Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Road Map for March

I love finishing up projects. But, when I finish a project, I get to start a new one. That's where I run into trouble! Do I start something to use up the scrap yarn from the basket next to my chair? Start something really cute, that I'm sure will sell? Start something to replace an item that has sold already? The options are pretty much endless, and I probably spend too much time debating!

So, on a Sunday afternoon as my husband drove us out to lunch, I worked on sketching up a road map for March. The idea is that I will start in one corner and see how many times I can March around the block. 

I had fun coming up with the street names. I already have several lists on my Google docs to-do list, of "Cute Items to Make", "Scrap Yarn Projects", "Replace Sold Items" and "Hot Sellers". I put in a "street" for cotton thread, since I have so much of that to use up. "Least Lane" is where I will pull the yarn in my Ravelry stash that I have the least yardage of, and finish that up in a project. I put in the "outer loop" so that if I am blessed with any custom orders during March, I can work them into this little game! 

So, my "rules" for this month: 
Start in one corner (WIP Way). I move to the next street by either completing an item, or spending half an hour on a project. 
I think I'll end up going around the loop three times... but we'll see! 
Project 1: I started on WIP Way and finished Tigey.
Then, I went down Trendy Trail and worked on butter lambs, since they are very popular in this area around Easter! Here's the Etsy link for one of the smaller lambs.

For Completion Circle, I used up a little ball of scrap yarn to make a cute little finger puppet that looks like a marshmallow bunny... and had so much fun with that one, that I kept on going through Scrap Box Blvd and made a whole set! They are listed on Etsy too!

I rounded the corner of Owl Avenue by making an owl with leftover yarn from previous projects: 

And I cruised down Cute Court by making a Pop Tarts Baby Blanket! I think it turned out great! 

With the next stop being Wild Card Way, I started another Pop Tarts blanket... got in half an hour's worth of work on that, so my next stop is Replacement Road. Since I sold a butter lamb this week, I think I'd better make some more! 

March turned out to be a discouraging month. Both craft shows were below average in sales, one of them setting a record low for that location. Overall sales also set a record low for the month of March. 😞
I played with some new patterns, like a baby sloth. Then I used a double strand of yarn to make a mama sloth.
I made Pop Tarts to get a play food listing up on Etsy.
I got an Etsy custom order for a moose... Without that order, March sales would have been horrendous, instead of just pretty bad (half my average)!

I think April will be all about getting more items listed in my Etsy shop, and working down my stash to make best-seller items for my fall shows. Hopefully I will have a better April than usual (shouldn't be all that hard, considering average sales for April are $34!


Thursday, February 1, 2018

Fabulous February

January was a good month. I got a lot accomplished. I had fun with my new yarn winder. I maintained my weight loss. I took my vitamins and supplements, and my knees are feeling the best they have in years. Sales were lower than average (January is typically a slow month, with no craft shows. It wasn't my worst January ever, but fell below average sales), so I would like to step things up in February by doing more Etsy listings. Maintaining my weight is good, but continuing with my weight loss is better. I need to be more diligent in limiting snacks, and get back to the dreaded exercise...
Some of the projects I finished in January

So, here are some goals for Fabulous February: 

I frequent a crafting website called Ravelry. That's where I keep track of my yarn stash, my projects, my patterns, etc. During the Winter Olympics in February, they are having the Ravellenic Games, where you can win a virtual medal by completing tasks during the time frame of the Olympics. I will be "competing" in five categories:
Ravellenics:
Alpine Afghan (any size blanket)  - Cupcake Blanket - DONE

Sock Hockey (footwear)  - Slipper Design - DONE

Added bonus: these finished off about 8 small balls of yarn from my scrap box! 

Toy Bobsleigh (stuffed animal / toy) - One & Two Company CAL - Parker the Polar Bear - DONE - Finished 2/16

Aerial Unwind (undoing a project to reuse yarn) - frog pink sweater parts - DONE


WIPs Dancing (finishing a project started before Olympics) - Master’s Blankey lovey - DONE
DONE!

Other CAL / Projects
Croch-Eh CAL - Lumberjack Moose 
Isn't this the cutest moose ever?


Finish sets 3-4 of Mandala Madness 
Working on the last row of set 3

Finish 3 Owl Obsession squares 

3 Butter Lambs for spring craft shows - (DONE - but 2 sold already)
Other:
Focus on getting in more steps / exercise - log 10 exercise sessions in February - oops, let this goal slide! Only got 1

List 28 new items on Etsy - DONE - and then some!
1. Pumpkin the Mermaid
2. Fifi the Mermaid
3. Little Pink Ninja
4. Green Cupcake Blanket
5. Sissy Squid
6. Butter Lamb (sold within 24 hours)
7. Bunny Cuddler
8. Butter Lamb 2.0
9. Chubs the Giraffe
10. Butter Lamb 3.0
11. Owl Basket
12. Blue Bunny
13. Green Owl
14. Sleepy Striped Owl
15. Soft Blue Owl
16. Multi-Color Owl
17. Butter Lamb #4
18. Penguin - Royal Blue
19. Penguin - Lime Green
20. Penguin - Peach
21. Penguin - Hot Pink
22. Penguin - Yellow
23. Penguin - Cornflower Blue
24. Master's Blanket
25. Parker the Polar Bear
26. Tissue Pouch
27. Horse Scarf
28. Dakotah Cowl
29. Purple Cupcake Blanket

Make enough scrap yarn projects to get two boxes & one bag down to one box! DONE
I would like to work this down enough that the bag on the left and box on the right fit in the middle box.
(This was going pretty well, until I pulled more colors to work on Chubs the Giraffe and added about six cakes of yarn to the collection!)



Chubs the Giraffe used up a bunch of scrap yarn!
This used up one cake of yarn from my scrap bin... but turned into a six-legged squid rather than an octopus... because I ran out of yarn with two legs to go!

Reduce stash by 2 pounds - DONE - even though I received two bags of yarn, and bought four skeins that got added to stash, I'm still down two pounds overall! 


2/7/18 WIP Wednesday


A ball of variegated sock yarn was calling to me to make an owl! 



Let the Games Begin! My five planned entries for the Ravellenic Games! 
Finished the Master's Blanket lovey!

WIP Wednesday 2/14/18
Mandala Madness, Mr. Moose and Parker the Polar Bear