As there were 2 simultaneous Crochet-Alongs running for the first half of this month, and the Valentine’s CAL was so popular, I wasn’t sure we’d get many entries in the Plant-Along. I’m happy to have been proved wrong! Here’s the spectacular roundup for February’s Plant-Along CAL – and keep reading to the end to find the March theme…

(For speed, I just give credit with participants’ Ravelry usernames.)

Get ready for a floral explosion – you’re about to enter a virtual nursery or garden centre! Here we go…

Single cacti and succulents:

Fatals-attraction & CrochetChrisie

Veggie & CrochtColorJunkie (yet to be ‘planted’ in a pot!)

CrochetChrisie & Fatals-attraction

Other singles:

rastakt (water lily) and klopferli (plumeria)

Plumeria and roses by ChefTerror

Daffodil and rose hair clip by CranberryAmi

African Violets:

Fatals-attraction & PixyKayte

Fatals-attraction & saudistitcher

both by CrochetChrisie (those are 2 separate, but matching, plants)

Lucky Bamboo

CrochetChrisie & rchlsrsly (still to be potted)

Cactus and Succulent groups

Fatals-attraction & CrochetChrisie

esmerelda62 & CrochetChrisie

rawrjaimee & Soprefon

Some clever modifications:

Teeny tiny miniature succulents by Luna1130

Water Lily coaster set by petrOlly (such a clever idea!) – with a Poison Dart Frog made in green to make him into a regular frog!

And some mega-groups to finish with!

jukatca fitted all 8 succulents into a giant pot (ingeniously made from the large Gift Box pattern)

Luna1130 made both pot sizes for her succulent collections…

… and did the same for her cacti too!

And theMarkofSMB made almost everything on offer – wow!

Looking at all these beautiful plants just makes me smile – I hope it’s done the same for you! (If you’d like to make any of the patterns featured in this CAL, you’ll find them all under Flowers & Plants in my shop.)

Are you tempted to join in the March CAL? The theme is spring/Easter, and we have a lovely selection of patterns for you to choose from (including the new Baby Bunnies – which is still on special for the rest of today if you haven’t picked up a copy yet):

Because of the Easter theme, this CAL will run March 1st – April 8th (Easter Sunday). If you’d like to join in, you can find all the patterns in the Holiday & Seasonal section of my shop, and you’ll find the Easter CAL thread in the PlanetJune Ravelry group – I hope you’ll join us there! 🙂

Today’s PlanetJune Story is from Rita Elenius from Finland. I’ve heard from several people who’ve used my Basic Rose pattern to crochet the flowers for their wedding bouquets and boutonnieres, but Rita chose something a little less traditional for her own wedding…

Rita writes:

I just wanted to send a small thank you for the mop top mascot pattern you have made and shared with us all. In Finland we don’t yet have that much of amigurumi-culture, so your patterns are a great source of ideas! I first found your lemmings pattern a year ago through a friend, and was ever so delighted, having played the Lemmings-game for hours and hours when I was little.

My wedding was on its way, and we had been trying to think of something to give as wedding favors. When I made a set of Lemmings (pictured above) as a birthday present for my stepfather, the idea of a bunch of little people with all the colors of the rainbow started to grow, and soon I announced to my groom that I would make 80 little mascots for our wedding. At first he was a bit doubtful because of all the work and time it would take, but also excited because he loved the little guys as well.

In the end, the last little person was finished at 6:00 in the morning on the eve of our wedding, after a night of laboring not only by me, but also by my two sisters and my groom. 😀

But it paid off, since the guys were a HUGE hit! Everybody loved them, children played with them, not one was left behind when the night was over. Many of the men put theirs in the breast pocket of their suits, which lifted the spirit even higher!

So, thank you again for your wonderful work and help to us, who want to do, but don’t know what or how. 😀

I’m so happy that my design could play a small part in Rita’s special day! Imagine the dedication she needed to get 80+ mop-tops finished in time for the big day, at the same time as managing all the other wedding preparations! Rita kindly shared a few of her stunning wedding photos (below) and you can clearly see that it was worth all the effort:

Isn’t that just wonderful?! Thank you, Rita, for sharing your story and beautiful photos with us.

(By the way, if you haven’t seen my Mop Top Mascots pattern, you might want to take a look – it’s a perennial favourite among my donationware designs.)

