The Happy Happy Blanky... and associated terror!

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you might have caught sight of something bright on my hook lately...

This little lovely has been a delight. Well, sort of. I started it towards the end of the summer. In fact, if you were at Yarndale on the second day, you might even have seen me working on it. It worked up pretty quickly and the colours are just a delight: bright and punchy and made to go together. They're the best of friends.

And then I ran out of yellow.

And the yarn supplier ran out of yellow.

And for AAAAAAAAGGGES, I was second on the waiting list for when yellow came back in stock.

And then it arrived. Hooray! I could crack on and finish my happy happy blanky.

Wait... that yellow... it's a different dyelot.  I can tell it's a different dyelot...

And so for a brief spell, the happy happy blanky was actually a grumbly grumbly blanky as I pulled out row after row to get back to the first row of yellow. Then I started again.

And soon I was past the point at which I had started unravelling.

And soon it became a joy again.

And then it was finished.

It's not a massive blanket, but a good size for a pram or a cot, or for tucking your toes under while watching TV.

It's worked up with a 7mm hook and Rico Creative Cotton Aran. The larger-than-recommended hook means that the blanket has a brilliant floppiness and flappiness, or 'drape'. It's also deliciously squidgey.

So why the terror? Ah, well. I might have gone and written it up as a pattern and I might have gone and listed said pattern for sale. It's available on Etsy and Folksy in either UK or US terms, whichever you prefer.

My first pattern for sale.  Eek!

I made copious notes while I was working on it and I've read and better read the final version. I've even remade it in miniature to check the border instructions.  The pattern includes a tutorial for the stitch with pictures and everything.

There's something really quite nerve-wracking about it though!

Front Page

A delightful surprise this morning as I spotted one of my chunky snoods in the 'favourite finds' section on the front page of Folksy.

Do pop along and have a look - I'm in very good company with some lovely items from other makers. In other news, it was a busy weekend here, sewing in ends on a blanket and squinting at tiny crochet stitches to produce these...

These too are now available in the shop, which is filling up nicely.  Now all I need is for it to start emptying nicely!

Stars

Possibly the most exciting thing about Rico producing a line of 10 count cotton in an ace selection of colours is that the star-in-an-embroidery-hoop Christmas decoration that I used to stock in white comes in a veritable rainbow of choices this year!

It makes me very happy to see these hanging in the shop!

Tidying and finishing

It's fair to say that since Yarndale, the sewing room has been something of a bombsite. It was a bit of a tip beforehand too, but at least then I had the excuse of stockpiling ahead of the trip to Skipton. Anyway, in an effort to get the whole thing under control, the sewing room has been thoroughly reshuffled and an extra bookcase has found its way in there. It was a jolly satisfying way to spend last Saturday, if a tad exhausting.

The above is a mid-tidying shot. And so, having tidied the sewing room, I have spent most of this week crocheting next door in the living room...

Well, it would be a shame to mess up my lovely tidy sewing room! The blanket in these pics is currently pinned out to block. It'll be making an appearance in the shop as soon as it's done.

Back on Folksy

I used to sell on Folksy. Ages ago. I had two shops: one sold Scrubbitty cloths and the other sold general homewares and accessories. At the time, one shop was the only one to stock crocheted dishcloths and the other listed the only mug cosy on Folksy (I know because I checked, and back then, the search worked).

Anyway, various things changed and early on this year. Folksy no longer felt like such a good 'fit' for me and what I was selling, so I decided to let my listings expire and concentrate on the yarn. I think that was the right decision. The yarn is ticking along nicely (thank you, lovely customers) and it now feels like time to revive the handmade side of things.

I was going to host the items myself on my own domain, but trust me, that is a lot of effort for items which are often one-offs, so earlier this week, I had a peep at Folksy. It looks a lot better. It looks worth the annual investment of £45 for a 'plus' shop, because a 'plus' shop, frankly, looks ace. It also seems that lots of the backstage functionality which sellers had been crying out for has finally arrived.

So there it is. I considered reopening Eidelweiss and Scrubbitty, but only the latter really had a strong identity and the new shops allow you to build collections of product lines - perfect! I'm slowly filling it with listings, some of which are brand new, some are tried and trusted favourites. Let's see how it goes this time round, eh?

