Dyepot, Teapot

Crafty Wonderland was a complete bust, so this week I’m listing the things I had on display there in my Etsy shop. Here’s what’s up so far:

Luscious handspun yarn–if I wore these colors, this one wouldn’t leave my hands. It’s soft, squishy, with colors that remind me of sari fabric.

Glycerin soap.

Felted Clutch Purse–I have these in neutral colors too, but the green is my favorite.

Keep checking back the next few days, as I list more yarn and purses in different colors.

I’ve been actively listing things on Etsy for the last few weeks, and the main thing I’m noticing is that it’s hard to sell items directly through the site, because there’s just so much listed and the search tools don’t always do enough to narrow it down (or if the features exist, they’re not obvious). I think the most successful shops are the ones that have gained a certain amount of attention from outside, so people buy things from them because they heard about that specific shop elsewhere.

So with something of an ulterior motive, I’m going to point out a few examples of very cool sock yarn that the web at large might not know about.

Hlmiller has a green and pink (like a watermelon) yarn. Great summer colors.

I love the green and blue gradient on SeeJayneKnitYarns’s Austin Peacock sock yarn. She has a lovely dark moss green listed right now too.

Some great pinks and oranges and reds from Zen Yarn Garden.

Yarnchef’s colors definitely look food-inspired. The yarn shown below is on sale, too.

And last but not least, here’s one of my own yarn dyeing experiments. I like to toss some yarn and dye in the pot and see what comes out.

I hope this helps direct a little more traffic toward everyone’s work. There’s some really nice yarn on here, but with 95 pages of listings just for this type, so much of it only gets a few views apiece.

Here’s the rest of the things I’ve been working on.

The finished skeins of sock yarn.

Crocheted critter.

Star pins.

Robot head pin. I’m less happy with this one. I think it’s a little big, and might need more embellishment.

Hello Kitty wristlets.

iPod cozies.

I’ll have all of this and more at Crafty Wonderland on Sunday.

Here’s what I’ve been working on for the craft fair.

Two more colors of sock yarn.

Beads.

Crocheted wire.

Crocheted wire with beads.

More to come. I’m thinking about doing a couple of iPod cozies, and maybe some pins since I have a ton of bar pin blanks. Any requests?

I have a shop on Etsy that has been very neglected for several months, but I just started listing some new things.

First up is handmade paper. It’s a mix of recycled scraps and cotton linter. Occasionally there are letters from the used paper that stayed intact through the pulping process.

The second item is hand-dyed sock yarn. A while back (~3 years ago?) I asked my brother, who was working as a prep cook, to save onion skins for me, so I’ve had a couple bags of the stuff sitting around, waiting for me to do something. This batch came out a bright gold color. I’m really pleased with it.

I’ll have more yarn and more paper soon, and probably other things as well. Any requests?