SoopSee: Turning My Etsy Shop Into a Website

This morning, my goal was to get up and really get my Etsy marketing in order. I'm very pleased with the amount of traffic I get, but I think it could be better, so I looked into this funky new place called soopsee. The way it works, is your Etsy page becomes a website! The thing I love about soopsee is that you can update all your listings with one push of a button. Pretty cool. I consider this an amazing feature since everything on my igottknits website needs to be added manually, which can take several hours of precious time. Integrating soopsee makes total sense because most of my traffic these days is coming from my Etsy page, so it's a no-brainer.

The Pros--Using soopsee is free for a basic account, and as I learned by playing and having lots of fun this morning, there's lots that you can do with just the basic account, so I won't delete igottknits just yet! I also found that with the basic templates they provide, some have more customizable features than others. The template that I chose seems to be the most flexible, and is called: "Rustic." This template allowed me to change my background color to an image, change my font style and colors, and add color blocks. I like to have the ability to strip a template down to a bare screen and add my own elements. Just having a great banner or logo, and good navigation is all you need.

The Cons-- The basic account does not allow you to use your own domain name, and if you already have an Etsy page, it automatically inserts your Avatar on the soopsee homepage, which I find slightly distracting, because it's too similar to my banner. The way I'm going to get around this is to change my Etsy Avatar to something that will really standout on my igottknits soopsee site. I'm thinking a funky little stylized knitting graphic, ball of yarn and needles....we'll play.

The bottom line is the free account seems to be the way to go, because the paid account does not offer too many other benefits other than allowing you to use your own domain, customize your navigation menu, and choose from 2 additional layout templates. So for now, I'm sticking with the free account, and at some point, most definitely move the igottknits domain.

To see the final result, you can check out my new soopsee site here, and feedback is always welcome!

The Scrumble Project: Project #1- Sweet Baby Jane's Scarf

Now that the New Year is here, the first thing that comes to my mind is cleaning and reorganizing my work studio. I usually do this every 6 months, and it takes lots of discipline on my part to finally do it! I was preparing to "clean house," I came across an old bag of swatching yarns that I always seem to move to a different shelf, often wondering what do with them. The idea of tossing perfectly exquisite pieces of 4 x 4 inch swatches of yarn seems sinful. I've often thought- just hang onto them to use them to make one big Afghan-- yeah sure. I've got lots of extra time on my hands for that and making small pieces is so much more appealing! So, instead of something such as an afghan that will lose my interest in a minute, I came up with my "Scrumble Project." What is scrumbling you ask? Well, it's knitting or crocheting in a free form way, allowing whatever flows off the needle to be part of the project. Also, using various other materials or methods are allowed too! Basically, the idea is to treat your projects like little works of art. In this case, my leftover swatches being the paint palette!

My first project will be a dainty scarf, which will be a spin off of one of my best-selling igottknits patterns: Sweet Baby Jane, pictured to the right. I used Colinette Tao Silk, 100% silk, color #67 Copper Beach. I also used Rowan Wool Cotton, color #SH965 as an accent yarn in the wave edging and eyelet band as you can see in the photo to the left. Since designing this pattern and making the sample, I've had little bits of yarn and several large swatches hanging around. How could I possibly get rid of these delicate little gems?

As I was digging around in my old swatch bag, I hit the jackpot! I found an old Ziploc bag filled with various stockinette swatches, and pattern stitch swatches, with the wavy pattern piece below, calling out- "Make me a scarf!"

The generously-sized swatch measures 7" x 18" making this a perfect primer for a scarf. My plan is to pick up stitches on each end and create a wave pattern and knit and purl ruffle, echoing the Sweet Baby Jane Skirt Edging.

Luckily, with the collection of swatches I found, it looks like I'll have just enough Tao Silk to work the larger knit and purl rib sections as shown in the Sweet Baby Jane skirt, and just enough of the Wool Cotton to use and an accent for the wave pattern.

Hopefully my calculations are correct, and there will be enough yarn to complete Baby Jane's Scarf!

Next Post...

--catch me picking up stitches along with rectangular scarf to create the knit purl and wave edging.

Time to get busy!

A Little Daily Dharma

For years I've been receiving Daily Dharma emails from Tricycle Magazine, and over the course of time, they've ended in my Junk Mail folder. As a result, I will admit with all the overwhelming emails that I receive each day, I've let them go by the wayside.

For whatever reason, I decided to open up today's Daily Dharma, which I think we can all relate to every now and again- ANGER. It addresses real "freedom," which means being able to CHOOSE how we react in the face of anger. I like that, because it's very empowering to know that we have the ability to react or NOT react. Truly understanding this is where the freedom part comes in, and it puts the ball back in our court. Yeah!

So, here's today's Daily Dharma which I'd like to share....

