What I Did On My Winter Vacation

Fruits of my labor during my month long hiatus. I also read 2 books. One more day and I will be back to my real life. I can't wait!

I'm On A Roll

My crochet sales are blowing up! Not doing that great yet on ETSY, but in the last week Amanda has sold about 5 items from the display I have set up at Miracle In Motion. I'm gonna have to get moving and replenish my inventory. I guess I know what I'll be doing in Florida. At this rate Joe is gonna get to retire sooner than he thought.

One of the items that I recently sold on ETSY went to a lady in Hawaii. Some little girl is going to be running around Hawaii wearing a dress I made. How cool is that! Gotta go, my yarn is calling.

Crochet Subculture

The craft show I exhibited at was a success. I made over $200! $200 will buy a lot of yarn. It was fun having everyone ooh and aah over my stuff. Sometimes people's reactions surprise me. Crochet seems so simple to me and they make me feel like some kind of yarn god. I guess it's like anything else, the more you do it the easier it is. People who have never crocheted are amazed. People who do crochet act not impressed and are sometimes even rude. I call them crochet snobs. Crochet snobs are different from crochet Nazis. Nazis want to be important so they share their designs, but they want control over who makes them. Then you have the snobs that think they can do better than everyone else; or even if they can't they try to make it seem so. I used to be a selfish crocheter. Everything I made I wanted to keep. I couldn't bear parting with things or even selling things. I could never charge what the items are worth based on the time involved. No one would buy them. I have pretty much come to terms with my selfishness. Mainly since most of the things I make now are for babies. If I don't sell or give away the baby items, I will have to rent a storage space to keep them. Still, however; if I make something like an adult size sweater, I keep it for myself. Anything that takes a long time stays with me. I could keep a small village warm for the winter with the amount of shawls, ponchos and sweaters I have made that are stuffed in a storage box under my bed.

I like making items for babies because they are soooooo cute and tiny. They generally don't take a long time to make relative to making something for an adult of the same pattern. Also, people tend to keep handmade items that their babies wore as heirlooms or keepsakes. The chance of a next generation wearing one of my crochet creations is likely. I like that idea. I guess that makes me somewhat of a crochet narcissist.

I Am Small And I Have Nothing To Complain About

Now I know why sales has never been my thing. I'm too much of a softy. I hate asking people for money and if they have any sad story I'm ready to give them whatever they want for free. Even selling crochet, my main goal is to deplete my inventory and get enough money to support my habit. It's never been about a profit.

I told you that I sold the breast cancer awareness scarf. I hadn't had any correspondence from the person that bought it until today. I sent her verification of shipment and she wrote me back the sweetest note and told me about her 32 year old daughter that has a rare form of breast cancer. This is her daughters second occurrence. When she finishes her chemo, her mother is going to give her the scarf.

I wish I could adequately describe how this makes me feel. I feel small and that family's issue is huge. I feel guilty for taking money for it. I feel proud that in some weird way I will touch her life and hopefully make her smile. I feel connected and so sad. I feel privileged that this woman shared her story with me; a total stranger. Who would have thought that selling my crochet would make me cry.

I'm definitely not making another one of those scarves. It's too emotional from every angle!

I'm In The Money

I did it; my first Etsy sale.....and quess what I sold???? It was that damn scarf that caused me so much grief from the crochet nazi. My controversial scarf is going all the way to Utah. I'm halfway tempted to make another one just so I can have it up on my site, but that would be wrong and I just need to let it go.
IN YOUR FACE BIACH!!!! I feel better now.

Crochet Wars

I have not heard from the crochet Nazi, so I am assuming she realized she was wrong and an ass to boot. However, I have heard from another one of the crochet Nazi's commarades. Another totally random person sent me an email about using one of her patterns in a dress I made. "Really people do you have nothing better to do than harrass me about items I have for sale that I will probably never sell." People fucking suck! (I'm only being so vulgar because I've had a few glasses of wine and it's coming really easy). So I get this email; at least it's a little more sugar coated. This person just wanted me to mention that the dress was her design. She wasn't asking me to remove it. The funny thing is; that same person sent me another email that said: "Never mind, aparently the crochet magazine that I sold the pattern to now owns it, so you have no obligation to me." No shit Sherlock! Get over yourself you crochet idiots. Your patterns aren't complicated. You're not the Vera Wang of the crochet world. I ended up putting a disclaimer on my Etsy site so maybe people will leave me alone.

