Looking for my Going Out of YARN Business Sale? Got to www.AnnasGottaCrochet.ESTY.com

Looking for my Furls Crochet Hooks & Accessories? Go to my New Shop at www.AnnasGottaCrochet2.Etsy.com

Saturday, February 5, 2022

 




    www.AnnasGottaCrochet.SHOP

I am retiring!  So I am having a Huge Storewide Clearance Sale to Celebrate my retirement and to sell out the remainder of my vast inventory of Furls Crochet Hooks and ChiaoGoo Knitting Needles and Accessories.  I hop you will go check out the sales to see what you may need for your Crochet or Knitting supplies.  

Once my shop is closed, please come on back here where I plan to continue with posts about my newly retired life and of course my love of all things Yarn, Crochet, and Knitting.

 

Monday, May 25, 2020

Featured Crochet Designer: Crochet Water Bottle Holder by Shehnaaz at Crochet Dreamz

  I love to support crochet (and knit) designers, and do so at every opportunity.  If you have ever tried to design and write a pattern yourself then you know how much work actually goes into that task.  Even what seems like a simple pattern, such as a water bottle holder, that takes about an hour to make, may take at least 10 times that long to design and actually write out the pattern, then test it several times to work out all the little mistakes, and make sure it is easy enough for even a beginner crocheter to read and follow. 

  Today I want to share one of my favorite crochet designers who does an excellent job of designing and writing easy to understand patterns for trendy fun items for yourself, baby, kids, and your home.  The designer is Shehnaaz of Crochet Dreamz.  I've made several of her patterns, and am always pleased with the outcome.  The most recent pattern of hers that I made is this pretty Crochet Water Bottle Holder (pictured below).   I was able to follow her pattern and complete the bottle holder in just over an hour, could have been a little faster but I made it while also shopping online for storage bins. Isn't it pretty?!


  I always have a water bottle or my big 24oz metal drink container (pictured below) with me and it's sure handy to be hands free when needed, so this holder is just perfect for my needs.  The open-lace pattern allows the holder to stretch to accommodate either a 16oz water bottle or my big metal drink container.  The cross-body strap was the perfect size for my short body, but if you are tall don't worry, she added instructions to fit your body as well.  Shehnaaz always pays attention the smallest details too.  Like adding a round of slip stitches to the strap to prevent too much stretch, and sewing the strap inside the body of the holder instead of just stitching it along the top so it is very strong to hold the weight of a filled container.



  I made this bottle holder with Lion Brands 24/7 Cotton Yarn in the colorway Jade.  I used my Furls Galaxy Andromeda Crochet Hook in size G 4.0mm. (see below) Isn't it just gorgeous?  Who wouldn't be inspired when using this hook on any pattern.  The pattern calls for two different size hooks, and since I am an authorized Furls retailer you would think I have my choice of hooks at the ready, but when the urge hit me to make this item I reached in my WIP bag nearest to me (I have them placed throughout my home and office) and it contained this size G which is right between the two sizes recommended for this pattern, so I averaged the two sizes and used this hook alone.



  If you visit Shehnaaz's blog, Crochet Dreamz, you will see that she generously shares many of her patterns for free, but her paid patterns are very reasonable.  I just bought this cute '7 Hour Cocoon Cardigan' (see her stock pattern image below) pattern for only $5.50, I spend more than that on a cup of iced coffee.  Now I'm off to dig through my personal yarn stash to find just the right yarn for this project.


      
   Do you have a favorite crochet designer that you would like to share?  Please include a link to their website or blog in the comments.  I would love to check them out, and maybe even feature them here in the future. 

Crochet on my friends...

Anna


*Disclosure:  This was not a paid promotion.  Shehnaaz actually knew nothing about this post before I wrote it.  Links to her blog or website where her patterns can be purchased were included by me simply because I want to promote crochet designers.  I included links to my Furls Crochet Hook shop in case my readers wanted a quick link to my products.

Saturday, March 21, 2020

My Yarn Shop is OPEN and Trying To Do My Part to Help

My Yarn & Crochet Hook Shop are OPEN!  

