How a Choti Hooks idea comes to life
We have a great team at Choti Hooks made up of amazing women. Each has a special talent that when working together create a beautiful and fun item to add to our shop collection. I would like illustrate how a new item springs to life by walking you through how Talitha lamb came to be (#talithalamb). The idea: Every week we have an international call through Google Hangouts which is always re-energizing to me. One such meeting we were talking about how people really seem to love the bunnies--something about the large head! So I posed an idea to make another amigurumi animal. Maybe a lamb in time for my cousin's shower which had a "lil lamb" theme.
R&D: Holly, the every creative, sketched an idea and sent it over to me. Then she began working on a prototype (in the middle of teaching at A&M and 2 kids!) and by December we had a real life lamb in our hands. You may remember this guy from one of our Facebook posts.
We decided to name the lamb Talitha after my cousin's Stacy's baby that came in December. Talitha means "little girl" in the story of Jesus raising a little girl to life and we thought it would be a wonderful item to celebrate a new life!
The final design came over Spring break and we all fell in love with it. Smaller and more managable for a small child to hold with loads of sensory detail like bright colors, bobbles and tails.
Transfer: Now the fun part of recreating the design using the artisans in our team in Hosur, India. The ladies were making great progress with the help of Jocelyn and Grace Aunty's training and coaching. The bunnies were starting to look better and better. We thought the lamb would be more of a challenge with the more complicated head with bobbles. Jocelyn had the idea to practice making new designs using Indian yarn at first. She sent over few pics and we modified the design details again based on feedback. Then we generate the final pattern. We like to have our patterns in both visual symbols and in writing to accommodate artisans of all educational levels.
First Manufacturing Prototype: A few months later we got our first lamb made by one of our talented artisans. Each lamb takes about 8 hours to complete and is a labor of love. When I got it, I was thrilled to see how well it was made. The rose and gray lamb was the first thing to sell at our craft sale in Burleson! We were very excited about the feedback we got from customers, so we decided to request more from our manufacturing group.
Product Launch: So it wasn't exactly in time for Stacy's shower but a year later our product development is complete and we are proud to offer Talitha Lamb. Product launch is always an exciting time and also suspenseful. I am very happy with final product and so proud of our India team for the craftsmanship they show in each handmade lamb. Let us know what you think about our newest item and get one for the little one in your life!
