Smittens In July

The next round of smitten swapping is happening over at Ravelry. I have 3 smittens to knit and get in the mail by the end of July. Good thing these are quick knits.

Smittens - round 5

so I have received all my smittens from round 3 and 4. Round 5 are currently arriving. Sadly 2 of the smittens I shipped out for round 4 have not arrived yet. They were all shipped out on the same day. All going to different locations in the USA.

So this is the most recent arrival. It's from round 5.

And this is the current collection. I'm still waiting on 2 more to arrive this round.

Smittens

So doing a little quick exchange on Ravelry. A smitten swap. Send out up to 3 smittens, get three in return. Smittlens are wee little mittens....

So above are the three wee mittens I got in exchange #3. I missed the first two.

This lovely blue one is the one I am sending out this time for round #4. So far I've got one knit and in the mail. One knit and ready to ship, and the last one is about 60% finished. Not sure if we'll do another round of smitten swaps, but I'd love to get more. I will likely keep knitting them so that I'll have a few for gifts if I need them.

Epic Fail

After two years, and spending more on adding and re listing items then I made with all my sales, I'm considering my current Etsy shop and Epic Fail.

Etsy Shop

I've had no sales since December. (I also got laid off from my other job in December).

I have no idea what I'm doing wrong with my etsy shop. No sales. All my listings expired. (sigh).

Anyone have an etsy shop that does well? I would love to get some feedback from someone who has a shop that is doing well.

Today I re listed one skate dress. It's listed at $60 which is half the cost to make it just in materials. My daughter wore it once and didn't like it.

Shipping

I've notice over the past year that shipping costs from different companies varies greatly. Even shipping from one country to another. Most days I feel like the postal system I deal with has very high shipping costs. Though having worked in a mail room for a bit I understand how they calculate shipping costs and have been able to work at trying to keep my actual shipping costs down. Most of the time when I send out something from my Etsy shop I lose money on the shipping.

Our postal systems works on a system that bills by either weight or volumetric weight. Which ever one is higher. Most of my Etsy shop parcels have cost around $7.00 CDN to ship in canada or to the USA. My largest sale went 3 to 5 days insured and trackable for about $12.00 CDN to the USA.

I would love to hear about other peoples shipping costs and how they deal with it. I sometimes wonder if it is my high shipping costs that keep people from making a purchase in my shop.

Woolen Kisses

2010

My big goal for 2010 is to have less unfinished craft projects around the house. I have managed to gather everything that is in progress into one spot. This includes items that will eventually go onto the etsy shop. I'm trying to figure out a way that I can focus on unfinished projects before I start new ones.

I'm also looking for ways to improve my etsy shop. I love to get feed back that I can work with. I've redone all the photos for any of the products I relisted, and worked hard on the photos for new items. A better camera and being able to take a weekend photography course really helped.