Thursday, September 17, 2009

Artfire Sale!

I'm currently offering 15% off every order from now until Sunday Sept. 20!

Monday, September 14, 2009

Yarnaholic

I am a certified yarnaholic. I suppose there are worse things to be addicted to though! I love trying out new fibers, strolling down the yarn aisles, touching yarn, and even smelling it! I do believe I am passing this on to my kids too. Today, while picking up a few supplies at one of my favorite craft stores, my 5 year old chose a skien of yarn as her little gift for being such a good helper. She and her 7 year old sister have recently learned how to crochet.

A pic of my kids and a family friend playing with yarn.
So while my daughter came away with 1 skien, I came away with 8. I saw these new yarns and immediately started thinking of what I could make with them. This one would make a beautiful hat, that one a wonderful bag, and oh this would be just perfect for that pair of mittens, etc.
Here are my latest aquisitions:
Sensations - Kashmira Pattern, one in shades of green, one in shades of purple. As you knit, it creates a wonderful pattern
Lion Brand - Alpine Wool, 100% wool roving yarn. I got some cinnamon and some olive. A bulky yarn that I just love the feel of!
Plymouth Yarn - Galway. This is in a lovely olive green color with flecks of darker green.
As I look at this list, I realize that I must be in a green phase! Oh well, I went through a pink one recently, then brown, why not green?
If you have any yarn favorites, I'd love to hear them!

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Balancing it All

As I'm sitting here typing this post, I am trying to figure out where I should divide me energy and time. I've got two lovely girls and am home-schooling the youngest in pre-school; I've got 2 dogs - one of which loves to roll in interesting things in the backyard on a daily basis; my husband is in the Air Reserves - he's never been deployed, but is gone occassionally for training (a week to 3 months at a time) and duty time; and all the other things that need to be done on a daily basis

On top of it all, I have this blog, an Artfire Website, an Etsy Site, and my 'main' website. Oh, and in there somewhere, I have to find time to actually make the things I am trying to sell. So, my dilemna is where to professionally focus my time. I've had lots of traffic to my official site, but no direct business  (however there has been some word of mouth business this way). My Artfire site has had a little business, and my Etsy none. I have sold some things locally through a shop, but the commission is so high, that it's almost not worth it. I am beginning to wonder if by spreading myself out, I am creating a problem in that I just don't have enough time to do any of it as well as it needs to be done. I read a post on Etsy today that said don't expect any business unless you have 100+ listings! Because of the type of work that I do, it would litterally take me at least 6 months to make that many items! O.k. that might be a slight exageration, but it would take awhile, and it would certainly depend on what pieces I am making. If making large or intricate bags, it could take a year. Then there is the time it takes to list all those 100 items.

I think what I need to do is focus on a different forum on a weekly basis, either that, or cut out some of my forums. So, I think this week it will be Etsy. If I'm lucky, I'll bet those posts up to 50. Right now it's at 27.

Wish me luck!

Friday, September 11, 2009

Even Lower Prices! And new items!

I've lowered my prices on most of my items even more! And I've added some new things! Check out all my sites - my etsy site and artfire site are very close and have the same products (artfire is currently 10% off everything and both have free shipping)

My main site - http://www.seasonsofwool.com/ has twice as many items and I've lowered 95% of my pieces.

http://www.seasonsofwool.etsy.com/

http://www.seasonsofwool.artfire.com/

Expect more pieces over the next couple of days!