Meet Melissa Oswald and Nicole Ball | Crochet Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Melissa Oswald and Nicole Ball and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Melissa and Nicole, what habits do you feel play an important role in your life?
Nicole: 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.

Melissa: Because we are instructors in our careers, I think it helps us be able to write instructions that are clear and step by step. For more advanced crocheters/knitters that may not be as important, but it is really helpful for beginners.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Because there are two of us, we can combine our talents 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, making sure inventory counts are up-to-date, filling out tax forms) and Nicole is great at pushing Melissa to try new things and creating custom pieces. We were friends long before we started the business together and really know each other’s weaknesses and strengths and know how to talk to each other when tough things need to be said.

We’ve learned that you don’t always need to have everything figured out before you start a business. Sometimes it’s okay to learn things as you go. In addition, we’ve learned that your business idea doesn’t always have to profitable. If you like what you do and have fun, it doesn’t matter if we can’t focus all our time on it. We spend times on things we love and one of those things is creating stuffed animals and crochet patterns.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
The Dallas metroplex has so many great restaurants, breweries, and overall fun places to visit. – Downtown McKinney is full of boutique shops and has great restaurants (like Cadillac Pizza, Square Burger, El Mejor) and always has cool events going on (like the St. Patrick’s Day Beer Walk, Home for the Holidays)
– BBQ restaurants. No visit to Texas is complete without visiting some great BBQ spots (Tender, Hurtados, Hutchins)
– Mexican restaurants. Tex-Mex at it’s finest (Senor Locos, Petras, Lupes, Las Ranitas, Fuel City)
– Breweries. Craft breweries have taken over the world, some of our favorites include 903, Peticolas, Martin House, Revolver, and the Cidercade)
– Museums (Dallas Museum of Art, Perot Museum of Nature and Science, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Kimbell Art Museum, Sixth Floor Museum, Nasher Sculpture Garden)
– Outdoor concerts at Levitt Pavillion
– Zoos (Dallas Zoo, Ft Worth Zoo)
– Texas State Fair
– Ft Worth Stockyards
– Dallas Arboretum
– Downtown Grapevine and all the wineries

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Our friends and families have been a huge support, from buying our first products (when no one else would), to promoting them to their friends and colleagues, to supporting us when we did markets, to encouraging us in our endeavors, to putting up with us when we take our crochet/knitting projects everywhere. We could not have done this without them.

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