The Pattern Just Gets Bigger! After the success of the Houndtooth-themed scarf, I was asked to make something even bigger: a Houndstooth-themed baby blanket. As you can imagine, this was a big undertaking since it would need to be double-sided as well. The only good news was that I was able to use larger needles due to the different yarn I used, so the knitting went much faster. I even thought about getting really fancy with the pattern, and considered putting the Alabama "A" in the middle of the red side. But the requester wanted simple (and we were under a time crunch). It took me over a month, but I managed to get it done on time (and the recipient reportedly loved it!). Here is what it looked like (with a little help from My Fair Teddy):
Biggest Sellers Vs. Most Popular: As expected, once my friends saw me making Alabama themed items, I had requests for other alma mater themed items. I took on UT next since I actually grew up in UT country and once worked for the University. Plus, they have the distinctive checkerboard pattern which most fans recognize at once. So I set out to make some gloves with that pattern on them. They didn't turn out so well - they are wearable, but the pattern causes strange ribbing and makes the gloves not as flexible and easy to wear. I'll have to work on perfecting the pattern a little more.
I decided to moved on to the hats to see if they would turn out better, and low and behold - they did!
Cute, huh? Well, it was so cute, it yielded my first international sale - someone in Australia wanted one. I learned a lot from that transaction (like the fact that they are pretty patient about how long it takes for things to get from the US to Australia...19 days!), and that the US Postal Service doesn't offer tracking for first class mail sent overseas...at all. You have to send it priority at a minimum, and depending on the country, priority express may be the only one that offers tracking options. Go figured. I updated my shop to reflect the new shipping information - I want to be able to continue sending items internationally if I can, but I want the buyers to know about the shipping woes.
So, which ones have sold better? So far Bama is still in the lead due to the number of Houndstooth gloves I've made, but UT is making a push. We'll have to see at the end of the year!
