Interviewing: Hope

Hope was such an education for me.  She showed me how pleasant & respectful a well-educated young adult could be.  She and her family have placed in me a goal to bring up my own children with her kind of mutual respect & fun-loving attitude.  
Fun fact: Hope took the pictures that I now use for KnittedHome's online presence, including my profile & banner picture with my then-cell phone.


Hope
- How old are you & what grade are you in?  What state do you live in now?
I am 17 and in 11th grade. I live in Oregon.

- How old were you when I started watching you?
I was 10.

 - What is your favorite memory or activity that we did together?
I really enjoyed when we picked cherries and then made jam.

 - Did you think I was a nice or mean babysitter when I watched you?  Any particular reason?  Do you still think I'm nice/mean?
I thought you were firm but fair.  You didn't treat me as a little kid and I appreciated that.

 - Do you have any advice for me on being a parent?
Whenever you think you are being patient enough, be more patient.


Parents:
- What were your first impressions of me?
Smart, pleasant, reliable.

- What made you call me back?
General good impression with a very positive attitude.

- Do you have any advice as I embark on my own journey into parenthood?
Trust your judgment and don't over-think your parenting decisions.
The cellphone cozi Hope designed & I crocheted for her.

You can check out more in this series here.

New Sustainable Living Resources to Get You Excited About Living Green Again

I've dreamed of living in a Tiny House since I first stumbled upon Jay's Tumbleweed Tiny House designs back in 2007. I was living alone in my first apartment with only an hour a day of direct sunlight on my balcony, but I was having a renaissance in my life. I was devouring every book, blog, and video about living green, living tiny, and living sustainably. I wanted to grow my own food, preserve it, and cook from scratch; I wanted to make anything & everything so I could be independent of the grocery store. I wanted to have a home that I didn't have to pay utilities or a monthly rent /mortgage on.

To "live for free" without the need for an active income stream, began as a young dream and has continued to be a driving force in my adult life, whether on the front or back burner.

This morning I found this in my inbox and my passion is once again stirred up.

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Discovering Cloth Diapers

This Saturday was a total blast!  I went up to Ann Arbor, Michigan with a new cloth diaper convert friend to visit my also-pregnant cousin (she is 15 weeks behind me, due at the end of July) and we shopped two rummage sales (aptly named Moms 2 Moms), a local natural baby store called The Little Seedling where we all received a wonderful education on cloth diapering & baby wearing; and stopped at both Cherry Republic & Trader Joe's before calling it a Very Productive day.  :]

Cloth diapering has been a long-time research "project" for me and after many years I feel like I can finally say with some confidence that "I think I get it!" after having visited and talked with the ladies at The Little Seedling.  For the longest time I couldn't tell the real difference between All-in-Ones and Hybrids and Pockets and Fitteds and then I recently discovered "Flats" which are considered another version(?) of Prefolds.  Too many different styles and terms, I'm sure you're thinking.  Anyway, the exciting part is now that I feel confident to cloth diaper my little babe when he or she finally arrives in the next 2 or 3 weeks, I'll be plenty confident to make and use my own longies on my little one come this Autumn which means more adorable baby models for the Etsy shop! :)  yay :)

And I can't wait to tell you my even MORE exciting news (that has to do with my Etsy shop and all things knitted baby) once I have confirmation that it is all a go.  Stay tuned! :)

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Apps I Use for Selling on Etsy

Along the same lines as Blogging Tools, I found myself getting into tools/sites that I use for sales so I broke that off into this post:


Etsy

Even as I am starting to branch out into physical booth for sales (and possibly consignment??) I still like to have Etsy as a landing page & sample of work available by me.

Pinterest

Along the same lines, I like to keep a dedicated Pinterest board to my previous work, especially when it comes to one-of-a-kind pieces to be referenced by customers or used as inspiration for future work.  This has also been handy in knowing what needs to be duplicated for popularity's sake.  I also use Pinterest to brainstorm my craft show set up, new patterns to try, and any marketing or advice I might come across that I find worth referencing.

