Monday Update: March 11, 2013

Happy Monday! I just woke up, a little before 11, and I feel like my day is already half over. I need to work on sleeping less; this is annoying.
This past weekend was full of work. One of my coworkers passed away in the early hours of Sunday morning, in a car accident, so that put a downer on our day yesterday. I'm waiting to hear on funeral arrangements and that sort of thing. It's probably going to be a few days until that happens.
I haven't been knitting much the past few days. I don't know why, possibly because I've been sleeping 12 hours a day, but I can't be sure. I have eliminated another three skeins of yarn from my stash. One was larger than my head. I gave them to my mom for more baby hat making. She's been pretty productive in that department, which is awesome. It makes me feel a little better about slacking off. These bring my stash count to +14. I'm also working on clearing out some small skeins from my WIP basket. After I finish a project, I just throw the left over yarn in there, in hopes of using it for some smaller projects. This doesn't always happen, but I'm working on it.
I've also been listing new items in my Etsy shop. I added some old stock at ridiculously low prices, as well as some newer stuff on sale as well. I put up all the head bands/ear warmers I've made so far. I haven't sold any yet, but I really hope I do. I literally have NO MORE SPACE for finished knit items. My storage bin is beyond full. This causes a problem when I want to knit more, because there is nowhere for it to go! I have to figure something out to remedy this problem. The most obvious one was to get more stuff sold. The second is to slow down on my knitting, and make items that condense the yarn more. The third "good idea" was to add more storage space. I think I'm going to do a little of that. Knit smaller items, and store them in a reusable grocery bag with the rest of my knitted things. This one seems like a good idea.
Now, onto some other goals. Back in December, I shared some goals I had for this year. One of them was to get fit. I've been working on this the past couple weeks. Rick bought us, mostly me, an elliptical off of Kijiji a few days ago, and I love it. Unfortunately, a piece fell off the other day, so I haven't been able to use it. I just have to get an Allen key to tighten something, and but the nut back on, and everything will be right as rain. With watching what I eat, using MyFitnessPal, and adding some extra exercises in throughout the day I've lose 4 pounds. Yeah, I know, that's not much, but it's a start! I haven't done anything drastic as far as changing my eating habits. I still have hot chocolates, and sweets, and junk food. If I cut them out completely, I rebound and binge on them as soon as I have them available to me. I have to do things slowly in order to make progress. I'd rather take things one at a time and make slow progress, than go really quick, only to knock myself back.
I also set myself a goal of taking more photos. I've done alright in that area. I'm not photographing as much as I thought I would be, but I'm not really going anywhere or doing anything to justify taking them. I need to work on that too.
How are all of you fine folks doing? Are you still making progress on your new years resolutions?

Night Time Knitting

It's been a little while since I've posted any photos of myself. Here's one of me knitting tonight.

I'm working on building up more stock for my two upcoming craft shows, and Etsy shop. I'm trying a new style of neck warmer, hopefully it goes well!
Also, make sure you check the blog at 12:01! I'm doing another giveaway, and there are three prizes!

Oh Hello, Etsy Shop! I've Missed You!

For the past couple weeks, I've been preparing my items and expired listings in my Etsy shop in preparation of a reopening. Since I started my new job, I haven't had time to promote the shop, so I let it fall dormant. With the holidays and colder weather coming, as well as an impending drop in hours at work due to the change of seasons, the timing is right to start restocking.
Please check out the shop, and let me know what you think! I'm going to be adding a few new items every day until I have it all listed. You can also use the code Blog10 to save 10% on your entire purchase!

A Sale In The Shop!

I just wanted to let you lovely folks know that from now until the end of the month, you can use the code RentIsDue15 to save 15% in my Etsy shop! After my craft show this weekend, I will have more items available!

Some New Items In The Shop!

If you're looking for the giveaway, it's here!
I was supposed to have a craft show this upcoming Saturday, but it was postponed until further notice. I'm hoping it's really soon! I was really looking forward to it.
So, instead of having a craft show, I decided to list a few items in my shop. So far, it's only hats, but I will probably be adding a few more things later in the week.
These are the first two hats I added. They are both knit in super bulky Wool Ease Thick and Quick. That is one of my favourite yarns to use. It knits up so quickly, and is super, super warm. I really like that the way I knit the hats makes them loosen up slightly over time. You can see that they are slightly slouchy already. After wearing them for about a week, they loosen up to a super comfortable fit.
All of my new photos were taken by my friend Nicki of Nicki Kay Photography. The male model is her boyfriend, and my good friend Richard. The day we took these photos was amazing. All the snow on the ground was the perfect backdrop for my knitted items.
I have a few other items I finished recently that I will be posting soon. One of them is absolutely perfect, I can't wait to share it with you all!