Do you have a PlanetJune Story you’d like to share? I’d love to hear it! Please email your story to june@planetjune.com, together with one or more high quality photos showing what you’ve made from PlanetJune patterns. If I choose your story to feature here on the blog, I’ll send you your choice of pattern from my shop to say thank you!

I have a little trick that I use when I’m embroidering noses etc onto amigurumi faces, to easily hide the starting and ending tails of my thread and to keep my stitches secure. I thought you might like to see it in action in a new video tutorial.

It’s easy to hide the ends in the exposed stuffing if you’re stitching onto an open-ended piece, but not as obvious when you have to embroider onto a piece that’s already closed up, leaving you with no hidden place to start from. It’s especially important to fasten the ends securely if your amigurumi will be played with – you don’t want that cute face to get snagged on something and unravel!

If you’re using non-safety eyes, this is also how you can stitch them on after you finish crocheting and stuffing the piece, so you can make sure they’ll be in the right place and give the cutest expression. (Crocheted 3D pieces change their shape when you stuff them: they stretch widthwise as the stitches expand into position, but not lengthwise. That’s why I recommend stuffing the head before placing the eyes, nose, and any other features – even if that then means pulling out the stuffing so you can attach the backs of safety eyes before re-stuffing!)

You can also use my secure stitching technique for attaching other embellishments onto your amigurumi – buttons, beads, sequins, felt patches, etc – it’s perfect for hiding thread ends of any type, whether you’re using worsted weight yarn with a large yarn needle, embroidery thread with an embroidery/tapestry needle, or even fine sewing thread or invisible nylon thread with a hand-sewing needle.

And now to the video tutorial (in right- and left-handed versions, of course):

Amigurumi Faces: Secure Stitching (right-handed)

Click to watch this video on YouTube.

Amigurumi Faces: Secure Stitching (left-handed)

Click to watch this video on YouTube.

Note: The videos may look a little small embedded in the blog: if so, you can fullscreen them or click through to YouTube to watch them full-sized 🙂

If you enjoy my crochet tutorial videos, please help to spread the word about them, and/or subscribe to the PlanetJune YouTube channel.

FYI, I’m demonstrating the technique in this video using one of my Baby Bunnies designs – the crochet pattern is now available in my shop and includes the patterns for 3 varieties of realistically adorable baby rabbits: Dwarf, Angora and Lop. 🙂

Loved this tutorial? I have so many more amigurumi tips and tricks to share with you!

Boost your amigurumi skills with my latest book, The Essential Guide to Amigurumi, your comprehensive guide to amigurumi techniques and tips.

Do you find my tutorials helpful? If so, please consider making a contribution towards my time so I can continue to create clear and concise tutorials for you:

Thank you so much for your support! Now click below for loads more crochet video and photo tutorials (and do let me know what else you’d like me to cover in future tutorials…)

Bunnies are one of the most commonly-designed toys – maybe second only to the ubiquitous teddy bear. I’ve even designed 3 different bunnies myself, previously. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen a realistically-shaped amigurumi rabbit, which is strange when you think about it, because real bunnies (especially babies) are one of the cutest things you’ll ever see!

We could all use a little more cuteness in our lives, so I decided to do something about that, in the form of my new Baby Bunnies crochet pattern:

My Dwarf, Angora and Lop bunnies are so adorably tiny – about 4.5″ (12cm) long – that they can sit in the palm of your hand – just like real baby bunnies!

Meet the Bunnies

1. Dwarf
There was a time when I was desperate for a grey Netherland Dwarf rabbit. With their short ears and big eyes, I thought they were absolutely irresistible. My dream of a bunny of my own didn’t work out (although I ended up with the world’s most intelligent guinea pig instead, so that was okay!) but now, 20+ years(!) later, I finally have my little grey dwarf bunny:

FYI, while researching this breed, I discovered that this solid grey colouring is actually called ‘blue self’ in the rabbit breed standard – just like with cats!

