FO's and a Competition!
I was amazed at how quickly I finished these socks and how comfy they are - I feel so proud of myself. I have already rummaged through my sock yarn stash to start another pair. I think I might try working through Lucy Neatby's book 'Cool Socks, Warm Feet' I reckon I should have a good grounding in socks by the time I finish all six.
Yarn Colinette Jitterbug in Jewel, 2.5mm dpns, pattern (which had a bad mistake in it) on the ball band.
I also finished the 'So Called Scarf' I think this may be destined for a Pal, maybe I should try and make some gloves or hat to go with it.
A few days ago I restocked my Etsy shop for the first time in months. I have lots of yarn to dye up so thought I had better get on with it. I still have other stuff to put on - stitchmarkers and such. To celebrate I am running a competition, with 2 prizes at present, more if lots of people take part.
Firstly 1200m (100g) of Laceweight Bluefaced Leicester. This is gorgeously soft a single ply 90% bfl and 10% nylon to give extra strength. It is kettle dyed and then handpainted in shades of red and purple with little bits of orange.
Secondly just over 100g of 100% Bluefaced Leicester tops to spin. This is in two complementary pieces. One is purples and mauves the other similar shades with the addition of shades of orangey peach. This is so soft and lofty you just want to cuddle up to it.
So what do you need to do?
Mosey on over to my shop Tri'Coterie and check it out then leave me a comment before 6pm GMT on Sunday 7th October. In your comment please leave feedback - the more constructive the better. How can I improve my shop? What yarn weights, colours would you like to see? What sort of photos are best? Am I describing the stuff sufficiently or would you like more information and if so what sort? There must be 101 things that would improve things and don't worry about repeating what someone else is saying - if it is said enough times it might get through my thick skull! After time is up I will put all the names in a hat and see if I can pursuade one of the cats to draw (well ok - maybe something with hands).
Yarn Colinette Jitterbug in Jewel, 2.5mm dpns, pattern (which had a bad mistake in it) on the ball band.
I also finished the 'So Called Scarf' I think this may be destined for a Pal, maybe I should try and make some gloves or hat to go with it.
A few days ago I restocked my Etsy shop for the first time in months. I have lots of yarn to dye up so thought I had better get on with it. I still have other stuff to put on - stitchmarkers and such. To celebrate I am running a competition, with 2 prizes at present, more if lots of people take part.
Firstly 1200m (100g) of Laceweight Bluefaced Leicester. This is gorgeously soft a single ply 90% bfl and 10% nylon to give extra strength. It is kettle dyed and then handpainted in shades of red and purple with little bits of orange.
Secondly just over 100g of 100% Bluefaced Leicester tops to spin. This is in two complementary pieces. One is purples and mauves the other similar shades with the addition of shades of orangey peach. This is so soft and lofty you just want to cuddle up to it.
So what do you need to do?
Mosey on over to my shop Tri'Coterie and check it out then leave me a comment before 6pm GMT on Sunday 7th October. In your comment please leave feedback - the more constructive the better. How can I improve my shop? What yarn weights, colours would you like to see? What sort of photos are best? Am I describing the stuff sufficiently or would you like more information and if so what sort? There must be 101 things that would improve things and don't worry about repeating what someone else is saying - if it is said enough times it might get through my thick skull! After time is up I will put all the names in a hat and see if I can pursuade one of the cats to draw (well ok - maybe something with hands).
posted by maylin at 2:20 PM
31 Comments:
I think it's a great idea to have people visit and give you props and suggestions.
I love the title/header. Your yarn is beautiful and colors are incredibly vibrant. I want some!
The only thing I noticed, and this may be just me/my computer, but the close-up pictures of roving looked a little blurry.
I'll post on my blog about your contest. Hope you get lots of visitors. You might want to let Chris of Stumbling Over Chaos know. She posts contests and has a lot of readers.
Nice yarn & fiber! Here are my suggestions:
- Close-ups are not quite in focus.
- I'd like to see recommended washing AND drying instructions.
- Does the "wool cycle" mean delicate cycle? Maybe have it say "cold water, delicate cycle, air dry".
I'd love to see more muted & earth tones as well as semi-solids, especially in your lace yarn.