I am trying to do my part by remaining Open and processing orders for Yarn and Furls Crochet Hooks as fast as I can because I know how important it is for crocheters and knitters who are cooped up in their home, wisely observing Social Distancing, to have the supplies they need to stay busy and stay calm.  We yarn lovers know the emotional and physical benefits of crocheting and knitting.  So staying home where it's safe can mean that you are cut off from getting more yarn and hooks.  So I've decided to keep processing orders as fast as I can.



If You Need Yarn, stop by my Etsy Shop at www.AnnasGottaCrochet.Etsy.com to find every color and size under the sun and at prices lower than most retail rates.

If You Need Furls Crochet Hooks to keep your hands comfortable while you crochet more than usual, you can find a nice variety of them in my other Etsy Shop at www.AnnasGottaCrochet2.Etsy.com

My husband and I have been observing Social Distancing since before it was even recommended, even choosing to visit our grandchildren via video chat instead of in person.  I have the USPS picking up packages outside our door so I don't risk any exposure by going to the post office in person.  So as long as the post office is running I will continue to ship daily.  My shoppers can have their yarn and crochet hooks in their hands within days, safely delivered by the post office to their door, protecting them from exposure by trying to shop in-store. 

We all have to do our part to get through this crisis...I'm trying to do my part.  Please stay safe, stay calm, and stay well.

Anna




Friday, March 6, 2020

What has become of Etsy? What shall become of us sellers?


How did Etsy wonder so far from who they were and what they stood for in the Maker Community?  It may not seem like it, but this post is not meant to blast Etsy, it’s simply an explanation of how their decisions have affected my business and to help etsy shoppers understand why I in turn have made the decisions that I’ve made.

This last year or so Etsy has been evolving into what appears, to many of us sellers, to be a greed monster.  Sadly, it seems that they lost their way and started feeding off the very community of creative makers that helped them become synonymous with handmade, creative, and artistic.

Etsy use to be the place where Makers went to market their creations, or for folks like myself, to market supplies to help those creative people create their items.  But something changed over the last year or so.  The marketplace that had affordable commission fees started finding ways to squeeze more money out of their Makers.

First it was the subscriptions services with different levels of shop features depending on the monthly subscription fees, so the old free seller account platform suddenly became a monthly fee to have a shop with anything more than the bare bones of shop features.  Then just before the end of year holiday season of 2019 they decided that we sellers should offer Free Shipping to our shoppers for orders over $35.  That low threshold means that shipping for a $35 order in my shop would cost me about $11-18 to ship, so that leaves me with zero profit and usually a negative income sale.  If the threshold was at least higher, then I could break even on those sales rather than go negative.  

We didn’t have to participate in the Free Shipping offer, we could opt out of it, however…that meant that we would get practically zero visibility on Etsy.  That’s right, they would only be promoting shops who offered free shipping, in their Etsy search and promoted listings on Google.  I tested this to see how it would affect my shop by not participating for a week and the results were astonishing.  I went from having about 400 hits a day in my shop to having about 10-15 a day!  Wow, that made the decision pretty obvious, if I wanted my shoppers to find my shop I had to participate in this Free Shipping program. 

Etsy tried to put a positive spin on it for us sellers, they said, but don’t worry, you don’t have to pay the fee’s yourself, just raise your prices to cover the shipping costs.  Great idea!  For Etsy that is, because they make their commissions on my total sale price, so I increase my prices to average out the cost of shipping (based off the average of my last 12 months of sales) and they make more commissions off every sale I make, even though I don’t actually make more money.  But the real losers are the shoppers because anyone ordering less than $35 now pays more for every item they purchase, and those who spend more than $35 are not really getting ‘free shipping’, because they are paying for it in higher prices overall.  But it ‘sounds’ like a great deal to get Free Shipping doesn’t it? 

We sellers began to make more sales, but less profit from our sells, even with the price increases because now most shoppers would just reach the $35 threshold to get free shipping, and fewer small orders were placed because our prices seemed too high now.  But Etsy was loving it because the higher total sales that we were making meant they were receiving more income without raising their commission rates.  But we sellers sucked it up and carried on working harder for less money.

