New listings in the shop

Not only did I deliver yarn to be sold in my LYS today but I also took product photos.  I listed about 5 new yarns in the shop today.  All of them are hand spun creations with decent yardage.

Taking it easy this weekend

I am taking it easy this weekend.  Going to the ballet with my niece today to see Swan Lake - yeah.  Tomorrow I will be delivering hand spun yarn to my LYS and signing contracts to be on consignment there.

Goals for the weekend are to take product pictures of the spun yarn, finesse pricing on my yarn and improve the yardage on a couple of skeins.  I should be able to accomplish these things and it will be nice here in Denver this weekend to help with photos.

My wholesale order of bags arrived and will work really well to store/ship roving.  I also purchased some dyed mohair roving which arrived this week and feels really soft.  BFL dyed roving was also purchased this week and should be arriving in a few days.  I do like how BFL spins up and it seems to take dye rather well.  We shall see how this new batch measures up to my first purchase as it is from a different vendor.

We were featured in a treasury this week and received some views from it.  Minimal views have occurred from the Ennea Collective ad but it is still early in the month.  Ennea Collective is an online magazine dedicated to showcasing objects created with hand spun yarn.  You never truly know how well an ad will do in a venue until you try it.  The last 30 days have brought in 12 views thus far but no sales.  Oh well exposure if always good and perhaps will bring in sales closer to the holidays.

The alpaca hat is being re-worked as I didn't have enough yarn to make a large hat.  It is being made in the smaller version and I have just finished the twisted cable pattern.  This time it is being made in white but will be similar to the brown version.

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.