Knitting Season is Here!

Well, this is sort of embarrassing. I can't believe it's been almost two months since I last blogged! There has been so much going on, and sadly much of it is behind the scenes so I can't share quite yet. We also left the country for a wedding and had family come to stay, so it was a very packed summer!

However, knitting season is here, my favorite time of the year! The season started with the Greater Boston Yarn Crawl, where the lovely Sharon Lynn hosted me at Mind's Eye Yarns in Cambridge. It was my first time meeting her in person and she is wonderful. If you missed the crawl, she has a great selection of toil & trouble sock yarns in stock so it's not too late!

While at the trunk show, I started these adorable toddler socks in Sun Also Rises. This is a lovely and simple pattern, by the talented folks at Purl Soho. They are so cute I ended up making three so I can keep one as a yarn sample.

Up next is Rhinebeck, where I'll be purely as a consumer (but let me know if you want to meet up). I don't think I'll pull off a Rhinebeck sweater in time sadly. The following week I'll be heading to Sage Yarn on October 25th! Jen has become one of my favorite people in this industry and I'm so excited to be teaching Intro to Shawl Design as well as having my trunk show.

And no, I am not immune to the seductive powers of yarns crawls. I came home with much less yarn than I took with me, but I did snag these Malabrigo lovelies.

Making Decisions

What an emotional roller coaster the last week has been. I was amazed by the response I got to my post on why I lost a customer. I received an overwhelmingly positive response, from both other business owners and customers. It was a truly amazing feeling to receive countless notes telling me that my work was appreciated on its own, without the need for extra gifts.

This discussion has come at an interesting time. I was in the process of developing a rewards program, which I had talked about at the end of April. This is something I had been thinking about for a while, and it was on my radar long before the experience from last week. Now I am faced with some difficult questions. If I offer the rewards program, will it come across like it was a response to that customer's complaint? If I offer the program, will it set the stage for people always feeling like they are entitled to rewards and freebies?


I have decided to still go ahead with my original plan, because I don't want to let a nasty experience derail it. The rewards program is a way for me to acknowledge people who have truly made a difference to me and my business. It is not something done out of a sense of obligation or necessity, and I hope it will be received and appreciated as such. Stay tuned!

With that said, it's time to focus on the positive and the future again. I am happy to continue discussing the issues of appreciating handmade, customer expectations, and all of that, so please feel free to continue sending me messages. 

Now back to the dye pots! There is a new store, Ewe + You, opening in Irvine, CA next month and they'll be carrying Toil & Trouble Merino/Nylon sock yarns. I'm also getting ready for the Squam Art Workshops the first week of June, and I'll be a vendor at the Art Fair. See you there! 


As for that shawl I've been working on? I got a little sidetracked, but I'm back to swatching to design the next step for the lace.

The hard stuff: Managing Expectations

I was ready yesterday to write my usual Wednesday blog post showing you what I am working on, but something happened. Almost two months after a trunk show, I received some upsetting feedback from the venue. 

A customer had returned to the venue to announce she would "never buy Toil & Trouble yarns again." The reason? She had purchased 5 skeins, and I had not offered her a free pattern. 

This comes back to a discussion that happens over and over in the world of small businesses and handmade. My friend Liz talked about paying for handmade a while back, and I discussed it again in terms of paying for knitting. Inevitably, as a professional artist or artisan, you end up thrown into the role of educator. We find ourselves repeatedly having to explain the value of our work.

I love what I do. I work hard at it and I am thankful to be able to make a (tight) living with my fiber company, and I am very aware that this is because of my wonderful customers. But sometimes I wonder if my customers realize that their every purchase literally allows me to pay for a place to live every month, and for groceries every week. 

Even though this customer did not leave her name behind, I remember her well. I remember her face, her name, what she bought, and the discussion we had about the pattern she was interested in knitting. I truly value customer interaction and remember every single one of your faces, even if I'm not great with all your names. We had a very pleasant exchange. There was no "buy x skeins and get a free pattern" deal posted. She never made any requests of the sort to me at the time. But she returned to the venue two months later to express her dissatisfaction that I had simply not made the offer. 