Then came this newest ‘great improvement’ from etsy with their new ‘off-site advertising’ program.  All shops who made over $10,000 in sales within the last 12 months would have the requirement of mandatory participation in this new ad program.  Those who sold less than $10,000 could opt out of they wanted to, but the google promotions that Etsy normally did would no longer include sellers who opted out.  They said this new program was going to bring more shoppers to our shops through Etsy’s off-site advertisement on google and social media sites.  Then when a shopper came to our shop and made a purchase, we would pay an ‘additional’ fee of 12-15% ad fee for that sale, and also any other sales to that person within the next 30 days.  If that shopper clicked on one of those ads again 29 days later, the 30-day time period would start all over again.  It didn’t matter if this shopper was one of our repeat shoppers already, and clicked on the ad simply because they recognized our shop on the ad and wanted to support us, and was already going to make another purchase from us…Etsy would still take that 12-15% ad commission on their purchases.

Let me break this down with some math.

This 12-15% is on top of the 5% transaction fee, plus $.20 per item listing fee, and the 2.9% + $.30 per sale payment processing fee, that we already pay.  So in the Best Case Scenario, this is how it would break down…

  $35.00 Sale, with free shipping.
  -$11.00 my cost to ship (minimum shipping cost for an average $35 sale, could easily be up to $18.)
  -$7.50 Etsy Fee’s including new off-site ad fee
========
 = $16.50 I received from this sale
-$21.00 my minimum approx Cost of Goods for this sale
========
= - $4.50 My Net Loss on this Sale  So I basically paid $4.50 to give the buyer my product and support Etsy, and this doesn't even account for my shipping materials, warehouse costs, my time to source the product, photograph the items, write up a listing, and physically process the order, prepare the package for shipment, and travel to the post office to send it.


This is not how you stay in business.  So, after much thought, crunching numbers, stressing about how I was going to make this work, and finally resigning to the fact that it just isn't, I decided that I simply cannot afford to continue sell on Etsy anymore due to this mandatory participation.   My only solution is a sort of work-around, but it's only for the items that I sell most in my shop -the Furls Crochet Hooks and Accessories.  So I created a new Etsy Shop, that will obviously not have mandatory participation because it is new and has less than $10,000 in sales.  

But it means starting all over without the history of over 1,800 completed transactions or the credibility of almost 500 Five Star reviews from my wonderful shoppers.  I will be starting over with zero reviews, zero shop likes, and zero loyal repeat shoppers who look for me by the shop name they've known for 2 years.  The new shop is called 'Anna’s Gotta Crochet 2' or AnnasGottaCrochet2 if you are searching for me on Etsy.

I will continue to use the original shop until I sell off my yarn, or the ‘new’ program rolls out in mid-April.  I won’t be relisting the yarn in the new shop because it will be way too time consuming to relist everything.  I hope my loyal Furls Shoppers will come to my new shop to make future purchases and leave me some reviews so I can build up my new reputation as I did in the previous shop.  I have always striven to provide 110% in customer service, and that showed in the lovely, thoughtful reviews I received over the last couple of years in my old shop.

It’s a shame that Etsy has forced sellers like myself to close their shops or create new ones and start from zero all over again just so they won’t be under the mandatory participation requirement.  I loved Etsy.  I shopped on Etsy for years and it was the first place I wanted to sell when I created my own online business to support makers with my supplies.  I just wish that Etsy would talk to their sellers before making such drastic moves that will affect them so harshly.   We sellers understand that they may want to bring in more money for themselves -but killing their seller’s businesses is not going to help them achieve that in the long run.  

Thank you for hearing me out and understanding the choices I’ve had to make.

Anna

Sunday, March 1, 2020

Turn Thin Yarn Into Bulky Yarn Using Only 1 Skein

Have you ever been looking for just the right colorway of bulky yarn but you can only find the right colorway in a thin weight yarn?  I have, and it's so frustrating.  But last year I learned how to turn a single skein of thin yarn into a triple thick bulky weight yarn so I can make thick projects like a winter scarf or cowl.  I watched this YouTube video by Stardust Gold.  She makes it So Easy!


After mastering this technique, that only sounds complicated until you actually see it done, I made a triple thick bulky yarn out of some left over Caron Cakes Red Velvet yarn, I made this cowl.