2. Angora
Ever since I made my alpaca from alpaca yarn, I’ve been planning a series of natural fibre amigurumi, of fibre-producing animals made from their own yarn. With that in mind, I bought one precious 22g skein of locally-produced angora a couple of years ago – it was the only one I could find in my budget, and was unfortunately a 2-ply laceweight yarn: not exactly ideal for amigurumi! Here’s how to turn laceweight into worsted with a minimum of effort (a ball winder is essential though!):

1. Wind the skein into a ball.
2. Hold both the outside and centre ends together, and wind them together into another ball.
3. Repeat step 2 with the doubled yarn, to make a ball with 4 thicknesses of yarn wound together.

Now, this isn’t exactly ideal; the new ‘plies’ aren’t twisted together, so you have to be careful to pick up all 4 strands of yarn with your hook as you form every stitch. But it was sooooo worth it to get to work with this angora yarn: although it took concentration to make sure I was grabbing all 4 strands with my hook, the yarn was deliciously soft and a real pleasure to work with. A little part of me did worry that I was ‘wasting’ this high-quality fibre, but, now I see the end result, I don’t regret it at all:

I wish you could reach out and touch her through your screen; words don’t do justice to how amazingly soft and fluffy she is!

3. Lop
Rounding out the party, I just had to add a baby lop to the collection. I couldn’t stop saying “awwww!” while I was looking up reference photos for this one; do a Google image search for baby lop bunny and you’ll see what I mean. Go on, do it now so you can see what I mean; I’ll wait… Right? Ahhh, the cuteness!

* * *

I’d love to take the credit for my clever timing with this design, but when I started it in January, it didn’t even occur to me that this would be a perfect design for Easter and the upcoming spring season. (I put that down to southern hemisphere confusion – it’s hard to think about Easter when you’re in the middle of summer.) But now, serendipitously, Easter is 6 weeks away, so it’s the perfect time to start making bunnies galore. The March PlanetJune CAL (more details nearer the time) will be Easter-themed, so I’m hoping to see a lot of adorable bunnies in amongst the crocheted Easter Eggs this year 😀

Tempted to make an armful of bunnies of your own? You can pick up the pattern right now from the shop – it even has a special price until the end of February! If you’re not quite ready to buy though, how about queuing Baby Bunnies on ravelry so you don’t forget about it?

I won the eBook version of this book through its blog tour, so I decided to review it for you. The following, as always, is based on my honest opinions!

Overview

Simply Crochet: 22 Stylish Designs for Every Day by Robyn Chachula is a crochet project book built around an unusual but useful premise: stash-busting! The 22 projects are split by the number of balls of yarn each uses: eight 1 ball projects, seven 2-3 ball projects, and seven 4-5 ball projects.

Partly because it includes patterns contributed by 15 crochet designers, there’s a real variety of projects in this book, including garments for women and children, and wearable and home accessories. This means that, while you probably won’t want to make all the included designs, there’s something for everyone here, and you’re bound to find some projects that you’d like to make. And you’ll also find a variety of techniques: thread crochet, tapestry crochet, tunisian crochet, motif-based designs, felting.

Here’s a selection of the designs that most appealed to me:

L-R: Tunisian Neck Lattice by Vashti Braha; Annabel Shawl by Kristin Omdahl; Linked Jacket by Robyn Chachula

And, as I clearly gravitate towards a certain style, here are some of the other designs, to give you a more complete picture of the variety of patterns:

L-R: Tallula Baby Top by Marlaina Bird; Dots and Dashes Baby Blanket by Ellen Gormley; Flapper Hat by Margaret Hubert

As with all Interweave books, it looks elegant and is clearly laid out. The patterns are easy to follow and all include Robyn’s excellent stitch diagrams and schematics. Tips from each of the featured designers on making the most of your yarn stash and crocheting on a budget are also scattered throughout the book.

As the book is intended to be used for stash-busting, the yarn requirements for each project give the weight of the yarn used in the design e.g. ‘Sportweight (#3 Light)’ as well as the specific yarn used for the sample. (I think this is a very useful addition that should be included in all crochet books, to make it easier for you to substitute yarns.)

Although there is a short section at the back of the book with descriptions of the stitches used, I wouldn’t choose this as a learn-to-crochet book. But, as a project-based book for crocheters, I think it works very well.

My Experience

Being short on time and looking for something I’m not too familiar with, I decided to test out Robyn Chachula’s Mystic Cuff (p27). I don’t dabble in thread crochet often, as gripping the work tightly enough to force my hook into the tiny spaces plays havoc with my hands, so I’ve never made anything doily-like before.