There are some important questions that I feel consumers of handmade need to ask themselves before asking for discounts or free items:

"How would I feel if someone asked me to work for free?"

It takes me days, even weeks, to come up with a pattern idea, make a sample piece (sometimes several sample pieces), write and re-write the pattern, format it, photograph the sample, have the pattern thoroughly test-knitted and tech-edited. So, how would you feel if someone felt entitled to getting the product of many days/weeks of your hard work for free?

"How would I feel if my boss asked to pay me less this month?"

"How would I feel if my boss said he wanted me to work 8 hours, but would only pay me for 6?"

Every free item, every discount, very literally takes money away from my pocket. With the yarn I dye, I pay for the raw wool, for the dye, for the water and electricity I use to dye it, for the labels I attach to it. Every pattern costs me supplies to make the sample and tech editing fees. Also, there is the less visible cost of my time and labor. 

"Would you go into a supermarket, restaurant or clothing store expecting gifts?"

If often feels like these expectations only happen when doing business with small companies. I ask myself if this person goes to a restaurant and is upset when she isn't offered free dessert. Does she go into a store like J. Crew and feel slighted when they don't offer her a free shirt with the pants she just bought?

There are companies that purposefully hike their prices. They do this so they can run frequent promotions and give the illusion of offering a bargain, while keeping their profit margins intact. There are companies that raise prices to cover the costs of giving out freebies, so they are in fact not free at all. I prefer to price fairly from the get go. When I do offer a discount, I am making a conscious decision to earn less money that day/week. 

Making a living as an artisan is not an easy task, and is made entirely possible due to customers. I am so thankful for each and every one of you. But at the end of the day, I need to make sure my business is financially viable. And I hope this is something you can understand. I welcome your thoughts on this, as small business owners and/or as consumers. 

In Which Things Change Rapidly

Another hard to write post. When I was finally feeling like my life was back in some state of equilibrium, it turned completely upside down.

Many of you knew I was managing a new studio community on the North Shore. As of two weeks ago, I am no longer involved with this project. After ongoing immoral and illegal behavior by the landlord, I left, along with about half of the artists. I wish those who stayed behind the best of luck, as they are great people. This has been a painful and heartbreaking process. I put in 5 months of very hard work, as a volunteer, to bring a community to life, and walked away in less than ideal circumstances. I have no intention of airing grievances publicly, so this is all I will say on the matter. I am happy to answer any questions you may have privately.

I've allowed myself time to grieve over what happened, and now I'm dusting myself off and moving on. For the time being, I'll be working out of my home studio. I am teaching a variety of classes at Seed Stitch Fine Yarn, so I can still be found out and about.

Thank you to those of you who have been supporting me during this difficult time.

Transitioning

EDITED: I am no longer managing the studios originally mentioned in this post, or at all affiliated with the organization. Due to serious ongoing issues with the landlord, several of us left. I wish the remaining artists the best of luck, but I am stripping any information regarding name, location, and links from my blog because I do not wish to send this landlord any traffic. There has been much heartache associated with this situation, and I am happy to answer any questions privately.

Even though the news has sort of been out for a few days now, I've been avoiding writing this post. It's not an easy post to write, because I am both excited about this new chapter, but sad to be leaving something wonderful behind.

The day I moved into Western Avenue Studios

I moved out of my studio at Western Avenue Studios this weekend. This is not a decision I made lightly. I spent months thinking about it. WAS is a wonderful place, filled with amazing people, and I'm really sad to leave this community. Someone else has already taken over my studio, which is a strange feeling. But I had to accept the reality that I live 45 minutes away, and it had become very hard for me to be in the studio as often as I need to. If I got to the studio and realized I forgot something at home, it was an ordeal. So as much as I love WAS, and the people at WAS, I chose to find a studio closer to home.

This brings me to the happy news. A friend sent me news that a new studio community was opening in [location removed], and I immediately called them up. Long story short, I am now the new Studio Coordinator at [information removed]. It's a brand new project, and we are in the process of leasing out studios and cleaning up the place (taking out old abandoned furniture, ripping up carpeting).

