Easing Slowly Back To Work

I've been back from my holiday since last Thursday and after spending a few days getting rid of the jungle my garden had become and cleaning up the house it's time to get back to doing a bit of work, so I'm on a "the kids are home and I don't have a clue what my work routine is but I'll try spending some time with them and doing some work anyway" kind of work schedule.

The first thing I'll share with you is the summer top I managed to finish knitting while at my parents' house. In the Drops pattern books my sister brought me for my birthday, I found this pattern that I thought would look great in my Tussah Silk yarn. I'd started making a crochet top without a pattern that wasn't going anywhere fast, so off I went ripping that top, and I used the yarn for my favourite kind of knitting pattern: the kind of top made in one piece on circular needles and without any sewing at all, not even sleeves!

While I was in France I visited the local yarn stores and look what I found in one of them:

I'll use the big pack of thinner blue wool to knit another pattern that I eyeballed, still in the Drops pattern books, but this time it will have sleeves as it will be for autumn/winter.

With the thick wool (I got 3 balls of each colour), I'll knit or crochet (or both:) some winter accessories for my Etsy shop.

I can't wait to get started on these but first I'm making some more of my cable mittens and trying to publish that knitting pattern I've been slaving on since June.

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Cable Mittens Indecision

I probably don't deserve this as I have been more than slacking lately but the trip has been booked for the last few months and my parents need to see their granddaughters so here we go, heading on the Ferry to France tomorrow!

I thought I would have the pattern for my cabled mittens well published by now, but of course since I'm never happy with "just OK", I've been wasting time (hence the slacking I was referring to in the 1st paragraph) knitting up a few pairs of fingerless gloves trying to make them perfect... And perfect they would be, only for the amount of wool they are using, or perhaps for the yarn I chose to knit the mittens with.

At first I wanted to make some really stylish long wristed fingerless gloves with a chain cable running over the back of the hand: my first mistake was to start with an already opened ball of wool, so of course I needed a second ball to finish the second mitten, and I thought I might get both done with only one ball if I had started with a brand new ball of wool.

Long wristed cable mitten

So I knitted another pair of mittens in a different colour and starting with a new ball of the same brand of wool, this time trying to get the gusset to run over the whole thumb, unlike the first pair where the gusset only appears on the first 8 rows of the thumb, which doesn't look bad, but it could improved; the hand part is a little longer too. Of course I ran out of wool again towards the top of the second mitten. That and the fact that my decreases on the visible part of the thumb may look like a pattern feature, but actually do not look that good.

Long wristed mitten, funky looking thumb (not in a good way)

So I had to try another pair of mittens, making the wrist a little shorter with a long hand (maybe I should have made it a little shorter like for the first mitten?) but not too short so they still look stylish, and this time with a proper professional-looking gusset: this time I think my mittens look good, but guess what? One ball still wasn't enough, even though I only need a little extra. 

Medium wrist cable mitten (not as nice as the long wrist and still using too much of that wool!)

So am I going to ask pattern purchasers to buy 2 balls of wool (which I think is being discontinued anyway) when they'll hardly use any of their second ball for the pattern? I would hate to buy a pattern like this, so I don't think so!

I can still sell my mittens in my Etsy shop, but for the pattern, I'll have to knit up a pair of long wristed cable mittens in a wool with more yardage to get less waste (or 2 balls with less as long as it's an affordable one and very soft): and here goes to once again making changes to my cable mittens knitting pattern!

I'd like to get a second opinion so please let me know which one you prefer: long wrist/medium wrist? Long hand/short hand? (the wool is 100% merino and a dream to work with, a pity it's being discontinued).


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People Make Etsy: Etsy UK TV Ad

Have you seen the Etsy ad on UK TV?

I'm hoping this will increase awareness on the great marketplace that is Etsy, where you can find beautiful handmade products made by people like you and me, with real people in mind.

Etsy was good enough to let sellers have their own personalized version of the ad, so here is mine, enjoy!


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Etsy Shop Feature: Monofaces

In my last blog post I mentioned that I had been partnered with another Irish Etsy shop for the SEO course so today I wanted to write a little bit about Monofaces.

I was lucky to have such a nice shop to work with and a bit worried when having to do their critique because I didn't think my humble little knitting self had much advice to give a team of talented artists like Edita and Mel!