Teeny Tiny Scarf

This scarf is part of my current knitting obsession. It's only an inch and a smidgen wide, by about 20 inches long. This is the first one I've made, and I will attempt to make at least 15 of them before Friday's show. There will hopefully be many more than that. They are part one of a two piece set. I will try to get a few listed in the shop this week, with better photos of course.
I didn't do any specials for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. I was too busy this weekend to keep track of that stuff, and I am kind of kicking myself for it. I don't know if I would have even gotten any sales, but I'm sure just the increase in traffic would have been beneficial.
I am slowly working on goals I have for 2012. Sales, traffic, productivity and so on. I am going to be running this business like a real business.

A Knitting Machine, I Am

The last few days, I have been knitting more than usual. I've finished several hats, which is quite good. A friend may be buying some hats form me at a wholesale price for his clothing line. This could be amazing! His shirts sell quite well, and having my hats there would be great for both of us.
Once I get the "Okay" from him, I will be making two or three hats in each of a handful of colours. Another person will sew his custom tags on them as they are ordered from the store. I think this will be the best way for everyone involved. If I need hats, I will have them on hand and he won't have to worry about keeping a large amount of stock anywhere.

I've started using some of the yarn I received. The amount used so far has barely scratched the surface of what I have. There are about 4 large garbage bags full right now. I want to get that down to three before the New Year. That will include all the other yarn I have that isn't currently in my storage system. I guess this is a variation on my Knit The Stash challenge. Perhaps 2012 will be the stash busting year?

Lastly, I have added several items to my Etsy shop this past week. I am going to be photographing some scarves this week, hopefully. I want to have a good variety of items in the shop. I am not sure how many total items I should have, though. I don't like it when shops have more than about 8 pages of all different things for sale. I lose interest about halfway through.

What do you think is the ideal number of items in a shop?

New items in the shop! And other exciting news!

I have been editing photos like crazy today! I finally have enough done to add them to my shop!
It's mostly cowls for now, but I will be adding some later tonight, and more tomorrow. I plan on adding a few everyday, in different sections, so I can increase my visibility.
Have a look around! These are the first few. There will be many more to come!

The other exciting news is that I am in a new store! It opens up on Monday. It's called Trinkets, Treasures & the Truly Unique. As soon as I have a link to the Facebook page, I will link it here.

The Handmade Gift and Shopping Guide

This morning, Rick and I were photographing items to put in the Etsy shop. I logged into Etsy to check the prices of a few items, and I noticed a convo that I hadn't read. I opened it up, and I just about screamed, I was so excited. It was a note from Gilliauna, saying she featured an item from my shop on her blog! I've seen the blog several times before, and i'm sure many of you have, as well.
Take a look for yourself here.
I'm so happy that I am getting some media coverage in different places. I know that local coverage is helping my sales. I have had a few people contact me recently because they saw something I made in the paper or on a blog, and they purchase from me in person.

Over all, I am definitely improving all around. Rick and I are going to be photographing all of my items in the next few days, I'll start posting items, and of course, keep knitting more.

I've finished one scarf and one neck warmer in the past couple days. That finished up two balls of yarn. I started on another neck warmer, as well. This brings me to nearly 50 items made, and I am almost even with my skeins in vs skeins out/used.

I Renewed Some Items in my Shop!

A few of my items were expiring soon, so I decided to renew them! I've done a few so far, and I will be doing more over the next couple days.

I still have quite a few of my cotton bangle bracelets available. I've sold a few offline, but still none in the store! There are always other colours available. Also, if you wanted to get a few of them to wear together, let me know in a convo, and I can bundle them together at a savings for you! I am planning on listing more colours once I have a chance to photograph them.
I am also renewing some earrings. This olive green pair has gotten some attention lately in the way of views and hearts. I love their colour, and the size is just big enough to be noticed, without being HUGE.

There are quite a few different ones being renewed, so be sure to check them out!

Knit Bracelets are in the Shop!

I just listed three cotton bracelets in the shop! They have their own little section, even.
I am using a different, less fancy camera for my items now, and I wanted to test it out to see how well it would perform. I grabbed three bracelets and did whatever I could do. I was really surprised when I uploaded them for the edits. I didn't have to do too much to make them look good. I brightened up the pictures, and fixed up the background a bit, and called it a day.
I figured since I took the photos, I might as well add them to the shop.
We'll see how these do, and hopefully once the weather clears up, I'll take some more photos and add more!
Keep an eye out for a giveaway and some coupons!

Back open for business!

My Etsy shop has been reopened!

I will hopefully be listing new items in the coming days.

I Am Officially an Etsy Seller!

If you check over there in the left hand column, you can see my Etsy mini! I only have a couple items up for sale right now, and neither of them is knitting related. I am still working out some kinks and trying to get my posting to go more smoothly. I will be putting up more earrings over the next few days, and also some smaller knitted items.
Have a look around my Etsy shop, and give me any sort of critiques you can give! I can really learn something, I'm sure.