Super Bulky Caron Cake Red Velvet yarn worked in Moss Stitch
See the stitch detail.
Pretty Rolled up Cowl














Such a clever technique that every crocheter should have in their tool bag.  Not only did I get to use a colorway that I really liked, but I was even to maintain the self-striping effect that would not not have been possible when just holding 3 strands of  yarn together.  Isn't this cool?!

After making that cowl, I pulled out some left over Premier Yarns Candy Shop worsted weight yarn and made this buttoned cowl. Aren't those wooden buttons just perfect for this cowl?  I bought them from Jenell at Nana's Pretty Girls Etsy shop.

Super Bulky Premier Yarns Candy Shop Yarn worked in a Moss Stitch with 2 wooden buttons added.

This technique has some great additional uses, like when you're making a hat using a single strand of yarn, but want to make the brim extra thick without changing colors, just go watch Nicki's video on how to use this technique to make your yarn triple thick starting right in the middle of your work.  See her tutorial video HERE.

Now go look through your stash of thinner yarns to see what pretty colorways you can turn into bulky weight yarn without having to wrestle with 3 skeins of yarn at once.  I hope you'll share your finished projects using this technique and tag me @AnnasGottaCrochet on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest.


Anna


Friday, February 28, 2020

How Crocheting Helps Me, Help Others

I crochet almost compulsively.  It could be said that I am OCD about crocheting.  If I'm a passenger in a vehicle I feel anxious and fidgety unless I am crocheting during the drive.  Even a short drive to town is sufficient time to get another row on a child's blanket, and a 6 hour drive to and from our grandkids homes is enough of a trip to complete a small blanket or a hat and scarf set before we arrive.

Road Trip Blanket in progress.
I'm so obsessed with crochet (and now knitting too) that I never have less than 5 WIP's (works in progress) at any given time, and often many more than just 5.   Every member of my family has at least one personal blanket that I've made them, and many other items too, like hats, scarves, sweaters, face scrubbies, toys, etc.  Heck, even my country neighbors sport my handmade items during the cold Colorado winters.  What I don't make for my family or friends I usually give away.  I make little hats or lovies that my daughter gives to the foster kids that attend my grandsons daycare.

My favorite thing to make are kids blankets.  I don't even know how many I have made, I've been crocheting for about 50 years.  I've made a blanket for every new baby's arrival in my circle of friends and family.  I mostly make baby to teen-sized blankets that I donate to charities that work with children in crisis situations.  I love these blankets the most because I know how much my grandchildren love the ones I make them, and they aren't in a crisis.
Kids Charity Blanket - C2C

When I am making a charity blanket for a child I think about the possible child that will receive the blanket the whole time I am making it.  I choose colors and stitch patterns that I think would be comforting or cheerful.  It makes me feel so good inside knowing that my positive energy is going into the blanket with every stitch I make, and hopefully when that child cuddles up in this blanket they will feel some of that loving energy from me.

Who do you crochet for?  Yourself, family and friends, charity, or do you sell your makes?  What is your favorite thing to make?  I would love to hear from you.

If you would like to make childrens blankets for charity, Project Linus is a worthy charity that is always looking for handmade children's blanket.  You can find your local chapter HERE.  Check with your local law enforcement agencies too, they often times accept childrens blankets or stuffed toys themselves or they can direct you to local agencies that accept donations.

Happy Crocheting!

Anna
















My Furls Crochet Hook Story

THIS IS MY FURLS STORY:

As my blog name name implies...Anna's Gotta Crochet!  But arthritis in my hands and wrists just about put a stop to my love of crochet because using a standard crochet hook caused me so much pain that I had to stop after just 10 minutes of work.  Then I discovered Furls crochet hooks, and I feel reborn again.  I can now crochet pain free for hours a day.

This ergonomic hook was designed specifically to reduce hand stress and tension of the hand and wrist tendons and ligaments, allowing your fingers to relax around the hook, therefore applying less pressure so you can create more even and light stitches.   And the hook has been sanded so smooth it glides through your yarn like butter.