Quoting Monofaces About page: "Our mission is to give visual pleasure, original presents & striking interior detail. MONOFACES unique paintings range from legends of the past to people of today".

The paintings and apparel that can be found in Monofaces feature mainly people, you can see a lot of celebrities and legends of the past being represented in their art but they also do customised paintings using photographs: great idea for a gift or if you want a beautiful painting of your children to feature on your wall.

Monofaces's style can be described as Art-deco, Pop Art, and mainly black and white stencil monochrome art, they paint on various surfaces such as wood or canvas and have their art reproductions available for people on a tight budget. For wearables they also do tote bags, T-shirts, they have recently started doing phone cases and even rugs!

I've tried picking my favourite item from their shop but it's really hard to choose just one so here are a few of my favourite items from Monofaces:

First up is this beautiful painting of Audrey Hepburn on canvas:

Because I'm a child of the 80's (born in the 70's but too young to appreciate good music then;), I also love this painting of Morrissey on wood:

To finish, I think I would look very cool sporting this Walter White from Breaking Bad tote bag (for carrying my laundered money, erm...knitting WIPs, perhaps?):

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Learning SEO and a Bit of Knitting and Crochet

It's been nearly 10 days since my last post: so much for the 2 posts a week I had been aiming for!

All this month I have been following an Etsy course on SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), which in plain English is the science of getting found on the Internet.

I've learned some new things and worked on some things I already knew but there is more structure learning from a course than trying to gather bits of information here and there, which doesn't always work, as it inevitably ends with information overload (and in some cases misinformation).

For this SEO course, I've been partnered with another Etsy seller based in Ireland: I think if I didn't have a partner I probably wouldn't bother with half of the things I'm supposed to do for the course, because I don't like to let anyone down, and I think whoever thinks up these Etsy courses knows that, which is why we are being teamed up. Ultimately, Etsy gains in helping their individual sellers, since we are their bread and butter.

In between working on the SEO course, I have been crocheting 8 coffee cup cosies that would make great Father's day gifts and that are now available from Sophie's Knit Stuff on Etsy, drove myself half crazy trying to think of different keywords to describe them with as part of the SEO course, and trying to take better pictures (do you like my little coffee bean shapes?):

 

 

 I have also managed to knit a wonderfully soft blue cabled tube cowl and matching fingerless gloves with my Merino wool which should be ready for the shop next week as they are at the blocking stage and I'm taking the week end off:

 This weekend in Ireland is a long one, due to the June Bank holiday on Monday (don't ask me what that is for, I'm just glad it's there!), so whether you have a long or regular weekend, enjoy it and make the most of the sunshine if you're lucky enough to get some!





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The Importance of Good Photography to Sell Products Online

Last week-end as I was listing some new phone cosies in my Etsy shop, I realised how one simple change could make my photos look much better.

Take this picture of one of my latest crochet phone cosy for example:

Phone cosy photo taken straight from above

Now look at the photo below:

Phone cosy photo taken from an angle

The lighting and background are similar (as white a background I can get using Picasa photo editor while keeping the color true to the original item), the item is the same, the only difference is the angle in which the photo has been taken.

Which one do you be more tempted to buy? I know if I was a potential buyer I wouldn't stay very long looking at the first picture.

I am still wondering how did I manage to sell 3 knitted phone cosies with pictures looking similar to the first photo, and the obvious thing I need to do now is do another photography session with all my other phone cosies before too many potential customers see the bad ones!


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How To Crochet A Cushion And Make An Insert Using An Upcycled T-Shirt

Once again, I am doing some crochet for our local school: the crochet class is crocheting cushions that they will sell in a fundraising event next week in the school.

It all started with a bake sale: every year now for a while, the 6th class girls organize a bake sale in order to raise money for the school (don't get me started with why we need to help our schools on top of paying our taxes; I don't want to involve politics or I would need to start a whole new blog and make a lot of enemies in the process! I still want you to think I'm a nice person:)

As the girls' crochet skills have been improving, the teacher decided that they would make 2 cushions each: one to keep and one to sell at the Bake Sale (which should be now called the Bake and Craft Sale).

