November Goals - Better late than never, right?

 You know it's been a crazy couple of weeks when it's the 8th of the month, and I'm just getting around to putting my goals down on paper! 

Craft shows have been sort of blah this fall (you can check out my Craft Show Recap playlist on YouTube here )

So for the month of November, I'm going to work on getting back to basics... working on known best sellers. The exceptions will be 1) my #amibookchallenge - making something from a pattern I purchased, but haven't used, and 2) my Crazy Critter Challenge. 

So, my list will be rather vague - no numbers / goals, just "here's a list of best sellers - focus on them." 

1) For the #amibookchallenge, I will be making FoFo The Bull - Pattern Here DONE

2) My Crazy Critter Challenge turned out to be a dark blue bear with white stripes. Okay, that's workable... DONE

Peppermint Pete

Pattern is Buddy Bear 2.0 from Craftably Ever After

Well, his pants are sort of dark blue...

Best sellers / restocks to focus on: 

Elephants

Big Head Turtles (free pattern on Instagram from MercanHandmade) - finished two: 

Ballerina Kitty - free pattern from Grace and Yarn

Finished 11/7 - sold 11/18! 

Penguin Mini - paid pattern from Minigurumi

Hilde the Highland Cow - free pattern from Yarn Society

Finished a Chocolate cow, and it sold at my 11/11 craft show. 

Made another one for a custom order from Etsy. 

Since the other two sold, I made "Snowball"

Dachshund - my own pattern

Ankylosaur - both my usual pattern from Handmade by Halime, and a new pattern, smaller, from Complicated Knots on YouTube

Made another one for a custom order

Cute Mini Dino - free pattern on my blog

Forest Friends - paid pattern from Minigurumi on Etsy

Hamsters - paid pattern from Minigurumi on Etsy

As of 11/18, all three of these sold... I guess I'm making some more! 

My 11/11 craft show went VERY well, so I have to step back from November goals for a little bit and restock items that sold! 

Restocked Triceratops, coffee cups and flip octos! 

Mini Dino pattern

 

Once upon a time, I saw a pattern for a really cute dinosaur... it was a free pattern on Instagram, but it was not translated into English. I think it was in Russian. The original pattern was by @softs_stories on Instagram, and it was translated by amigurum.com

I made the pattern and loved how it turned out, but it was sooo big... That head took forever! Eleven rows at 54 stitches? Not my cup of tea! I like little projects that I can whip up in an evening! 

So I cut the pattern in half and started making dinosaurs. I think I have it the way I want it after four tries! I am making a fifth one, though, to give an exact figure for ounces of yarn needed. I made these with worsted weight yarn and an F hook. They end up being about 9" tall. The lavender one was made with a thinner yarn (maybe Caron Simply Soft?) and is only about 7" tall. 

It takes 1.4 oz of the main color and .2 oz of the contrast color. I used 12mm safety eyes. 

Mini Dino

Head: Using main color, begin at nose

Round 1: 6 sc in MR. (6)

Round 2: inc x 6. (12)

Round 3: *sc, inc* x 6. (18)

Round 4: *sc 2, inc* x 6. (24)

Round 5: *sc 3, inc* x 6. (30)

Rounds 6-11: sc 30. (30)

Round 12: *sc 3, dec* x 6. (24)

Rounds 13-14: sc 24. (24)

Place 12 mm safety eyes between rounds 9 & 10 with 8 stitches between. I fold the head in half and count down 4 stitches from the top on each side. 

Round 15: *sc 2, dec* x 6. (18)

Round 16: *sc, dec* x 6. (12)

Round 17: dec x 6. (6)

Body (starting with legs)

Leg 1:

Round 1: 5 sc in MR. (5)

Round 2: inc x 5. (10)

Round 3: BLO sc 10. (10)

Rounds 4-6: sc 10. (10)

FO leg 1. Make another, but do not finish off.

Round 7: ch 2, work 10 sc around leg one, work 2 sc in connecting chain, work 10 sc around second leg, then 2 sc in back of connecting chain. (24) Place your stitch marker at the center of the back. 

