Why is it so hard to Blog?

I just checked into Blogger and have realized nearly a month has passed since my last post.  Sorry!  I have become a Twitter convert and primarily use that medium to stay in touch with followers (which total around 75).  I have placed items on EBay, Bonanza, Krrb (local online site) and still have yarn at the Wild Yarns shop.  This weekend I'm reviewing my advertising mediums - signed up for Google AdWords and will be advertising with Ennea Collective again.

The artisan boutique has come and gone and was overall not successful financially for me.  Met some great artisans but was the only one without sales on Saturday :(!  I submitted my state sales taxes from the Friday sales but have a question into the City about its tax structure and license fees.  They still haven't called me back.  The overall business taxes are done and I need to submit sales tax to both the State and perhaps the City - maybe next weekend.

Outside of the 3 skeins of yarn sold at the artisan boutique February was a bust.  On the positive I have new fiber arriving as that is what I do when I am blue.  I received some lovely white and tan BFL roving to spin along with a red dyed BFL braid of fiber.  There is one bag of clean Malamute dog hair clean and ready to be spun and another bag that needs to be cleaned.  Ordered some more fiber but as of today it hadn't shipped.  Must start spinning before the pile of rovings grows any bigger.  It is almost shearing season too and I have decide on how many alpaca and sheep wool fleeces to purchase along with the mill cost.

On the wheel is some dark brown alpaca top from Ancient Treasures Alpaca Ranch.  On the needles is a lace scarf in dark green tones with hints of brown similar to this cranberry scarf below.

Still trying to find a home for this hand spun and hand knit Wensleydale scarf.  It is very odd as I so loved this yarn (which has sold) and think it is such a nice and warm item.  Oh well you can only create and give others the opportunity to see the beauty in the design.  I know it will eventually find a home.

Today I start back volunteering at our local public library which will aid in bringing back some balance to my life.  Spinning hasn't been in the forefront of life as I am really taken with creating the lace scarf.  Still love my wheel and making yarn but I am going with what moves me which happens to be knitting at the moment.  I will try to write at least twice a month but for my frequent updates you can follow me on Twitter @nashc7 or Facebook "Herie7 Natural Fiber Treasures".  Until next time I hope all are safe (especially given the tornadoes in the U.S.) and you have a great weekend. 

Why natural fibers?

Before I even started this journey to sell my handmade items I was working with natural fibers.  When I taught myself to knit several years ago it was with forest green Red Heart yarn which I never quite made anything out of.  I think this was eventually donated to one of senior centers here in Denver.  I discovered the shop Showers of Flowers which had a huge showroom of all kinds of yarn.  Pillows, shawls and sweaters were made using non natural fiber yarns in a variety of weights and colors.  At that time I wasn't even aware of natural fibers but more concerned with cost/yardage for projects.

Then I went to the Estes Park Wool Market and I purchased a spinning and a CVM wool fleece.  My next step was attending the Western Stock Show were I met the alpaca ranchers and my dear friends at Ancient Treasures Alpaca Ranch in Arvada, CO.  I  have participated in shearing day for several years now and have skirted fleeces the past 2 seasons.  It has and continues to be a great learning experience for me and gazing at the alpacas in their pastures is just so peaceful.

So why is it that I focus on natural fibers you ask?  For me it is a means to support ranchers and small markets throughout the U.S. and world.  My journey into spinning natural fibers has introduced me to several sheep ranchers and alpaca/llama ranchers within the western U.S. face to face.  When I took up spinning cotton I gained such an appreciation of our ancestors and a better understanding of the cotton gins importance.  There are so many fibers (animals and plants) to explore and spin.  The groups on Ravelry who spin various fleeces per month have been a huge source of information for me and fan base for my work.

For me the niche of natural fibers places me amongst a caring group of people who love animals and enjoy working with their hands.  They are forthcoming with advice, understanding of trials and tribulations and confidence builders on new journeys with fiber.  In our societal "Green Environment" focus working with these fibers fits just right in while helping to maintain bloodlines/crops for future generations to explore. 

What are your favorite types of yarn to work with?  Do you lean towards a specific brand or manufacturer?

Where has the time gone to?

I feel as if I haven't written in ages but know that isn't true.  Thanksgiving was more calm than I expected but my time off from the full time job went by way too quickly.  The yarn shop at the ranch has brought in a couple of sales and I got to use the "Square" last weekend for another sale.  I really do like that tool.

Last Sunday I networked with some Denver based craft owners.  It was co sponsored by Krrb and hosted by Idea Chic which creates handmade stationary items.  I picked up some gift tags for my sale order giveaways which are very nice.  It was nice to discuss production techniques with other artisans and learn I am not alone in the lack of desire to produce mass quantities of the same item.  I met a funny and nice lady named Megan who specializes in jewelry with crystals/beads.  We as a group are going to try to grow the Krrb site for Denver to gain more exposure for our products.

What else has been going on?  Well I have made 5 headbands thus far and am now moving onto the ruffle scarves.  My order of Rowan Kidsilk Creation yarn arrived and I completed the lime green one in a few hours.  It is very soft and pretty. 

I am trying out a new pattern with some dyed cotton yarn which will be my son's Christmas gift.  Although I should probably start to work on his soon as he comes home mid-December and I don't want him to see it.  My purple Flounce yarn which is a special order was a very bad batch of yarn as the dye job had spots of blue and they knotted two fragments together to obtain the correct yardage.  I was very happy that my LYS allowed me to swap the bad for a different skein which is also a high priority project.