Glad you got the Etsy up and runnning Maylin and thanks for your kind comments
Pictuires a little blurry? Would love to see DK yarn, more earthy colours in all of them and vibrant purples
Good luck
I'm seriously suffering from yurt envy- we've been kicking around the idea of yurt living for the past couple of years...
Your site looks great. I agree with the comment about focus on the close-up pictures.
The other thing is probably just me (and please, feel free to ignore it because one of these days I will learn all the mm needle sizes!), but I can never remember the conversion from mm size needles to US size needles. I actually have to take an extra step to look up the US needle size.
Beautiful work... good luck with the store!
The yarns look lovely! I agree that the roving pictures could be a little sharper and possibly US needle sizes would help our American brethren :-)
Love the handpainted colorway in your sock yarn. The lace yarn looks very pretty. The initial picture when you go to the lace page doesn't do it justice. Too much in the pic. The best pic is off to the side fourth down from the top. Maybe you should list each individual skein seperately? Then it won't be trying to squeeze so much in the pic and people will maybe be more confident they are getting the exact skein they want? Close ups are a little blurry.
What would I like to see? I have been wanting to try BFL lace. Would love to see it in semi solids and handpaints that stay in one or two color families to show stitch work better. Maybe some solids since some designs only work with solids to show the pattern well. I personally love handpainted lace but do find I like colorways that don't have really sharp changes in color since they tend to be harder to knit up and show patterns. Love the look of the shop. Good luck, I will have to check back!
i love the vibrant blues and violets. i am not overly fond of stripes, but yours are tempting!
sock weights and lace weights are what i shop for most. especially when there is an optition to get more in the same "dyelot"
Beautiful yarn! I agree, some of the pictures could be sharper in focus. And, of course, the more choices, the better. The laceweight looks really scrumptious, but I'd love to see other colorways.
This is a great idea! :)
I like how you've clearly stated the key bits of information that most buyers would be interested in. The photos though could be clearer. I think it helps to have a picture of the entire hank as the main picture, with close-ups for extras.
Also, big up your products a little more! Have more descriptive write-ups.
Your shop looks great Maylin, your information is clearly set out and I love your header, I agree with the other comments that your photos are a little blurry in close up. I love your colour combinations and would like to see more roving, good luck
You should so use a picture of my socks for the self-striping yarn! It's one of my favourite colourways ever -- and I've got just about enough left over for a pair of lacy, stripy cuffs, too!
The Etsy site looks fantastic, you have such a great eye for colour.
I would love to see earthier, more muted tones. Especially in lace.
Your site looks great. A few things I thought I should mention:
1) I like bogie's suggestion about the washing instructions. My machine doesn't have a "wool cycle."
2) The shipping costs in the description and the shipping costs in the shipping section don't always line up, and this could confuse people.
3) I think the photos of the yarn after it's been knit are especially helpful - something you might provide for more of the yarns?
The information is good, especially the detailed shipping cost info. The pic's could be better but they aren't bad!
I've always been a fan of finding a shop I aspire to be and seeing what they do. But maybe that's cheating? I don't think so!
Congrats on your new store. Love the name!
Love the site! I especially like the descriptions. Although some did not have needle size suggestions listed. I use that a lot to help me get an idea of yarn weight. I especially liked the self striping with the swatch.
Actually your shop looks very nice. All info I would and do normally look for in an online shop is all right in front of me...
The only thing I would do, and this may just be because I am 3 parts nosy, and 1 part, well...nosy, I like to see a yarn all skeined up after it has been dyed,kwim? I like to be able to see how the colors look with its stripes and what nots, not just how the yarn looks fresh from dying. When I get a skein of yarn, and it hasnt been re skeined, I get home, and the colors arent always what I am looking for when they are all together, I really hope I am making since, as I sometimes dont...
I really enjoy your shop. I'd love to have some of the recycled silk you already sold, and your yarn looks gorgeous - get a red, red/pink, red/black combo and I'm sold!
One thing I'd like to see is where your shop is based in the profile or something more prominent than the shipping - shipping is important to me, so I need to know quickly how expensive the shipping will be, and I can guesstimate if I can see where you are sending it from compared to where I am.