Round 8: *sc 3, inc* x 6 (30)

Round 9-10: sc 30. (30)

Round 11: *sc 4, inc* x 6 (36)

Round 12-13: sc 36. (36)

Round 14: *sc 4, dec* x 6. (30)

Round 15-16: sc 30. (30)

Round 17: *sc 3, dec* x 6. (24)

Rounds 18-19: sc 24. (24)

Round 20: sc 8, dec x 4, sc 8. (20) These decreases should be over the front of the dinosaur. 

Round 21: sc 7, (sc, dec) x 2, sc 7 (18)

Change to contrast color.

Round 22: sc 18. (18)

Change to main color.

Round 23: sc 18. (18)

Change to contrast color.

Round 24: sc 18. (18)

Change to main color.

Round 25: sc 18. (18) FO, leaving tail to sew head to body.

Arms (make two with main color)

Round 1: 5 sc in MR. (5)

Round 2: inc x 5. (10)

Rounds 3-4: sc 10. (10)

Stuff hand a little, but leave the rest of the arm unstuffed.

Round 5: *sc 3, dec* x 2. (8)

Round 6: *sc 2, dec* x 2. (6)

Rounds 7-10: sc 6. (6)

Finish off, leaving a long tail to sew to body. 

 

Tail: After a few set-up rows, the increases will be at the top of the tail, with 3 sc in one stitch (3 sc)

Start with main color

Round 1: 5 sc in MR. (5)

Change to contrast color

Round 2: *sc, inc* x 2, sc. (7)

Change to main color.

Round 3: *sc 2, inc* x 2, sc. (9)

Change to contrast color.

Round 4: sc 4, (3 sc), sc 4. (11)

Change to main color.

Round 5: sc 11. (11)

Change to contrast color.

Round 6: sc 5, (3 sc), sc 5. (13)

Change to main color.

Round 7: sc 13. (13)

Change to contrast color.

Round 8: sc 6, (3 sc), sc 6. (15)

Change to main color. Finish off contrast color.

Round 9: sc 15. (15)

Round 10: sc 7, (3 sc), sc 7. (17)

Round 11: sc 17. (17)

Round 12: sc 8, (3 sc), sc 8. (19)

Round 13: sc 19. (19)

FO, leaving a long tail to sew to body.

Cheeks – with pink yarn. Make two.

SC 4 in MR. FO, leaving a tail to sew to face.

Assembly: sew head to body, placing the back of the head at the back of the neck. Sew the cheeks 2-3 stitches below the eye, set slightly back from the eye. Embroider a smile 2-3 stitches below the eye, slightly in front of the eye.

Sew the arms on the side of the body, just under the neck stripes. You can sew them on pointing straight down, or angled slightly toward the front of the body.  Pin the tail on the back of the dinosaur, making sure it balances him so that he can stand. Sew tail to body. 

Spikes: make 1 with contrast color

First spike: Ch 5. Starting in 2^nd ch from hook, sl st, sc, hdc, dc.

Remaining spikes: Ch 7. Starting in 2^nd ch from hook, sl st, sc, hdc, dc.

Repeat spikes until you have enough to go from the end of the tail to the center of the head. I made 8 spikes.

Sew spikes to body. Use tail from spikes to embroider nostrils on the nose of your dino. (Which I forgot to do on two of the dinosaurs!) 

I did go through several changes in the spikes.

For this guy, I only did ch 6 between the spikes, which left a shorter gap. 

Then I tried ch 5, sl st, sc, hdc to produce smaller spikes. 

I put it up to a vote on YouTube, and bigger spikes prevailed. 

Back to bigger spikes with this guy, but they seemed a little crowded to me. 

For this guy, I added an extra chain between the spikes and liked it better. 

This is with ch 7 for the spikes.

The larger pattern called for embroidering little accents on the legs and belly with the contrasting color. I didn't do that on any of these. Some day when I'm feeling adventurous, I might. 

For this guy, I added accent colors at the bottom of the arms and legs... 2 rows on the arms, and 3 rows on the legs. 

October Goals

 Well, you know I've been busy when it's October 3 and I still don't have my October goals list done! 

This month, I'm focusing on a lot of little stuff for upcoming craft shows, and using up some scrap yarn! 