Mystic Cuff by Robyn Chachula (large text added by me to obscure the pattern!)

I have tiny wrists so I figured I’d need to adapt the pattern so the cuff wouldn’t fall off my hand. Here, I ran into a little problem: the gauge section only gives the finished cuff measurement, which means I’d have to complete the entire cuff to find out if my gauge matched Robyn’s, and then adjust the pattern (or my hook) and restart accordingly. It would have been helpful to have a gauge measurement as the size after Rnd 1, or even a guide as to what wrist size it fits (the cuff overlaps itself, so the finished measurement is larger than the wrist size) so I’d know much earlier if I needed to start over to match the gauge.

As my hands wouldn’t tolerate crocheting two cuffs in thread, I decided to assume my gauge was close enough and make my cuff smaller by dropping one repeat. My only other change was to substitute a larger crochet hook (2.25mm) for the foundation chain, as I knew I’d have problems working back into those chains if I made them with the recommended 1.5mm hook. And then I got to crocheting…

I found Robyn’s stitch diagram to be so clear that you could easily complete the cuff without reading a word (apart from how and when to attach the beads). I always prefer to check the written instructions too as I go, to make sure I haven’t misunderstood anything in the diagram, and I did find a couple of errors here in the way the repeats were structured (an extra dc2tog at the end of Rnd 3, and a missing ch 2 at the end of Rnd 4). However, the stitch diagram was correct in both cases, and is clear enough that I doubt many people would use the written instructions anyway. (I notified Interweave about the errors, so I expect Simply Crochet will be added to their Crochet Book Corrections page shortly.)

Aside from those minor glitches, which were easy to fix with a glance at the stitch diagram, the cuff came together very smoothly. I’d never seen beads attached in this way before – it was a very elegant method (although a bit tricky to guess how many chains were covered by each bead, so I made my starting chain too long, just in case, and unravelled the extra chains later). I finished the cuff easily. It took me 4 days because I didn’t want to risk giving myself longer-term hand pain, but it would be a very fast project if you don’t have hand problems like mine!

Isn’t it lovely?

Now for the bad news. It turns out that my gauge was way off: 20% smaller! That means that I could have made the cuff with no modifications, and it probably would have been only slightly too large for me… As it is, my modified cuff barely meets around my wrist, let alone has the overlap needed for the clasp. This is the only pattern in the book that doesn’t give a gauge swatch measurement, probably because the finished project is smaller than a typical swatch size, but it would have been helpful to know sooner that my gauge was so much tighter than Robyn’s. Even after blocking, it was still far too small, so I had to come up with a different method to affix the cuff around my wrist (I bent an eye pin into a tiny hook shape and stitched it to one end of the cuff):

I think my bent-pin solution for my too-small cuff is quite elegant!

The Mystic Cuff is a very pretty design. For most people, it’d be a quick enough project to whip up another one if your gauge was off – and you could give the original ‘gauge swatch’ (i.e. finished cuff) to a friend with a smaller or larger wrist. My complaint with the gauge is really only because of my own difficulties with thread crochet and hand pain, so making it once was enough for me, but now I have a solution for my sizing error, I’m very happy with my modified version:

My finished Mystic Cuff

Peeves

There’s not much to criticise here! Aside from the small errors I noted above (which I’m sure will be fixed with errata shortly) I only noted a couple of things:

• The Billows of Baubles scarf (p19) is worked in stainless steel yarn, which isn’t something that’s commonly available, so I doubt it figures in many people’s stashes. As this is supposed to be a ‘use up your stash’ book, it would have been nice if there was a note about how the scarf might look if crocheted with a non-steel yarn of the same weight – it obviously wouldn’t be “an elegant sculptural accessory” as described.
• The Linked Jacket (p129) mentions 2 hooks and eyes in the materials list. In one photo, it shows each side of the hooks and eyes attached to some sort of backing fabric or ribbon, however there’s no mention in the instructions of attaching the hooks and eyes. A little guidance as to placement of the fastenings, and whether that backing fabric is required (and if so what to use for it) would have been helpful.

Final Thoughts

Simply Crochet is a stylish book of crochet patterns featuring a nice variety of modern designs. The instructions are all clearly written and charted, the photos are clear and elegant, and the yarn weight and yardage info make it much easier to substitute yarns than in many other crochet books.

