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I would totally wear a black t-shirt with a white cute cartoony bluefaced leicester sheep on it!

What I'm working on: dyeing lots of yarn and maintaining the status quo without putting too much pressure on myself.

What's going well: I've been taking care of myself a bit better than I had been in the past (reading, making art, disconnecting from my phone for longer periods throughout the day). Also, a product I make seems to be in demand…[Read more]

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone! I like the gray or white card idea, I'll definitely try that. I've been a landscape photographer for 30 years, so I (naively) thought I'd be able to transfer my knowledge to studio photography, but it's a whole different beast. And I'm used to San Francisco, where it's either foggy or sunny — here in the…[Read more]

What are you working on?
This week has been pretty much a complete loss. My brother had his surgery on Wednesday morning, so I didn't get home until 7, on Thursday, I got there by 9 AM and his was released around 4PM. Then we had a blizzard Saturday, so I had to do all the shoveling. I did get the custom slipper order shipped out on Tuesday and…[Read more]

If you print on non-paper, project bags would be awesome!

Besides, here's a link to the Russian dogs we talked about (those used for dog yarn): http://www.samoyeden.ch/pedigree

Hi Linda!

Another vote for Deb Robson's book (full disclosure, she is also my client, but seriously the book is awesome). It has photos of a lot of these breeds which could be really helpful for you, too.

I'd say knitters would definitely buy these types of products:
– notebooks/journals
– note cards
– small tags they could use as gift tags or…[Read more]

Design teams are very common in the jewelry world. I have been on many and have never been paid.
It was fun, my work was shared on the blog, website, and social media of the product company.
Some gave a few designers the same kit and we all posted what we made on our blogs on the same day and then we all linked to each other's blog post. Some…[Read more]

I told my husband about how I was feeling that day and he laughed.
Let me explain why.
Back in 2004/05 my husband and I were both self employed, no children and earing well over $80k. Fast forward to 2009. Our daughter was born in June and I had to take all of July and ½ of August off for maternity. My nail business changed dramatically when I…[Read more]

Cute cartoony sheep are definitely desirable! I'd actually prefer that type of sheep on paper products than more realistic looking ones. For example, my favorite coffee mug is this Wacky Woollies one.

I second Riin's suggestion of The Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook. So much great information in there and if you can get just one book, that's the one to…[Read more]

The last few years I've made so little that I'm not even sure how I paid to live, but my income is rising dramatically. Mind you, it looks like my tentative net profit for 2015 was still around $9000, low enough to be on medicaid, but it is so much higher than the year before, and I have every reason to believe it will be even higher this year and…[Read more]

I need to hire some sample knitters. Would any of you be willing to share a sample contract?

Take a look at The Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook by Deborah Robson and Carol Ekarius. It is my bible of sheep breed information, and it has pictures of really cute sheep and other wooly beasties.

Whatcha workin on?

Streamlining and coming up with systems to increase production. My reps have been sending me a ton of orders (huzzah!) and I hired a new rep for CA, AZ, and NV who is way more experienced and has accounts in way more stores than the one I had, so I think I will be getting a ton of orders from that area soon.

So I rearranged…[Read more]

Whatcha workin on?

Streamlining and coming up with systems to increase production. My reps have been sending me a ton of orders (huzzah!) and I hired a new rep for CA, AZ, and NV who is way more experienced and has accounts in way more stores than the one I had, so I think I will be getting a ton of orders from that area soon.

So I rearranged…[Read more]

Whatcha workin on?

Streamlining and coming up with systems to increase production. My reps have been sending me a ton of orders (huzzah!) and I hired a new rep for CA, AZ, and NV who is way more experienced and has accounts in way more stores than the one I had, so I think I will be getting a ton of orders from that area soon.

So I rearranged…[Read more]

Welcome home, @grace-shalom-Hopkins. I have missed you!

Hooray for the self-introspection/discovery. I feel like I have been doing that a lot recently, too, because my babies are on their way OUT of needing me 24-7.

Your books are beautiful and trust me when I remind you that releasing them is just the beginning of the work to make them pay…[Read more]

I agree with @alex-collins, too. I was thinking the same thing because there's no way I'd ever commit to twelve months of work for exposure…especially since doing a good tutorial takes some time, but using it in a project and talking about it on Instagram or something else that fits into my natural workflow is something I could get behind as a…[Read more]

I'm not in the gap for supporting myself, because I have a husband who allows me to take my time toward that, BUT I am in the gap where I need to decide if it's worth the additional hassle, recordkeeping, taxes, etc. to officially hire my contractor as an employee or partner. For her AND for me.

My startup expenses have been sufficiently high…[Read more]

Yes, yes, yes! Go for it!
Cute cartoony sheep are even better than realistic ones! You'd just have to work out characteristic features of the different races.

I think Wikipedia is a good basic source for sheep info and some pictures: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheep

Sheep races:

Merino (the standard, kind of):…[Read more]

Yes, yes, yes! Go for it!
Cute cartoony sheep are even better than realistic ones! You'd just have to work out characteristic features of the different races.

I think Wikipedia is a good basic source for sheep info and some pictures: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheep

Sheep races:

Merino (the standard, kind of):…[Read more]