1. Ten use-it up sprees : 1. Variegated 2. Orange 3. Colorful Ombre 4. Tea Green 5. Variegated Yellow/Orange/Tan 6. Bright Blue 7. Light Sage 8. Raspberry

 

These three used up a small cake of baby weight variegated yarn. 

Bye, bye orange! 

The small pumpkin in the front started using up some variegated yarn. 

There was only enough left after this to make a small octopus... 

I played yarn chicken and won... the head/bottom/legs of this turtle used up all but about 

3 yards of the green! 

Between the pumpkins above and this one, I finished off a vintage skein of ombre yarn in yellow, orange and tan. 

Between these and a micro octo, I finished off that blue! 

This guy finished off a cake of Light Sage. 

 

Took a while, but I finished off that Raspberry! 

2. Ten mushrooms

1 mini mushroom in the middle - my pattern, free on my blog.

2, 3 & 4... Crushy Mushy pop mushrooms, free IG pattern by @crochet_crochey

3. For the #amibookchallenge, make an item from my new book, Whimsical Stitches by Lauren Espy

DONE - go big or go home.... I made three carrots! 

I want to find some purple to make an eggplant. 

4. Crazy Critter Challenge - this month's random number generator picked a pink chicken with a red ruffle - DONE

5. Ten Bees

6. Three Hilde the Highland Cow by Yarn Society DONE

7. Donatello the Dress-Up Turtle (my own pattern) - DONE

8, Keep up with one video per day on my YouTube channel for Vlogtober - so far, so good. 21 down, 10 to go! 

9. Two big head turtles (not originally on the list, but the show I'm doing on 10/21 used that picture from my Instagram to promote their show... and those two turtles sold last July!) DONE - I actually made three! 

Fidget Octo

 Fidget toys are so popular nowadays that I wanted to make up a pattern for one This cute little octopus has a bead in each of his legs, so a fidgety person can push the beads up and down the leg. Push them all up to the top, push them all down to the bottom. Repeat as needed. 😁

It only takes 1.5 ounces of worsted weight yarn and 8 beads. I used an F hook. 

I got these beads at Joanns with a 40% off coupon. 

They don't have a size listed... Looks like they're about 3/8" across. 

First, you'll make the 8 legs, then crochet them onto the body. (Yay, I love a no-sew pattern!) 

Legs (make 8)

Round 1: 4 sc in MR. (4)

Round 2: *sc, inc* x 2. (6)

Round 3: *sc 2, inc* x 2. (8)

Round 4-15: sc 8. (8)

Finish off. 

Head/body: 

Round 1: 8 sc in MR. (8)

Round 2: inc x 8. (16)

Round 3: *sc, inc* x 8. (24)

Round 4: *sc 2, inc* x 8. (32)

Round 5: *sc 3, inc* x 8. (40)

Rounds 6-11: sc 40. (40)

Round 12: *sc 3, dec* x 8. (32)

Place eyes between rows 9 & 10, with about 6 stitches between. If you want to, embroider a little mouth below the eyes. Now the legs are attached in Round 13. Place a bead into each leg before you crochet it on.

Round 13: Place a leg next to the body with the last row next to your current row. Work a sc through both sides of the leg and the next stitch of your current row. Repeat 3 times. (Sometimes I attached the leg with three stitches, so I just did a sc on the current row to make up the fourth stitch. It depends on how you folded your leg.) Repeat this with the other seven legs. 

Round 14: *sc 2, dec* x 8. (24)

Round 15: *sc 2, dec* x 6. (18) Stuff the body. 

Round 16: *sc, dec* x 6. (12)

Round 17: dec x 6. (6)

Finish off and weave in your end. Your Fidget Octo is done! 

Notes: 

I am going to make another one and get pictures showing the leg attachment. 

If your beads are too big to fit inside the leg, you could make the leg larger (maybe go up to 10 sc around), and then decrease on the last row so the legs are the right number of stitches to sew on. 

2022 Best Sellers

I made a spreadsheet... Yup, I love my spreadsheets! I put in every item I sold in 2022... whether from Etsy, friends and family, or craft shows. I sorted the list by number of items sold and total sales, and here are the top ten for each category. 