Square Up

Square has been a great tool for accepting credit payments in person plus generating a neat, digital sales receipt for anyone requesting one.  So far the only draw back has been that my particular smartphone (LG Spectrum 1st gen.) is not fully supported so I always have to type in the card numbers which results in a higher fee.   I still did fairly well at the Make It Indie fair in November but it sure has me thinking about that next phone upgrade this spring....
*Edit: Now that I have a Samsung Galaxy S5, the Square card reader works like a charm!*

Facebook

To promote art/craft shows I am participating in, to send customers for product + experience feedback as well as interaction, share new items listed in the shop, latest blog post link, and anything I find interesting that I think my followers may also enjoy.  I like to keep my Facebook light-hearted but centered around the knitting/crocheting/crafting theme.

Maybe not so surprisingly, I have noticed that some have even used my Facebook page as a way to contact me via message instead of my email.  This is how I was invited to join the Merchant's Landing Arts & Craft Show!

Free "scrap" bracelets

Freebies

Speaking of physical shows, I've also found that a little freebie is a great draw to your table.  I like to crochet long leftover scraps of cotton yarn into bracelets which I offer for free to whomever.  I find it is a great way to strike up a conversation with anyone "brave enough" to pick out a free bracelet.  :)

PDF Compressor

Once I started selling PDF patterns, I needed a compressor for the large image-heavy files that are my pattern's signature.  And not only do I want to make friends wait hours to download a large file, but Etsy does not allow pattern files greater than 20mb.  So needing a solution, I found Chrome's free PDF compressor + was instantly impressed with not only it's ability to crunch the size of my recent pattern from 38mb to 1.35!  But it even preserved the quality of the crisp images!  Sold!

Wholesale

So far I haven't branched out into wholesaling (purchasing or selling) but it has crossed my mind several times.  Does anyone have any wholesale experience?

Spread the Word

And as always, word of mouth through supportive friends and family members has helped generate a fair handful of sales this past holiday season.  Plus a few times when asked what do I do for a living (a question that always makes me cringe), I mention that I am a knit/crochet instructor as well as an Etsy shop owner.  I like to show pictures of what I make via my smartphone (images taken directly with my phone as well as pulling up my Etsy shop on my phone) and hand them a business card, encouraging them to explore my shop more when they are home.  I don't know how well it works, but I figure it can't hurt, right?


I'd love to hear what tools you use for "pedaling your wares" :)  If you already have a post about it, would you mind pasting a link to it in the comments section?  I'd love to read it!

 Referral + Affiliate links help me bring you valuable content without ads.  I recommend products + services that I use myself or that come highly recommended by peers.  
Any sponsorships that you see in my sidebar are handpicked by me because I believe in their products + services and think they could benefit you.

2014 Goals

I know it may seem a little late to be posting goals for the new year, but these have been swirling in my head since the end of January and I think they are finally ready to be listed and documented.  Not to mention by publishing them I can hold myself accountable and keep myself on track for the year.

  1. Finally get my Tax/ Incorporation in order.  Aka, am I a sole proprietor or LLC?  I meet with my uncle who does taxes for a living to figure this out next week.  :)
  2. Commit to at least one show/fair/market per month.  Obviously I missed the first three months this year but so far I'm on track to start in April with the Merchant's Landing Show April 12 & 13.
  3. Post to this blog once a week.  If more is happening that's worth posting about, I'll be sure to post it as well, though it may be less wordy.  Who is ok with just a picture post once in a while?
  4. Get my wares into a physical brick & mortar store.  More to come on this once things are settled.  I'm currently talking with two different shops and it just makes me super excited for new possibilities!
I've also started reading this great book that has some nice exercises (I'm not usually a fan of "exercises" in a book) that really spoke to me after I met my goal of doing 1-3 physical shows in 2013.  I felt so empowered and excited I couldn't wait to make more goals for this year & feel an even bigger empowerment at the end of this year.  Thus my mind has really started opening to the possibilities because of this book & it has really inspired some energy in me for this year's success.


So far my favorite passage is on goals & goal setting (thus inspiring this organized post instead of just a note to self on a scrap piece of paper):

Goals are really amazing things.  They give you focus and set your course.  [...]  Goals support Intentions.  By actively working on these goals, the end result will be accomplished.  You can use your intentions to make sure you keep your business on track. [...]  Your goals should be your friends; they should excite you, and you should look forward to working toward them.  Goals are not chores.
Exercise: Make a list of all the goals you've had since you decided to be a creative business owner.  Now circle all the goals that you've already accomplished.
Quote from Jolie Guillebeau: "Take small steps consistently.  Do something every single day to make a little progress toward your goal." 
Grow Your Handmade Business - Kari Chapin

Anyone read anything inspiring lately?

