Welcome to the podcast jewelry is your side hustle with sugar gay is for today we have
a crochet maker like she's a world class pattern maker book writer. She has so many things to
share today about the art of using yarn and I'm so glad to have her today we're having Selena Baca.
Yay, we're so glad you're here and we know each other through the craft industry alliance which
is one of us we call it CIA. So if you are looking for a really great place to join and you're a yarn
person of any sort like there's all different kinds of this or or maybe any kind of craft maker we
want you to be in and we want to be a year friend. So take it away Selena and tell me about how's
your day and where are you let's start with that. Hi yeah I'm Selena Baca and I'm chiming in from
Central Oregon I live in Bend and yeah I've lived here I've lived all over the world but I've been
living here for coming on 11 years now. Well I think it's a pretty good craft area right like
people respect it there. Oh they totally do and in contrast before I moved here I lived in New Mexico
and people did not appreciate crochet in New Mexico because they don't wear scarves and
sweaters that much maybe they didn't understand it. I think it's quite a few things I think it's just
I think yeah they don't really you know wear the accessories but I think just as a craft
I just found people were not interested in it as a craft. Well your sweater is just mesmerizing
because that's one of my favorite colors arsenic green. Mine too I love this but I bought this in
a store I did not crochet this. You show a lie it's so good. I can't do that no actually I um fun
story about me I crochet so many different things and I actually have a stack right here that I cannot
show anyone yet so many of the things that I make I have to like mese like museum quality like put
them away because I need them to be photographed for something so it's like I can't enjoy them for
a really long time so I have to wear stuff from the store. Well I would have bought that
to me that's so good it's a great color. I'm glad you like it. Just that color just makes me so happy
every time you get color it makes me happy and I just posted something on my Facebook
Gaiusburg sugar Gaiusburg about this color because this color in the 1800s was actually
made with arsenic and it's a really great story that I posted I kind of like took some scripts
but it was about how they used it for wallpaper and it kind of made people insane and then the
insane people were told to stay home and don't do anything and stay in your room and it just made
them more insane. I was like oh that's the story about it yeah it was so good. I love historical
things like that. Yeah thank you I think it was like the Smithsonian or somewhere which is my favorite
go to. Anyway never mind me it's all about you. Take it away. Tell us about what are you doing
right now like where are you going with your crochet because it's quite the skill. Thank you.
I am I want to say I'm kind of coasting right now. I'm in a really good place where I'm coasting
because I started this particular business 15 years ago and I just worked myself to death
for a really long time to create the vision that I had back then which was online courses
which were different crochet patterns that could just kind of help people enjoy this craft.
I started all of this because I really wanted to assure that crochet was passed through the
generations in better hands than we found it and I feel like everything that I've done supports
that and now like I said I can just kind of coast. I can fine tune things. I have time to be on
podcasts and talk about crochet so right now it's a pretty good time for me. It's kind of about
the joy of it and also playing. I think that's where we as artists really get to like create in
our own little world if we're not thinking about oh I have to make this for a customer or I have to
make this for a book or I have to make it's for the joy of it that we get to create and that's
where our best selves come forward. Do you agree with that? I absolutely agree with that. I feel
like there are so many things in well I mean I crocheted because it was a hobby and I loved it
and it was fun. I didn't start crocheting because I was like I'm gonna turn this into a career.
So there are so many aspects about running a business especially when you're a solo entrepreneur
that are not fun and they do kind of suck the life out of you but they're like necessary evils
and I feel like there are still a lot of those things that I have to do but I've worked out
my business in a way that if I am doing something that is related to my craft and I don't love it
I really have to reconsider it. If I don't enjoy this how is someone else gonna enjoy this? Like
if I'm kind of trudging through something then how am I gonna how am I selling joy to someone else?
I'm not. So that really kind of guides me in terms of what I do where I am and how
you know how I present things to the crochet world. Where are your books available because I
know that you're famous but where are they? Tell us about that. I want to know. I seriously want
to know because I've done books too and you know it's published on Amazon and tell me about your
book journey because we're the same and I love that. So that's another little thing that we have
as friends is that we both have really taken that leap which is not so easy. Seriously. No it's not.
So I was self-published for a really long time and that was just on an individual level. I would
write a pattern and publish it myself and then after doing that for quite some time I wanted to
learn more and do more and I felt like getting a publisher could be a really good way to do that.