The teacher had a pattern for the crochet circles, but that pattern just didn't make sense to me, as the increases were not regular and I ended up with a volcano shape when I tried to follow the exact instructions, so I followed my daughter's advice (who does not read patterns and in this case it served her right!) and crocheted 2 basic treble crochet circles.

For the crochet circles, I used 2 colours of DK acrylic yarn, and crocheted flat circle shapes, 16 rounds for each. Here are some quick instructions for the beginners:

For each circle:
Chain 4 and slip stitch in the first chain to join in a circle.
Round 1: chain 3, work 11 trebles in the circle and join with a slip stitch to the top of the first chain 3. (12 sts)
Round 2: chain 3 (counts as 1 treble), 1 treble in the same stitch, work 2 trebles in each stitch and join with a slip stitch to the top of the first chain 3 while at the same time changing colour (if you are using just 2 colours, keep both balls attached to the circle, it will save you cutting and weaving in ends when finishing). (24 sts)
Round 3: chain 3, (counts as 1 treble), 1 treble in the same stitch, * 1 treble in next stitch, 2 trebles in following stitch * repeat from * up to the last stitch, 1 treble in the last stitch, join with a slip stitch to the top of the first chain 3 while at the same time changing colour.
Round 4: chain 3, (counts as 1 treble), 1 treble in the same stitch, * 1 treble in each of the next 2 stitches, 2 trebles in following stitch * repeat from * up to the last 2 stitches, 1 treble in each of the last 2 stitches, join with a slip stitch to the top of the first chain 3 while at the same time changing colour.
For every new round, you need to space the increases (2 trebles in the one stitch) by 1: for example for round 5, there are 3 stitches with 1 treble, then 2 trebles in the next stitch....
Continue in this way until you have reached the desired size (for a medium cushion using DK yarn I had 16 rounds, but you may want yours larger or smaller).

When you have both circles finished, all you need to do is join them: place them both together with wrong sides facing and using a colour in contrast with the last round, first chain 1, then double crochet (that's Single Crochet for people in the US) in both sides together about halfway before inserting the stuffing or cushion insert, then keep joining until you have the whole circles done and bind off.
Weave in the ends, and Voila! Cushion done and ready to ship to the Bake Sale (or cuddle with).

As it's the school children who are buying the goods, the cushions have to be affordable: I spent a good few hours myself crocheting my cushion, and I would be quicker than most of the girls in the class (I am ashamed to admit that my own 12 year old is quicker than me at crochet: she just whips it up with her skinny little fingers and it comes out perfect even though she hardly even looks at a pattern!). As I was saying, a lot of time and effort is going into crocheting these cushions but sadly, we need to compete with cheap mass-produced items if we want to attract buyers for them, so even though I'm not sure of the definite price yet, they will have to be cheap if the school wants to sell them.

In order to cut down on cost, I made my first cushion insert using an old clean T-shirt and some toy stuffing. I had the stuffing in the house so that's what I used but I won't have enough for the 2 cushions my daughter is making, so I washed an old pillow and will open it up to get the stuffing out of it and into her cushions.

Because the cushions are made using treble crochet (double crochet in US terms) which tends to give gaps in a finished item, I decided to cut up an old T-shirt, making an insert from the suffing and the upcycled T-shirt.

First I used some chalk to trace the outline of the cushion on my t-shirt, and then I cut it up: it looks a bit rough because I was trying to do this quickly, I should probably have ironed the T'shirt first:

Then I started sewing it about 3 quarters before starting to insert the stuffing inside. Even though my fabric cutting skills are atrocious and the 2 circles didn't match one another very well, adding to that the fact my hand sewing skills about the same as that of a 7 year old (I don't own a sewing machine, but judging from my home economics class in school, I wouldn't have done a great job either if I had one), I managed to get a nice round shape: a bit bumpy because the stuffing was quite compact, but nothing a bit of thumping can't correct!

As you can see from the above picture, the insert is far from being perfect, but watch what happened when I put it in between my 2 crochet circles:

Not bad for a first!

I will try making another one (I hope I won't have to tear out another pillow) and I'll also have to bake a few quick treats - There will be chocolate involved, but for now, I need to go and make a new cushion insert for my daughter's cushion before she comes back from school or I'll be in trouble!

This blog entry is my submission to the Deramores Blog Awards 2014. Deramores is the UK’s number one online retailer of knitting and crochet supplies.