Every November is a different experience, and I have found that each year one of my scented cards does far better than the others. This November is very different, as has been the whole year really. The main feature for this year are my pom poms. It seems to me that people are making a lot more this year, as I have been selling a lot of made-to-order poms in random single colours. My poms are designed to be added as a feature to a handmade craft, as each is uniquely made from three complimentary colours. Anyone can make my poms if they have the wool, but three balls of wool is a lot of money for one pom. It is so wonderful to receive photos of my poms on beautifully made woollen hats, blankets, and even roller skates, and the one thing people always comment on is how good the colour match is and how the pom really finishes off their crafted piece. This month I have made several bespoke poms for folks, which is my favourite thing to do. It's quite nerve-wracking, though, as the three colours in each pom can be used in so many different combinations, changing the finalised colour. It is always helpful when I am sent a photo of what I have to match the pom to, and I love that folks are so happy when they receive their made-to-order bespoke pom pom.
Friday 1st November
Perfect start
Right at the start of the month I was fortunate enough to have a bespoke pom pom request. This is my favourite thing to do, working with someone to choose the perfect match wools for their project. I do offer a colour match service, where I send wool samples for choosing, but this was not needed in this case. The lady wanted a pom of pale blue, French blue and a strong buttermilk yellow to match one she already had. I really enjoyed this project, knowing you have made for someone specific is very rewarding, and it was one of the reasons I started my Etsy. A wonderful start to what can be a very hectic month.
Sunday 3rd November
Stella in winter mode
I have been asked to make some little woollen hat Christmas tree decorations. I have already dabbled in this craft, and had some rough, undeveloped examples to show. These little decorations are something I had wanted to develop, but to make them commercially I would have to source cardboard tubes which are the basis of these decorations, most people use the inside of toilet rolls. In a little brain wave, I realised I had a lot of poster postal tubes which I was no longer using. I started to think seriously about making these very cute Christmas tree decorations. Stella is seen here wearing one of the first ones I made!
Tuesday 5th November
What do Etsy look for?
The Etsy Design Award winners were announced, and I am not comfortable on a lot of levels about the choice of winners. Please note I am not bitter, this is a very delicate subject and I don't want to sound mean, and besides, I did not enter this year, but the obvious question has to be, 'What was the Etsy criteria for the design awards?' I spend hours looking on Etsy at the most beautifully crafted, uniquely designed, extraordinarily fabulous things and was completely taken aback when this year's winners were announced. The embroidery above won first prize, the rhinestone earring hands below were the jewellery winner, and the candlesticks were the household decor winner. The reason I am uncomfortable with these winners is that if I were an outsider, you would assume these are the best Etsy has to offer, and I'm sorry, but I would not buy from somewhere that considers these items to be the best there is. Of course, there may be some unknown reason as to why these things won, and I am sure I am not the only person asking this question. Congratulations to the winners.
Friday 8th November
Woolly hat development
As I mentioned, I had been asked to make little woollen hats, and after a few days of trials, I started to make the final pieces. The brief was to make 12 mini winter bobble hats in bright Christmas colours, as with the photo on the left, and 12 in vintage, dusky Christmas colours, where I used cream and a very light grey instead of white, as shown in the green hats below. I LOVE making these, as they are so creative, each one is different, and sets of a few look fabulous together.
There are a lot of these already available on Etsy, and so I have taken them to the next level by making them slightly larger (because of the poster postal tubes) and used my extensive wool colours to make little hats that I know nobody else is making. I also had the idea to put a pom pom inside them to firm up the body of the hat, plus it was somewhere to hang the loop from. The problem I now had was that although these are luxurious and of a very high quality, the cost of them was double that of those already available, as they take 90 minutes to make. They needed one more quirk that the completion had not considered and for me to justify the increased price . I therefore added a little jingle bell to the pom pom, so they now ooze Christmas magic. I really like the idea that if these are hung high on a Christmas tree, the exciting underneath inside will be visible. I have great hope for these as they are extremely tactile and the colour choices are rustically unusual.
(20th Nov edit: I have been let down by two eBay sellers, and I am still waiting for the jingle bells I have ordered. It would have been quicker and cheaper to order from Wish!)