So I do have a publisher. I've been with them for I think this is 10 years this year.
What's your first publisher? Stackpole Books. And my books are available anywhere books are sold.
So if you can if you're at your local Joann's or Michael's or Barnes & Noble or if you buy books
online anywhere books are sold my books should be there and available too. Okay I saw one of the
names of the books and it was so cute. It was like crochet love and is that your like I don't know
what was it? Oh my tagline is peace love crochet. That's always I feel like when I'm you know that's
just like my motto and it's like my sign-off it's something that I say yeah. That's so funny because
mine is peace love and sugar. On every email that's my sign-off on every email everything I do
peace love and sugar. So we have another thing that's three things. We have a lot in common. I know
we've just met this is our first actual conversation but when I first heard you talk I was like I
we need to connect so when you when you had this opportunity I was like I'm signing up right now.
I'm so glad I'm so glad and not only that I'm just coveting that sweater that you've got on there
just make it make it. It is full length and it has pockets. That's great and it has this pattern on
the front and then. Oh nothing on the back but you could make a pattern for that you could you could
do that right like that would. I totally that's totally that's different thing crochet though.
It is yeah this is probably this is machine knit but there's so much about it that I really really
like and sometimes I'll do that sometimes I'll see some kind of fashion and I'm not about to be like
okay I'm gonna replicate this exactly but I'm like it is like this color's inspiration or wow I
like this neckline I don't see that a lot or I like this kind of like bobble stitch going on.
Is it a zipper on there? It's not it's just open front yeah. You know what I have now I have these
really big gold safety pins they're big they're like you know and I love it for my sweaters
like that so they don't flop open when I'm trying to like move around and they stay closed I got them
on Amazon big gold safety pins. I'm gonna look that up because that's exactly my thing. Oh my god it
was like I've been giving them I've been putting them in my packages when I mail when I you know
sell something I've been saying here here's a little fun thing for you they don't know what to use it
for but I do and I can think of a million things to use it for that definitely on the sweaters
because I got big boobs and they're always flying open so. You need some protection yeah. If you need
me to send you one I will. Oh that's so kind of you I actually I made myself a note I'm gonna go
look that up. Yeah well if you can't find it please circle back that's easy. Tell me about your Instagram
and how is being a content creator kind of changed you as an artist. Yeah so it's interesting that
you bring that up so another reason I joined the craft industry alliance is that they're doing a
mastermind right now for social media and I was like I'm gonna that's what that's where I want to
be I want to sign up for that um and we just had our first meeting today so we had this hour long
meeting about social media and where we've been and what we want to do and I actually cannot
stand Instagram it is my least favorite place to be I was on it 20 years ago not 20 probably like
16 years ago when I first started and I never felt like I fit in or I belonged it never felt
authentic I always felt like I had to fit this mold so I will say that do I have a presence on
Instagram yeah but I it like just hurts my feelings to even be there so in terms of social media
my favorite place to be is my very own Facebook groups and I have a group for American crochet
association and Selena Baca crochet and what I love about creating content specifically for those
groups is that I do have something really specific that I want to share and it's shared with people
who take courses from me who follow my patterns so I really love having a space where they can
ask me questions they can um share what they've done and that way we're all in this community
group together and it's not just me with a megaphone posting pretty pictures it's all of us doing
something with a common goal in mind I love that so make sure that you give me the links to both of
those so that everybody who's listening right now can follow her in on Facebook and they'll be posted
below now I started my mastermind group too with a nest which is the Tory Burch group which kind of
we just kind of started but it really is about these groups that we're forming that we're doing
online with other people they really are about accountability too because you're going to go oh
I I mean I really believe that you and I together we have two great brains but we're making one
really good brain and that we're working in synergy here and that is what the mastermind groups are
so mastermining is really important and I really believe in it and the people that are in my master
brain group you know they're really they're really helping and I know another friend we're all part
of this huge circle but she actually pays for a mentor a lot of money every week to hold her
accountable I'm like and she's gone really far I've really watched her zoom forward like it has
made a difference but it does make a difference if you have the ability to talk to people and
work out things or just be inspired and learn like one hour a week yeah it's easier than watching a
YouTube so yeah if you ever have any questions you should come to me and I'll help you if there's
anything in your mastermind group you're like what is this like because I got social media down like
oh so what else are you doing so are you going to go to h&h is that one of your shows or like