This is going to be my studio. The old rug is coming up, and so is the vinyl flooring - there's wood flooring underneath! The shelves I am undecided about. The best part? I get my own sink!

So here I am, happy, sad, excited, a little heartbroken, and anxious for the building to be ready for move-in. We are planning an opening reception for early September, and I hope to see you there!

Another weekend, another snowstorm

It seems New England is quite determined to show us a proper winter this month. A snow emergency went into effect Saturday evening, so we hunkered down with the cats and the torturous Van Gogh puzzle we started during the last storm. We were determined to finish it, which we did around 1 am on Sunday night. Phew! Good thing Monday was a holiday.

I made a lot of progress on my Featherweight Cardigan, and then started another puzzle in avoidance of the treacherous Folded Sweater. After the unintelligible splotchiness (totally a word) of the Van Gogh puzzle, I picked a map of Boston - clean lines, easy colors.

It wasn't all fun and games though. With January come and gone so quickly, it's time to start gearing up my business for 2013. I am working through new knit designs and dyeing like crazy in preparation for the North Shore Yarn Crawl next month. I'll be at Seed Stitch again this year, having a hand-dyed yarn trunk show all day on Saturday, March 16th.

I am super excited because I'll be premiering two brand-new yarns at the crawl, both DK weight and one is fabulously tweed-y like my popular Tweed sock yarn. Perfect for all you non-fingering weight sweater knitters! I'm also starting to add new hand-knit goodies to my shop, the first being these Laser Beam Mitts. Totally geeky and fun.

I hope you locals weathered the storm safely and without loss of power this time around!

Featured in the Phoenix!

This week, something super exciting happened - my business appeared in a real, printed magazine for the first time. The Boston Phoenix did a feature on Bazaar Bizarre, with a suggested gift guide, and they included me! I really couldn't be more thrilled!

Other than that, my week continues to be filled with yarn dyeing and knitting. It's hard to believe that this time next week the holiday rush will be over!

That book up there? Don't be fooled, I don't actually have time to read. But I bought it so I can reward myself after this weekend. I know I'm a little behind the times, but I hear it's a great book. Have you read it?

Upcoming Show: Somerville Marketplace by Boston Handmade

I've been spending a lot of time with my dye pots these last two weeks. I was invited by the lovely folks at Boston Handmade to participate in their Somerville Marketplace this upcoming weekend. So I've been working on new colorways and getting myself ready for this weekend! The show is this coming Saturday, June 30th, in Union Square from 3 pm to 7 pm. Perfect for a post-lunch stroll!

There will be a raffle and you can enter for a chance to win goodies from several of the vendors! And if you come by my booth, you can get 10% off your purchase with the secret password: Ghost Busters. Yup.

Image borrowed from Boston Handmade

Well, back to the dye pots! Hope to see you there!

Craftopia this weekend!

2012 has been such a busy year so far! I have so much to share soon, but for now I wanted to let you know I'll be at Craftopia in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, this Saturday. The show is April 28th from 10 am to 4 pm!


image borrowed from RhodyCraft 100

I'll be debuting several new yarns: silk/merino sock yarn, a new merino/nylon sock yarn, tweed sock yarn and a gorgeous merino/silk lace weight yarn. Hope to see you there!

Yarn Crawl: Photos and Thoughts

So here it is, my post about the North Shore Yarn Crawl. I needed a few days to really process the event because it was so much more amazing than I could have imagined. When I moved to Salem in 2009, Seed Stitch became my local yarn store - not only because I could walk there from our apartment, but because it is beautiful. The store is bright and spacious, and big comfy chairs invite people to stay a while, chat and make something. The Yarn Crawl started in 2010, organized by Courtney who is the fabulous owner of Seed Stitch. 2012 was its 3rd year.

January rolled around and talk of the 2012 crawl started. I excitedly pulled out my calendar to start planning my crawl route. Then I thought - how amazing would it be if I could be part of the event? So I rang up my faithful fibery partner Ady and we drafted a proposal: a hand-dyed yarn trunk show as one of the Yarn Crawl features. I sent it to Courtney, crossed my fingers and waited for her to tell me they were already booked and didn't have a place for us. Instead, I got an incredibly friendly and enthusiastic response saying she would love to have us. I could hardly believe it!

