Welcome! Grab yourself a nice big mug of your favorite roast, and pull up a chair. Today we’re chatting with Stacey Trock of FreshStitches!
New to Morning Coffee? Monday mornings we sit down with some of my favorite writers & creative people, and get to know a little bit about their blogs and why they do what they do.
Once in a while I also interview Polka Dot Cottage readers, so if you write a creative blog and would like to participate some future week, drop me a line and we’ll talk about it!
Ready for today’s interview? Let’s go 🙂
How I found FreshStitches
I would love to tell you when I first came across Stacey and her crochet blog, but I’ve been racking my brain, and I just can’t remember! I know it was some time after I started crocheting, and some time before I took her Craftsy Class. Suffice it to say it’s been a few years, and in that time, I’ve found her blog to be full of crochet tips as well as ideas for growing your own creative business.
Stacey’s specialty is amigurumi. She designs plush animals and monsters that I think are quite distinctive!
Q&A with Stacey Trock
It’s so nice to be chatting with Stacey this morning. Read on!
Welcome, Stacey! When and why did you start your blog?
I’ve been blogging since 2009. I had a website before I had a blog, and I felt very timid about beginning blogging. It seemed like there were already a bundle of craft blogs!
I had already been running FreshStitches (the website) for a year and a half, and I noticed that I was getting similar questions in email over and over again. That’s what really made me think, “I need to put this information up so everyone can read it!”
So, I really began my blog as a way to provide how-to information that would directly help customers crocheting my patterns… sort of like an FAQ section!
Has your blog evolved significantly since you began it, and if so, how?
My blog has changed significantly since then. Obviously, I still strive to provide information that my customers will find helpful, but as I’ve been blogging for years many topics have been covered!
Now, my blog is a combination of tutorials, fiber-related topics that I think my readers will find interesting and my personal project updates. I am pleased that readers follow my blog who aren’t even crocheters!
Over time, I have expanded the format as well. I now have added videos and podcasts in addition to the usual text + photo posts!
How does your blog fit in to your daily life?
I have a loose blog schedule that I follow. This allows me to include a combination of topics in a week (for example, no one wants to read 5 in-progress posts in a row!) and also gives me time to make steady progress on bigger posts (which may include knitting swatches or taking elaborate photos).
I find consistency to be important in blogging, so having a schedule also helps me to keep to regular posting.
I blog in the morning… no particular reason why!
Is blogging something you can easily explain to your family and friends?
That’s a tricky question! My friends and family know that I run a crochet website/company. They understand that I sell patterns and kits and that I post tutorials online.
Because my blog is just a part of my website, I’m not sure if everyone understands that my website has a static component (such as my pattern page) as well as a blog (which is updated frequently).
I’m pretty lucky, though…. my family at least mostly gets what I’m doing!
How important are reader comments to you?
Great question! I have two answers 🙂
First of all, I absolutely love reader comments. Without them, you feel like you’re pouring all this effort into the void with no one reading!
However, as much as I love comments, I think they have been decreasing in recent years. I think the nature of blogging is changing. Just as many readers will see a tweet and come by my blog post as will follow the traditional ‘rss feed’ route. I now find that I will get tweets, facebook comments and ravelry mentions in response to a blog post… which are all great by me!
In what ways has blogging enhanced your life, if any?
Without my blog, I have no doubt that FreshStitches would not be as successful as a company as it is today. My blog has provided a way for me to interact with an amazing group of people that I wouldn’t have otherwise met!
What do you think is the future of blogging?
Blogs are changing as social media evolves. I personally, find myself browsing twitter more often than I check into my RSS feed.
I see blogs becoming archives of amazing information. For example, I can tweet a post from last year, and give it new life. From that perspective, the goal of a blog in this changing environment is to create well-crafted posts that will endure, as compared to the ‘daily updates’ that conquered blogging a few years ago.
Thank you, Stacey, for taking the time to answer my questions and for allowing me to use your photos to illustrate our conversation. It’s been a pleasure!
