Recent genius :O ideas

I keep tinkering with  the posting/listing/payment platform for the writing component of Goodyarns.

I've learned a lot from the sweater pattern listings.

I like how Esty's immediate digital downloads works. The customer gets the pdf instantly and I get paid instantly.

I don't know why it's taken me so long for this penny to drop on auto renew. The 1-up listings usually expired after 3 months. If i want to keep something online without site maintenance, that didn't seem a great longterm option. But if I list something like 999 available, it will keep auto-renewing.

This is great news for the books, patterns, lesson sets, etc.

My books on Createspace are reaching a dead end bc the site wants US tax info which i don't have time to invest  in figuring out the Canadian workaround.

But i don't face this tax problem with Etsy listings.

I also don't like how with Createspace, I had to choose from some pretty bland cover art, when the artwork Holly created for the original printing was the first best most beautiful approach, complete with small turtle. I'd rather go with my own covers.

I have my own plastic comb binding punch, and it's not that big a deal to bind the books.

The costly part now is colour printing. We just printed a couple of copies of a collab picture book B and I worked on - as Christmas presents for relatives. But it cost too much money for colour on all inside pages. And I'm not happy with how reducing his inside illustrations cut out all his fabulous detail. Would rather insert full page of colour art 1 page at a time, if you know what i mean.

But - if I just do colour covers, and all the inside pages in black and white, then there's potential for kids/recipients/readers to treat as a colouring/activity book.

My older kids went thru a phase about 10 yrs ago of making their own activity books for friends. So made up their own colour by number, connect the dots, word searches, crosswords, etc.

As far as an instant download goes, I suppose you could pitch it as a kit, and your pdf would include an instruction page that lists materials you need to finish, such as simple binding instruction such as using paper tape.

Yes, I'm starting to like where this is going very much....

Pay-it-forward Listings

It's been fun over the years to add items to the shop that help other people.

With many charitable organizations connected to Canada Helps, it's drop dead easy to forward money to them via Paypal.

The first additions to the philanthropy/fundraising section of the shop (these are buttons down the left hand side of the shop page where common sought items are loosely grouped) were fundraising books for a youth humanitarian trip. For the 2010 trip, the group developed a poetry book, and for the 2012 trip, we developed a children's picture book. These are also listed on Amazon. And I was able to upload lots of sample pages so people can 'see inside.'

Another fundraising piece was the lined tuque called the Tyler hat, in memory of the son of a friend we met on the trips whose son died after a short yet valiant battle with brain cancer. Since it benefits Winnipeg Inner City Missions, the idea was for it to combat the notoriously frigid Winnipeg winters. The design has kept evolving. I've stuck with the basic tuque or beanie. And I may add a lined earflap hat.

A third prong features the cotton baseball-style caps for youngsters (see pic above) for the mission of a friend doing great work in Cambodia. These are quick and easy little caps to make. But i wanted them to have some value added. At first I had sunglasses. But the extra needs to be always replaceable, and I can't always source the glasses. Now I have a 3D applique of a flower with face for girls, and a turtle hiding in its shell for boys. It would be better if they were toys. I think i just need to attach a back circle with lite stuffing to make the turtle a toy. The flower is probs ok as is. And affix without a pin - a round soft plastic stitch marker might do.

Another way the shop helps out in the community is thru donating items. i've donated sweaters, dog coats, HP toys to silent auctions. I'm always open to hearing a good pitch.

I definitely want to keep growing this dimension of the shop.

Well past time to update this blog!

It's been about a yr and 1/4 since we moved to the new house.

Late summer - fall - pre-Christmas I was basically cranking out sweaters.

I have about 5 started at the moment.

I tried an experiment a couple of yrs ago where I made up a couple of sweaters in cheaper yarn. Even with the price adjusted, they just didn't sell. I think i ended up putting one into a fundraising silent auction.

But I might try it again. I still have all that cheaper yarn. What else am I going to do with it. It may have been  a case of not framing the listings just right. For the record even tho I told potential buyers about these cheaper ones, they went the ones EXACTLY LIKE THE PICTURE because that's what the recipient wanted.

And I'm realizing sometimes people sit on a potential purchase for a long time. I was really surprised when I sold a sweater that had been lingering for more than a year to a person who said she'd been viewing it for a long time. It was a gorgeous sweater, and I was sad it was languishing. It could not have  found a more appreciative home. Lesson learned - maybe I just need to leave the listings posted a little longer.

Still thinking of making up (and selling?) stitch charts for  all 26 letters. I mean, sure, people could do this themselves. But right now it ends up being me spending a chunk of time working up custom letters when asked. Worth a try, I guess.

Motivated to do a new photo shoot since the first time since the move. As usual, based on customer queries. My models are older and moving on. Lucky I found my doll model today!

Sold a couple of Cousteau type watch caps out of the blue last week. Need to freshen up my hat inventory.

Good to finally get my child's HP sweater photo'd and posted. It's been sitting around for months.

Time to get going and root around in my stash...