I put the two items in question at the top of my page as "features". It is definitely an in your face, kiss my ass kind of statement. It makes me feel better.

Crochet Wars

The battlefield has been silent for a few days. I'm ahead at this point because I got corroboration from the Editor of the crochet magazine. Little Miss Crochet Nazi doesn't have a hook to stand on. Still waiting to hear from Etsy. Maybe she gave up and didn't report me after all. Maybe she was bluffing. To be continued.......

Crochet War Continued

It's soooo on. I got another email from the crochet Nazi. She's reporting me to Etsy! This really pisses me off!!!! After I recieved her original email, I responded by stating facts and copyright law. She sends a response: "We'll let Etsy
decide." She's reporting me to the principal. Being who I am, I can't wait that long (now I know where my children get their impatience from). So, I go to the Etsy FAQ section of rules and regulations. Right there in black and white it states that clothing is not protected by copyright because of it's "useful" aspect. I emailed her back and told her I had no problem with Etsy deciding and that I really didn't understand why she would publish a pattern if she didn't expect people to make it. Then of course I added the section of the Etsy rules. I can't wait to see what happens.

This is a prime example where some people (I'm not mentioning names) would point out that I am being argumentative and I should just drop it. Or I think I'm always right. So people I will break this down for you. (A.) I did not start this. (B.) I could just give in and say ok to her demands, but she is wrong. (C.) I know she is wrong because of the law. So now it becomes a "principle" thing. (D.) If I was wrong based on the law, I would not persue this and I would have taken the ad down right away. So see.....I don't always think I'm right, I only think I'm right when I know I'm right. When I know I'm right, I fight like a bull to prove it. It's inherited. My Dad had it, Steve has it and me too.

My Dad had integrity, which is what I strive for. Fighting for principles because they are true and honest. Not fighting just because you like to argue. He was always fair with people, but he didn't take their shit. There would be no greater compliment than for someone to tell me I'm just like my Dad.

You know what's really gonna suck though? It's if Etsy comes back and makes me take down my ad. I will have to point out their own rules to them, but if that doesn't work, then I'll just have to remove the ad..........and my entire store....because it's the principle of the thing.

Crochet Wars

Why do people have to start trouble???? I'm not even safe on my ETSY website. In case you don't know what ETSY is, it's a web site were you have your own "store" and sell handmade items. I have a bunch of crochet items I am trying to sell. I get a lot of comments by people that visit the site about how beautiful they are, but as of yet I haven't sold anything. That's ok though. I love to crochet and if I have to I'll start donating everything. So, today I get am email from someone that states: "Please remove your item for sale, it is my design from crochet magazine 2008. Thanks." ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????? The item in question is a pink scarf with the breast cancer symbol crocheted into it. First of all, I'm not selling her pattern which would be copyrighted. I'm selling a product that I made. That would be like McCall's (pattern seller) saying ok, buy our patterns, but you can't sell anything you make from them. Apparently they do say that, but it's not in the copyright law so therefore not enforceable.

For god sakes she had the pattern published in a magazine. A magazine that people buy to make things from. It's not like I'm mass marketing them. I have ONE for sale. If me selling it was illegal I would definitely take it out of my store, but since it's not I'm keeping it there and I might even make more.

PattiOriginals2009

I finally posted something for sale on my ETSY web page. It's already had 10 views. How cool is that!!?? I have more things to post, but they want you to put down the postage for each item. I haven't figured out how to do that yet. There has to be a rate schedule somewhere. If anyone knows how people do that, let me know. I'm gonna be raking in the big bucks. Joe can retire now, I got it covered.

PattiOriginals2009

I'm becoming an online entrepreneur. Lauren told me about a website over a year ago where people can sell handmade items. Like an ebay for crafters. Everyone keeps telling me I should try and sell my crochet stuff. Last night Joe heard something about this website and said I should try it. So, with all of this support I have decided to DO IT! I signed up for the site, but I have to wait till I get home to post items because I don't have very good pictures. I may be needing some models. I'm mad though because someone took my business name so I had to modify mine. I wouldn't mind so much, but when I went to her site she hasn't even listed anything yet and she's had the site since January. She stole my name and she's not even using it. How dare she! All I have listed is my bio, but check it out anyway.

(See "Links of Interest")