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...

Fall 2012

Well I am having a bit of market withdrawal. Kelly asked for gross sales figs recently, and i was surprised to see i made $587. The bulk of earnings came from 2 events - 1 sweater sale and the last day, which was brutally cold. I was selling knit hats like 60. Probably did close to $200 that day.

So what does that mean  - cold summers are good for knitwear vendors. The jewelry guys were doing $200 each week. It would definitely be nice to do $200 a day more often.

Have started selling patterns of the weasley sweaters. They sell steadily. Now have large 1 size R, lg 1 size H and child's W. Am building up a bit of a stockpile of ready to ship sweaters. There's always someone who wants one somewhat suddenly.

The pattern experiment has been good - i do have other text products i could concentrate on.

One customer had the nerve to open a case against me on Etsy. So irritating. To open a case, the item has to be undelivered or be not what was expected. Customer opened case after 2 weeks on a custom item that wasn't even going to be finished for 3, and would take 2 wk to ship. Clearly there were no ground to open it at all. Appealed to Etsy. Sent a screen cap of Can Post graph showing item was received 3 days ago. Hang on - this just in - Etsy sends email that case has been resolved and closed.  What a relief. I hated seeing that little red warning bar. And receiving the warning email. Wondering if the cust was not very bright or trying to get something out of it - faster more expensive shipping at my expense, perhaps. Friends, govern yourselves accordingly.

We've listed the house. Looking to downsize, fewer steps, lower mortgage. Living out of boxes is a bit hard. I've got my essential kn supplies sort of  isolated. Went looking for guitar pieces to work up some christmas stuff. Well, I've got it moved up from boxes in the basement. Maybe tomoro.

So we beat on. Tiny house is so appealing. Along with my teardrop trailer.

Best wishes much appreciated!

Omg - the market is nearly over!

Well, a lot has gone on since my last entry.

Our Manitoba mission trip has come and gone. The time again went by too fast. Our schedule gets so crowded there wasn't time to try my bison fleece experiment. But we have a bison ranch out here near Milton. So maybe Benny and I can do a road trip out there for that purpose this fall.

I have picked up the yarn for some fine gauge alpaca socks for Stella and some slippers for Audrey. The house is a disaster what with getting ready to sell, but i have managed to keep these precious parcels aside.

I have gotten totally hooked on camping, am dying for a teardrop trailer, and dream about a handmade wooden one, maybe arranging for someone to make it for me for my honey for our 25th anniv in 2 yrs. Would also like a really sweet tiny home, but that will take more of a sales pitch.

Cambodia Kevin  had an FB status a day ago saying Manna4Life has been awarded NGO status in Cambodia - PTL!

And i'm still mulling whether the market experiment has worked.

On the one hand, i love the market. I'd rather be outside shilling knitwear any day than be stuck indoors at a mall.

On the other hand, my kind of classic knitwear doesn't seem to generate that much interest with the market crowd. You're there mainly thru summer, so i was making up cotton knits like crazy just to have something seasonal. But that's not what i want to spend my time doing. I ended up having a lot of sweater orders, and honestly, the time would have been better spent  remuneratively out on my deck with a cup of coffee filling orders. There are really only 4 weeks of the market where people are thinking about cold weather knitwear. Around Labour day, it was still hot and little kids were chuckling about who would buy mittens in summer. (I had only just put them out).

The only other variable is  whether or not the regulars would get used to seeing you there over the cycle of another summer and come to you with orders and gift ideas.

But i tell you, 5 am comes painfully early if traffic to your tent is light.

Depending on how flush we are and how ambitious i am, it might be worth considering for next year taking out a full time vendor  spot, but planning not to be there too much in the spring.

But it is fun and friendly. Has been worth a try. I really wanted it to work. The jury is still to a certain degree out.

Planning, however, to fully enjoy (split infinitive) my last 2 weeks there.

Market friends

The market experience continues to evolve. Highlight this week occurred when Joshua swung by to pick up the maple leaf skullcap he had asked for last week. The look on his face was priceless. It's so nice to be able to gauge in person how the customer reacts to their custom order. He clearly loved it.

One of the wonderful BAC volunteers helped me set up my booth last week. Note to self - double check that all weights have been lifted out of the car. When i went to set up, I had only 3 weights. Luckily my friend Margaret was on the way and i was able to get her to look for the errant weight.

Meantime the wind picked up, and we had a solid little downpour. I have all my inv pegged to bungie clotheslines hooked between the legs of my stall. I was fairly effortless able to swing all the lines to the interior  right under the roof. So nothing got damaged.

The watercolour vendor beside me was not quite so lucky. There was a bit of water damage to some of her matts. However the day became searingly hot by the end, so my damp socks dried out completely. And when i glanced at her matts they seemed to have dried up too.

Other vendors were busy hanging their walls when the rain came. i don't have them and felt a bit incomplete without them. But i noticed the wind wobbled the stall with wall more than it did mine. And as long as all the merch stayed dry, I'm happy with my solution.

It's the first day i hung the HP sweaters, blue and black - i don't have a demo version of the red left. I thought this would be pointless as i'm not doing the greatest traffic in small ticket items. But a lot more people stopped by and lingered over the sweaters. Go figure. Gotta get a red one worked up.

Have had 2 bits of feedback about not preferring the moccasin style men's slippers. Not sure what they want but i can work up a sample of a more common look. Not what i would want, tho.

Someone took a card interested in crochet lessons.

It was great to have Marg come by. We got a lot of planning done for the upcoming Manitoba trip. And she brought me a much needed coffee and mini banana loaf. And the formula of me setting up early morning, and having hubby come and help me for vehicle fetching at teardown worked quite well. And i even found a wheelchair ramp close to the elevator/washroom doors that makes it easier to do that side trip. The cooler temps helped. Will be glad when the dog days of July are behind us.

Market love

Well, I've survived 2 days at the market, Art in the Open to be specific.

Today I made 15x more than last week. Things are lookin' up!

I think it's the yarns part of GoodYarns that loves the market. Today a young woman named Princess asked if I make tuque style hats, and how much. I told her that depended on whether for child or adult, etc. She asked if I knew the movie Aquatic Life, which my daughter Holly had acquainted me with this winter. Hey, as a kid that grew up wanting to work on the Calypso, I loved that movie. Anyway the customer is looking for mom and tot Team Zizou hats - and i love this concept. Whether  this plan makes it to completion or not doesn't matter. The exchange was so hilarious.

Another customer was a lovely young lady named Holly. She tried on my oversize Gryffindor tam, and it looked fabulous on her. Anna, the vendor beside me let Holly use her mirror (gotta get me one of those - thanks Anna!) I told her my Holly, the quintessential HP fan, would definitely approve.

One returning visitor loves the HP display, and has informed me these are the Motherwell team colours.  Someone else told me if i want to sell more, tell people these are the colours of the Brampton Excelsior, the local lacrosse team.

I've given away quite a few business cards to people simply looking for knitting or crochet lessons. Gerard will be returning to a pair of half decent man slippers, navy blue.

My old neighbour John dropped by today and picked up a cute pink, jute and orange cotton ball cap for new-ish granddaughter Zoe.

It's exhausting - getting up at 5 am, which i never do. Lugging my carcass and canopy over there, hanging up my weights, setting up my bungie cord clothes lines, and then the rush to tear down.

But it is really fun. Shooting for my 10x the cost per day next week. Might just make it!