A few weeks ago, as the temperature outside was starting to dip, I decided to try knitting Bella a little sweater, following a pattern I found in one of my knitting books, Stitch ‘n Bitch Nation. It turned out pretty nicely, but I wanted to see what other patterns were out there. Although that pattern wasn’t overly difficult, it was a bit slow-going, so I looked online for free patterns, looking for something a little simpler. By the end of 3 or 4 days, I somehow had three different sweaters completed, each with their one unique little touches. I even attempted a couple of intarsia motifs for the first time and they turned out pretty nicely, too. For the curious, one was a snowflake and another sweater had a skull & crossbones. :)

One thing lead to another and I started looking into how Etsy.com works and just a little over a week ago, I opened my shop, Knick Knack Pack.

I wish I had thought of it sooner because within just four days of opening the store, I had three sales under my belt, two of which were custom requests (the skull & crossbones seems to be a popular look). I didn’t make that much off the first couple of sales because I hadn’t quite figured out the best ratio of sale price vs. fees vs. shipping/packing costs. Can you believe it actually costs MORE for me to ship within Canada than to ship an identical item to the U.S.? What the …?!

Anyway, I think I’ve balanced out the numbers better now for future potential sales (one of which just happened again today!). I have to admit that although it’s still in its humble beginnings, this is kind of exciting and empowering. :)