Sometimes pattern books can be very focused: all hats; all afghans; all one weight of yarn; all using one technique. If you’re looking for a project-based book featuring many different options for size, style, technique, and yarn weight, Simply Crochet will definitely fit the bill. Although it’s unlikely that every project in the book will appeal to you, there’s plenty of variety here to keep any crocheter interested!

This is the ninth post in my monthly series on the fascinating nature I encounter here in South Africa.

This post should be subtitled What I Did On My Holidays: over the Christmas holiday, we decided to have a stay-cation and explore the area around Cape Town with a few day trips. There’s really no point in paying to go away when we have beautiful weather and such a variety of wonders yet to experience within an hour or two of home! Here are some edited highlights of the wildlife we saw, with a few scenic shots for context…

First, we paid a visit to Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden. Nestled against the side of Table Mountain, it is vast and spectacular (and impossible to capture in one photo):

Although we saw lizards and a mongoose, they were too fast for my camera. But I did manage to snap this pic of a strange large bee in flight. It looked like a bumblebee, except the colour markings were all wrong – you can see it’s all black with just one wide yellow band:

On Christmas Eve, we went to Rondevlei Nature Reserve. We’ve been here before, but this time we managed to spot some different wildlife, although the hippos still eluded us! These Three-banded Plovers were constantly flying overhead, calling, and diving at us – presumably trying to distract us so we wouldn’t find their nests:

And I saw my first ever wild antelope! Our best attempt at identification is that it’s a Grysbok, but we’re not quite sure – it doesn’t look much like the Grysbok photos on Google. It was cute anyway, and quite small (about the size of a large dog):

After Christmas, we followed the Cape Peninsula all the way down to the Cape of Good Hope, the most south-westerly tip of Africa. This area is part of the Table Mountain National Park. It was a beautiful day:

We picnicked by those lichen-covered rocks, under the watchful gaze of lots of sunbathing Black Girdled Lizards, like this one:

We stopped briefly at a beautiful white-sand beach:

And we were floored by this sight – wild ostriches!

There were a whole family of them, casually crossing the road and pecking through the succulents along the sand dunes by the ocean. Don’t miss the baby ostrich in this picture, visible between Daddy’s legs:

And here’s how unconcerned these completely wild birds were at our presence: this is a juvenile ostrich stopping to drink from a puddle at the edge of the road, barely a metre away from our car (you can see the edge of the car in this photo):

We didn’t think we’d see anything to rival that and were taking a scenic drive along a completely deserted road in the park before heading home, when I had to brake for this:

Yes, that’s a tortoise crossing the road, right in front of our car! We stopped the car to take a better look – here’s a close-up (it’s an Angulate Tortoise):

We stopped for several more tortoises along the same road. This one looks from its shell like a different species, but I haven’t been able to identify it (yet):

And, as if that wasn’t enough excitement, we squeezed in one more 2011 adventure: cherry picking in the fruit region near Ceres. To get there, we had to cross a vast mountain range. On the way there, we took the 4.4km tunnel under the mountains (a bit scary) and on the way back we took the longer, more scenic route across the mountain pass. The mountains are huge and imposing up close, but don’t look like such a big deal from a long way away:

Cherries galore at Klondyke Cherry Farm! Hundreds of trees, laden with thousands of sweet and juicy cherries, with more varieties than I knew existed. My favourites were the sweet black cherries, but these bright red ones were more photogenic:

So that was our Christmas break – nothing like any Christmas I’ve ever experienced, but I think you’ll agree it was pretty amazing! And the crazy thing is that we’re nowhere near exhausting the local sights we can see with a day trip, let alone if we ventured further afield. We still haven’t even been up Table Mountain yet – you can expect a wildlife report from there some time this year 🙂

I hope you’ve enjoyed this month’s photos! Please leave me a comment if you did.

We had a little bonus crochet-along this month, for V-day. The Valentine’s CAL used my free Love Hearts and Basic Rose patterns:

So here are some beautiful crocheted hearts and flowers for you, courtesy of the PlanetJune Ravelry group members!

(For speed, I just give credit with participants’ Ravelry usernames.)

