Moving (Again?)

Hey, I've decided to move my blog to my website. If you read me here, please check me out here, too:

http://SherriCrochets.com/blog

I'm going to start blogging about more than just myself. I'm pretty boring all on my own, so I'm blogging about cool crochet items and patterns and stuff I like on Etsy and around the web.

Sherri

Hellooo!

Helloooooo! Long time no post. I guess I've had nothing to say...

I'm in the mood to sew these days. I've set up my sewing machine in my craft nook, so maybe I'll actually use it. I just bought a really cute apron pattern from http://sewbettie.etsy.com and am looking forward to whipping it up.

I've been occasionally working on a ripple baby blanket in Baltimore Raven's colors for my forthcoming grandson (who's due in May), but it's a lot of color changes and it's making me depressed. Not a good feeling when crocheting for one's grandchild... I spent at least an hour the other night weaving in the ends. Maybe I should take a picture of it and post it. Maybe that would cheer me up towards it?

Anyway, I guess that's all for now. Sorry I'm so boring...

Sherri

"New" Site is Up and Running!

Wanted to let you all know that my ‘new’ site is up and running! Please go by and check it out and let me know what you think.

And remember, everyone who signs up for the newsletter during April will receive a 25% off coupon in May to use during May.

http://SherriCrochets.com

Sherri

Scurvy Monkey Strikes Again!

Argh, Matey, the Scurvy Monkey has been featured at EtsyReviewer's blog:

http://etsyreviewer.livejournal.com/

Thank you EtsyReviewer!

Sherri

The Big Relaunch

Gosh, this big relaunch is exhausting me. I hope it's all worth it in the end. I have decided to go ahead and list all my patterns on the site, even though I haven't figured out the downloadable thing yet. I figure people can either go to http://stores.lulu.com/sherricrochets and buy them there and download them, or buy them from me directly and wait for me to email them. It's working on Etsy, so why not?

I think I'm going to go live this weekend, depending on when I get all the patterns listed. I can tell, though, that people are already finding the new store, because you can see how many people are online and there are usually 2 or 3 online at any one time! Woo hoo.

You can check it out yourself here:
http://sherricrochets.com/index.php?main_page

Let me know what you think, and especially if you find any broken links.

I'm still working on uploading some free patterns. I designed some really super cute bugs that I will have for free. I just can't figure out how to load a pattern and make it look nice on those shopping cart pages...

I'm also figuring out how to get more than one picture per item. Well, I know how to do it, it's just going to involve me renaming all my pictures and loading them to the FTP option on my site... I'll work on that this weekend.

Anyway, I have to go pick up my middle child at his school now. That is, assuming he remembered to stay there. I think I'll call him before I drive the 1/2 hour to his school... and make sure he is there.

Sherri

Hail to the Chief!!!

I had the opportunity to attend a rally for Presidential candidate, Barack Obama, in February, around the same time I was working on my basic character doll pattern.

On the way to the rally, I decided it would be really funny to make dolls of all the presidential candidates. So I got to work on Barack as soon as I got home that night.

Hillary was next, and I could NOT figure out how to do her hair. She eventually got helmet hair, as you can see, which gives her a bit more appeal in my opinion, lol.

Senator McCain was last, maybe because he is my least favorite candidate (no, I'm not republican...), and while his lumpy face gave me a bit of trouble, the rest of him was fairly easy.

I did not write down a pattern for any of these candidates, sorry for those of you who are wondering. The dolls will be for sale on my Etsy first, and my website soon.

Sherri

Even More Changes

As I mentioned last time, I had switched my website from my first host, DoodleCart.com, to Bluehost.com, thinking I could easily set up a shopping cart and make it look more professional. Then remember how I found out that HTML and shopping cart set up were harder than I'd anticipated?

Well, I've been playing around, and studying up and buying tutorials on how to work a ZenCart shopping cart. I bought the official ZenCart guide, and some other tuturials I found on Lulu.com by Leslie Richardson, who writes tutorials for ZenCart and others in plain english that is easy to understand. And, guess what? I about have it figured out. Woo-hoo!

I'm looking at relaunching the even newer and more improved Sherri Crochets & Crafts on April 1st, and that's no April Fool's Day joke. I'm really happy with it right now. I like the way it looks and acts (no, it's not live yet, so you can't see it right now.) I am going to be able to send newsletters from the site and will be able to do away with my Yahoo group. I'm going to be able to sell downloads right from my site, so I can do away with my Lulu.com store. And I might even do away with my Etsy store, since I'm getting really tired of Etsy's fees... I might even set up a bulletin board. Yeah, me!!

Also, I have a few new products.

There are new patterns:
a Huggable Pirate - a larger size doll, who looks like my Scurvy Pirate, only nicer, friendlier and bigger!
My Basic Character doll pattern - people are always telling me how they turned my Scurvy Pirate doll into Elvis, or The Boy Wizard into C3P0, so I figured, why not make a basic pattern and make it easy on them?
And lastly, Macaroni the Penguin - last summer my son wanted a penguin and we couldn't find one like the one he wanted, so we made one up. Based on a real macaroni penguin, this one stands taller than most of my patterns at about 12 inches tall.

That's all for now!
Sherri

New Web Site!

Yeehaw! My website is now up and running. Thanks so much to SimpleDimpleDesigns.etsy.com (link to her shop at the bottom of my shop page) for the great work. All shopping is now linked back to my Etsy shop, which is so cool.

She also made the banner and avatar you see here on this blog.

Check it out at http://www.SherriCrochets.com !

Sherri

Introducing -- TapeSters

After taking the month of December off (I only crocheted or knit for myself for the whole month of December) I came back with the idea in my head that I was going to make some fun tape measurer cozies – a cute crocheted way to hide your measuring tape. You can see one of the "TapeSters" in the pic here. So far I have a teddy bear, sock monkeys and a puppy. You can see more pictures of each one at my Etsy store (click link in the column on the right).

Also during December, I switched web site hosting companies thinking I could do it better on my own. Well, guess what? This girl isn’t as HTML / web design savvy as she thought she was - which you know if you’ve visited Sherri Crochets & Crafts lately. I did write the HTML code for what I have up there right now, but links and a background ain’t all that.

So I’ve just hired someone to help me set up a new website which will link back to my Etsy store for purchases. I’m real excited and will let you know when I get it all set up. She also did my banner and avatar -- check out SimpleDimpleDesigns.etsy.com. I highly recommend working with Thanita! She's fun and does great work for very affordable prices.

I also wanted to let you know that as of January 31st, I’m going to raise the prices on my patterns – 50 cents each. So if you’ve been putting off buying a pattern, waiting for a good reason, do it now!

That’s all for now,

Sherri