New Hat - For Shop

A new hat for my shop. I can't see that i'll be posting much about my shop as lets face it, it is a pretty boring subject. But at the moment having my own Etsy shop is all new and exciting, so bear with me. This pattern is the same as the pink and purple stripy hat, only i did a different configuration of strips. Its 100% merino wool so its really soft and warm.

In other news i have decided to stay in Lyon for another month. I will be carrying on with my french course, in the hope that eventually French becomes a second language. Then i am going to need to move on. France becomes really expensive over the summer, so i am either going to need another live-in job, or to go back to the UK to work. I am really hoping i can find another live-in job as awesome as the one i have just come from. As i find live-in work is the best way to save up money for more travel, whilst experiencing somewhere new. I wish i had more news, but i have been studying hard as now i have to pass a test to move up to the next french class.

Reinventing for Summer - Jeans to Shorts

Refashioning clothing has never been a thing of mine, despite some really inspiring stuff on the net, see here. 

Desperate times. So now i am in Lyon and my ski season is well and truly finished, and i am left with a suitcase full of heavy winter clothes. Usually i would go, hooray  great excuse for a shopping trip, but i am really having to watch my penny's. So i have now got to turn a jumble of old warn winter clothing into fantastic summer outfits. My mind is well and truly boggled at this task, i haven't just left my sewing machine at home, but my sewing kit and probably a lot of my sanity. 

My first task in this quest has been to hack the legs off these jeans with nail scissors, cringe. I chose these jeans because i have had them for over two years and they are starting to wear at the crotch, therefore i can't see them lasting much longer anyway. I cut them just bellow the knee, so i could roll them up over the knee. In an ideal world i would probably add a couple of stitches to the roll ups to keep them in place, ill do this if i come across a needle and thread in the future.

The result: i actually really like them now, which is a bit of a relief, because i was expecting them to look a mess. I have been wearing them all day and the roll ups have stayed rolled up and in place, which i was not expecting. I also own 4 long sleeve tees, i am hoping i can do something similar to them, and hack off the sleeves, but as of yet i am holding out for a better solution.

Welcome to My Etsy Shop

So its funny how plans never go as planned. I just need to remind myself that its the journey itself that's important and not the destination. These last few weeks have really demonstrated just that. I mentioned a few weeks ago that my time in Chamonix was coming to an end, but the truth is, events conspired against me and i ended up leaving early. So i decided to go to Lyon and study French. The course i wanted did not start for two weeks, so i went to Nice, France to hibernate and recover for a few weeks first. 

Suddenly having 2 weeks unexpected down time followed by 4 weeks part time study (with no spare cash) got me thinking, What am i to do with all this spare time?

So i decided to work on one of my life goals, that is that i would one day like to work for myself. I have uummmed and aarrrred over the various businesses i could run for many years, and still don't quite know what it is that i want to do. Starting an Etsy shop selling crochet accessories was an idea i had back in 2011, but dismissed the idea, as i would have to put too many hours into it and get very little out. But i have come back to this idea now, because my circumstances and experiences have changed. This is almost the perfect little side line for me, now i am traveling/working intermittently.  In the long term i don't think that crocheting hats and gloves is some thing that i could live off forever, but its a stepping stone to my larger goals for the future. I will get experience running my own little business, and hopefully make a bit of money to keep me traveling longer.

And yes i know that i am starting a 'hats and gloves' shop in spring. I figured that by the time i am properly organised, built up an inventory, and have figured out just how to sell these hats that it will be autumn anyway.

So i decided to activate my Etsy shop that i opened in December 2011, but never made anything for. I have called the shop KnottedRose (traveling crochet). I want to keep the shop simple, simply because i am traveling and if i get involved in long complicated projects, i run the real risk of traveling with a suitcase full of UFOs. Which is baggage just i don't need. 

The weather in Nice and Lyon has been pretty dismal (i am writing this in a thunder storm), so i have had plenty of time to design the hats and gloves i wanted to go into my shop. Its funny how much effort goes into designing items that appear to be quite simple. I wanted to get the shape and fit perfect and to also make simple easily easily repeatable products. So i can make them again and again, if i need to. So i spent the first two weeks of my business plan, just designing my first four items. Now i have the patterns, have repeatedly tested them, and feel confident that i can make them in a reasonable amount of time. 

I launched the shop. Welcome.