Interview: Cherie Mellick
Cherie is a crochet designer and editor who cares deeply about helping to create great crochet patterns that amplify the designer's voice and confidence. She empowers designers by educating them through the design process, not just telling them what is wrong in their patterns, but guiding them like a mama bird would her chick.
Work with Cherie: https://sweetbirdcrochet.com/
Follow Cherie on IG: www.instagram.com/sweetbirdcrochet/
Let’s get into the interview!
(This interview was conducted by Sarah Walworth and has been edited for length and clarity.)
Let's just get it out of the way. Tell us about your business name!
My entire business is branded from my parrot. Her name is Kalani. She is a violet Indian ringneck, and I call her Sweet Bird, but she's more of like a Sour Patch bird. She can be sweet, but then during mating season she is very mean. It is that season and so she has just been real screaming very loud.
So, Sassy Bird Crochet! Tell us, what were you doing before you became a crochet technical editor?
I was working with special needs kids in the school system as an educator for 14 years. That's why I love the educating aspect of my business, because truly at heart, that's who I am. I'm a teacher. But the administration was very difficult to deal with, and I wanted to resign and stay home. Over 18 months, I paid off $35,000 in debt and I put in my resignation. I wanted to find something that I could do from home, so I started designing and selling patterns. But as we all know, you can't make a sustainable income off of just designing and selling patterns unless you went viral or something like that. But for the rest of us, we have to work at it.
I knew that I needed to add in that extra stream of income. I think I had seen a post from Melissa Metzbower talking about crochet tech editors, and I'm like, okay, I'm a total pattern nerd. I love this kind of stuff. Why not? And so, I took the course, and I have not looked back. I absolutely love tech editing.
What made you decide to become a technical editor? Like, there's other ways to work in the yarn industry besides design. You could create pieces to sell, or you could teach crochet. Why technical editing?
25 or 30 years ago, my friend tried to teach me to crochet, and I had no idea what she was talking about, so I put the yarn and hook away for a year. Later I was cleaning out my closet and I found them. I was like, okay, let me just print out a pattern and see if I could do this thing. And I did! I don't know what it was, but something in my brain clicked, and I knew how to crochet.
Looking at the pattern, it was just so familiar with the. The terms and the abbreviations and all that, and I had never learned them. I just became this pattern nerd, always finding errors and different things in patterns. And then when I had seen that this is a thing I could get paid for. I already loved finding those different errors in books and magazines. I'm like, hey, why not?
What's your workspace like? I see that pretty cool shelf behind you that you. That's pretty neat.
We actually just got done building that. I really wanted a place where I can just put stuff to decorate. I love collecting little things. I have toys all over my desk. Anytime I'm on the phone or in a meeting, you may not see my hands, but I'm down here fiddling with my toys.
I wanted a space that I could put my hand-dyed yarn because it's so pretty, and then some of my books and stuff like that. This has been like a dream in the making -- I love coming in here during the evening. And I have my little yellow light that's kind of like the evening sunshine, and I just have it dark and peaceful. And my husband's like, are you going to stop working? I'm like, I'm not working. I'm just sitting in here.
I used to have my office in one corner of my bedroom, it was like always on my mind because I was always seeing my computer. But now on Friday, I do all my end of the week wrap up and I turn everything off. I close that door and I don't come in here usually during the weekends. It's been nice to shut things off.
What has been the hardest part of tech editing for you?
Honestly, when designers don't take my suggestions, when I know my suggestions are right. I'm really just kind of a control freak and a perfectionist, that just is my mental frustration. But that's just me, and it may not be their style to have it the way I think looks best.
Networking and finding clients is frustrating, especially in the crochet industry. A lot of designers don't know that technical editing is even a thing. Is it like that with knitting, too?
It was 10 years ago, but it's less so now. I think crochet is a little bit behind that way.
Crochet designers, I think, are learning. Technical editing is such an important part of the publishing process. And that's why I chose to put that educational aspect into my work, because there's not a lot of those resources out there for crochet designers, like there is in the knitting community. It almost seems like, oh, I want to design a knitting pattern. Okay, this is the process: I'm going to send it to my tech editor and then have it tested. Whereas in crochet, they're like, tech editor? What's a tech editor?