On the spinning front I decided to back to my roots of thin yarn and am creating a lace weight Shetland skein (just needs to be plied).  I also spun up the black/white top from the Sheep Shed Studio which is probably more Sports weight but decent yardage.  I think the gray top is next on the list to spin as I have several ounces of it left.  Of course there are pounds of alpaca/milk roving to spin up too.  I made a skein of alpaca/bamboo yarn from the cria fleece batch - so much vegetable matter in it.  I have my work cut out for me in picking the veggies from the skein prior to selling it.  It is a pretty tan color and was easy to spin but you know how I am about veggie matter - this was actually more than the tussah silk roving.

Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday really had no effect on my sales or shops :(!  My views totally tanked during the weekend and I have found myself checking the Etsy and EBay sites several times a day without much happy news.  I am going to try to limit myself to twice a day only for viewing Etsy.  It's not as if my checking the site will encourage sales - I wish.  Still trying to tweet a few times a day which is kinda fun.  So many interesting chatter on Twitter.

I will probably stop listing on EBay soon as there is virtually no traffic there.  As I haven't sold any hand spun yarn on Etsy I am thinking of shifting that product to the Wild Yarn store in Denver.  I'll keep ATAR's mill spun and the rovings on Etsy but unless things change I am not sure if it is worth having the merchandise age on that site.  My knitted items do well on Etsy but I'm thinking yarn is something people need to touch.  We shall see what happens in December.

Busy Saturday

Eventhough I am not feeling 100% it has been a productive day.  I went to the store at the ranch to work my shift and we had our first sale using the "square" tool.  Very cool to take a credit card, capture a photo of the purchase items and email a receipt to the customer.

The lilac scarf is finished and being cleaned/blocked.  I actually listed it in the shop at Herie7 Natural Fiber Treasures and it was posted on FB and Twitter today.  I think I am starting to get the hang of this multi media advertising process. 

The head band made from CVM wool is coming along and I like the heart design of the pattern.  Headbands are the perfect projects for my handspun yarns.

After taking product photos, I posted a couple of yarns on the Ebay site and within Herie7 Natural Fiber Treasures on Etsy tonight too.

I did enjoy watching the male llamas and alpacas this afternoon.  They are such peaceful creatures.  We had good conversations with customers and have some ideas on what to stock the shop with to draw in the young customers (kids).

Definately will be creating small woven bags and headbands for the Renaissance Festival the summer of 2012.  Tomorrow I will be relaxing and hanging out with friends before another busy week in the office.

Newspaper article

One of my favorite alpaca ranches was written up in one of our local newspapers.  Ancient Treasures Alpaca Ranch article - most of my alpaca fleeces come from the ranch and I am now selling hand spun yarn and knitted items at their shop.  Cheryl introduced me to the world of alpacas and I have participated in shearing day there over the past few years.  They have several  new babies (crias) and a couple of llamas on the property too.

We have had our first sales of November.  Hand knit wool beret and Wool headband were sold at Herie7 Natural Fiber Treasures on Etsy.  This weekend we set up the shop at the ranch and had a few visitors looking to see what we carry and inquire on hours to come back and shop later.  I do believe that they may have sold an alpaca this weekend too.

My goal was to measure and label my hand spun yarns this weekend which I have accomplished.  I realized that I actually made a bulky weight yarn which was the merino/silk blend in shades of blue, white and red.  My second batch is looking to be more of DK/sports weight yarn.  It is nice to know that I can spin thickly if I don't concentrate very much on going thin.

Creation of Yarn

I had fun at the ranch on Sunday.  It was good to reconnect with the alpaca owners for a few hours.  The baby alpacas are so adorable and I did pick out a fleece for next spring amongst them.  He is white with hints of fawn within his fleece.  Last year's crias are so big now - these animals grow so fast but still remain docile.  It is always good to meet the folks that come to the open house.  Some have never seen an alpaca before and many are not aware of all of the items one can create with their fibers.  The little kids adored the alpacas especially the toddlers.  We had really good weather for the event considering the day before was snowing and rainy.

Although I didn't sell any yarn I did receive some good feedback from customers.  Yardage matters to them and knowing what projects they can make with a skein is very helpful.  I'm going to rework/add to the skeins I have fiber for this week prior to trying to sell them locally or in the shop.  Product descriptions will be tweaked to give good project information to shoppers for our yarns and let them know how to combine skeins for that special project.

Given yardage requirements I am going to revisit my pricing of the yarn too.  If it will take more than a skein to complete a project I need to make sure the material cost doesn't exceed a customers budget for the finished project.

ATAR will be opening up the shop more often especially doing the holiday season.  I have agreed to man the shop on Saturdays which will give me a dedicate time to create items along with some potential sales.  It is good to have a variety of outlets for merchandising and will be fun to help in promoting the venue.

Festival cancelled

Today's pumpkin patch festival has been cancelled due to the rain/snow we are receiving.  It is fall in Colorado and we never know what kind of weather we will get.  Yesterday was sunny and warm today cold and rainy with a touch of snow.  I'm sad the kids won't get to have the pumpkin feast but am looking forward to a day off. 

I have updated my yarn labels and relabeled all of the yarn to be sold this weekend.  The yarn for the new store has been labeled too.  I just need to complete the yardage for the yarn to be sold on Etsy and label them in the coming week.  I'm learning to use StumbleUpon and Pinterest as marketing tools and both are neat concepts.

The green wool scarf and white alpaca hat are projects to finish this week.  Once they are done are will work on an alpaca scarf and the shades of green ruffle scarf.  Perhaps I will do some spinning on the wheel today. It occurred to me yesterday that I haven't been spinning this week in preparation of this weekend activities.  My poor wheel must be lonely from the neglect - I can't remember the last time I went this long without spinning fiber of some sort.

Off to relax!  Have a great weekend.