knitcole

Exciting things have been happening around these parts!

Exciting things have been happening at knitcole! The most exciting of these was a photo shoot we did with the wonderful Kristin Rogers! You can see her blog post here and some of the awesome photos. Kristin is amazing, Jen, our lovely model, looked beautiful and Miss Madison, (Kristin's little one and our itty bitty model,) was adorable. I really can't wait to get them back and put up some new Etsy listings of the aprons that are featured.

Other than working like a mad woman creating aprons, I took a trip to Maryland, celebrated my birthday and am currently out of town for work. So it's been pretty busy around here. I'm sorry I've been away but look for new posts coming soon!

Go check out Kristin's blog and leave her some lovely comments.

Nicole

Silhouettes and 2012

Remember back in my post about business goals for 2012 I mentioned that I wanted to create 5 new silhouettes every week. I've been working towards this goal and haven't missed a week yet! I'm pretty proud of myself for being able to keep this up for all of January and I'm excited to see what I can come up with for the rest of the year.

For those of you who follow me on Instagram (username knitcole,) and Facebook you get to see all of my silhouettes as I post them but I've yet to post any of them here so I figured a once weekly post of the week's silhouettes would work perfectly. I've got a little bit of catching up to do but here is week one in Instagram photos.

Silhouette #1 - Vintage Sewing Machine (Made for my sewing room.)

Silhouette #2 - Vintage Dress Form

Silhouette #3 - Ron Paul (Sold)

Silhouette #4 - Milk and Eggs

Silhouette #5 - Skeleton Key

Most of the silhouettes will be listed for sale in my Etsy shop along with a few others. I would love to hear what you think of the silhouettes.

Nicole

Business Goals for 2012

Ok yesterday I shared my personal goals and today it's time to lay out the business goals. I felt that my business was really going somewhere by the end of 2011 and that I really needed to have some solid goals for knitcole for 2012. 

1. Create one silhouette per day. This was a lofty goal indeed and it's already been modified. I found this to be incredibly difficult and have changed it to creating 5 silhouettes per week, one for every work day. The whole purpose of this goal was to find new ideas to expand my collection and keeping with that notion I've even decided that when it's necessary I can create more than one per day and that when I am away from home I will not need to make up for it when I get back. Even with these changes I'm sure I will still have at least 100 new designs this year.
2. Complete Indie Business. Indie Business is an e-course I have found to be wonderfully informative and helpful. I haven't yet finished the course and this year I want to finish the remaining lessons and possibly review those I have already completed.
3. Create a wholesale package. I want to create a package that I can send to stores that I want to try to sell my aprons in, this way I can expand my market and hopefully achieve my next goal to...
4. Sell in one new store. I love selling my aprons at Seed and want to try to sell them at one new store in 2012. 
5. Participate in a large craft sale. I have no desire to sell at craft fairs every weekend but I would like to participate in a large craft fair most likely near Christmas. I want to prepare for it in advance and hope for expanded sales and exposure.
6. Blog more regularly. I'm not sure what this actually means. It was a goal I had last year and I was able to blog more last year than the previous year but I haven't figured out how regularly works for me. I tried to say I could blog so many days per week but I was unable to keep to this regimen so I am unsure of how to measure this goal in 2012.
7. Sell 100 aprons. What a goal! I know I can do it but I wanted to set a number that I could reach for. I'm excited for what 2012 will bring and I am hopeful that I can make this happen.

Just a little something I worked up.

I was asked by a friend to make a beard beanie for a kid and I figured I've made mustaches so beards can't be that much harder. I was really intimidated by it the more I thought about how I was going to make it but I finally decided on crocheting some bobbles...I just finished my first go at it and I think it turned out pretty fantastically!

What do you think?

Nicole

December's Big Giveaway on Freckled Nest

It's that time again for a giveaway over at Freckled Nest. I love sponsoring Leigh Ann's blog and I'm excited to be a part of her giveaway again this month. Head on over to win this awesome little gift from me and some special items her other sponsors.

Silhouettes will be up in my Etsy shop soon too! Keep a look out for an update!

Nicole

 

 

My Etsy Shop is up and running!

I get so excited every time I can log onto Etsy and see my shop! Please go visit and let me know what you think. New items are still being added and I'm about to head back into my sewing room to work on some new products for next year so please keep checking back.

You can access my shop by clicking on the link in the navigation bar or by using the widget on the right.

Thank you to everyone who has helped to support my little dream. Oh, and to celebrate shipping is FREE in December! :)

Nicole

Apples, apples and more apples.

It's been a crazy November here at the Coleman house so I figured I'd give you a little post about some apples. A couple of weeks ago we headed apple picking with the family at Oak Glen. We went last year and had a great time so I was excited to get some fresh Arkansas Black apples! It turned out to be REALLY busy up there and HOT. All in all it was a great day and I loved hanging out with our family especially this little guy, our nephew Jude.

