Mountainside Crochet on Etsy

It is wise, before beginning a new venture, particularly one that involves doing something you've never done before, to do your research and know something about what you are about to do. Well, not only did I not know anything about opening a craft shop on Etsy - or doing anything harder than sending emails on the computer - I did NOT do any real research. Oh, I read the how-to on Etsy about setting up your shop. That seemed enough, so I began. Boy, did I have a lot to learn, and learn I did, the Hard Way!

1) First, I'd never used a digital camera before, and my photography over the years had left a lot to be desired (I tended to cut off people's heads all the time). I read the instructions for the camera and took several pictures and even figured out how to transfer them to my computer. OK, so far!

2) After creating my shop account on Etsy, I started out to list my first item. There were 5 pages to complete, including title and description, category and tag words, price and shipping information. (Now it's a simplified form all on one page) When I came to Step 4: Upload photos. I clicked on the browse button, found my first photo on my computer, and clicked the upload button. At the time I was using 'dial-up', so expected this to take awhile, but I waited.... and waited... and nothing happened. Being unsure what I was doing, I figured I'd done something wrong, so started all over. More waiting..... nothing happened except a blank screen! After 5 or 6 attempts, I emailed Etsy Admin and asked why it wasn't working. They replied with 'what size did you resize your photos to, because if the picture is too big, it won't upload'. Resize? I have to resize?

3) My next step was to learn to resize each picture in the program that came with my digital camera. Once that was accomplished, the pictures uploaded just fine! Duh!

My very first listing in my new Etsy Shop was a cute little baby teddy bear.

The fun part of crocheting stuffed animals is you can make them in any color you want. Sometimes I use a traditional color, like brown for a bear, but other times the more colorful the better. Babies, especially, like bright colors.

Over the years I've made over two dozen of these baby teddy bears for family and friends. It's a fun pattern I found in the May/June 1989 issue of Crochet World. The pattern was titled simply "Baby Bear" and was written by Sheila Leslie.

Two weeks after opening my Etsy Shop, I received an email stating I had SOLD an item. I could barely contain my excitement! The email from Etsy also stated that the customer had paid by PayPal and, according to the directions, I should now have a 2nd email confirming the PayPal payment. No 2nd email. Naturally I thought I had done something wrong with setting up the PayPal account, so I contacted PayPal. They researched my account, told me it was correctly set up, but that no payment had arrived. Well, I didn't know what to do next.

In the email from Etsy, we are given a mailing address for shipping the sold item, plus the customer's email for contact. I sent the customer an email about how I would ship the item as soon as I received payment and to confirm that she paid with PayPal. Nothing. No reply. The order had come in late Friday and now it was the weekend. The customer appeared to have an email address that seemed to reflect a business, so I did an online search and found her business in Colorado. This made me think that perhaps she had ordered from work and wouldn't get my follow up email until she returned to work on Monday. So I made myself relax and wait out the weekend.

It turned out the customer was new to online shopping, and didn't know how to complete a PayPal transaction. New shopkeeper + new online customer = "the blind leading the blind!" We got it all worked out and she was delighted with her hippo, as that is what she collects in all shapes and forms! The next sale went much more easily.

Since I have been creating crocheted 'critters' for more than 30 years, many of the patterns I use are now considered 'vintage'. Some came from crochet magazines I subscribed to many years ago; others from even older issues accumulated from friends and thrift stores over time. Today, many free crochet patterns can be found online at various crochet-related websites and blogs.

The Amigurumi Style of crochet (and knitting) is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed animals and anthropomorphic creatures. After about a year of crocheting my standard plush animals, I began seeing many creations on Etsy called Amigurumi. At first I thought they looked 'silly' - big heads.... small bodies.... skinny arms & legs. THEN, I tried one... this little Amigurumi Bunny... and 'fell in love'. It turned out so cute! Since then I have used the basic design to create my own Amigurumi designs.

I love getting emails and feedback from my customers. I find it so delightful to learn why they selected my item. The stories are so interesting and have made me realize that the item I chose to create was exactly what someone was looking for. I do not usually follow a trend and only occasionally create something 'holiday-related'. Most of the time I create what appeals to me and when I discover why something appeals to a customer, I work around that idea to create more items in that theme. But most of my themes come first from my interests.

Below you will find several sections that reflect my interests, beginning with Sea-related creations because I love the ocean.

Thank you for visiting my "Land of Crochet". If you wish to see all my current items, plus see more pictures and descriptions of each, please feel free to come by the Etsy Shop of Mountainside Crochet. Our shop 'doors' are always open.