Two months later, we found ourselves setting up our tables as customers lined up outside, waiting for opening time. Then the doors opened - and a wonderful day started. Hundreds of people came to Seed Stitch. Everyone was amazingly friendly and super enthusiastic about our work. I can't remember the last time I smiled so hard! We met wonderful knitters from all over, made new friends and talked about upcoming knitting projects. The day ended too quickly, but I will always have wonderful memories.


Me and my table with a customer!

Photos by Marykate Smith-Despres
Thank you so much to everyone who came out and helped make this day amazing! You can see more photos of the Yarn Crawl over on the Seed Stitch Blog.

Toil & Trouble at Magpie!

Friends, I am excited to announce that my hand-knit goodies are now available at Magpie, a store specializing in handmade goods in Somerville's Davis Square. They have a huge variety of hand-crafted items - I definitely recommend visiting!



Have a wonderful weekend!

News: Hand Dyed Yarns!

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter you may have already heard the news - I now have my own line of hand dyed yarns! This was one of my big plans for 2012 and I'm so excited to be debuting it. If you live in Boston, you can see my fibery goodness in person tomorrow at the SoWa Winter Market. If not, I will be adding more and more yarn to my Etsy Shop. If you are also a hopeless yarn addict (like myself), you can keep up with any fibery news at my Ravelry group.

Etsy Stalker Interview & Giveaway

I am honored to be this week's featured artist on Etsy Stalker. If you want to read more about my inspirations, creative process, and bookish tendencies, stop on by!

If you need extra incentive, you can also enter for a chance to win my Ceres hat or my Inna cowl for free, in a color of your choice.




Ceres Hat

Inna Cowl

Spring Shows: SoWa Winter Market

Well folks, it was nice to take a short break, but it's time to start organizing my Spring 2012 show schedule! The SoWa Winter Market now has a craft section in addition to the regular farmers' market, so stop by for delicious fresh veggies, fruits, meats and dairy as well as lots of handmade goodies!

Find me at SoWa on Sunday, January 29th and Sunday, February 26th!

Bazaar Bizarre this Sunday!

Hi Friends, I promise I did not suffer some horrible accident - I have been quiet on the blogosphere because I have been spending all my time frantically knitting in preparation for my holiday craft shows. This Sunday, I will be at the Boston Cyclorama as a vendor at the Bazaar Bizarre. If you are local, please stop in and say hello. In fact, I will even give you a little discount if you show up and mention this post! I will have lots of one-of-a-kind goodies.

As for blogging, I plan on going back to a more reasonable schedule after all the holiday madness :)

Mass Market

I am so excited to announce that in addition to Bazaar Bizarre, I will be vending at the Mass College of Art's Mass Market on Sunday, December 11th. Hope you can stop by!

Crafty Developments

Dear friends, I am extremely delighted to tell you that I've been accepted to this year's Winter Bazaar Bizarre. Come December 4th, I will be selling my handmade goodies in a booth with the fabulous Ady Bee.

Here are some of the things I've been working on - and for you tactile folk, you can see everything in person at Bazaar Bizarre! *wink wink*



My new monster scarf line

New flower jewelry - more colors soon!

Many new colors for this cowl

More stitch markers - love this eyeball!

New flower pin colors

Handmade Business - Part 2: Thinking About Product Lines

So last time we talked about different kinds of artists and how this can fit into being a business owner. Assuming you've decided to go for it, now you need to think about what exactly you're going to sell. This goes beyond "paintings" or "knitting" or "handbags." You need to get really really specific.

Basically, after you figure out the type of art or craft you're going to sell, you need to think about product lines - the specific items you're going to be selling. If you're a painter, are you going to sell only original, one of a kind paintings? Or will you sell prints of your work? If you sell prints, are they going to be limited edition, or always available? When I started out, I just started making whatever I felt like, but eventually learned I needed to be more organized. Figuring out if you're doing one-of-a-kind items instead of regularly featured items is going to change how you market your work.