I only listed items for which there is a written pattern. My butter lambs are one of my best sellers, but since I have not published the pattern, I left them off the list. 

Top Ten by # of items sold: 

1. Whale Ornament - Pattern

2. Geckos - I alternate between Greg the Gecko and my own pattern which is smaller and has skinnier legs.

3. Baby Axolotl - a paid pattern on Etsy by Minigurumi The pattern is only $1 - and it's worth it!

4. Small turtles - I some times use my own pattern, also use this paid pattern from Minigurumi

5. Hamsters - LOL, I'm sounding like a broken record. Another Minigurumi pattern!

6. Baby Octopus - my own pattern, available on Ravelry and Etsy

7. Baby Stegosaurus - free pattern here

8. Ankylosaurus - free pattern here

9. Forest Friends - and another great pattern from Minigurumi I have made so many red pandas, koalas and hedgehogs from this pattern! 

10. Axolotl in Sleeping Bag axolotl pattern Sleeping Bag pattern

When sorted by total amount of sales, here's how the list goes: 

1. Whale Ornament (see #1 above for pattern link)

2. Ankylosaurus (see #8 above for pattern link)

3. Gecko (see #2 above)

4. Axolotl in Sleeping bag (#10 above)

5. Baby Axolotl (#3 above)

6. High-End Dragons ($25 or more) Some of the patterns I used:

    Toby the Newborn Dragon 

    Kai

    Baby Water Dragon

    Balloon Dragon

7. Socksy Dachsie - my own pattern, available on Ravelry and Etsy

8. Queen Elizabeth dolls - I made the Queen Mum mod of Puddin Doll and the version from Iconic Women

9. Baby Octopus - see #6 above

10. Hamster - see #5 above

I am shocked that these didn't make the list: 

Hilde the Highland Cow (how can it be that I only sold 3 in 2022?)

Pattern by Yarn Society 

Ballerina Kitty - These always sell so quickly... I've made five in the past 3 years. 

Pattern by Grace and Yarn

Monsters should have made the list, but 1) I don't usually use a pattern to make them and 2) my list broke them down into various prices. 

$5 & Under - 3

$6 - $9 - 6

$10 - $12 - 5

$13 - $19 - 2

$20+ - 3

By numbers and total value, they should have made the list. 

It was the same with turtles: while $5 - $6 turtles made the list with 16 sales, there were 15 other turtle sales in other price points. Again, there were multiple patterns... so I don't have any pattern that stands out as a best seller. 

 

September 2023 Goals

 My next craft show is 9/30/23... so I have the month to stock up on best sellers! My September list is ambitious... Let's see if I can get it all done! 

1. Ankylosaur - One of my best sellers. Here is a blog post showing the variety I've made! DONE! 

2. Socksy Dachsie - my own pattern. I've made so many of them, I have a blog post showing them! Socksy Dachsie Post DONE

3. Beagle - again, my own pattern - DONE

4. Corgi - and my own pattern once again. I've made 5 of these, and they have sold quickly. 

Well, I got a custom order asking if I could make my Corgi in blue and pink to look like a picture she sent... So I'm counting that... DONE

5. #amibookchallenge - a scrap critter from my new book Annie's Crochet Patchword Animals - DONE 

6. #amigurumiwars2023 spotlight designer - I'll be making the reindeer from Lyra Lune Designs. If I have time, I may also make her free unicorn pattern. I lost my motivation for doing this... the head is so big, and I'd rather make a bunch of smaller projects. 

7. I got 5 skeins of glow in the dark yarn from Joanns this week. My goal is to turn all five skeins into a basket of adorable glow in the dark monsters and critters. 

First skein made two critters...

I ended up with a dozen.

8. Fidget octo design - DONE

9. Crazy Critter Challenge.... this month's number was 8531, which translates to a purple monster with yellow stripes. DONE

10. Present for the birthday girl. My 3rd granddaughter turns 3 on September 24, and I have an idea for a gift based on one of her favorite cartoon shows. DONE - but her party isn't until 10/1, so I'm not putting pics here.