And For January's Box...
For PhatFiber's January Sampler Box the theme is Chinese New Year. I actually planned ahead for this, much better than for previous boxes, and I ordered some adorable tiny Lucky Money coins in 2 different sizes and styles as well as these funky oriental rabbits because 2011 is the Year of the Rabbit in the Chinese Zodiac - which also just happens to be "my" year... hmmmm (as she ponders the necessity of always having a current lottery ticket every week... at least until I win...) I even spent quite a bit of time hunting until I found some bronze colored eyepins to match the coins - boy was that a hunt! What always get me is waiting on pins and needles for the stuff to arrive - and of course it's never earlier than you need it! I ordered some really great dragon charms that would also have made really great stitch markers for this theme but it's been 5 weeks and they're still not here - good thing I wasn't banking on them - eh?
The top pic are the larger size markers and I really enjoyed digging through my mixed beads to find theme-appropriate ones. I thought the cloisonne were particularly appropo!
Now I don't want to sound like I'm complaining, because sales have been extremely poor for December & January (in all my shops) but the small markers (bottom pic) sold out the first week I posted them in my shop which was really frustrating, especially since the January Box hasn't even gone on sale yet and I absolutely can't get any more rabbits because there are none left from the vendor... so.... I ended up making a bunch more sets with just the small Lucky Money coins (of which I have tons) but it's just not the same without the bunnies. I wonder if I'll ever get it right! *sigh* For December I made a pile of both styles of stitch markers that I did for the box - and still have most of them. For January they're gone before the box even goes on sale. Do I know how to call it or what? LOL!!
One of the improvements they've made to Etsy that I am especially appreciative of is the Activity Feed function. Talk about extreme encouragement! It reports on the items in your shop, like who has added them to their Favorites file. You get a feel very quickly for what items are attracting attention and it can be rather surprising! As a vendor you can always see how many times your item has been viewed but this feed means you get instant information on who likes what and often, that "favorite" leads to a purchase. It really helps point you in the right direction as to what you should keep making and what you should maybe move your focus away from. While it takes time to build a clientele you can still tweak in the direction your interest is coming from. For example, the stitch markers that seem to attract the most interest are the small ones I make. I always list them as appropriate for socks or lace because they are not heavy and the rings are small (8-9mm). I have seen stitch markers with really tiny rings, like 4-5mm, but to me, that's too small to be comfortably maneuvered even on really small diameter needles. At rest or while knitting, to me, markers should never bind if they're on an angle, which they usually are when being slid around with your stitches. If the ring is too close to the diameter of the needles they will not slide unnoticeably like they should when you slide your stitches. Just my opinion - as I'm sure there are knitters out there who love excruciatingly small stitch markers - but I don't particularly, having tried them, so I try to reflect my experience in what I make. I guess repeat buying will tell me if others agree! Cheers all!
Now I don't want to sound like I'm complaining, because sales have been extremely poor for December & January (in all my shops) but the small markers (bottom pic) sold out the first week I posted them in my shop which was really frustrating, especially since the January Box hasn't even gone on sale yet and I absolutely can't get any more rabbits because there are none left from the vendor... so.... I ended up making a bunch more sets with just the small Lucky Money coins (of which I have tons) but it's just not the same without the bunnies. I wonder if I'll ever get it right! *sigh* For December I made a pile of both styles of stitch markers that I did for the box - and still have most of them. For January they're gone before the box even goes on sale. Do I know how to call it or what? LOL!!
One of the improvements they've made to Etsy that I am especially appreciative of is the Activity Feed function. Talk about extreme encouragement! It reports on the items in your shop, like who has added them to their Favorites file. You get a feel very quickly for what items are attracting attention and it can be rather surprising! As a vendor you can always see how many times your item has been viewed but this feed means you get instant information on who likes what and often, that "favorite" leads to a purchase. It really helps point you in the right direction as to what you should keep making and what you should maybe move your focus away from. While it takes time to build a clientele you can still tweak in the direction your interest is coming from. For example, the stitch markers that seem to attract the most interest are the small ones I make. I always list them as appropriate for socks or lace because they are not heavy and the rings are small (8-9mm). I have seen stitch markers with really tiny rings, like 4-5mm, but to me, that's too small to be comfortably maneuvered even on really small diameter needles. At rest or while knitting, to me, markers should never bind if they're on an angle, which they usually are when being slid around with your stitches. If the ring is too close to the diameter of the needles they will not slide unnoticeably like they should when you slide your stitches. Just my opinion - as I'm sure there are knitters out there who love excruciatingly small stitch markers - but I don't particularly, having tried them, so I try to reflect my experience in what I make. I guess repeat buying will tell me if others agree! Cheers all!
Posted by Gloria Patre at 1/19/2011 10:04 PM 
Categories: PhatFiber
Tags: phatfiber january box chinese new year
Categories: PhatFiber
Tags: phatfiber january box chinese new year
Those are exquisive. You did very well with them. I think I like the coins the best.
I had never thought to mark my favorites. I usually bookmark the main page of any site. I think that because I can always follow the links to get back to what I was looking for that there isn't a need to mark one as a favorite. Now I know better.
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