Rest Day and Course Progress

Today is the second "rest day" of the Set up Shop e-course. We are two-thirds of the way through and I am enjoying the process of taking time each day to focus on an aspect of my new venture.

We have covered off a lot of topics including: branding, product descriptions, packaging, postage, pricing, photography, shop about page and policies, order systems, and financial records.

I have made a little progress every day, getting all the details sorted out. Some days of the course I have felt quite comfortable with, like setting up an organisation system for emails and financial recording - I was able to get these sections done quickly and without much thought. Other topics have taken multiple days, numerous drafts and much more thought.

Today I wrote a template for the product descriptions for the shop. I am also going to keep a separate file that contains a description of each colourway. I can then combine these two files to use when I list a yarn.

Another thing I tackled today was designing my ball bands. I have gone fairly basic, using my passioned flower image on the left hand side and incorporating all the details in the white space on the right. Not sure that this will be the final version, but I'm happy with what I have been able to come up with (you will have to wait for the shop launch to check them out).

I still have a lot of work to do - I need to re-work my policy page, finish my list of tags, properly research postage and packaging costs plus there is still several more lessons to go. I am loving every minute I spend on this and excited to see where it will take me.

Yarn dyeing - my journey so far

It was only at the beginning of this year that I took the plunge to try dyeing yarn.

I have experimented with sprinkling powder directly into the pot

I have squirted stock dyes directly into the pot and on to yarn with a vague plan and no intention of being able to replicate the outcome, and wound yarn for my first attempt at self striping.

I have progressed quickly from this ad hoc kind of approach, to dyeing with more intention. Basing my colour decisions on inspiration and planning the outcome of the yarn. I am taking a lot of photo's mostly of flowers and leaves, but also of the sky, sea, graffiti and anything else the catches my eye.

I now take careful and detailed notes as I dye. Tracking exact amounts of dye, the method used, steps taken and time the yarn spends in the pot.

Iris and City Sunset

Teal not Green and Winter Roses

Yarn dyeing has definitely become an obsession, a passion that I want to pursue as a business and share my creations and inspirations with other crafters.

This is a big and scary step! Putting my creations out there in to the world for judgement, not only that but embarking on a small business without much experience is quite daunting.

I have enrolled in a short e-course by Create & Thrive, called Set Up Shop. It is a step by step guide, covering all aspects of what goes in to setting up an on-line craft business. I am finding it extremely useful and thought provoking. It has been reassuring, some of what we have covered I had already considered myself. I just never had the confidence to put it in to action. Having someone who has already experienced success in this area providing this guide has given me the extra drive to push ahead.

Stayed tuned to see how things progress from here. Much work is going on in the background. I will post progress and thoughts of the course as well as updates on the shop.