Meet Nicole Ball

We recently connected with Nicole Ball and have shared our conversation below.

Nicole, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.
Everyone has moments when they are super creative and moments when creativity fails them. I try my best to embrace the creative moments and do as much as I can in those times. When creativity fails, I always go back to the basics (learning a new technique, trying a new pattern, trying a new art) and it’s not long before creativity strikes again.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
When I first started crocheting amigurumi, I immediately fell in love. It was so fun to create something with life and personality. When I was making the animals, I would give them names and make up little stories in my head about what they would do in their lives. I made stuffed animals for everyone I know, including Melissa. She said something like this is so complicated and I replied, no it’s really easy… and that’s how Melissa got into amigurumi. Needless to say, we became addicted, and our spare rooms quickly turned into a “stuffed animal” room. My husband said something like, you need to get rid of these. The next day I told Melissa that we were opening an Etsy shop.
After Melissa and I opened our Etsy shop, we were bombarded with special requests to make things (especially around the holidays). We quickly figured out that our time was limited, and it wasn’t possible to make all the stuff people wanted. Around the same time, we had started playing with creating our own patterns. We quickly figured out that creating patterns and publishing them for others to make was a much more sustainable practice and a more efficient use of our time. Now we mostly design and sell our patterns, but occasionally make special requests for friends and family members.
Recently, we have expanded our business into test and sample knitting, tech editing for patterns, teaching classes, and knitting and crochet help. We love to do all the yarn things and are always willing to learn something new!

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Melissa and I are both very detail-oriented people. In our day jobs, we develop training for a software company, so we are quite versed with learning new things and explaining to others what we learned. Writing crochet patterns uses the same qualities. To design a pattern that looks like a person or animal, we sometimes need to learn new things. Then, we take these steps and explain them in a clear, concise fashion so others can repeat our steps. It also doesn’t hurt that we are both task-oriented, so once we start a project, we need to finish it. In addition, we work very well together and play to our strengths. Melissa is so organized and is great about handling all the important aspects of the business (like figuring out the technology, researching the tools we need to use, making sure I take inventory, filling out tax forms) and I’m good at pushing her to try new things 😊

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
As designers, we are always looking for yarn companies, yarn stores, or organizations in the yarn industry to collaborate with on our designs. As instructors, we are always looking for yarn stores, organizations in the yarn industry, and yarn conventions to help us share our love of knitting and crochet with others.
As tech editors and sample knitters, we are always looking for other independent designers to trust us with their creations, big or small.

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