August Restart

Okay, it's August now...
No craft shows until mid-September. Feeling better about my business because I'm finally in the black. Time to do a bit of a reboot.

I want to stay in the black, so no purchases unless absolutely necessary! Yup, stick to the yarn diet!

I just opened up an A.C. Moore Marketplace shop, I imported over 150 items, but I still have close to 200 to add. I need to fine-tune the shop, adding a note about free shipping with a $25 order to items (coupon code is 25shipping)

I want to get more organized... it seems like I'm always spending a lot of time rummaging through piles of patterns to find the one I want to work on! Or I get an order and it takes me half an hour to root through a dozen boxes to find the item.

I want to get back to better healthy habits... cutting back on snacking and increasing my exercise.

So, I have made goals for the month, each week and each day:

For the month:
Finish Cera the Dinosaur (a crochet-along with an adorable pattern from Accessorize This)

Week One done - body and head.

End of Week Three... all that's left is legs & tail

Cera is done! And I won a free pattern for week three! 

Finish one pattern currently on my list of paid patterns I've never used - DONE - Hatching Dinosaur

Stick to the yarn diet! No yarn purchases unless needed for a paid order! (8/20 and still holding firm on this one!) (8/28... I think I'm going to make it!)

Get inventory sorted into neatly-labeled boxes (goal: no more than 5 minutes to find any one item)
(8/20 - got some done, but still need to work on this!)

Weekly:
Get one box of unneeded items out of the house, donated to a charity
Organize one notebook of patterns
Get 20 new listings up on A. C. Moore Marketplace
Get in three sessions of exercise
Use up one ball/cake of yarn from my scrap yarn trays

Daily:
No more non-stop snacking! Breakfast, morning snack, lunch, dinner, and (if needed) evening snack
Promote my shop on Facebook
Get in half an hour of work on an "endless" project
Take my vitamins

Of course, as soon as I set the resolutions, the temptations come... Joanns is celebrating their 76th birthday, and said all yarn is buy one, get one 76% off. A friend drops off four boxes of gluten-free goodies. My favorite designer releases a new pattern and it's adorable and she offers a 40% off coupon... The closest grocery store sends me a coupon for free ice cream...

If I can ace this list through the month, I will be so organized and ready for fall craft shows, in better health and a much less cluttered house. Time to stick to my list and get it done!

Day one went well... got in 20 minutes on the recumbent exercise bike while watching TV and working on an abandoned project. Stuck to planned meal times. Took my vitamins.

Custom order of Mom & Baby gecko done

I had a productive day on Saturday. I did some organizing and finished three projects!

Having single category notebooks will make it easier to find patterns!

Finished a pattern test on a sun hat - the Ziggle Puff Sun Hat by The Lavender chair

I didn't go to any garage sales, craft stores or thrift shops to buy stuff... I just stayed home and worked on projects! And I cleaned up the fridge and pantry a bit. I think I'm doing well with this month's goals! 

I did pretty well with my first week, getting six notebooks organized instead of one... listing 30 items on A.C. Moore Marketplace instead of 20.  This guy used up a ball of tan scrap yarn:

Exercise? Well, still working on adding that habit. Doing better with eating, and I still haven't made any purchases of yarn or patterns! Registered for one more fall craft show, but I also made one sale, so I'm still in the black!

I got the chance to visit my daughter in PA over the weekend, with somebody else driving, so I packed the hatching dinosaur pattern, and finished up one over the weekend. I also made up one of the hexagon granny square dolls I've been seeing on Facebook so much lately.

I did another pattern test - Mrs. Claus's fingerless gloves

 Played with a fun pattern that used up a lot of scrap yarn... the Fat Cat pattern is on my blog!

8/20 update... Well, the exercise aspect isn't going well, but other than that, I'm making good progress on most of my goals.

Did another pattern test... Bulky Ribbed Pumpkins by Carol Hladik Designs (back two pumpkins). Since I had yarn left over, I made a baby pumpkin from a pattern I used last year (from memory).

I sold my first "Mermaid Cat" at Street Fest in July, and at the end of the show, as I was packing up, a mom whose daughter was looking at it came back and wanted to buy it. Oops! I made another, and hope she will come to one of my fall shows to buy it! I think I'll make a few more while I have the pattern out!

Roly Poly Penguins and Pumpkin Pie tissue holder are the next two items that will make their way into my A. C. Moore Marketplace shop. I still have 143 items to list! This may take a while!

August summary:
Sales: worst since June of 2016
New Healthy Habits - didn't do very well
Setting up A.C. Moore Marketplace shop - pretty good progress, although it did get a bit overwhelming
Using up scrap yarn: did well on this