Real Freedom

Freedom means being able to choose how we respond to things. When wisdom is not well developed, it can be easily obscured by the provocations of others. In such cases we may as well be animals or robots. If there is no space between an insulting stimulus and its immediate conditioned response—anger—then we are in fact under the control of others. Mindfulness opens up such a space, and when wisdom is there to fill it one is capable of responding with forbearance. It’s not that anger is repressed; anger never arises in the first place.

-Andrew Olendzki, "Calm in the Face of Anger," from the Fall 2006 Tricycle

You can read the entire article here.

Let Them Eat Pie

I think the secret to making the perfect apple pie comes down to 2 very important things-

1. Homemade butter crust

2. Lots of ooey gooey brown sugar

Aside from these two things, of course the apples and only the best ingredients will make your pie the best tasting. Using either Rome, Empire or Red Delicious apples are always the best, so don't use just any old apple. Believe me, because I learned the hard way! I couldn't get good in-season apples, so I once used Macintosh. Bad idea. The pie came out mushy and slightly bitter.

So, I thought in the spirit of Christmas, I'd share my apple pie recipe. It's evolved a bit over the years, because I used to make it with a top layer of crust, but have since done away with that, thanks to my father who once asked me to make it with a brown sugar crumble top. I gave it a whirl, and have been doing that way ever since.

Here's my recipe below, but I will admit, when I make it I don't do too much measuring. My preference to to "feel my way" through the process, but it all works out in the end!

Pie Filling:

• 2-3 lbs of Rome, Empire or Red Delicious apples. (I lean more toward 3 lbs for a nice hearty pie)
• 1/2 cup of granulated sugar
• 1/2- 1 cup of brown sugar (the more the better!)
• Juice of 1/2 of a lemon
• 3-4 tablespoons of flour
• Cinnamon (optional)

Pie Crust:

• 1 stick of cold butter (taken right out of the fridge-- it should be very cold)
• 1 cup of flour
• a few tablespoons of water with ice cubes (this should also be very cold)

(An important aspect to a perfect butter crust is to make sure the butter and the water are very cold)

Crumb Top:

• 1/2 cup of brown sugar
• 1/2 stick butter
• about 3 tablespoons of flour

Prepare the crust:

1. Place 1 cup of flour in large bowl and cut 1/4 inch slices of 1 stick of butter into bowl. With your fingers break up the butter and blend into the flour until the mixture resembles corn meal.

2. Add a very small amount of the cold water into mixture, working the dough with your hands. Keep adding very small amounts of the water until the dough stops sticking. Form into a flat disk, and cover with clear wrap or place in a baggie. Place in freezer for about 5 minutes to chill.

3. While the crust is chilling peel and core the apples and slice. Place into large bowl and add lemon to apples so they do not brown. Add the sugars, flour and cinnamon. Mix until combined.

4. Grease a 9 inch pie pan. When crust is chilled, place on floured surface and carefully roll out into a circle, slightly larger than pan, being careful not to crack the dough. If that happens, add a touch of water and re-roll. Place into pie pan. Shape crust into pan, and cut excess dough off with scissors, or if you want to get fancy, make "bear claws," which I especially love to do.

5. Prepare the topping by placing 3-4 tbs of flour and 1/2 cup of brown sugar into bowl, and cut in butter the same way as for pie crust. (see picture to the left) When the topping resembles corn meal, it's ready. Drizzle on top of pie. Place a few pats of butter on top, place pie on cookie sheet and bake for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

Take pie out of oven and "tent" the edge as shown with foil. The crust on the edge of the pie can tend to cook faster, so in order to make sure it does not burn, it's a good idea to do this. Place back in oven for another 25 minutes.

Serve warm of course, and to add even more decadence, some vanilla Hagen Daz on the side!

Have a wonderful holiday!

Blogging 101 for Artists & Designers

I happened along a great article today, thanks to one of my fellow Etstians. The subject is how to use your blog to promote yourself as an artist by Michael Marine, on his blog: Remarkablogger. Martine states--it’s not the object you’re selling at the end of the day… it’s the stories behind the object. It's one thing to smack up a photo of a finished design, but it's also important along the way.

You may think that documenting your work might make the process a bit more tedious, but in reality it doesn't at all. It's just one extra step. It's so easy to take a digital image and upload it within minutes. When I think back to the days of carting around my cumbersome 35mm camera, and spending a fortune on processing photos that I hoped would come out to my liking. All of that is now a thing of the past. So when you think of it from this perspective, it's easier than ever to document your work. All you have to do is keep your camera permanently attached to your hip....better yet, why not make it into a pretty necklace so it's always on the ready :)

Why not add that extra bit of value and give what your readers are hungry for?

If you want to check out the full story, you can read it here on Remarkablogger.