes the best socks and I love
her choice of colours/yarns.
Mo:
Do you have any advice for new crafters?
Rosemary:
My advice for new crafters
would be just go for it! I would have never imagined that I would be selling on
somewhere like Etsy and have had customers from all over the world but if you
don't try then you never know what's possible. Don't be afraid to try on-line
selling or craft fairs etc.; I've had great advice from the EtsyIreland team so
would suggest that anyone who is thinking about setting up a shop on Etsy joins
some of the great teams on there.
Mo:
Good advice. Now where can we find you?
Rosemary:
My Etsy shop - selkiecrochet
Facebook - SelkiesCrochet and a new one for the beachcombing - Kerrybeachcombing
Blog - selkiecrochet.blogspot -- I really write it for myself so that I can kind of look back and see how I'm doing, but everyone is welcome to have a peek too!
Well Rosemary, thats about it. It has been so good to talk to you. Thanks again for taking part and I wish you loads of success in the future - I am sure it wont be too long before you hit the 500 sales.
Rosemary:
Thanks so much Mo. I am so happy to have been chatting to you. Big wave to you all for Kerry.
Well that is for October. Dont forget to go and have a look at Rosemary's shops and share the love. Best of luck to you all as you continue with the prep for the Christmas season coming down the road to us all. May all the sales fairies be with you for a successful season ahead.
Bye for now
Mo
huggleknits and ansiopsbeag
