Monday, November 1, 2010

November is 10% off month!

For the entire month of November, all of the yarn on my website is 10% off. I wish I could do more, but to be honest I don't really make any money off of my yarn, just enough to cover costs and make more. So my markup is really really low. If I lowered it anymore I'd be losing money. So anyway! Happy Shopping for the Happy Holidays!

Picture from an avid Syrup Threads customer.


A Magic yarn ball made out of the Mermaid Margarita superwash wool! exciting!

Sorry this note is short! thank you for all of you who are supporting me! I would like to see some photos of the projects everyone is making! so send me your photos! Syrupthreads@gmail.com!

Friday, September 24, 2010

First trade show?

Let's be honest I have been a bad blogger! The trade show two weeks ago was a blast, it was wonderful to see what everyone had! However, we almost got washed away by all the rain. that said it was fun. But sales were down! only sold 3 skeins of yarn and a card. had lots of people look and take business cards though, and that was encouraging for my first show.

I did, however, get some great feedback from people! My colors were a hit and ironically my target market were the most enthusiastic about the yarns, and the older ladies I encountered liked the yarn but I think weren't too thrilled with the colors. Sold a beautiful skein of Pumpkin spice yarn. Kestrel was really sad to see that one go, she had been coveting it all week.




That said in order to move some stock I had some after purchases made by my lovely sister and my yarn advocate Nevada, seen in a previous post piled in mounds of my yarn! she purchased two of my favorite sock colorways, which never had a chance of hitting the Etsy store.


Grape Slushy Superwash Sock yarn



Plum Pudding Superwash sock yarn.

All in all I ended the weekend with about 50 business cards out, lots of input and learning experiences for my next trade show, 10 skeins of yarn lighter and some money to invest in a better knitty knotty and some of the new dyeable roving on Knit picks! Yum!

My website has new pictures Check out the Crayon cupcake yarn. it's a sportweight superwash, wonderful for a baby set and there are two available. I also figured out that as I've gotten better my time has decreased and so have the prices. Keep your eyes open for my first seasonal sale for the Christmas season! Ugh! I know it's almost that time again!

Sunday, August 29, 2010

My first published ad and trade Show



Check out my first ad in this seasons issue of Venus Zine! it's such a wonderful magazine with a treasure trove of interesting music, DIY, art, etsy stores! Let my ad be the excuse you need to get yourself started on this amazing gem. The editor of this magazine is a wonderful woman who I had the pleasure of speaking with directly during the possibility for an internship. I couldn't take it due to some issues with departmental things, but she is a wonderful woman.

If you've been on the shop recently it's looking a bit bare. I am preparing to sell my yarn at my first trade show on the weekend of Friday and Saturday September 9th and 10th. I have about 35 hand dyed skeins and I've designed my first hand written order forms and updated my Thank you cards. I am looking forward to being with other wonderful crafters and sharing a booth with my dad's photography. Come check us out if you're close! Pendleton Heritage Fair. The fair features anything from country cute knick knacks to henna artists, painters, knitters quilters and much much more! I hope to see some of you there!

I am excited to see the response I get for some of my yarn. The economy has been really rough and I admit I haven't been good about making sure I have sales in my etsy shop yet. Finding the right price is a difficult task, but I like to keep it reasonable! The one thing about selling goods in person as versus in an online store, is that you get a sense of hand (feel of the yarn) and the true colors. I am intrigued to hear actual responses as well. Another drawback to etsy is that you don't get to hear peoples comments as they browse your store. I am looking forward to feedback whether it be good or bad I think it might help me increase business!

Friday, July 30, 2010

For the Love of Yarn



Thanks to my friend Nevada for snuggling up with a heaping helping of my yarn! As I prepare for my first trade show a few things will be happening in the next two months which are firsts and very exciting in the realm of my business. First of all keep an eye out for Venus Zine in the month of August! My first advertisement will be appearing! Exciting! thanks to all of my friends and supporters for helping me get going! I am hoping that the next few months will prove fruitful! Wooo!

Spent the last bit of my money on yarns to dye for the craft fair, I will be taking personalized orders as well as feature an assortment of new colors and yarn weights! If you get a chance come out to the Pendleton Heritage Fair the Weekend of September 9th and 10th! Please do! I will be sharing a booth with my father's photography business. I know photography and yarn don't really blend together but we are going to make it work! come out and support your local artisans! this craft fair features more than just knit and quilt nuts! There is plenty to do and plenty to look at and it's in historic Pendleton so it's pretty and located mostly through the park. So come and say hey!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Trademark is finally in!

I finally got my trademark paperwork in! Win!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Trade show frenzy!

So I went to my first trade show two weeks ago and my spirits were renewed! I haven't made many sales in the last few months, so I am sitting in wait. I fell in love with the trade show I went to at the Harrison Center for the arts here in Indianapolis!

So I started my search for a trade show I might be interested in. I will be doing the Pendleton Heritage fair the weekend of September 10&11, in Pendleton. Super exciting because it's my hometown and I know my way around, also dad and I will be sharing a booth to split up expenses. So now begins the panic to get my stock together. That's going to be the scary rough part!

Thursday, May 13, 2010

yey!

Saturday, May 8, 2010

New cards on my shop!