Veggie & camaharet

Lightblue & BiologyJAP

CraftinMama05 & rchlsrsly

sweetiii2 & CrochtColorJunkie

both by CrochtColorJunkie

both by Foxtrot400

both by JennHanus

CrochetChrisie & yaney (heart fridge magnets)

Luna1130 & petrOlly (heart-embellished rug)

heart-embellished headband by ChefTerror

Valentine’s Dachshund (it’s a PlanetJune pattern, so it counts!) by AliciaLee418

rose ring by klopferli

both by AKmtnnymph

both by AKmtnnymph (I especially love the thread heart earrings)

all by theMarkofSMB

all by CranberryAmi

all by Fatals-attraction (and the white roses are felted – beautiful!)

both by saudistitcher – with close-up of embroidery-floss-crocheted edging

Fabulous work by everyone! I wasn’t expecting such a great response to this mini-CAL. I’m sure the recipients of all these handmade hearts and flowers will really know they are appreciated today – a handmade gift says so much more than a store-bought card.

If this has tempted you to make some roses (or any of my other plant/flower designs), the Plant-Along runs until the end of the month, so you still have plenty of time to make some crocheted greenery to brighten up your windowsills…

If you’d like to join in, click through to the PlanetJune Ravelry group and you’ll be given a warm welcome!

Setting prices for amigurumi can be very tricky. I thought I’d offer some pointers that may help you to set reasonable prices if you want to sell the amigurumi you’ve crocheted.

As you may know, I allow people to sell items made from any of my patterns (provided they give me credit as the designer). As my time is more than filled with creating new designs, running my shop and blog, and providing assistance to my customers, I can’t accept crochet commissions any more, so I’ve started a list of people who sell PlanetJune-designed toys for people who want to buy finished PlanetJune items. If you sell items made from my patterns, have an online shop, and would like to be added to the list, please let me know!

Although the following post is geared towards online amigurumi sellers, there’s probably some value in reading it if you sell any kind of handmade goods. Read on for my pricing tips…

Common Handmade Pricing Strategies

Note: I’m ignoring consideration of profit above material and labour costs and the wholesale/retail price factor – these are outside the scope of this post, which isn’t aimed at people who want to sell their handmade work as a serious business, but for hobbyists who’d like to support their yarn- and pattern-buying habit while they enjoy their hobby, and maybe not fill their house to overflowing with all the amigurumi they’ve made!

Very simply, there are two general schools of thought for pricing handmade goods:

• Set prices based on an hourly ‘wage’ for yourself plus the costs of materials
• Set prices based on material costs multiplied by 3 (or some other number)

Now, neither of these strategies work at all well for amigurumi:

Hourly wage: Unless you can successfully market yourself as creating ‘art toys’, it’s very difficult to make any sales if you charge a decent hourly wage for everything you crochet. (And if you’re crocheting while you watch TV or chat, should you really be earning the same amount per hour as if you were giving 100% concentration to your task..?)

Costs x3: While this may be an appropriate figure for, e.g. a simple crocheted blanket with a repetitive stitch pattern, the material costs for making an amigurumi are miniscule (typically a fraction of a ball of yarn, a handful of stuffing, and a pair of safety eyes) and it can take just as long to make a toy that uses less than 1/2 a ball of yarn as to crochet a blanket that takes 5 or 6 balls, so the resulting price would be far too low if you use this formula for amigurumi.

So, as an amigurumi seller, you’re looking for some middle ground: a price that covers all your material costs and accounts for both the time taken and the complexity of the project (i.e. the concentration required to complete your item), but still gives you a number that your potential customers will find acceptable.

Know the Market

What do other people charge for similar items? Look at the other shops on my list and see what they charge. You should also look at other Etsy amigurumi sellers to get a broader picture.

Don’t try to beat their prices – it’s not a competition, and doing that will damage the market for both you and the other sellers! But do look critically at your work and theirs:

• If you think your items look as good as theirs, charge the same (or more, if you want).
• If you think yours are better, charge more (unless they have no sold items and you think that’s because their prices are unrealistically high).
• If yours look worse, why is that? Don’t charge less; instead look at this as an opportunity to improve your listings by either improving your crocheting and finishing skills, or by learning to take better photos, as applicable.