Wednesday 13th November
Sweetest sweet peas
It was warm enough with blue skies to have a potter around the garden. This photo shows my sweet peas in full flower from July, and when they were finished and cleared away after collecting their seeds, I dumped them on the lawn, ready to bag up. Today I have gone out there, and there are loads of sweet pea seedlings in the grass, LOADS of them. They don't like their roots being disturbing, so I don't know what I'm going to do with them. I sowed my outdoor sweet pea seeds in beds in September and in the greenhouse in October, but the ones in the lawn would be fabulous if I could work out a way to keep them without them being mown down in spring.
Friday 15th November
Perfectly packed
I dropped my packing tray, and so after straightening it all, I thought I'd explain my parcel packing policy. Everything I send out is wrapped ready to gift for a very specific reason. It's not just that it looks good, but I have found that a well-packed, pretty parcel, where care has clearly been taken in the wrapping and presentation, travels really well through the postal system. I have a 100% belief that my parcels are looked after, as they always arrive in pristine condition. The rolls of organza ribbon are so cheap, and I stock up on pretty paper when I see it in the cheap shops like B and M and Lidls, meaning it costs just 20p to wrap my parcels, but it is priceless to know they are always looked after.
Sunday 17th November
Copy cat copies Cat's hares
As I mentioned earlier, I spend some time looking on Etsy as a buyer browsing to see where my wares appear in searches and to see what the competition is doing. I came across this today, someone has used my idea to fill a knitted hare with lavender. The hare pattern isn't mine, I got it from Pinterest, as it's a simple knitted square with a triangle sewn with loose stitches that are then pulled to make the hare's nose and ears, ready to be stuffed and sewn closed. I have heard horror stories of shops that have had their things copied, where even the original owners photos are stolen too, but I am quite lucky as all of my things are time-consuming to make and very handmade, and so it isn't feasible to copy and steal many of my ideas. I protect my drawings with watermarks and use very small photos that become pixilated if enlarged. Talking of hares, my big orange, pink and brown hare went to a new home this week. He travelled very well and was received with such love, I know he has gone to one of the nicest forever homes he could have asked for. Poor Paul my husbunny has now got to get knitting, as he makes the squares for me.
Tuesday 19th November
Picket fence to the USA
I had a very exciting message through my website asking if I still made the picket fences and could I ship to America. It was such a wonderful message to get because it was so random. I immediately imagined shipping pallets of wood panels to America, and what if they had a huge property to surround? It would have cost hundreds of pounds to send the pieces ready for assembly, and I dread to think how much assembled panels would be. I instead offered to email detailed drawings so the panels could be made locally in America. I have not heard back yet, but it was so nice to get this inquiry.
Thursday 21st November
Toastie butts!
We had our log burner installed in April, so this is the first winter we have a warm kitchen. The carpet bears have taken up residence in front of it and have their daytime nap there.
It is nearly that time of year when I make our bunny donation to a local rescue. I've been quite busy, so still undecided as to who to give it to this year. I'll post on Facebook with photos when I do it, and of course I'll mention it in December's diary.
Sunday 24th November
Hundreds of poms
Oh my god, I have had a HUGE order for poms in the middle of the month and have just finished it. 136 65mm poms, in my William Morris-inspired colours. This is a massive undertaking, as I can only make 20-30 a day, depending on how many times I have to stop to pack orders. The other issue was I had to rely on the postal service as I needed to order in 3 balls of each colour. It was a nightmare, and the lesson learnt is that from now on I will only order wool from places that offer a DPD/UPS upgrade, as they are far more reliable than the post office. (I'm still waiting for the jingle bells for my little hats.)
As I lost a lot of time waiting for the deliveries, I had to play catch-up so as not to fall behind my goals. My poor husbunny was a massive help, as he measured out the wool lengths while I made the poms. With his help I ducked and dived and sent the order sooner than expected, so all was good in the end. I can't move my arms as both my rotary cuffs (shoulder muscles) are torn and the repetitive work making poms has fired them both back up. Lots and hot water bottles, and I'll be right as rain.
Important notice
Etsy is running a Black Friday sale from the 24th November till the 5th December. I have decided to join in this event, and so everything except pom poms, mini woollen hats (if ever the bells turn up) and my Little Plant book has 10% off. There will be a voucher for the woollen hats that I will email out, exclusively 10% discount for website subscribers.
You have been reading A Gardeners Crafting Diary November 2024
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