So I just recently came up with some wonderful cards with hand knit and crochet items to decorate them with my fabulous hand dyed yarn! check it out!
www.syrupthreads.etsy.com

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Advertising Dilemmas

Thanks to a recent donation to my business I will be able to put an advertisement into the fall issue of Venus Zine! Having an advertisement in this magazine is something I've dreamed about, I just never knew exactly what it was that I wanted to advertise! Business is really slow right now, I am going to guess that is due to the failing economy. I am just thankful that there are places like etsy at the moment, and I have a day job. Otherwise I would not have any way to support myself. I have been posting business cards up everywhere! I can only hope that someone sees them and wants to look at my store!

I need to bust my butt, I have containers full of yarn, but haven't dyed any of it! I need to get on that!

Friday, April 16, 2010



Omg, I totally came across this today on Cafe Press! What a hilarious logo! I love crocheting, I was reading up on it. Did you know more people know how to crochet than knit? And yet the insufficient update in patterns is staggering. I have been so disillusioned with the amount of awesome crochet patterns. I want to be able to crochet cut things, not just doilies and unfortunate looking doll/baby dresses. Any who If you are a crocheter! Crochet today and the Interweave crochet both just put out awesome spring patterns! Check em out!

Looking for Advertisement

So, I've spent the last two weeks trying to keep stuff at home a little more stable. Between working 3rd shift, having crazy things happening left and right, a full load of graduate classes to deal with, more specifically their homework, finding time to dye yarn has been troublesome. I haven't in fact dyed any more yarn, except the yarn that I had an order for. I have at least 12 skeins to dye currently, but the 12 skeins I've posted are not selling! I need to get my butt in gear with advertising.

I priced some advertising with some of the knit and crochet magazines. I swear those things are highway robbery! It's anywhere from $3,000-$10,000 to put an advertisement in their magazines. I did however find out that one of my favorite magazines has a deal for a small add space for only $200. Which is pretty affordable. There in lies the problem. I have to actually sell yarn in order to afford the advertising. Currently I am having issues. I think I might just go out with a huge stack of my business cards and start asking businesses if I can post them. Does anyone else have suggestions? I need really inexpensive advertising for now!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

So as all business women must...



I have to of course offer my shameless plug! Go check out my store! www.syrupthreads.etsy.com.I just got done dying some new yarns! I buy fisherman's wool and break up the larger skeins in order to test out color-ways I don't want to use on the more expensive yarn. I wanted to be able to offer at least a small project worth of yarn at a lower price so that everyone could enjoy it!
This one is called Caramel Candy Apple. I think I misspelled it on Etsy, :-0 oops! It's a worsted weight, machine washable wool!

Mermaid Margarita, one of my very first skeins!
This one so named after my favorite adult beverage. Tequila sunrise. I made an adorable Robot Love hot water bottle cozy out of a skein of this. it knits up so pretty!

Citrus Salad. This one is actually more rich in color than this photo lets on. I had a lot of trouble capturing a good color saturation photo of this one.
Go check 'em out!


Introductions

My name is Jessica, I prefer to be called Jess or Jessie. I started researching what it would take to start a crafting business and equipped myself with all the necessary evils. Books, planners, ideas, research. I am not that big on blogging, mostly because the last blog I had was about some existential crisis I was having that seemed like a really big deal at the time, but now looking back on it was more appropriate for a private journal that I would later burn. However, after being in business through Etsy now for two months I've come to realize that blogging is a necessary evil. Just like other things that I feel are too broad and controversial to mention.

So what is Syrup Threads you ask? Where did it come from? And why should you care?

I had been crocheting on and off for a few years, mostly scarves, really lopsided ugly scarves. But hey my friends and family had the sense to lie to me and tell me how beautiful they were. I have always had a passion for art and textiles and since I had trouble finding a school with a textile art program that I could afford I started a degree in fashion design. The summer before I started my masters in fashion merchandising, my girlfriend re-introduced me to my love of crochet and by way of this introduced me to yarn stores and knitting. *drool* Yarn stores have become my obsession/happy place/ bankruptcy. Just joking, but seriously!

My beef with yarn stores came down to this frustration of not finding yarns in colors that I enjoyed working with. And then she introduced me to dying your own yarns! What a wonderful concept. Anyway, after I dyed my first skein and it turned out the color of sewer sludge, I tried again and my results were fantastic. The yarn was vibrant, soft, absolutely wonderful.

So how did it all come together?
As many of us who work incredible crappy jobs (*note the time in which I am writting this 4:37am, I am at work) I decided I needed to try. I had always wanted to start a business but just hadn't found my passion. My passion being yarn turned into this business.

Why Syrup you ask?
I had no idea what to call my business I agonized over it for weeks! Finally I consulted my friend, the random word generator, and Syrup popped up. Yarn when wound comes in cakes. Syrup implies a heavy substance that makes things sweet. My color-ways are rich and sweet as well! Well in my opinion anyway. And so became SyrupThreads. All of my yarn names stem from food sources because of the yarn cake and the name I generated and it all seemed to come together from there! In 2 months I had my first shipment of really nice yarn and a list of small obtainable goals!

So why buy SyrupThreads?
Well for now my store is only offering yarn. But as a textile artist I'm sure in time it will grow. I try to use sustainable methods of dying, by using vegetable based dyes, limit my waste. I try to use post consumer recycled fabrics or 100% recyclable materials for my packaging and am constantly researching new ways to keep things a little more green! So I know my yarns are a little bit pricy, but hey, you help me, you help the environment, you have a luxurious yarn to touch and use! I hope to eventually donate some of my proceeds to a charity, but having not enough revenue to pay for all my start up costs yet, and having done little to no research on how to go about this process it might be a while, but it's definitely on my list of musts!

With the economy as bad as it is, I would really like to put the money back into one of my communities programs. I want to be a procurer of knitting with a conscience!