Wow! What a month!!!

Yay, another month where I've made not one but TWO blog posts - maybe I'm getting the hang of blogging after all; ha!

November has been the BEST month for me to date on Etsy since I started my shop there - both in sale numbers and in takings (I guess the two go hand in hand really). I am SO grateful; all this has been so much more of a success than I could have ever imagined it would be.

To date I've had a grand total of 164 sales on there now, I was half hoping to make 175 sales before Christmas but I can't really see that happening; I don't know if it's always a good idea to set all these goals because it can be disappointing if you don't reach them by the 'deadline', and really every single sale is special anyway.

I had someone buy not one but two cowls the other day, which gave my map of world sales my first stickers to go in Alaska!

Last weekend I had my second ever craft fair -- I was kind of in two minds about it, those things make me so nervous, in case it's a total flop, but in the end it was REALLY successful and we sold loads and loads. I didn't have a proper inventory, which was a bit of a mistake, but it was ok really as I just reactivated the listings back on Etsy for the 'stock' I had remaining when we got home. I sold a few unlisted items so it's hard to know what number of items I sold but it doesn't really matter in the big scheme of things.

I've got another craft fair this Sunday - in the Royal in Valentia; I'm not expecting it to be such a big success as the one in Waterville but we'll see.

I quite like doing the craft fairs (so far!) but it's a bit of a pain, having to deactivate all my Etsy listings and risk losing customers over there while I'm at the fair...but it can't be helped.

I've put an announcement in my shop to expalin so hopefully people will buy early or else wait and see if things are still there after Sunday's fair.

I've been making what feels like a million hats just lately as I wanted to add some variety to my 'range'.

I quite like making them - it's nice to have a bit of a change from constantly making wristwarmers (though I love making them, and they are so successful on Etsy)

The most wonderful time of the year

Oh my goodness, things have REALLY taken off over on Etsy-land for me -- I have now had a grand total of 155 sales over there!

I had been hoping to make 150 sales by Christmas-time but now I'm having to revise the goal up to 175: I'm not sure if I'll make it or not, it won't be the end of the world if I don't but it's nice to have a goal to aim for.

Things have sold so much that I now only have 48 items in my shop -- I prefer to have over 50 (going by what people say on the forums, 100 is meant to be the 'magic' number) but I'm not complaining if/when things sell! I'm making items for the shop all the time, and I've had a few ''custom'' orders lately too.

I've nearly sold out of the cotton facial scrubbies - I think they make good 'stocking stuffers' and I have had two bulk orders in the last couple of weeks - one for 20 scrubbies and one for 28; which has just about cleared my shop out! I don't have much cotton left in my 'stash' so I will be ordering some more in due course, but at the moment I'm busy making other things :)

It can feel a bit overwhelming to be so busy with orders and sales, but I have to stop and remind myself that this 'rush' is just really going to last a couple of months and I should make the most from it while it lasts.

I feel like I'm doing so well right now - I was checking my shop statistics earlier today and I've already overtaken last November for orders :)

As I said in my last post I did a bit of a ''stock-up'' order from Springwools so hopefully that will be it now for a while, as I'm running out of storage space now!

I've been using up the de-stash yarn I bought from the lady who runs 'bennyboosbabyknits' - I've made three cowls with the Rowan 60% cotton/40% acrylic yarn -- I love the colours and it's lovely soft yarn. I'm in the middle of the fourth cowl using the yarn - I don't think there'll be much left after that but perhaps enough for a couple of striped hats or something.






Hats are something that I do want to make but I never seem to get around to doing them - I only have three in my shop, and would like to have a lot more; they are on 'the list' of things to make but I don't know when I'll get around to it...wristwarmers seem to sell SO well in my shop and I do love to make them, though who knows, hats might be even more popular if I just gave them a go.

I've tried some really lovely baby alpaca yarn from King Cole (via Springwools of course) - I've sold two pairs of wrist warmers made from it so far, and have one pair still listed in my shop; it is just the most lovely stuff to work with and is so incredibly soft (and warm).

Thought I'd include a video from yesterday - I was working on a pair of wrist warmers that are now on their way to Oregon! It was just a perfect day, but the next time I must remember to bring my own wrist warmers as my hands were getting cold after a while.