Saturday, 29 October 2011

Feeling lucky!

Slouchy Hat for Children  

I have had the great fortune of finding a jewel of a photographer in the form of Nic of NJ Cooney Photography. I came across Nic when I was looking for a local professional photographer to work with collaboratively. I have to say, she has surpassed my expectations and her work is awesome beyond words. I sent her a sample of my work...and I almost collapsed when I opened her email yesterday and saw her photos of the hat!!! They are stunning..and they capture the very essence of my work so perfectly. I respect her...I salute her, and I cannot wait to send her more stuff!! I already did. Just wish I could work faster!! lol.. I feel inspired and motivated to do more...So, yes, expect more exciting and fun patterns in the near future and beyond!

I have also been lucky to be part of some wonderful giveaways hosted by a couple of photographers. The first was Moxie Image Photography, who was celebrating reaching 4000 Facebook fans. I would like to thank her for sending a heck of a lot of new fans my way! It was so much fun and as a result, I have gained new fans and gotten to know more people who like to crochet and knit. I have just signed up to be a vendor in the giveaway being hosted by Tonya DeAnda Photography, as she celebrates reaching ELEVEN THOUSAND Facebook fans!! It's a staggering number of fans, but if you see her work, you know why. Her work is fabulous. So, I am looking forward to that. The giveaway ends when she reaches 16 000 fans. Trust me, it won't take her very long!!

On a different note, I joined an Etsy team called 'Crochet UK' at the beginning of September. I have participated in the team discussions, but yesterday I got a wonderful surprise, from out of the blue when the Team Captain promoted me to the position of Team Leader! Now, that doesn't mean I am a crochet champion or guru...just that Emmaline recognized my great passion for crochet! It's pretty new, this team, and still pretty small, but that's how all communities start..right? So, if you are at all interested, be a part of the Crochet UK Etsy team! We'll have loads of fun! :-)

With all this going on...and my wonderful customers at my other shop Tafferty Designs, everything is just so exciting for me at the moment. I am looking forward to so much more! Now...back to more knitting and crocheting! I have some gorgeous, sublimely soft, thick yarn on my knitting needles right now...in a scrumptious plum colour...You'll have to wait to see what it is I am making! :-)

Sunday, 23 October 2011

Ravelry Pattern Store

I have been slowly adding new patterns to my shop on Ravelry, which allow you to download the patterns immediately instead of waiting for me to email them to you. Although this is great as it is instant, and i don't need to worry about logging on and emailing, it does take away the customer-seller interaction, which can be nice. Also, it is less likely that I will get any feedback on patterns. So I will have to stick with both Ravelry and Etsy as a combination of both seems to be working well for me so far. Some folks still purchase my patterns form my main shop. I am thinking of weaning that down as we approach the end of the year so that by next year, all pattern sales will be through my TD Crochet Pattern shop on Etsy. It's quite a big step, as I don't have that many sales from the pattern shop yet, and very little feedback. But it's a step I need to take to get the pattern shop moving faster. We will see. I hope I won't have to change my mind! :-)

Here is one I have just added to the inventory this week.

The Ultimate Beret


I'm loving this one. It's really lovely. I am waiting on a tester for a children's slouchy hat to get back to me. I sent a hat to one of my favourite photographers for photographing. So, next week should be exciting! :-)

Are you on my Facebook page yet? If not, get over there! :-) Thank you!

Monday, 15 August 2011

New patterns in the works!

This weekend was quite productive. I worked on 2 patterns and on orders for my Made-to-Order items. I enjoyed every minute!

The first pattern is that of a new style newsboy hat. I have just sent a draft copy of the pattern  for testing. I am hoping to get the feedback in a couple of days so that I can add it to the inventory.



The second was that of a hanging stork pouch to be used strictly as a photography prop. It looks fab, if I may say so myself! I'm loving it!



In addition, I organized for graphics to be created for bulk pattern offers. For now, I will have 2 bulk offers: 3 patterns for $12.00 and 5 patterns for $15.00. I asked my Facebook fans to help me choose. One won by a landslide, so that is the one I will go with. It looks lovely!

I am going to list the stork pouch pattern in my Pattern Shop. I am thinking of sending it for professional photographs. At the moment I have a photographer who has agreed to swap products for photos. I'm really looking forward to working with her on a long-term basis. Fingers crossed!

Saturday, 13 August 2011

Hello and welcome to my blog!

Hello everyone! so, I finally got the blog up and running, after getting my new shop banner, which I really like. It is now the official TD Crochet Patterns banner and is now in the shop. I have to say, it looks pretty good! Love it!

I have added new patterns to the shop, the latest being the baby cocoon pattern, which is available for both use with either Double-Knit or Worsted/chunky yarn. I decided to do this because I know some people like to use one or the other. There are more patterns in the shop...hats and gloves... I shall be adding more regularly. To keep up to date with new designs, special offers and giveaways, it's a good idea to be a fan on Facebook. Click HERE to visit my Facebook page. I hope you will join me there, if you haven't already! :-)

What can you look forward to?
- more patterns for the whole family and also for dolls!
- lots of fun and games
- free patterns now and again. These shall be posted to the blog.

Thank you for joining me. Hope you'll enjoy your visits and come back often.