where do you sell your products besides Facebook anywhere tell me about that process yeah so Facebook
is more so it's a community cultivation it's where I can get people to know like and trust me
um it you know I I consider my Facebook group kind of like inviting people into my living room
so I just kind of host it with with that in mind I love that people can come in and they're not
just a number it's not just like a you know account it's you know it's actual conversation so that's
that's what I like most about that um h&h I went the first year and I was a speaker I had a few
different speaking events there really loved enjoyed the experience met up with people that I've
known in the industry for a really long time and made some new connections that's always great I
didn't feel like it was something that I could do every year and now this is what the fifth year that
they've been around and I'm not planning on going this year but I think that that's going to change
because my goal is again like I just want to assure crochet has passed through the generations
in better hands than we found it and I'm not the best or the greatest or the smartest um
but it's really fun to share my perspective and what I've created with people um what do I sell
I don't sell tangible think well outside my my publisher sells my books so that's really nice
anywhere books are sold but everything else that I do is e-commerce so I do have online courses so
anything that you want to learn in the crochet world I've created a course at the American
Crochet Association that way you can you can learn you can build your skills you can earn a
certificate to teach crochet you can build a crochet business you can write patterns
everything that I've learned I've put it together uh and then you just kind of thumbs up from the
computer it doesn't do that when it thinks you're doing that like is it one of those kind of things
like it's crazy that's crazy so um so they go on the American crochet association because long name
amazing results okay okay well that's good that's good have you thought about selling them on etsy
or anywhere else like how's that yeah so I do sell my patterns on etsy and then I do have some
templates that I sell on etsy um etsy is not one of my favorite places I feel like
uh I haven't quite figured out how to scale my enterprise there so I have a presence there um
but I find that I really just am laser focused on what works really well instead of having an
omnipresence you know I have platforms everywhere but where do I spend my time and check in every day
it's really just my Facebook group my community okay well I I think that is I think that's really
great for people to see because it is really easy to spread yourself thin and not have that it takes
up so much time like it sucks your time all of these yeah we're creating this free content for
these mega corporations yeah everybody engaged and it can be quite a bore and a chore so I'm glad
that you have those people on the interaction is is really an important part of the feedback
that you're getting on how you move forward right yes yeah that's right what's coming up
soon for you like what's the next thing on here besides okay you got a mastermind group and you're
in your Facebook group and you're creating things for your books came us oh I have a corgi healer
who has a lot of opinions especially while I'm chatting uh it's probably who you hear in the
background oh is it a boy or a girl boy his name is goose goose duck duck goose I got you hi goose
hey goose I missed you dog oh I love him he's great he's he's my buddy he's my my co-worker
is he wearing little sweaters you name him he will not allow any kind of clothing he absolutely
protest yeah no hats no booty no hats no booties no sweaters no he is not that kind of man
okay my husband won't wear my jewelry it's the same thing like seriously what's up with that I know
my husband's allergic to crochet he's not but he's like I can't it's too hot I can't wear that now
do you teach anywhere like locally where you are I do I volunteer locally uh so I've got a great local
yarn shop here and they have a fantastic community space what's the name give me a shout out let's hear
them fancy work yarn shop here in Bend Oregon uh I've met some fantastic people there we meet every
single week for the past year we've been meeting every Thursday from one to three and it's free I
just volunteer my time if people come with questions you know I'll kind of help them through things
but really it's just we get together and it's crochet fashion food friendship it's it's all of
those things it's great and and maybe some day drinking sometimes sometimes well we usually like
sometimes afterwards we'll go get dinner we'll go get like a little happy hour so yeah of course
because that is that is nice and it also it's supporting that whole your whole community there
because yes you're in Bend I don't know how big how big Bend is how big it's big yeah it's a big
little city oh okay now I have to say that I grew up on my grandmother's knee like learning how to
crochet and not knit but she did tatting or whatever and that really took me an embroidery
and that really took me in as an adult later I had some little bit of wire and some bees and I kind
of you know rethought about all that she taught me and I loved my grandmother so my first book
is dedicated to her because that was really the basis of starting jewelry for me so it's it has
such long legacy when we're teaching children you never know how it's going to come out how do you
feel about teaching children like or young people because it keeps their hands busy which is a really
and it's a really great skill to learn yeah I think I think absolutely I mean I learned how to