 Referral + Affiliate links help me bring you valuable content without ads.  I recommend products + services that I use myself or that come highly recommended by peers.  
Any sponsorships that you see in my sidebar are handpicked by me because I believe in their products + services and think they could benefit you.

Tools I Use for Blogging

I got the idea for this post last week while I was reorganizing & posting across different platforms.  These types of posts are always my favorite on other blogs so I thought I would share what I have found works for me.  Please feel free to add anything I've missed in the comments.  :)

Dropbox

My primary photos are taken with my smartphone, like most people these days.  But instead of plugging my phone into my laptop every time I want to add a photo to my post, I select and upload photos to Dropbox via the app on my phone and then open the folder on my computer.  Voilà!  My photos are on my computer waiting for me to edit & post.  (I used to use Bluetooth when I was at my computer and had my phone next to me, but it has since stopped communicating for some reason.)  An added bonus is I can upload photos to dropbox wherever I am so the photos are waiting for me when I get home to start blogging.

PhotoGrid

I use Preview to edit my pictures on my computer; it's simple and easy to do (control+command+c to open the editor menu).  If I'm on my phone & need to post right away, I use PhotoEditor to correct any color balance issues.  I also love PhotoGrid to make quick and easy collages of photos.


Canva

Canva is my new favorite way to go from image to GRAPHIC.  Even though there are paid add-ons, you can get quite a nice graphic with all the free images available.  My favorite process is to start with my uploaded image(s) + add text (lots of fonts to choose from + you can plug in your RGB colors) + then polish it off with a ribbon or other little graphic to make my font pop.  I've also played with transparency to soften the image colors which allows the text to stand out better.

IFTTT

I don't always have the time (or remember all the platforms) to post a link of my newest blog post or recent etsy listing to facebook/ twitter so I use IFTTT with specific "recipes" that do it for me.  For the nitty gritty, I definitely love the automation.  Just remember "If This Then That" when creating your own recipes or you can use recipes that are already available and tweak them to work for you!

Blogger

I have been blogging since the days of LiveJournal & Xanga and I have to say Blogger has been an easy interface to learn and work within.  The Draft feature, filtering out all posts that have been published, is a tool I use many times a day.  When I get ideas, I start drafting a post and save it to come back to when I have time to finish it and/or have a photo to top it off with.  I also love that I can customize my blog as I please, dabbling in HTML in order to tweak its appearance just so.

WordPress.com

I publish these same posts on Wordpress to help reach a larger audience, using an IFTTT recipe.  I believe I heard it called "Cross platform publishing" by another blogger.  Though Wordpress is definitely a nice site, the free customization can be very limited.

Pinterest

I use Pinterest not only to brainstorm ideas for my personal life, but also for referencing when blogging about a new project or product.  I keep a separate board specifically for past work I have created for sale and link to it often as a sampling of what I can do for potential customers.


Facebook

Facebook is a great resource for interacting with customers & supporters.  I like to use it as a landing page for anything related to Knittedhome (blog posts, Etsy listings, upcoming art shows, announcements, new class offerings, & sharing fun finds along the way).  I also like to direct my customers to my facebook page to post a photo of themselves wearing my product with their thoughts.  It is such a wonderful thing to hear feedback!  I am always learning new things from my customers.



MailChimp

I have tried to use MailChimp for newsletters but have yet to get a good grip on it.  In March I finally took the plunge + sent my first newsletter to my six subscribers.  Since creating a sign up link in my side bar I have already received new subscribers + plan to send out a weekly newsletter with my blog posts of the week via the RSS template.  Eventually I'd like to create unique content for email subscribers only so if this is something you're interested in you can sign up for my blog's newsletter here.
How do you use this app?

I'd love to hear what everyone else uses to keep their blog(s) running smoothly.

 Referral + Affiliate links help me bring you valuable content without ads.  I recommend products + services that I use myself or that come highly recommended by peers.  
Any sponsorships that you see in my sidebar are handpicked by me because I believe in their products + services and think they could benefit you.