Tag: business

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The Aalborg Cowl

 

 

 

The Aalborg Cowl pattern is done. The view from the desk this morning. 

Yep. It reflects my mind. For the past few days, I’ve been waking up with the intention of doing a perfect day and it has fallen apart within the first few minutes. That cranberry red spot in upper middle is the cowl. It is the high spot within the clutter bomb.

There’s also the making of another pattern with the camo cotton yarn. That pattern isn’t going to work out because it’s taking too much of the yarn. I will have to rework the bottom. Still think it will take about three skeins of yarn which isn’t really bad – except I bought two skeins of each color. But then, the original thought was I was going to make two toned bags. So, that could still happen.

See what I mean about the state of my mind?

So, the Aalborg Cowl pattern is done and it’s in the shop.

These were taken when the desk had a bit more order. The Aalborg Cowl from designbcb I do like the way it came out. It has a very interesting texture.

I have a how coming up next month and Mr. Honey and I borrowed a tent from a friend and had a time practicing getting it all set up. They both assured me I wouldn’t need stakes to hold it to the ground but I am not that confident and am leaning towards getting some cuz it’s better to have them and not need them than the other way around.

What’s on the agenda for today? Some more knitting and crocheting. The next French lesson from Mango and some cleaning. Currently, I’m cleaning/organizing kitchen cabinets. I hate doing it but I love it when it’s done.

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Starting Over Again

Starting over again can be rough. Especially if you have to select a new yarn to remake your most popular hat. I’ve made this hat a staggering number of times. The most being made with the yarn in the first photo.

The yarn that is discontinued. Well, these are all discontinued. But the first hat sold hundreds of times. It was a replacement for the yarn that was discontinued and also sold a lot. Can the third time be a charm? Or will it be going to well too many times? 

It took some time to come up with the yarn I was going to replace it with – so I came up with two, maybe three. This is the winner. I think this is a relatively new color so it shouldn’t be going anywhere soon. But I boat a big bunch just in case. And just in case it become popular. This is the second winner. This comes kind of close color wise. They are both beautiful and bring their own vibe. It will be interesting to see if either of them take off and sell like the first two did.

Tomorrow is Easter. Some say it is the most important day of the Christian liturgical calendar. I don’t have an argument one way or the other. But I know God is good all year round. We are also in the seasons of Passover and Ramadan. Whatever faith brings you closer to God or if you feel that closeness without organied religion, this is the season of renewal. Whatever blessing you need for the fulfillment of that second chance, I pray you get it.

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Goodness Gracious

Goodness gracious, all my orders from the 2020 season are finished and off in the mail. That means 2021 is now calling. It’s March first and that means I have about 6 months to catch up with this normal part of life. 

When the season is over, I usually take a day off before I start to worry I will never get another sale again. That won’t happen now because I already have a sale for March. So now, I have two days off before I start to worry.

Last year was good but this year has started even better for designbcb. Really nice sales for January/February. The thing is to make warm weather items, planner pages and patterns that will boost sales during the spring and summer months and get things ready for the fall. That six months will go fairly quickly.

I asked this question on my Instagram page. I am not self-conscious at all about not having may followers anywhere except Pinterest. People have to start somewhere. But this is an important question to know the answer to if I am to ever get some readership and followers. I have to know why I decided to spend my finite time doing this as a way to sustain myself. I believe the question can be answered by stating a simple fact:

A bad day working for myself is better than a good day working for someone else.

That’s what it all boils down to and even when I have more days behind me than ahead, I would rather spend them doing this. Taking something I feel passionate about and making it a passion to perform.

Have you turned your hobby into a business? How goes it?

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Administration Mode

These are the items from my second collection, Deuces Wild. They were waiting to be photographed so they could be placed in the shop and on the website. There is a similar pile of the items from my newest collection, Feels. They are downstairs waiting for their time in the spotlight.

I am entering administration mode. I have two processes in owning a shop: the first is the creative mode when I get to do all that knitting and crocheting. Once that happens, I go into admin mode. That time behind the scenes doing what it takes to get all those items into the public view.

Goes something like this: photograph items, make videos, edit photos, bag and tag items to store in the cedar chest, inventory items, prepare website pages, prepare newsletter release to private/mailing list, prepare social media posts,format patterns, prepare Etsy listings, do yarn reviews (if needed). Not necessarily in that order. But all that has to happen and it goes relatively quick. Ad mode will last maybe a couple of days. It is a necessity of business but it also has a spiritual need for me. It gives me knitting down time.

I won’t be in front of the television during this time and I won’t have needles or hooks in hand. My focus will change from one thing to another thing and that means part of my brain gets a rest. Though I won’t be knitting or crocheting, I am already getting excited because this down time includes picking the yarns for my next collection. This is a part of the business I don’t get to enjoy that much. Before, when I did this just for fun, I could relish the selecting of a yarn. But now, yarn is sometimes selected because an order has been placed and there’s no choice. At this stage, I can select what I think will work. I will be working with two yarns I haven’t knit with before. That makes me smile.

By the time administration mode is done, I’ll be ready to knit again. I will want to get out of this part of my head. So it all works out for the best. Which is a good thing. I love the knitting thing too much to allow it to be a burden. It is still the work of my soul.