Plans for world domination

Well, maybe not the entire world.  Not just yet.  Really just 'plans to move things on a bit'.  My poor we blog seems to have been a tad neglected of late, but I promise you, work has been going on behind the scenes.  Lots of work.  For a start, I finally registered a domain: www.thehookery.co.uk.  All it needs now is a website behind it...

And all a website needs is something to put on it...

But there's no point putting my stuff on it until I have a shopping cart sorted out...

And a shopping cart needs a website.

These are all Big Things for a little business, especially one which is run by someone with a fairly busy day job.  For the short term, I think I'll be linking my website up to my Folksy shops, but in time I would like people to be able to buy from me direct, so this is a start.

In other news, there's been a product redesign for Scrubbitty, as well as some frantic making to be sent to a real-life-bricks-and-mortar-shop-on-a-high-street.  *Gulp!*  More about those later.  I've also had a bit of a spruce-up here too.  As usual the lovely Bonnita came up trumps turning my shop branding into nice little logos that I can use.  They're there, up on the right hand side.  Smart, no?  There's a Hookery one too:

So you see, the blog may have been all quiet and deserted, but I have been busy, honest!  Anyway, no rest for the wicked and all that - I've still got a bit of crochet to be getting on with...

Revamped and destined for the High Street...

I'll be back with more news soon.

Resolutions

I made a few this year.  And then promptly forgot them.  The ones I can remember are as follows:

1. Say thank you to bus drivers
2. Learn to knit
3. Use my breadmaker more often
4. Save more money
5. Eat less food
6. Leave London

And you, yes, YOU, dear reader can join in with #4.  There's a sale on in both Eidelweiss and Scrubbitty so now you can buy guilt-free.

Wooosh!

Christmas breezed through The Hookery this weekend.  These were made and listed in Eidelweiss:

...And flew out of the shop on the very same day!  More due to arrive this week.

 

Blanky

It's been a while, but I promise, I've been fairly busy with the hooks.  Admittedly, not all of it crochet for the shops, I recently finished this, for me:

I started it aaages ago, back when the dissertation was still on the menu.  It's funny to look at the first few rounds and remember what life was like then.  It's a very simple pattern, two colours, three rows of each, then change.

I should have kept count of the yarn, but I didn't.  As it weighs about a kilo, I reckon there are about 20 balls of yarn there.  It was a relaxed project, just something to pick up in the evening and do in front of the telly.  As the evenings got colder, I found I could snuggle under it while I worked on it.  The guage is quite loose (most of it was crocheted without actually looking at it), so it has a lovely drape.  I'm liking it's beachy shades of sand and pale blue.  I reckon it will be a year-round blanky.

I'm also working on another blanky for Eidelweiss.  Here's a sneak peek:

So, what're you working on?

Seasons

As I've already mentioned, I love autumn, but each season brings its own special palette.




Which is your favourite season?

Featured!

Just a quick post to say...

... Scrubbitty appeared in the Folksy newsletter today!

Pricing

One of my biggest bugbears is underpriced handmade items on Folksy.  Especially crochet items.  My second-place biggest bugbear is the excuse: 'I only do this for a hobby, so I don't price my items too high'.  If you're flogging granny blankets for peanuts (I have seen them for as little as a fiver), I'm afraid your hobby isn't so much crochet as crippling those businesses who are trying to make a viable living.

So imagine my horror when a friend on Twitter sent the following message:

How come your prices are so low? I'd be whacking them up for the effort it must take to make these.

*Gulp*

It's worth noting that this friend is not a crafty-type, he doesn't sell on Folksy and as a 'he', he's kind of er... under-represented in my customer base.  Oh dear.

I'm not the only person ever to write a blog post about the perils of pricing handmade, so in brief...  Scrubbitty cloths sell for £7.  The minimum wage from 1 October for a worker over the age of 21 will be £6.08/hr.  So either my materials cost me 92p, I am younger than my birth certificate says I am (younger workers get paid less), or I crochet at the speed of light.