Hi there! I loved your shop as well, even peeked to see what had previously been sold. my 2 cents aren't too different from other suggestions:
1. a few pic close ups were fuzzy
2. love the bright/bold colors but i tend to use lots of muted, earthy colors. Naturals i call "jungle pastels".
Aside from that i couldn't see anything that really needed any tweeking! *smile
I was interested to see the 'shop announcement' about yarn being dyed in your yurt.
Improvement I would suggest would be to post a full bio complete with yurt photo. Tell a little about yourself. I know I would be more likely to buy yarn online if I felt I knew the person or read something interesting.
Good luck with your store.
Nice bright colors, and love the self-striping yarns. The dark color (Old English Blazers) is interesting because it could go with a lot of different things for a man or woman, including just plain jeans.
I'm always a sucker for variegated yarns, especially two colored striping or marled yarns. I haven't been doing much knitting lately though, as my soft toy sewing is keeping me busy in my own Etsy shop. Hope someone makes beautiful things out of your yarns!
Have been lurking for ages now, glad to see your etsy shop up and running.
I am very interested in both lace weight and sock yarns, especially in solid colours, but wondered why dollars, as I am in France too, and naturally would prefer euros. I am used to comparing pounds to euros, but am lost with dollars!
I really like the photo of the yellow/pink/burgundy sock yarn you have up at the moment, not simply for the yarn itself but how you've composed it to begin with. I get a better sense of the colourway from that than I do on closeups on other products.
I see one thing that you do on at least one of your yarns that I'd love to see more of: showing swatches of the colorway of a yarn knit-up or a sample of what a fiber might look like spun. As a new spinner, and relatively new knitter, I have little sense of what something might look like when used. I realize this might be a challenge if your things are one of a kind, but would be great at least when you have repeats.
I've never bought anything online so Etsy shops are quite foreign to me but I went and looked at your shop anyway. I thought that some of the photos were a bit blurry. Also I'm assuming that you mean American dollars because Canada uses dollars too. But seeing that you are in Europe (and so am I) euro prices would be nice.
Ooo that BFL lace is beautiful! I'd love to see more hand painted lace in your shop. I agree with people about wanting semi solid tones kind of like Malabrigo. You could also try taking your photos in a light box, so they would have a solid white background. There is a good tutorial on how to make a light box from a cardboard box here.
You've got some beautiful yarn. The one thing that occurred to me in looking at your photos is that the one (currently at the top right) with a self-striping yarn photographed in a wicker basket is a little busy. The stripiness of the wicker competes a bit with the stripes in the yarn. I'd either use a solid background, or crop out more of the basket, to make the picture have a better initial impact.
Hello there, I just traipsed on over to your Etsy shop.
I like that you have given extensive descriptions of the yarn, along with shipping costs and everything. Pretty helpful for people living overseas =)
I just thought that there was a lot of red tones in most of the yarns. Maybe a diversion from that to blues, greens...etc. would add to the variety?
I love the striping of your sock yarn and if you could do that in different colorways (blues...greens...black..white...etc.) but of course the end result being the same stripes, I think it would be really very well received.
Oh and a little more fancy schmancy photos would do the trick too =) I thought that they were a bit too crowded.
Hope that helped and sorry if I was too critique-y.
Not sure if it's been mentioned already, but have you joined Yarnographers on Ravelry? The whole group is dedicated to improving yarn and fibre photos, with plenty of tutorials.
Otherwise, consistency is the one thing I always notice - the way the shots are taken, angle, background, lighting etc. You could also try naming your colourways, as folk seem to feel reassured by that for some reason.
Regards twisting skeins before taking photos, I like sometimes to make them look like whipped ice cream... it works for handspun but not sure you'd get the full effect of the colours on hand dyed.
Anyway's, you're certainly not in dire need of improving your shop!
You really have a gorgeous shop! I love the colors you offer in your shop and I'd love to see some neutral combos as well!
Your prices seem really great!
I would love to see some almost solids, and the purple/red/gold colorway without the gold, personally. Your prices look very fair to me! I'm glad I found you - will bookmark your store!
Your shop looks great!
The only thing I would say is color variety. Having 'something for everyone', but well... you obviously can't please everyone. Maybe add some greens/browns/blues. And I do love the idea of semi-solid colors.
Post a Comment
<< Home