Help me, Obi-wan Kenobi...

...you're my only hope!

Ha! That's one of our favorite Star Wars quotes around here.  Anytime things don't go quite the way we want, someone's sure to say it. 

So what am I needing help with?  Why would I feel like quoting that today?  Well, my items just aren't selling.  I'm trying to figure out whether my Etsy store is just not getting enough exposure, or if my items aren't what folks are looking for.   Despite offering a sales coupon last week, I still have most of the same items left in my shop.  (Whereas I had really hoped to sell more.) 

Any thoughts, suggestions, ideas? Please let me know what you think! 
 
Anyways, now that my Thanksgiving Sale has ended, I'm trying to decide (besides wondering what I can do to make my Etsy experience better) whether I will leave my shop open for a while or if I need to take time off from checking Etsy daily and instead focus on making items for my shop.  I've read how it's important to list new items frequently--that alone will increase your shop's exposure.  But I just don't seem to have time to make new items to list all that often.  (Do I really knit that slowly?  I don't think so.  But I just don't have 8 or more hours a day to "work" like some Etsy shop owners.  In fact, I'm happy if I happen to have 1 hour of knitting time and that's definitely not every day!)

So, for now at least, my shop is open and I'll consider any good business advice that comes my way.

Thanksgiving SALE

Well, I don't have a ton of items in my shop, but I've decided to have a sale anyways.

My Dad was recently diagnosed with cancer and I may end up putting my shop on vacation mode for a while so I can help Mom and Dad out. But I'd like to sell as much of my ready-made items as I can first.  So if you make a purchase from my Etsy shop this week, be sure to use the coupon code THANKFUL15 to get 15% off!  Sale will go through Saturday the 26th!

Happy shopping!

And have a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Treasury Friday

Well, maybe that title doesn't roll off the tongue quite as nicely as Treasury Tuesday or even Treasury Thursday, but today I'm sharing my latest treasury collection with you.

Novem-brrr!!!
A November collection.

It's cold here in Northern Minnesota. So I've found some items that would warm a person up...or at least give you a warm fuzzy feeling!

Enjoy!

Happy I love yarn day!

ch-ch-changes...

I couldn't help but think of the song "Changes" by David Bowie when I started writing this post!  Seriously though, it was just the ch-ch-changes part that kept repeating itself over and over in my head. Nice, huh?!  :)

Anyways, I just learned about some pretty BIG NEWS.  The photographer I've been working with has a major life-change happening in the next couple of weeks. 

Here's the blog post she wrote about it.  

I'm happy for them. 

But I'm sad that Sarah's photography business will have to be put on hold for now.  This also affects me personally since she won't be taking any new photos that I will be able to use in my Etsy shop. And she won't be needing any new props either.  At least not for a while.  Yeah, I'm a wee bit bummed.

So as I process this information, I see that I'm either going to have to figure out a way to set up my own "photo sessions" with local friends who have babies that are willing to be models for me (since my baby is 4 years old) or I'm going to have to stop making mostly baby items and work on primarily kid and/or adult-sized items instead.

I'm leaning toward the latter option.

There are so many items I really enjoy making--fingerless mitts, cowls, scarves, and shawls to name just a few.  I could also focus on designing more and start selling my patterns instead of just selling items.  I do so love sock-knitting too, but would never consider selling hand-knit socks.  (The cost would be about $120 a pair because I use sock yarn which is rather skinny and it takes a lot of time to knit a pair.)  But a sock pattern might be a very real possibility!

Well, have a lovely Saturday y'all!  I'm off to contemplate life, the universe, and new designs!  :)

yarn art

I've been seeing a lot of articles and photos on the web about a relatively new knitting craze...YARN BOMBING! It's amazing! (And technically illegal because the places that are "bombed" happen to be public places.)

Maybe one day I'll get bored and knit a cozy for my kids' swing set. Or something pretty for one or more of the lovely old oaks in my front yard. That way it wouldn't be illegal. Hee.

Here's a link to a site dedicated to Yarn Bombing.  They've evidently even written a book about it! 

Int. Yarn Bombing Day – Recap 7 (Updated)

It seems that June 11th was International Yarn Bombing Day.  If only I had known...

Independence Day

Happy Fourth of July!  Did you see the July treasury I put together?  If not, you'll want to check it out here. 

Or you can check out this fantastic blog right here where my treasury list and one of my items were featured today!  Sweet!  By the way, I LOVE the "Treasury Tuesday" idea...maybe I'll do that myself sometime too!

Today, I listed a couple of long-tailed patriotic newborn hats (photo props) that I had been fighting with working on for quite some time.  They knitted up just fine.  So what took me so long?  Well, the plan was to go back and stitch stars onto the blue to give them the U.S. flag look.  I thought it would be a ton easier to do than it actually was.  After many failed attempts (on a swatch of the blue yarn that I had knitted for testing my embroidery ideas), I finally had the solution.

Waste fabric.
 
I knew there was a reason I bought that waste canvas stuff ages ago. It was just sitting there, patiently waiting for the day when I realized what I needed it for. I'd never used waste fabric before, but I have done a bit of cross-stitch in the past.  The instructions on using the waste cloth were clear and so I tested it out on my knitted swatch to see how it would look.  Both my husband and eldest son agreed with me that it looked good, and so my cross-stitched stars came to be.  Although my initial design had multiple stars stitched on the blue background, I decided to just stitch one star on each hat since the cross-stitching technique is rather time-consuming and I really wanted to get these hats finished before the Fourth of July.  I'm pleased with the results and like the "lone star" look.

my cross-stitched star!

These hats will make a special addition to any photographer's newborn prop bag--especially considering that besides the Fourth of July holiday season, there are a lot of wonderful military families who would truly appreciate having a patriotic hat used for their newborn's first photos.

patriotic hat #1

patriotic hat #2

These two hats are basically the same, but I noticed they do have a few minor variances.  They're a couple inches different in overall length and the blue portions are just a row or two different in height as well.  I've listed them as the individuals that they are.

More hats are in the works!  I have two new long-tailed elf hats in bright summer colors--that are going to be listed either tomorrow or the next day!  And here are a couple sneak peeks of a newsboy set--I have plans to make more of these soon!