None of these statements are true.  And it gets worse.  I live in London, where the cost of living is higher than anywhere else in the country (and the 18th most expensive place to live in the world).  Consequently, a worker can rightly expect to be paid the London Living Wage - £8.30/hr.

This means that to sell Scrubbitty cloths for £7, either my yarn suppliers are paying me to use their yarn, or I am a Time Lord (Time Lady?).

Again, neither of these statements is true.

I will be raising my prices.  Not all at once, and not by the margins they need to straight away, but I now have a pricing plan which includes a series of increases over the coming months to try bring things back into line gradually.  I'll be applying it to both shops.

I have learned my lesson.  Pricing is difficult and although it's easy to ignore, I do so at my peril.  It's like the ironing, doing my accounts or the bindweed in the garden - it has to be kept on top of!

Headless

Here's a screenshot of Eidelweiss at the moment. I think I'm subconsciously gearing up for Hallowe'en.

Click for larger image

Make-over

I've been scratching my head for a while now about how best to package my face scrubbies.  As usual, the wonderful Bonnita came up trumps :)

Self-indulgence

I thought I'd a bit indulgent and share some of my current faves from Folksy with you.  Aren't these lovely?

Felty!

Not so long ago, I bought some felt from Lupin Handmade.  I also have a fair old stash of fabric - some big bits, which will one day be skirts, some smaller bits which are left over from past attacks of skirt making.  Now, when I first started selling online, it was never my intention to sell only crocheted things.  Somehow the hooks took over though.

Anyway, the felt... it has totally reminded me of my sewing love.  Not so long ago, I settled down with the pile of felt, the button jar, some embroidery thread and a wee dram (my most creative moments usually benefit from a little lubrication) and made this...

It's a small coin purse and you can see more pictures of it here.  I've been using it ever since and have finessed the design and making process in my mind so that I have a whole range of new products just waiting to be made.  My notebook is stuffed with designs for purses, pouches, patches and christmas decorations (I know, but the early bird gets the worm, right?).  Look out for them in Eidelweiss in the near future!

Pricing

Just doing a bit of 'laptop housekeeping' here at The Hookery and I came across a spreadsheet to help with pricing.  Pricing is a bit of a nightmare.  It's also been a bit of a shock.  I just plugged my costs into this spreadsheet and basically, I'm not making very much. 

For each item you make, work down the column plugging in the costs of the materials used (don't forget to include your time) and how many items these materials made.  Then enter how much you'd like to charge for an item and the spreadsheet will show you what you'll make after listing fees and commission (I think these are accurate - I'm assuming Paypal still charge 20p + 3%, but could someone let me know if this is wrong?). There's a bit at the bottom to enter postage costs so you can keep a record. 

Anyhow, you can download a rough-and-ready ODS version from Google Documents here or let me know your email address and I'll ping you a pretty copy in Excel.

Ms L. Umpy

Remember Bob? Remember he mentioned some of his relatives might come to stay?  Well, the first one arrived today.  Apparently she's a distant cousin.  There's certainly a family resemblance...

This is Lulu and she likes blackcurrant squash and reading.  Trouble is, she has no arms to turn the pages.  She and Bob have spent the afternoon reading the National Geographic together and generally catching up.

Now, the plan was that Bob's rellies would all stay at Eidelweiss, but what if Lulu is bought by someone who doesn't read with her?  She'd be so sad. 

It's a tough call...

Well hello there good-lookin'!

The sharp-eyed among you may have noticed a few changes around The Hookery of late.  For a start, there has been a general crockery amnesty.  The 20-strong coffee cup cohort has finally made it off my windowsill into the kitchen sink and had a good old soak and scrub, but more exciting than my washing up - we have been redesigned!

You may remember in an earlier post about branding I was considering splitting my shop?  Well, it's been done.  And with the help of some rather snazzy graphics from Bonnita, we now have a particularly cute mouse for Eidelweiss and some cool bubbles for Scrubbitty, plus some illustrations from my Mum.  I am a happy girl.  I've even set up a Facebook page for The Hookery which will follow both shops.  It's all getting rather organised round here!

 Where the magic happens.  Tidily, of course!

Folksy Friday

 We're all about the yarn here at The Hookery this week!