Your photos will make a huge difference in what sells and what doesn’t. Is there anything that makes your items more special than other amigurumi sellers? Something that may justify higher prices? Show that in your photos, if possible, but otherwise, make sure it’s clear from your item description. If your prices are the same and your photos are equally appealing, the description may also be the deciding factor for your customer.

If you’re just starting out with your shop, you may decide to start by pricing slightly lower than others, to help you gain some initial sales and positive feedback from customers, and then raise your prices a bit once you’re more established. Please don’t sell yourself too short though, by setting your prices far below what other comparable items sell for. If your items don’t sell as well as you’d hoped, there’s nothing stopping you from lowering your prices, or offering sales and discounts, at a later date.

Hidden costs of selling online

Notes:

If you started out by selling items to friends and family, or at in-person craft shows, you may be tempted to price your online items the same way. But remember you’re paying 20c per listing (whether it sells or not) plus 6.5% (if it sells) to Etsy, and PayPal will take 30c plus 2.9% (or 3.9% from an overseas customer), so your online prices should be higher by that amount, at least.

e.g. on a $20 item you’ll pay:

$0.20 fixed fee to list the item on Etsy
$1.30 to Etsy when it sells (6.5% of $20)
$0.30 fixed fee to PayPal
$0.58 percentage to PayPal (2.9% of $20)

Those small costs start to add up: that’s a total of $2.38 that you’ve lost by selling the same online vs a cash in-person sale. So you should consider charging $22.50 instead of $20 for that item, to cover those costs, unless you want to accept that you’ll only receive the lower amount.

In general, the amount you need to add is:

Amount to raise prices by to cover PayPal and Etsy fees = $0.50 + 0.094 x (in-person sale price)

Notes: If you regularly sell to overseas customers, use 0.104 instead of 0.094 in the above calculation. This also assumes that your item sells within 4 months of listing, otherwise you’d need to pay an additional 20c to Etsy for relisting it.

(If all this seems too complicated, you can use an Etsy Fee calculator and it’ll do the math for you!)

Shipping costs

Do your shipping costs include all your costs? Aside from postage, are you buying a bubble mailer, a box, bubble wrap, tape, mailing labels…? Any of these add to your costs, and you should include them in your shipping charge (or raise all your item prices by that amount, if you want to make your shipping costs look more reasonable), or you’ll end up taking a loss each time you ship a package.

Also, remember that the fee calculation above also applies to shipping costs, so you’ll need to add 9.4% (6.5% selling + 2.9% processing) to your actual shipping costs (e.g. that works out as 47c if you charge $5 for shipping) or you’ll be losing money! Once you’ve worked out the cost of postage plus all your packing and shipping materials, you need to add the fees like this:

Shipping charge = 1.094 x (postage cost plus packaging materials cost)

Note: if you offer shipping to overseas customers, use 1.104 instead of 1.094 in the above calculation.

These little amounts add up, and you don’t want to end up paying for packaging materials out of your own pocket.

Underpricing: Warning Signs

• Are you selling items faster than you can replace them?
• Are you crocheting every spare minute of the day to keep your shop filled?
• Are your hands or wrists starting to hurt?
• Are you starting to wonder why you’re even doing this?

All these are signs that you need to raise your prices, if you want to keep selling what you’ve made. Yes, you’ll see less sales if you do that, but if you make the same amount of money while selling fewer items, you’ll find it easier to keep up with demand, to avoid giving yourself a repetitive stress injury, and to (hopefully) not lose your love of crochet – which, after all, is why you’re doing this in the first place, isn’t it?

Go Forth and Sell!

I hope this has given you some points to consider, whether you’re setting your prices for the first time, or considering updating your pricing scheme. It’s perfectly okay to crochet for friends and family for the cost of yarn and patterns (or for free), if that’s what you want to do, but do remember not to offer those same bargain prices to all your customers, or you’ll burn yourself out and your hobby will turn into slave labour! You’re worth more than that, but ultimately, only you can decide how much money you need to make in order for it to be worth your while to sell your handmade goods.

Good luck with your selling!

(Please send me your details if you’d like to be added to my list of sellers – see the bottom of the linked page for details – I hope it will send potential customers your way for items you’ve already crocheted, and/or generate custom order requests for you. I’m getting a lot of requests for cacti and succulents at the moment..!)

Do you have any tips to add to mine? Or good (or bad) experiences with selling amigurumi? Please share them in the comments below!