It's been too long!

I don't quite know where the time has gone - it's been ages since I wrote a post on here!

In my defense, there has been a lot going on - with school holidays and opening a shop! I now have a bricks and mortar shop in Breedon on the Hill, NW Leicestershire on the same site as Priory Nurseries. The owner is gradually converting the old farm buildings into small retail units to give new businesses a start. There are several gift shops, antiques, book shop and card crafts, as well as the plant nursery and my wool shop - well worth a visit if you are in the area! There are more businesses moving in soon as well - including an old-fashioned sweet shop next door to me! :o)

I am gradually increasing my stock in the shop from the companies I already have yarn from, and there are several companies who I have contacted about ordering from.
I also went on a natural dyeing course a few weeks ago, and once I have some more equipment, I will be dyeing yarn to sell in the shop and on the website.
I also have a couple of bag designs to write up and loads of ideas for more :o) Now I just need a bit more time......

Castle Donington Medieval May Market

I'm going to be having a stall at the May Market at Castle Donington on 5th May. I'm really looking forward to it - hopefully I'll make enough sales to cover my costs, but the main aim of the day is to market my business in the local area.

I've got some business cards and leaflets printed now - it's all feeling very professional now! The market should be fun - I'm making a medieval dress and a rustic shawl for the sale and I'm going to be making the stall look medievally.
I'll post pictures next week :o)

The TOFUtsies have been selling well on my site - although I made a bit of a mis-calculation of the costs, so I've lost money in the first few sales! Oh well - teething problems - and I'm glad I've got it sorted now! And I'll probably be ordering some more very soon. The fact that they take 2 weeks to arrive is annoying - but just means that I have to plan ahead a bit.

Update on business

So much for me doing a few posts over a few days! Where does the time go?

I met with a rep from Coates Crafts today to talk about stocking some yarn from Patons. There are some really nice yarns in that range at reasonable prices! He's going to send me some style sheets of the yarns I am interested in, so I'll be ordering some from them at some point.

I've booked a stall at the Castle Donington Medieval May Market as well now - on May Day. I'm really looking forward to that as I'll get myself known more in the local area. Hopefully I'll make some sales, but even if I don't, it's a chance to be seen.
I heard about a craft fair in the local area today, so I should be going to that too! It's not till August but it gives me a chance to get some display garments made and maybe to sort out some of my designs!

I've got business cards off to be printed now, and leaflets and posters nearly ready to distribute, so it's all coming together!

Had 1st Sale!!

I had my first sale on the website last night and sent the parcel this morning! It's really nice to get started. Hopefully, this will help other people have confidence in me, so I will get some more customers (fingers crossed!)

My brother wants some yarn from me and I've spoken to other people who are interested, so here's hoping that this is the start of it.

I've been thinking about visiting Donington Sunday market next weekend to find out how much it would be to have a stall there. It would be good to get more local people knowing about me - especially since there are not many yarn shops around here now.

I really want to get some more stock, but until I make some more sales I don't really want to put any more money into stock. It's difficult - the site would look better if I had more of a range, but at the same time, I don't want to take too much of a risk!

New blog created for Create and Knit news

I'm going to start using the Create and Knit News blog for updating the website, so this one can be more about me and my projects, although I'll keep updating this one with general progress on the business etc.

I've looked at other people's blogs from ravelry recently, and it has been interesting seeing what other people do with their blogs.

I've just got a new digital camera and once I have worked out how to put pictures on the computer, I will start posting relevant photos too. Make it look at bit more interesting!

I've got all the yarn that I've ordered now and I've had a lot of traffic to the website - no sales yet though - but it is really encouraging having people visiting!

Site is live!

We're still waiting for a couple of boxes of yarn from America, but they should be here in the next couple of days.

We've moved the shop to the front now so now I need some customers! :o)
There's still a few things to do on it - a few pictures to upload and some tweaking to make it look more attractive. Still - it's live!

Yarn has arrived!

My first load of yarn has arrived, along with some needles and patterns. Hopefully the rest will arrive later today or Monday. I need to get all the photos done now for the site and finish inputting all the details - then we can go live!

Web-site almost ready to go!

We've got paypal working now, and most of the legal stuff on - just a few more bits to write now. And of course, wait for the yarn to arrive so I can do some photos!

I've ordered some yarn from a British company as well as some needles and patterns, so at least I will have a few different brands of yarn to start with. I'm going to re-invest the initial outlay as I make sales and gradually build up my stock.

I had a meeting with a Business Link advisor yesterday to talk through the idea and what I've done so far. He gave me some advice about things to check out and I'm going to go back when I've finished writing my business plan so that they can read it through and tell me areas that need improving etc.

The site should be live next week. I should get some of the yarn this week, and some next, so when it's all photographed and input into the site, I can start selling!

Order has been made!

I've placed an order with the American company and it is on its way! :o) It was very scary placing that first order, but hopefully now I've done it once I won't be so difficult next time. It should be here in just over a week and then I can start putting pictures on the website and start selling!

I need to place an order with the British company now as well, so that I have all the stock I need to start.

It's all very exciting. :oD

American supplier

I've been speaking to a rep from an American company about being a UK stockist of their yarns. They are nice looking yarns and there aren't many stockists in the UK that I have found while searching. They have got a review about one of their new yarns going in a UK knitting magazine next month and he has offered to have my site as the named stockist on the article! I've just got to get an order in over the next week or so, so that I have stock when the review is published.

The pressure is on now to get the site up and running and have available stock. It's all very exciting - I just hope that I get customers!

Information from supplier

I spoke to the Area rep yesterday to get some more information about making an order and asked which yarns were the most popular. The yarns he told me were the ones that I had been thinking about ordering, so that was encouraging! He is going to send me some style sheets for a few yarns which have been brought out since I first enquired.

I will probably make my first order in the next couple of weeks. I would like to have the site live in about 3 weeks. It is very scary and very exciting!

I had a meeting with the business manager at the bank today as well and got a business account sorted out.