Smaller Things

I made two of the infinity hooded cowl but I wrote myself a pattern for fingerless gloves, either with the alternate popcorn stitch or just double crochet, for size 4 and 6 yarn, and for a hat.  With bulky yarn I can turn out a hat and gloves in a day, and with a 4 the same thing.  Now that I remember how to do a rib effect it’s been zooming right along!  I haven’t even posted them on Ravelry because it’s going so quick.  I’m hoping to build up my Etsy shop numbers with items that are quick to turn around, rather than items that take days.

Amazon, by the way, seems like a no-go.  Their selling interface makes absolutely no sense, I tried it twice and then just gave up.  Not even remotely intuitive.

Etsy and Amazon Handmade

I’ve had two sales on Etsy so far but it’s been over 3 months and  both sales could have happened without doing work on Etsy at all.  One was my mom, after all.  I’ve made updates to my listings, pictures, descriptions etc but I have next to no views.  I guess you are expected to buy into their ads and constantly play with the SEO (search engine optimization) to actually show up in searches at all too.

It’s kind of curious because I’ve had more than one person tell me my prices are reasonable and even say they were going to buy something, but they haven’t.  I’m over 30 items now too but that bar seems to move a lot.  Some people say over 20 is good, some say over 50, etc. My favorite was one saying to take pictures with a real camera, not a phone.  Hell I haven’t had a ‘real camera’ in like 20 years, who does that?  Phone pictures are just fine anyway.

At any rate for Amazon you have to tell them what tools you use, take a picture of where you work, show them your items, and so on.  It’s like applying for a job, but I did get approved the very next day.  They take a bigger bite at 15% when  you get a sale, as opposed to Etsy taking 20 cents per listing and then 5% if it sells. I’m going to give it a shot, anyway, can’t get any worse than my luck at Etsy so far.

My own pattern

I’ve been looking for hooded cowls but, nothing I saw really did what I want.  So instead I took the idea of an infinity/mobius shawl from Natazia and a hooded cowl from another channel, and made a hooded infinity cowl.

I still have to tuck in the ends here but it came out well.  I like this because you can wear it with a coat on still and with the hood down, it just looks like a thick scarf wrap.  It was quick to make too, and it’s nice to come up with designs using different techniques.  I did the same for the gloves I’ve made recently as well. I’m tempted to make matching gloves but this is 6 bulky yarn and I’m not sure if it would be TOO bulky.  I’ll have to try it I guess.

Another Scoodie

Finished another scoodie this time with Thunderbird Lion Brand Mandala yarn.  I LOVE THIS YARN!

Then with the remaining Wood Nymph yarn, I improvised gloves to match.

Scoodie

The nice thing about Annoo Crochet’s patterns is they usually work just fine with no adjustments.  I made this scoodie today, not with Red Heart Unforgettable because I dislike that yarn, but with Lion Brand Mandala and it came out so cute with no changes at all!

It would look better if I had a mannquin head but I don’t have that yet.  It’s basically a hoodie with a scarf.  All I need is a button so it can be closed in the front.  I plan on making more.  Sure ok ok, it’s like 100 degrees out but, I sorta gave up on making the crop tops already.  I don’t really have summer yarn.