I was talking to my Aunt Pammy about our apple picking and she told me that my cousin Sarah calls her unborn baby "Apples" since they don't have a name for her and she craves apples. With my recent trip to Oak Glen and Sarah's impending baby shower I was inspired to make her a couple original baby gifts. 

It started off with making a simple baby block. I overstuffed it a little making it a bit less block shaped but with the appliqued apple and "a" I still think it's pretty adorable. I also stuffed it with some crinkle paper. 

Then I decided I wanted to make her an apple. Using a beach ball inspired pattern I set out to make an apple, which originally looked like a tomato! So I had to remove a couple pieces to make it round again and now it looks more like an apple! Stuffed with bells this one jingle jangles just enough.

Then I thought this sweet little girl needs a little apple to look at while she's hanging in her crib playing with her apple toys. So I made her this nifty silhouette.

It was a lot of fun to make some less conventional baby toys. I hope little Apples, or whatever her name actually ends up being, loves them!

Nicole

Uniqueness

It's no secret that I am in the process of trying to get Knitcole into the marketplace as a successful small business and in my quest to be a better business woman I read a lot about small businesses and craft businesses in particular. I'm also still working my way through my Indie Business e-class, (which is very beneficial and eye opening and I would highly recommend it,) and there are several blog columns I like to look to for insight and inspiration. One of these is Design Sponge's Biz Ladies feature.

The latest Biz Ladies post was on 7 Myths that Make Earning Ugly. It was Myth #7 that really got me.

MYTH 7: Cheap sells.

It’s time to stop competing on price and start banking on passion. No one except megabox retailers can compete on price. The type of businesses that compete on price can’t compete on anything else.

And trust me, if you’re reading this, you have something else to compete on.

Your unique insight. Your unique process. Your unique purpose. Your unique design. Your ability to differentiate yourself (and demand more for your work, not less) is only limited by your imagination. So let it run wild.

Besides the wonderful truth in the statement that "no one except megabox retailers can compete on price," I was really inspired by the reminder that everything about me is unique. It may not be exceptional but everything I do is uniquely mine.

Three of us could make the same product but my insight, process, purpose and design is unique to me. This is the reason that I make my own patterns or only make things that I would really like. There is something about growing ideas in your head and making them happen whether it's with paint, yarn or fabric that is the most fulfilling thing.

Always remembering that my products will never be the cheapest but rather something that is an expression of me with my heart and soul poured into it is so important. I can't forget that. What a great reminder on a Saturday morning when I have 15 aprons cut out and ready to be sewn!

Nicole

Anchors Away!

Ever since I made my deer silhouette for my bedroom I have had lots of silhouettes in mind so it was no surprise that when I found out my dear friend Joy was moving to Redding, CA which is over an 8 hours drive away!, that I would make her an anchor silhouette.

You see Joy LOVES anchors. I'm not quite sure why but I know that she loves them. She also really likes the colors red and mustard yellow so I figured what better way to send her off with something to remind her of home than to create a custom anchor just for her.

It came out quite lovely. I actually really love the color and pattern combinations and the white frame from Ikea was just perfect. Joy was so shocked when she opened it. She really liked it and it's always wonderful to see someone appreciate something you made just for them.

We sent her off with one last night filled with fun, family and laughter. Joy is one of those people who has a special light that just emanates out of her. She's beautiful, fun, loving and happy. Truly a beautiful woman inside and out! I will miss having her just a short hour away but when your friends move away it just means you'll have somewhere fun to visit.

Nicole

m is for mason

My friends Chris and Es had a sweet little miracle named Mason earlier this year. Since they live in Des Moines, Iowa being able to visit with Mason was impossible until they came to sunny So Cal to visit family and friends a couple of weeks ago.

The first thing I made for Mason was a wet bag that Es had asked me to make for them. For those of you who have never seen one, (like I hadn't before Es asked me,) they are for cloth diapers, or other wet and smell things. They are lined with a polyurethane liner to make them waterproof. Es and Chris picked two owl fabrics and I chose to use Es' choice for this because it seemed to be a little more babylike.

There was of course a beanie, I think I make a beanie for every kid that I know! I chose the green and tan because Chris and Es love green and earth tones.

I made a fabric block for Mason similar to Brixtynn's but a little bit smaller. I used complimentary fabrics and some minkey which has to be the softest stuff ever! I also stuffed it with some cellophane to make it crinkle.

Then my favorite piece I made for Mason was this sweet little owl. He was my first plushie and I think he turned out quite well. He is a little bit smaller than I expected but adorable! This is the owl fabric that Chris chose and I think it's actually really great. I'm really happy with how the bark fabric worked out for the front of the owl and I'm pretty sure that he will be well loved! Chris even said he thought he might keep the owl for himself so I take that to mean that he was a success!

Nicole