I'm like, you're writing technical copy. You're really doing the disservice to your design because it's just so beautiful, and you don't want to have an ugly pattern. Or a pattern that's got a lot of mistakes, and then your maker's going to be frustrated, which to me equals an ugly pattern.
What references and tools do you find yourself always reaching for in your work?
Well, for one, The Tech Editor Hub has been my biggest resource. It has been such a game changer for me because if I am ever stuck anywhere or I can't figure something out or maybe I just need to vent or connect with someone, it's all right there. And I have people that will validate my frustration.
The other thing is I'm a really an older generation. Like, I'm an old soul, even though, you know, I'm almost 50, which I guess to some people would be an old soul, but I'm a paper and pencil kind of girl. I have notebooks upon notebooks of stitch diagrams because in my head, I can't visualize it when a designer might send me a shawl or something. I may see the picture, but I have to visually try to decipher what shape and then I have to draw it out to understand it. Because I just mentally cannot visualize things in my head. Even if they have the visuals in the pattern, like, a diagram or whatever, I still at some point will have to draw it out myself.
What's the best piece of wisdom you've heard or read lately?
A tech editor should not edit their own grading. Like, if you're going to grade a pattern, you should have someone else edit it because you can't check your own mistakes. Your brain is just so used to it. And I know that's an unpopular opinion, but when it comes to grading sweaters, we're going to collaborate with someone else. I actually collaborate with Carol; she does the grading and then I'll do the editing. It's been nice. We've worked on several projects together.
Collaboration for the win! Do you have any advice for editors who are just starting out? Like, if you could travel back in time to old Cherie and whisper some wisdom to yourself, what would you say?
I think I'd probably say to not give away your services for free all the time when you're first starting out. I know that a lot of new people will do that for a review. And I never did that because I want to get paid for my services and I want people to take me very seriously right from the start.
Also, set up systems. If I would have set up systems back then, I think that I would not have encountered so many frustrations in the whole process.
So, what kind of systems do you think have helped you the most?
I have email templates all written out for processes from inquiry to invoicing, so I'm not writing emails constantly because for the most part, it's what I say every single time, for those things.
And then in the actual editing workflow, I already know this is how I approach a pattern when I start an edit: I do these things and then I do those things. Having that checklist so I can confirm, yes, I did all of that.
What is something in your business that you're happy worked out differently than you expected?
Starting VA work.
Define first, what's a VA?
A VA is a virtual assistant; they will do work as an independent contractor. I'm independently hired by XYZ people, and I do back-end stuff for them. I have three clients right now that I work with, and I've worked with them for three years now. I edit their patterns, I post on their blog, I will create Pinterest pins. I do a lot of the stuff that they don't want to do that I don't even like doing for my own business. Would that be weird if I hired a VA? I'll do VA work for them and then I need someone to do VA work for me.
But yeah, I was pleasantly surprised that that has been the source of my constant income, that I can rely on. Then as editing jobs come in, I take those. Surprisingly, there are not a lot of dependable VAs in this community, so it is an untapped resource.
What is your favorite way to take a break from editing?
I love to go for long walks on the beach, but we have no beaches nearby. I love to sit outside. I love to do other projects. I'm teaching myself how to knit. I have been wanting to learn how to make socks and I have tried numerous times to make crochet socks, but I think knitting socks are better than crochet socks. Learning new things helps me just be a maker and not have to worry about designing or figuring out numbers or whatever. I love to paint.
I did not know that I was actually creative growing up in the home that I did. I had an alcoholic mother, which is not that wonderful of an experience. And so, I didn't know that I was creative until I had my son and I started writing and then I started painting and drawing. And I'm like, oh, I think I'm kind of creative. And then I learned how to crochet!
What are your hopes for yourself?
I think my biggest hope is that I could get to a point where I'm not having to work so much and I'm making more income. People think, oh, how are you going to do that? I'm figuring that out. I'm hoping that I will be able to get some things out there that can be a constant form of revenue. I would love for my husband to retire early and from my income to be able to sustain the household.
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Thank you for being here, dear tech editors! Leave a comment below (I read each one!) ~ Sarah Walworth