Saturday, October 29, 2011

October - part two

Yippee - two blog posts in a month, I must be really getting the hang of this!

Things seem to have really taken off in my Etsy shop - I sold six pairs of wrist warmers in 24 hours :)

I had thought I had an awful lot of stock in my shop - and possibly too many pairs of wrist warmers but now I'm not so sure. All the time I'm working to build up my stock in my shop - I got up to 65 items but am down to 57 items at the moment: which is less than I'd really like...but over all, this is just a hobby so it isn't worth stressing myself out over numbers and figures.

Having said that though, I've now had a total of 138 sales - I'm hoping to reach 150 by Christmas, which is looking like it might happen (though anything could happen really - I try not to take anything for granted)

I was really thrilled to have a photo and a mention in the latest Springwools' catalogue - that's the second time it's happened and it's always a really lovely suprise!



I've been in a bit of a quandary about whether to do any Christmas markets/fairs or not - I really like the idea of it but don't think I have enough 'stock' as things have been selling so well from Etsy... There's a fair at the Old Oratory in town every other weekend between now and Christmas and we went along yesterday to suss it out but I think I'm going to give it a miss -- there's a 'Christmas Comes to Valentia' thing on the 4th December and a Christmas market in the tech down the road at the end of November so I think I'll give them both a go (we've got to find out how much the one in the tech will cost, the one in Valentia is only €10 and surely I'll make that back)

It looks like I'm heading towards another Springwools order...(I know, I know) - I ordered twice from them so far this month but these will be for some 'custom' orders - some more of the bamboo/cotton yarn for a baby cardi for someone from Valentia, some more of the craft cotton, and a bit of a restock on other yarns that I NEED (ok, I don't 'need' them but it would be good to have them in stock)

Sunday, October 16, 2011

October Update :)

Another month, another update for my little blog (poor thing, it's very neglected, but I never was any good at keeping a diary really so this is no surprise).

Boris is still alive and kicking and really isn't doing too badly at all: which has been a lovely surprise, as when we got his test results back we really thought he was on borrowed time. Every day with him is still incredibly special but he is so happy and relatively healthy, which is more than I could have hoped for.

Here's a quick photo of him :) We are having to keep him indoors (in order to try and prevent him picking up an infection) so I brought in his pot of catmint - which he is LOVING. We will have to try and acquire another plant at this rate as he keeps nibbling and biting bits from this one and it won't survive that!

I have now finished my job on the ferry for another year (this was my SIXTH year there, I can't quite believe that I've been there for so long) so I am enjoying my winter break :) So I've been able to do lots and lots of beach combing lately (depending on the weather) and lots of crochet too - life is so good!

I like to take my crochet with me when I go to the beach; it's just so relaxing to take something to 'work' on while I'm down there.

At the moment I'm making a pair of wrist warmers in a sparkly grey acrylic yarn (it's really soft, I'm so picky when it comes to texture etc)-- the last pair of those I sold from Etsy have gone to Ohio!

This is becoming a bit of a habit but having said (yet again!) that I won't be ordering any more wool it looks like I will be in touch with Springwools some time next week...but then THAT's it! I promise!!!

I'm now up to 121 sales on Etsy - including TWO to a lady in Japan last week! JAPAN!! It still amazes me just how much of a success all this Etsy stuff has been, it feels like a dream sometimes...

I'm up to 66 items listed in my shop right now, I don't think I've ever managed to hit 70 items at a time, things have a habit of selling before I reach that goal! -- I am NOT complaining!

I had a load of relisting items that had expired today, and also listed two new bags and a gorgeous merino scarf this afternoon...I'm so hoping that the scarf will sell, it's just luxurious.

So here are a few photos of the ones I've listed this afternoon..