Monday, June 20, 2011

Crocheting For Profit

Economic times for most of the world lately are quite troubling. Many people are reaching out to their creative side to create works of art to sell at local craft fairs and flea markets. Crafters have even found themselves turning to the world wide web to help get the word out about their craft and in the process they hope to sell some items to add to their families income.

I, myself, have turned to this route since I am unable to work due to a disability and cannot bring any sort of income to my little family of 3. One day I decided I would take some pictures of some of the hats I had crocheted for my daughter and post them on my personal Facebook page and asked if any of my friends would be interested in having one custom made for a small amount of money. Much to my surprise, I did receive a couple of orders for hats. Luckily, it was just in time for Christmas since my husband and I were in such a bad situation financially (he works on commission and work dries up in the winter months) and didn't think we would be able to give our daughter anything to celebrate her first Christmas.

For others who are interested in doing the same thing, I've compiled a few tips to help you along in your journey.

I would suggest creating a Facebook page with this name of your crafty 'lil' business. Then tell all of your friends and ask them to like it and ask them to spread the word to your friends. Networking is key. Find other Facebook 'vendors' and ask them if they would be willing to advertise your Facebook page on yours. In my experience, I found it quite difficult to get people to like my Facebook page for my crocheted items. This may not be the case for everyone because remember it's who you know and how willing they are to help you get the word out.

Provided that you have a bunch of items you've already crocheted up, take some pictures of them with a nice background (lay a sheet down on a couch and snap away). Once that is complete upload them to Facebook albums which you should create by category such as hats, afghans, baby, etc.. Describe your item in the caption, asking price, and the cost of shipping (if you choose to expand beyond just your friends).

There are also many free shopping carts out there that you can integrate on to your Facebook page. No programming required! Two of my favorites are Payvment and Storenvy. I personally prefer Storenvy, but the choice is up to you.

Lastly, the big thing to keep in mind is your cost, your time, and prices. In all honesty, what I've discovered is that people (non-crafters) don't really care how long it takes you to crochet that hat or scarf. The bottom line is the cost of the item and the cost of shipping. Your time is basically not worth much unless you're a super fast crocheter and can make multiples every day. The only real advice I can give to you is to take advantage of sales on yarn and yarn that you can pick up cheaply at a thrift shop to increase your profit margin. Never sell something for less then what it cost you. Good luck!!

Reaching Out

I'm reaching out to anyone who has enjoyed LetsCrochet.com, the Crocheting Facebook page, and this very blog. Due to my Great Aunt's sudden death, I haven't been around to really work on the site or promote it and as a result the amount of people coming to the site dropped significantly. The website is paid for by the moneys earned from the advertisement go to pay for the website. Therefore, if no one goes to the site, no money from the advertisements is earned. I cannot afford to pay the massive hosting bill myself each month due to being disabled and unable to work, having a 1 yr old daughter, and my husband's job hardly paying enough for us to survive (but we get by) so I depend on the earnings from the advertisements to cover the costs of the site. I'm reaching out to you again for help. Thank you for all of you who helped us last month. There was some additional money donated last month that I have placed towards this month's web hosting bill. The final balance left is $37 that I need to come up with before the end of the month. If you could spare even just a dollar (search the couch cushions LOL)it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance to all the hearts that reach out to us and help keep LetsCrochet.com alive. Much love to you all!




Friday, June 3, 2011

How to Crochet a Magic Circle or Magic Ring or Magic Loop

If you've struggled trying to figure out how to crochet the magic adjustable ring (magic circle, magic ring, or magic loop), I've found both a video to help aid you as well as written instructions with photos that can be found [here].

Thursday, June 2, 2011

How to Make T-Shirt Yarn

This is the best tutorial I've found on how to make T-Shirt yarn. Her method works fabulously since she does it in a way that it produces one long strip throughout the T-Shirt.

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