It takes a little bit to get use to the extreme lightweight of this hook, but I found my work looked more even and my hand and fingers naturally relaxed its grip and began to almost roll the hook in a rhythmic manner rather then twist and turn my wrist as I had to do with a traditional crochet hook, that caused me so much pain.

So I can whole heartily say, give this hook a try if you haven't been able to do as much crocheting as you would like.  I think you will find that you love it as much as I do, and you will be able to crochet again.  If you are unsure, buy the size that you use most often.  By the time you have finished your next project I bet you will want the entire set of sizes.  That's how I got started using Furls hooks.  I bought one, then two more, then three more, and now I have the entire range of sizes.  All of my old standard type hooks are now in a bag on the shelf.

But my love for Furls hooks didn't stop there, I wanted to tell the world about these wonderful hooks so I became an authorized retailer for Furls!  You can see all my Furls Crochet Hooks and Accessories available HERE if you have arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, or you just want to crochet more comfortably and with a beautiful crochet hook.  I hope you will go check out my shop by clicking HERE.

So that's my Furls Story.  Feel free to comment below telling the world why you Love Furls!

Anna


Monday, February 24, 2020

Welcome!

IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR MY ONLINE YARN SHOP GO TO:


I want to welcome you to my blog.  I've named it Anna's Gotta Crochet after my online yarn shop and My Furls Crochet Shop because that's been my life the last few years.  But sadly, I am forced to close my Etsy yarn shop due to the every increasing fee's and mandatory regulations imposed on us sellers, making it impossible to make a living.  So go take advantage of my CLOSEOUT PRICES on yarn going on right now until all my yarn inventory is gone.  You can still find my Furls Crochet Hooks in my New Etsy Shop HERE.

This blog exists because, crocheting is my life. Literally.  I have been a crocheter for about 50 years and I don't plan on quitting anytime soon. Crochet is my lifeline, quite literally, but that is a story for another post soon.   For you knitters, don't worry, after 50 years of crocheting, I decided to give knitting a go in 2019 and now I'm hooked on knitting as well.  Since my real love, my first love, is yarn, it doesn't matter if it's crochet or knit, as long as it allows me to play with yarns in all colors, weights, fibers, and textures, then I'm in!

I currently share some of my favorite crochet and knit patterns on my Facebook page and Instagram account, but often I have a little more to say than can be typed with my thumbs on my cell phone when sharing those patterns.  So a blog seems to be the best option for me to really share.  I hope you will subscribe to this blog so you don't miss some of the fun things I will be sharing in the future.  And please do comment on the posts to let me know what you think, and what you would like to see more of.   I appreciate your feedback.

I'm off to work on a WIP that is nearing completion.


Anna
















Thursday, February 20, 2020

About Me

“My Name is Anna, and I am Addicted to Yarn” 

I Love Yarn. I can't visit a store that carries yarn without stopping by that department to pet the yarn. Yes, I pet the yarn, don't you? I'm drawn to yarn by the colors, rainbow is my favorite color, but then I've got to touch every skein, cake or hank that I see. I then have to purchase at least some of it, usually way more than I need for my next project. This probably makes me a bit of a yarn hoarder. But my yarn is not hid away in a pile somewhere, I have each one bagged in clear poly bags and stacked neatly on an endless number of shelves taking up every inch of wall space in my craft room, displayed so that I can see them and be inspired.

I don't really just hoard the yarn, I use it too. I have at least 5 WIP's (works in progress) going at any given moment. I make lots of personal items for myself and gifts for my grandchildren and friends, and in between every personal item I make, I also make one child's blanket that I donate to local organizations that work with abused & neglected children in trauma. For this reason, when I see pretty yarn that would make a nice child's blanket I tend to buy a ton of it. I can't possibly use all of the yarn I buy because I don't have that much lifetime left, ha ha, but I can't seem to stop myself.

This love of yarn is what inspired me to open an Etsy shop selling mostly discontinued colorways of yarn and Furls Crochet Hooks. Sadly I was forced to close my shop because I just could not afford to sell yarn on Etsy any longer due to their every growing fees on top of fees. But I will continue to sell Furls Crochet Hooks (because they changed my life, but that's another story)  in my new Etsy Shop. I hope you will subscribe to my blog so we can continue to share our love of all things crochet.

Anna