Made in Lowell is a great example. Liz makes her cupcake pincushions and cup cozies in several different color combinations. This makes them appealing to a wider audience.



In my own shop, I want some of my pieces to be "widely accessible," so I make them in lots of different colors and have them as part of my regular stock.



Other items aren't exactly one of a kind, but I'm not really interested in making them in every possible color, like my Harlequin arm warmers. I enjoy making these, but if I had to figure out every possible color pairing, it would be too complicated. These will be limited to the colors I feel like using, and any specific requests.


Another example is Laura from Pansy Maiden. She offers her handbags in a few choice color combinations. She is very clear about the goals for her products, working with cruelty-free, vegan materials.



I also have one-of-a-kind items, which I don't plan to duplicate or make in multiple colors. These are the pieces that are labor intensive and use more expensive materials. The target audience for these is much smaller and more specific than with the other types of product lines.



This is a snippet of how I think about developing my products. What do you think of when developing new pieces for your shop?

Next time I'm going to talk about the pros and cons of custom work.

All images used with permission from their owners

Thoughts on Trends

As part of my decision to take my shop more seriously this year, I've spent a lot of time doing research - on everything. But mostly on merchandising trends as a way to increase visibility. I had always been more of a "I'm going to make what I want, when I want" but the truth is that paying attention to market demands makes a lot more sense for a business.

I was a bit skeptical, but as it turns out, the work did pay off. After two years of making treasuries based on my own whims, I started making treasuries that catered to the current market trends. And guess what? Yesterday, two of my treasuries made it to the Etsy front page. It has to mean I'm learning something, right?


Typophile

Shades of Harvest

Handmade Business - Part 1: What kind of artist are you?

I've been doing a lot of thinking about art, crafting, the handmade movement and Etsy. Yes, I know I'm always thinking about these things, but this recently, even more. Even though I opened my Etsy shop in 2009, this is my first year being serious about it. While I was finishing a graduate degree and working full time, it couldn't really be more than an occasional hobby, but now I have a plan for how I want my business to evolve.

Of course this involves coming up with a business plan of sorts (ugh), which has made me scrutinize every part of my process. I'm planning to share some of these thoughts and insights along the way. This is the first installment.

***

Living with another creative person and seeing the differences in how our creativity manifests got me thinking about different types of artists and artisans. I ended up coming up with two broad categories: the finished-object focused artist versus the process-focused artist.

When I think about myself, I know I always need to have my hands busy. I love creating, and I start to get crabby if I have to go a day without even 10 minutes to work on something crafty. I love the feeling of making, watching things come together, perfecting techniques, and everything else that's involved in the process. But more than anything, I love seeing the finished piece. Whatever it is I'm making, my happiest moment is when I add that last finishing touch and then try it out - be it mittens that I anxiously pull onto my hands, or a drawing that I quickly hang to "see how it looks in the space."


The Sam Cowl in Cotton Candy - Coming this week

On the other hand, my husband is completely different. He is incredibly multi-faceted and talented and I'm constantly blown away by all the amazing things he works on. But - he is a different kind of animal. He starts a million projects, throws himself in the process, finds victory in every step of the way, and 90% of the time, sets them aside before finishing. Now mind you, I'm not saying this is in any way worse than being "finished-object focused." It is just a very different way of experiencing the creation of art - this kind of artist is immersed in the process, and as the process starts to wrap up, the project might lose some of it's appeal. And that's ok - the phrase I heard the most in design school was, "it's all about the process."


Nate making book covers

But when it comes to owning a handmade business, you really have to understand what kind of artist you are. If you find that you start many projects but don't finish many of them, a handmade business might become a burden for you. After all, if you don't finish your pieces, you won't be able to sell them. Without pieces to sell, your business is going to suffer. If having the pressure to finish pieces is going to take the pleasure out of it, this might not be a good path for you.

If you're all about the finished piece, then a handmade business is probably a more viable option for you because you will have an easier time creating inventory for your shop.

Of course, this is just one of many, many things to consider when thinking about starting your handmade business, but I think it's a crucial one. It can be the difference between turning your craft into an unpleasant chore, and starting the business of your dreams.

So, what kind of artist are you?