crochet when I was five years old and it was just something that stuck with me and the reason
I am even you know neck deep in this business now the reason my my driving force is to assure
crochet is passed through the generations in better hands than we found it is that in crochet
and I imagine this is true for a lot of different you know skills that are passed you know from one
person to another we're taught the way we were taught which isn't always a great foundation
you're not always passing along all the pieces or the terminology or the verbiage and so I think that
anyone who wants to learn crochet no matter what their age is I want to make sure that they can learn
or they have someone who can teach them that will give them the best foundation possible
I don't ever want anyone to walk into crochet have a lesson and go well this is just way too
hard I can't do this I don't ever want that to happen Elizabeth in our group and I'm not going
to say her name right right because I'm terrible with names but it starts with an O she has she was
in Africa and I would love for you to meet her she's a lovely person I've had her on my podcast
and she has a quest to teach 20,000 children in Africa so that they can have a skill keep
busy with their hands and it's not an expensive hobby or business and they can make things you
know little hats and whatever it does get cold there at night so um so that she and she's like
traveling all over Africa and I think if you had any extra yarn don't ever throw it away because um
oh I would never yeah I know you're never I would never throw a D away I would dig that B I
was a bead it was a B it was a B it was a B it was a swarski crystal bead I must have picked it up
out at my hand and thought don't let this go away and then there it was I'm like okay we're gonna
put that back on the table because on the hot exactly but it's the same thing with yarn right
like every little it's the mark of the maker right I think it it you know it's a good way to weed out
you know the non-believers if they don't if they don't keep all their little scraps and they are
not a good are they really a crocheter if they don't hoard yarn like I don't think they're an artist
I don't think I don't think they have any reason to be crocheting I give that yarn back to me
exactly exactly I also have other people that I've interviewed from our podcast from our group
CIA which make yarn and that's a fascinating process tell me about what yarn do you use
yeah so I like to for my own personal what what I do with my craft I love any kind of yarn I know
some people have very specific interests like I only use wool or natural fibers or you know I don't
use acrylic I really like to use all different kinds all weights from all backgrounds whenever I am
writing patterns for books and because these books are available anywhere books are sold
I want to make sure that when people pick up one of my books that they can find these yarns whenever
they go to a place where they buy yarn so lately I've really only been working with commercial
yarn companies where if you do walk into any kind of local store uh Joanne's Michael's
Walmart Hobby Lobby you're probably going to see one of those yarns on the shelf so it just
feels so much more accessible to you that's very important and we have somebody in our group that
only uses yarn from one breed of sheep like just that yes very specific location within her 50
mile range she only like wow that's really interesting yeah so we're good we're good so I get that like
there's a you know there's a whole need for that to have all different kinds of people using all
different kinds of yarn what are you working on right now I'm working on my next book I do a couple
a year with my publisher so I'm really I feel like we've had a good process for for producing things
um my next book I don't think I could really tell you about it that much right now but
here are the things right here so you could at least see some of the colors that I'm using
yeah so so I am almost finished with that book and then I have two more books I'm going to be
doing this year so this year is a little little hectic I'm doing three books are you doing all
your own photography and writing up all the steps yourself I do so my publisher allows me a lot of
creative input so I make all of my own samples I write all of my own patterns I have all of them
proofed and tech edited on my end of course they have a professional process as well but before it
even gets to them I want to make sure that it's as good as it can be and then I can pick my own
photographers so I've used a few different ones in the past just based on availability and then
I've even kind of taken some pictures myself although I'm not very good at it but I did
a little bit in the past so yeah I really love that I can have uh that much input in the entire
process of of every book that I put out I agree I took all the photos from my book and do you find
it your first book to now how much you've improved can you feel that every single thing that I do is
an improvement from the last every single thing I was just writing a pattern like I've written I have
published almost 500 patterns in my career so I'm saying that to say that I was just writing a pattern
for this next book and it occurred to me to do something different that I'd never done before
I'd never even considered doing before and it was such a simple thing that I was like oh so yes I
am always learning and growing and whatever I do today of course it can be better tomorrow but all
I can do is the best today yeah I look back on it on writing my first book I would get up at like
five in the morning and work I had a day job and then I would take the take the stuff there and on
