At the beginning of 2022 heading into my third year as a content creator, I thought I would try my hand at YouTube Shorts. I wanted to teach all the little steps to crochet in one-minute bite-size pieces. I like that you can watch it over and over and pause it if you need to. So as I tend to do all things, I just jumped right in and figured I would learn as I went. I called it the Crochet Stitch Minute. Knowing nothing about how to do this, I was determined to "Fail Forward" and just keep going till I got it.
At first, the picture and video quality wasn't great. But if I am not perfect, then I give my subscribers and group members permission to be not perfect with me. I feel like if we aren't afraid of failure but instead let it guide us to improvement, we can become masters at anything that inspires us to learn.
Then came the Magic Circle Heart Video
It really only takes maybe three minutes to make one of these hearts, but making this video taught me how to fit a lot of information into one tiny minute. I worried that it would be too fast for viewers, but at the time of this blog, almost one year later, it is the most viewed of all the Stitch Minute videos and is among the top three videos viewed daily. So I knew I was onto something. The link to the video is in the title above and also you can just click on the picture.
Once the basics were done, I got to get into appliques and fun stitches! By Spring, my picture and video quality was much better. It's amazing how long it takes to edit a one-minute video! But I was learning and so were my subscribers along with me so it was worth it.
I spent most of the Summer and the first part of Fall in Tennessee with my daughter. That trip lasted longer than we originally expected because I just didn't want to leave. So although I planned ahead and filmed all my Summer videos before I left, I edited and uploaded most of them while I was there.
Then, my favorite time of year came and I couldn't let it go without some fun. I set up a whole filming area at my daughter's house and created a number of videos while I was there. But this video and the one before it, gave me the excuse to do a whole bunch of magic circle applique videos themed for my favorite holiday and then use them in the full length videos too! Working smarter not harder!
Aren't they so cute?! And the ones with white on them glow in the dark! I even added spooky music to these Stitch Minutes and upgraded the thumbnails too. I would say these are a vast improvement from the beginning of the year.
After that batch I headed home, was able to make some Stitch Minutes that dabbled in Tunisian Crochet and finished the year with a Magic Snowflake.
Whew! 55 Stitch Minutes in one year! I had originally planned to do one per day, but thank goodness the members of my Facebook Group told me I was crazy and not to create so much stress in my life (seriously, what would I do without you?!). So I averaged a little over one per week along with 14 new full length videos for 2022. I'm calling it a win!
So what is coming up? This blog for one. I have been wanting to do this for years, but it just felt so overwhelming. This year I am tackling it! Soon you will hopefully see a post to go with each of my past and future videos that includes a written pattern and instructions! You may continue to see some stitch minute videos now and then too. Be sure to check out the full playlist and if there is something you would like to learn in One Minute that I haven't already covered, comment, send me a message or join my Facebook Group and let me know.
The large individual pictures above are clickable and take you directly to their corresponding video or there is also a link below them. For the rest, click on the link to the full playlist at the top and bottom of this post and scroll to the ones you like.
Thank you all for your loving support as I continue to just wing it and hope we all learn something in the process.
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