My overall plans are the same old, same old...
Work down my yarn stash... try to sell more than I make, to reduce my inventory.
2022 didn't quite follow that plan... my inventory went up by 3.6% and my yarn stash has 73 more entries than last year, a twenty-pound gain. Just couldn't stay away from yarn clearance and garage sales! I saw a meme that said "I don't hoard yarn... I rescue it from garage sales and thrift stores." Yup. That's me!
So, 2023 will be a year of transition. It will be my husband's first full year of retirement, and in December, when I am eligible to get Social Security, I plan on retiring also. I want to develop my crochet business a little more this year, doing more designing, being more faithful to this blog, and (gulp) starting a YouTube channel. I want to work on getting all of my inventory listed on Etsy, and stick to making more of my best-selling items and less crochet-alongs. I did a spreadsheet of items finished in 2022, and found that of the 42 crochet along projects that I made, only 13 sold. Comparing that to my stats for Ankylosaurus, it's pretty bad. I made 6 Ankys and sold every one of them! So, I want to focus on what I know will sell!
This is a quick breakdown of my goals for January:
First off, stay away from the yarn aisle (but I already messed up on this by doing a yarn rescue at the thrift shop... If you want to see what I picked up, check out my
YouTube video. I did go into Joann Craft and didn't buy any yarn, so I should get points for that, right?
While I am staying away from crochet along for now (unless I host one myself!), I am trying to participate in the #amibookchallenge on Instagram. The idea is that so many crocheters have books they purchased, but just haven't used... so the challenge calls for you to pick a book, pick a pattern, and make one new item each month. For January, I picked up my Unicorns and Dragons book and chose the Mushroom Fairy... stay tuned for a pic of the finished item.
Restock - I want to pick a best seller in my higher price range and get it finished up and listed in my shop. First up, of course, is an Ankylosaurus (free
pattern on Ravelry ) - since it's at the beginning of the alphabet, cute, a great seller, and just plain fun to make!
DONE!
Paid Design - I would like to publish one paid pattern per month - I have so many ideas... I just need to work on them!
Free Design - I would also like to get one free pattern on my blog each month, to increase blog traffic
Finish a skein - I will pick a skein of yarn and make stuff until the yarn is gone... for the first month, I picked a skein of blue DK yarn I got on clearance that was a tangled mess. I wound it neatly into a cake... I plan on making the ankylosaurus from this, using the pink yarn for the body, and blue for the shell.
Blue helped decrease the size of the yarn cake!
Scrap bag - I made up a scrap bag and want to use it up for fun little filler projects. First up, I'm using the blue at the lower left for a baby axolotl (free pattern on YouTube by Fancy Lama)
1/13 - the bag is almost empty...
There was an orange axolotl too, but he's already in the axolotl box.
Done!
Etsy - 4 new listings - I will be adding either new items that I've made, or older items that have been in inventory, but never listed on Etsy... the goal is to get everything in my inventory listed.
1. the new Mini Big Head Turtles... I have six of them made up!
2.
3.
4.
Okay, that's my January plan in a nutshell! Time to get crackin'!
DONE! 
