Friday, July 1, 2011

Deciding whether or not to sell...

I've been crocheting for 18 years now, and I'm only 24 (yes, I'm that young). I started with making thousands of thousands of yards of chain, so I'm pretty good at it. Then mom taught me a couple basic stitches, and then I could make misshaped.... I don't know what they were. They were supposed to be hats.

Over the years I got better, made a whole bunch of afghans, then found out that almost everything my mother taught me, was wrong. No wonder nothing looked quite right!

Everything she taught me was the extended form of the stitch, so I had to learn everything the right way.

This didn't take a long time, as I knew my hook pretty well.

Before too long, I was making and designing some seriously awesome patterns.

But I never thought to sell my stuff. Not for a long time anyway. I gave some stuff away, but after I found a coaster set I had given my mother in my sister's yard sale, then later found those same coasters in the dumpster where I worked. Then find out that the gold (real gold) and sapphire ring I gave her for her 18th birthday was pawned, I decided to never give another thing to any member of my family (told to show the lack of support I have).

And my house was starting to get filled with stuff from my hobby.

I've sold on Ebay in the past, so i checked there to see what was selling in handmade-uck, 99¢ and free shipping for a pair of fingerless gloves?? I think not! (was tempted to buy them, and reclaim the yarn, though!).

I got to thinking, there's a site for everything, and I found this article about places to sell handmade stuff. Etsy was on that list. After 3 weeks of peeking around the site, I signed up, then had to wait for the chance to get a camera. and listed my first item! Which is still in my shop, weirdly enough.

I was not the "dreaded hobbyist" though, I had plans, I was going to be rid of my boss with the 6 year old mind once and for all:) Those 3 weeks looking around included some lessons in business 101 and pricing.

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