Who or What is JoSaSu? – JoSaSu Up Close and Personal

Hello, dear Crazypatterns fans!

Today I’d like to take a moment to introduce myself and share a little more about—what, why, and who… JoSaSu Design is :o)
I’ll start by telling you a bit about myself, because I imagine you might be interested in knowing who’s behind it all. So, I’m 45 years old and live with my family in Berlin. My four girls (27, 21, 19, and 5) are my pride and joy. That’s where it all starts, because JoSaSu is made up of the initials of my girls’ names—as I’ve often seen others do. JoSaSu is divided into Design and Amigurumiworld, with Amigurumiworld being the newest addition. I started out with my own ideas, but now I have a huge list of ideas from my girls—they literally bombard me with them. Sometimes one of the older girls sits down with me to “chat,” and while we’re talking—and I’m crocheting on the side—she’ll doodle on a piece of paper, and that sometimes results in the funniest little characters, which then end up on my bulletin board. Little Linus the monkey, for example, came about because my oldest daughter made me a grandma last December, and the little guy had so much black hair that to me he was immediately the little monkey. Of course, I didn’t have a specific character in mind until my daughter asked, “Can’t you crochet a little monkey for Linus?” Sure, that makes sense—and that’s how little Linus the monkey came to be ;o) That was just an example, though...

How long does it take me... hmm, that varies. If everything goes well from the start—meaning the figure looks exactly the way I want it to right away, based on my sketches and ideas—then about two weeks. As the previous commenters have already mentioned, I have to take a looooot of photos, edit them, and, of course, write up my notes in final form. But it rarely goes that smoothly. Most of the time, I need about 3–4 weeks for a character. There’s crocheting, taking notes, taking photos… No, not like that—unravel it, cross it out… crochet it again, take notes, take photos… It does happen that I have to unravel a part 5–6 times until it looks the way I want it to. Sometimes I also get totally stuck, meaning a figure I’ve started just sits here for a few weeks before I continue working on it. Right now, I only have three figures I’ve started :o/ One of them was my daughter’s idea, and she’s constantly asking, “What’s going on with my B.........” but hopefully I’ll get that one finished this year too ;o) The most time-consuming part is writing the patterns, editing the photos, and inserting them.

I’ve been crocheting since I was five, thanks to my grandmother. Unfortunately, this kind of thing isn’t offered in schools anymore, which I think is a real shame, because my girls aren’t interested in it at all—which is kind of sad. At markets, I’m often asked if I offer crochet classes, but unfortunately I don’t have the time for that yet. I’ve been crocheting amigurumi for about three years now, and I started writing my own patterns about two years ago.

Unlike many pattern writers here at Crazypatterns, I’ve registered my business. I have to say that as soon as you start selling, you have to register your business—whether as a primary or secondary business is something everyone has to decide for themselves. However, I didn’t register my business because of the patterns, but because of my sewing work for Josasu-Design. Yes, I also sew, and I’ve even published a few sewing e-books. I got into this after the birth of my youngest daughter, who was yet another much-wanted child and, so to speak, our little chick. Thanks to this little one, I started sewing and crocheting intensively again, so after my parental leave, I decided to turn my hobby into a career—and for me, it’s been the best decision to date. Before that, I worked for over 20 years as a financial accountant and assistant. A whole different world :o)

As I mentioned, I sew a lot—mostly commissioned work—and you can find me at various markets in Berlin. Of course, my finished figures come along with me there, and whenever I sell one of them, it almost breaks my heart. This is how I usually divide up my work: Crocheting in the mornings and evenings, and sewing during the day. That’s very practical because then I don’t annoy anyone with my sewing machine—crocheting is pretty quiet, after all ;o)

Now I hope I’ve been able to give you a little insight into who JoSaSu is and what she does. I know this is a lot of text, but this way you get to know me a little better—it’s not so anonymous. If you’d like, you can also read more personal stuff on my blog (which I really need to update again) http://josasu.blogspot.de/ or check out my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Josasu.de

If you have any questions, just ask :o)

Lots of love and creative greetings—Annett

I think that’s the nicest and most detailed introduction I’ve read in ages. :)
I find your new owl on the blog cute—she has such a sweet face.
I already admired your first owl a few days ago in the other thread over there.
I’m usually not a fan of owls at all, but these are just cute.

Greetings to Berlin :)