Site-Wide Activity

What is going well?
Im doing pretty well refocusing with my business now that the contract is gone. Actually I am kind of relieved because timeing was just off in life anyway. If it had sold earlier last year, my timelines would not have been so bad.

What are you working on?
Indie patterns mostly. Swatching, send out 2 more patterns to…[Read more]

I would love to hear about other's self-publishing systems, printers, etc……

YOU GUYS!
At Midwest Craft Con I was interviewed by the very FIRST craftybiz podcast I ever listened to (well, the first one was a knitting cast: Cast On) – `Craft Sanity I use to listen while I walked my dog after working at my crappy day job. And Jennifer was at the con and interviewed me! Not sure yet when it's coming out – BUT YAY! We should…[Read more]

When I was in a similar position I redid my profit math. Yarn Love had either made $0 profit or lost money for 2 years in a row, and it was make or break time. It sounds like you're in a similar position; you're not bringing in enough profit on each sale to cover the expenses of making it.

I'd start with revisiting your actual cost in terms of…[Read more]

Oh my, you've gotten such good responses from everyone else, I would just say: Ditto. Talk to her (when you're cooled down) and let her know that if she can't pay for the trip by X date, you'll have to cancel it. But that you're willing to revisit it next year (giving her time to buy from you a few more times before you commit your actual time and…[Read more]

I'm so sorry that didn't work out, @karen-whooley! I want to tag @c-c-almon and @lars-rain – who have both self-published recently…but I realize your question was actually about the Cat Bordhi group – do you have other specific questions about self-publishing?

@elaine-vandiver This, times like a million! I know she, herself opened the box right away, because it also had her colorway preview in it and she emailed me back immediately with changes. Plus, she's not a new shop owner. She certainly would know that every yarn from every mill is going to have some sort of scent – either soap, fiber or spinning…[Read more]

@laureen-marchandeen & @tanja-osswald I think your suggestion to call to see if we can come to a better solution is great!

@riin-gill Fortunately, the 100 skein order is a regular wholesale order and will be paid before it's sent. My trunk shows get sent out without pre-payment. I get a credit card number to secure the shipment and take payment for the sold skeins after the trunk show is over. I offer standard wholesale pricing, which makes it a heck of a deal for my…[Read more]

I'm so glad you said hello Amy! Sorry I didn't see this earlier – I was offline almost the entire weekend! I hope you got to meet @karenlepage!

Whatcha working on?
I’ve been slogging through a pattern redo which has alternately been awesome and is driving me crazy with the details I miss/find/have to consider.

What’s going on?
Still loving doing the drawing a day. Wednesdays are a bit of a challenge since I teach all day. Definitely not going to get to it today, but I took a photo whi…[Read more]

Do you think it’s reasonable for me to withdraw my trunk show based on her sensitivity?
Yes, handsdown – though I would say it might be best to withdraw by mutual agreement, if at all possible, to avoid any ill will.

Do you have a suggestion for a solution?
Only solutions I can think of are 1) continue on the current path; 2) reschedule and r…[Read more]

@jill-wolcott

I absolutely thing you're right. My guess is that she's having buyer's remorse. She booked all of the above while at TNNA – which was just a little over a month ago….and I'm guessing her orders are coming due and she's overextended. It's pure speculation, but I've run into this exact scenario with another shop owner who was…[Read more]

what are you working on
Greenhouse Construction – it's one of my major milemarkers! Electrical service stub-up is installed thanks to the hubs, and we installed the lower walls yesterday. Clear plastic paneling going up this weekend – hopefully painting this afternoon.

Finalizing the order for the nursery-grade weed paper for the…[Read more]

what are you working on
Greenhouse Construction – it's one of my major milemarkers! Electrical service stub-up is installed thanks to the hubs, and we installed the lower walls yesterday. Clear plastic paneling going up this weekend – hopefully painting this afternoon.

Finalizing the order for the nursery-grade weed paper for the…[Read more]

what are you working on
Greenhouse Construction – it's one of my major milemarkers! Electrical service stub-up is installed thanks to the hubs, and we installed the lower walls yesterday. Clear plastic paneling going up this weekend – hopefully painting this afternoon.

Finalizing the order for the nursery-grade weed paper for the…[Read more]

Yes to everything everyone else says! Thinking long term, unless you can get this resolved, you probably won't have a good working relationship with this person, because it's like dating: People are at their best in the early stages.

Unless she's just a very poor communicator in writing, which some people are. Another reason to make the phone call.

@riin-gill, you have a good creative brain – that's apparent in your post headline! So I know you can figure this out.

Meantime, what I'm hearing is that you have to have staff. So somewhere you have to find the money for staff. There are three ways to find money that I know of: cut expenses, raise prices, sell more. So some questions I think of…[Read more]

Whatcha workin on?
Today, I took a day off. That is rather hard to do, actually. So I did a little work-related stuff but just fun things and not overly much. Tomorrow, I'll compile my to-do list and see what is most important/ urgent.
What’s going well?
My book is getting printed tomorrow!
How can we help?
I'm fine.