I Made This! (crafty things)

MerryLou

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Does anyone post in here anymore or is this a dead subject? lol I've tried ebay, Etsy and local garage sale/yard sale sites. I guess no one wants crocheted items anymore :( I thought about doing smaller items like coasters, dish clothes, dish towels, cozies etc. Any suggestions? https://www.etsy.com/shop/MadeforyouBySusan?ref=hdr_shop_menu
It's really a hard market now with the over saturation of vendors.

My only suggestion would be to make your pictures more uniform, like have the same plain white or whatever background for each picture. I think the hanger on the slat door looks too busy. The Baby flip flop and the crocheted towel ring pictures are kind of what I'm trying to say.
 
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jklmnop

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thread necro w/ multi-quote!
Strawberry is done!

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Also, do any of you use Instagram to show off your crafty things? If you do, can I follow you? You can find me at bluebirdinyoursoul
I added you :D Will have more yarn pics soon as the dyeing production ramps up for the summer.

Does anyone post in here anymore or is this a dead subject? lol I've tried ebay, Etsy and local garage sale/yard sale sites. I guess no one wants crocheted items anymore :( I thought about doing smaller items like coasters, dish clothes, dish towels, cozies etc. Any suggestions? https://www.etsy.com/shop/MadeforyouBySusan?ref=hdr_shop_menu
Your prices are way too low. Don't practically give your work away! Also, Etsy is such a free-for-all marketplace that IMO to succeed you need to specialize in some item, theme, material, or something that sets your work apart. What can you make that isn't being sold anywhere else?

I know it can be hard to figure out what to do that will produce a return on your time. I still struggle with what I like to make vs. what will actually turn a profit and pay for the labor and materials required. But the one thing I finally stopped doing was pricing my work too low. At a market about 18 months ago some lady came up to my table of warm winter hats and said (paraphrase) "$50?! I'm not paying that much for a hat." I told her she's fine shopping at Wal-Mart then. That woman is not my customer. She clearly does not value a handmade good. Thankfully, others do.

Major improvement - DIY mailbox.

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Love this!!
 

Serial Mom

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So the hubs used to have this skateboard in the 80's....and they're impossible to find now, (and if you do, very very pricey) so for father's day he's getting a reproduction. It will be great in his man cave. This is the original board from a sold auction:
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And this is the link to my imgur album where I'm documenting my progress: http://imgur.com/a/cO6dr
 

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So this is my kid, who made this crafty thing using a loom knitter. All I did was the binding off. It was my first time binding off of a loom, and I'm not too happy with the results (though he is fine with it), but I will perfect it for his next projects. He's going to dedicate his summer to making a lot of loom knitted items to sell at a local craft fair that happens on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

So proud of him!
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K'Lee

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So this is my kid, who made this crafty thing using a loom knitter. All I did was the binding off. It was my first time binding off of a loom, and I'm not too happy with the results (though he is fine with it), but I will perfect it for his next projects. He's going to dedicate his summer to making a lot of loom knitted items to sell at a local craft fair that happens on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

So proud of him!
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Good job! We have several of the looms. They work awesome and keep the stitching very uniform. And it's cool that you have him interested in doing cool projects! I like the color too. And I like that he looks proud of his work as well he should be.
 
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tricker

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Good job! We have several of the looms. They work awesome and keep the stitching very uniform. And it's cool that you have him interested in doing cool projects! I like the color too. And I like that he looks proud of his work as well he should be.
What's the best way to bind off so the ends are "even" when it comes to stretchy-ness? I'm going to experiment. He does all of it but the binding off since I use a crochet hook to do that and he is all fumbles with crochet hooks.

He has three other sizes of loom so he might even make bigger things.
 

K'Lee

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I usually just use a crochet needle (the large plastic ones) and do it that way. Binding off is always tricky and I'm not the best at it. Can't wait to see his next project.
 
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jklmnop

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One of my goals this summer is to dye more wool and yarn using the power of the sun since it is environmentally friendly and also so kind to the fiber -- solar-dyed wool is ime usually easier to work with than wool dyed by other methods. And obvs in Texas we have a bountiful supply of sun and heat :D

Yesterday I did some dye prep work at dusk and didn't finish up til after the sun went down. It was not ideal in terms of making colors but at least it wasn't quite so hot out.

So this morning I go outside to see wtf everything looks like and after a few minutes it dawns on me.

I made ROYGBIV.

Random ROYGBIV! Totally unintentional but I love it.



rainbow alert electrolyte @electrolyte
 

electrolyte

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One of my goals this summer is to dye more wool using the power of the sun since it is environmentally friendly and also so kind to the fiber -- solar-dyed wool is ime usually easier to work with than wool dyed by other methods. And obvs in Texas we have a bountiful supply of sun and heat :D

Yesterday I did some dye prep work at dusk and didn't finish up til after the sun went down. It was not ideal in terms of making colors but at least it wasn't quite so hot out.

So this morning I go outside to see wtf everything looks like and after a few minutes it dawns on me.

I made ROYGBIV.

Random ROYGBIV! Totally unintentional but I love it.



rainbow alert electrolyte @electrolyte
Ooh! Pretty!

(Why don't we have a nice rainbow emoji thingy here?)
 

jan

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does anyone have any recommendations for this yarn?


jklmnop @jklmnop ? Can it be dyed to a darker color? Could I just use a commercial dye?

Anyone? I don't wear neutral colors (or white.....not that this could be white :). I got several skeins of this at a good will a few years ago - with a several skeins of rowan (quite the score!) but this just sits in my stash. I don't know what to do with it. I usually use wool for garments............so this would be a complete outlier. I might make a shawl if I could dye it something dark (even black).....but IDK

If I can't think of anything, I might just part with it (someone must want it?).
 
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jklmnop

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does anyone have any recommendations for this yarn?


jklmnop @jklmnop ? Can it be dyed to a darker color? Could I just use a commercial dye?

Anyone? I don't wear neutral colors (or white.....not that this could be white :). I got several skeins of this at a good will a few years ago - with a several skeins of rowan (quite the score!) but this just sits in my stash. I don't know what to do with it. I usually use wool for garments............so this would be a complete outlier. I might make a shawl if I could dye it something dark (even black).....but IDK

If I can't think of anything, I might just part with it (someone must want it?).
My experience is with acid dyes (for protein fibers) so I have no direct exp w/ this, but I bet you could fix that up for not much $$$, just would take time to research cheap dye options and figure out your overdye color choice. According to Paula Birch's site (good site), you can find fiber reactive dye (the kind you'll need) at regular craft stores under the Tulip brand (and maybe others idk). The bamboo should also dye w/ a fiber reactive dye, and might produce a nice heathered effect depending on the color and DOS (depth of shade). Some dyes are on sale at at least one retailer rn, and I've seen Tulip's cotton dyeing kits in the clearance racks at Joann before so def check there too. You'll need to skein the balls up for consistent color obvs. Also worth checking a thrift store or two for a large pot you can use to dye with; I assume that as with protein fiber dyeing, you don't want to use those pots and tools for any food prep ever again. I'd caution trying to dye it black because with so many plies it may be difficult to get the dye to strike and show evenly, which would be most unforgiving w/ black. Here are some useful links I found while doing a few searches:

http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/aboutdyes.shtml
http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/fiberreactive.shtml
http://www.joann.com/crafts-hobbies/fabric-crafting/tie-dye-and-fabric-dye/
https://www.tintex.ca/pages/fabric-dye-colour-guide
https://www.ritdye.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/rit-dye-overdyeing.pdf

Let us know what you decide!
 
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