Thoughts of 2014 and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Can you believe this year is almost done? It was one of those years that seemed to last forever and yet go by really fast. As it comes to a close I wanted to reflect on some of the things that have happened that made not only the Happy Hat Box possible but made this year what it was. 

First off some thanks!

•  I'd like to thank my DH (dear husband) for his patience in my long nights of no sleep, the yarn bits everywhere, and the days where not even dishes got done because I was in the midst of a project. 
• My cousin for her never-ending ball of green yarn that got me back in the yarn crafts. Also for taking the time out of her busy schedule to teach me the magic circle AND introducing me to Thecrochetcrowd.com (Awesome place, if you crochet and even knit, its a fun place to be.)
• My mother-in-law that bought me my first giant ball of yellow yarn that was the inspiration for making the first minion hats. 
• My friend at ThreeBdesigns for introducing me to the farmer's and crafter markets.
• My mother for teaching me crochet. 
• And my grandmother for being the voice in my head that says count Brie! Count! Otherwise you'll make another triangle and have to pick it apart again! 
• And Finally my customers who not only buy the hats but share their happy smiles with me once they get them. It really makes me super glad when I see them happily wearing their new hats! 

I think that covers everyone. If I missed you I am sorry but know that you are appreciated too for all of your parts in this discovery process. It's been a journey and I wouldn't have gotten here without the support of those around me and the designers who willingly let me use their patterns and pick their brains for help! 

And boy did I need help at times. I've made some mistakes and learned some lessons. Next year I'll do my best to make different mistakes and learn new lessons. Isn't that the whole idea of it? 

So far in this short time I've learned: 

• To be better organized
• To write down new patterns and pattern changes as I go instead of waiting until the end.
• To pay attention to what I'm doing
• And never let a project go out of my hands until 100% finished, clean, and prepped. 

That was 2014 in a fairly brief nutshell. 2015 will be a new and exciting year. I'm going into it positive and goal driven in the hopes that it will be better than last year. I spent much of 2014 sick and my personal goal is to continue getting healthy and making more and more healthy choices. 

I am not usually a New Years Resolution sort of gal. I always feel like they are setting yourself up for failure. But I don't think its a bad thing if they are goals, reachable goals, for the new year. And I've been thinking of what I could do to improve The Happy Hat Box and I've made some small changes and goals. 

1. Expand what I'm making. I love minion hats but I also want to try different projects and hopefully make them repeatable!
2. Design my logo and get all my paperwork made up and done. This is a very important step if I'm going to start doing more shows. 
3. Create a sign, an attractive but easy to set-up/tear down display, and all the parts and pieces for it
4. Finish/Fix store 
5. And most importantly, Blog more! So everyone knows what I'm up to.

Ok I think that's enough. If I add more I might get overwhelmed. So for now I'm going to continue my relaxation break into the New Year where I will start more of my goals!