my lunch break take the pictures and then run home and then we'll do some more and then do some more
and you know like it was just uh it was a fun happy creative time like I wish that somebody would
have put the brakes on me a little bit more and said wait a second like what are you making here
like this is I was just rolling with it I'm like so good I thought they would like cut some stuff
but they didn't so I was like oh okay well I guess I kind of I went down a rabbit hole but it was fun
and then I did another book and blah blah but you know it's like I don't work so I it is I understand
you know from my limited experience uh how how much work it is to create a book but it is your legacy
so yes I think that will be you know there with you at all times and it does give you
yeah that's social uh credibility just totally because you're an author like seriously like
don't you feel I think I think that you're right and I will say even though I have published a lot
of books I really put so much time and effort and I work with not only my own community but with my
publisher about what could be perceived as valuable I I don't ever want to just produce something just
to produce it I don't ever want to have quantity over quality so another thing that I really enjoy
about the books that I produce is that yeah I want people to see oh Selina's an author and here's what
she's done but I love that you can put anything that I do under a microscope and I hope that there's
some value and some sort of teaching element that will excite you and make you want to learn crochet
or will give you something that makes you feel like you have a craft that brings joy to your life so
yeah you're always learning something I bet too yeah oh yeah absolutely and I I love to have that
mindset um I love to have the mindset of I'm the leader of the learners in my space we're all learning
together and maybe I love that pass it on to you that's a great way to say it yeah I love to sit well
so many people and no shade but it's just not my mindset so many people say oh I'm an expert and I
whether or not I believe that about myself that that doesn't really connect or resonate with me I'd
rather just always feel like there's always something I can learn and because this is my profession
I have the time to learn things that if you want to do what I'm doing I'll show you what worked best for me
so when you are meeting someone for the very first time what how do you introduce yourself what do
you say to these people who you are because I bet they ask and they're like what I don't do what
I you know I see all of this is my job but I look at it as like it's there's not a separation
it is who I am like I am a crocheter so a lot of times I just tell people that oh yeah I have my own
business oh what do you do oh I crochet and if they're interested and they want to know more
I'll let them lead I never just pitch and say oh this is who I am and this is what I do and here's my
resume so I always start with I I'm an entrepreneur and if they're interested and they want to
hear more then I'll give them all kind of you know answer that specific question but I find it
very few people you know ask me more questions beyond that so I'll tell people exactly what they
want to know I guess is what I'm what I'm trying to say you're hiding it I think that you should like
say I'm a professional crocheter like no really I could drop like bam like here you go because
I think that it's interesting but I don't think it's the most interesting thing about myself
I'm actually far more interested in other people um I'm far more interested in what other people
like and what they do and so I think typically whenever I meet somebody new it's much more about
me getting to know them and if they're really very interested in getting to know me then
then yeah well we'll have that conversation but I will allow other people to lead it well this has
been a really great time with you today and I'm so glad that you've been on my podcast and thank you
for coming to me and being my new friend forever and I just so mean that like I am Selena I am not
being like verbose it's like forever if you're just like oh I need to like chat pick up the phone girl
I I never want anybody to cry alone or not think that we're not somebody's not here for them you're
in the car and you're like oh I got this really good news and I'll have anybody share it with
because sometimes I don't even my husband he's like I hear it I'm like okay okay I understand
you're overdone today because he comes home exhausted so yeah I don't have that so please know that
and I'm so glad that you've been on my podcast today and I hope that other people will follow you
on Facebook and buy your books and support you in every way possible and we want to know that we're
really proud of you and that you're doing a great job as an artist and please know that so
we're friends forever Selena and thank you oh that's lovely yeah it's for sure so our time
is winding up and I don't want to be cut off at the last second but you have one more thing to say
anything you want to say to your peeps out there I just want to say that crochet has been such a
joy in my life and I really love connecting with people and if that speaks to you then come and
follow along it's all about joy like that's every day needs to all be about joy so thank you very
much this has been Selena Baca and she is a extraordinary crochet or you can find her books
anywhere books her soul just look for her name the links will be down below and thank you for
listening to our podcast jewelry is your side hustle with sugar gay is for and it's great and growth
today so we're gonna like really grow with you today and we're so happy you're here thank you so
much for sharing this time with me and hallelujah we got it done