My first crochet tutorial

Someone asked me today to help them with crocheting triangles. And this was exactly the push I needed. I was thinking about writing some tutorials up and when I started to write the directions for a crocheted triangle, I thought to myself: Hang on, you might as well do it right!

So here it is, my first tutorial. By all means do have a look and let me know if anything needs improvement.

3 Frugal Tips

As you might have read in one of my earlier posts, I embarked on the challenge of turning my life more frugal. So far I had some mishaps. I bought too many Belgian waffles and chocolate while in Belgium and had to throw away some curry, that I had forgotten to put in the fridge the night before. But there were also some successes: reduced food wastage, saved up money, repaired (and not thrown away) sandals.

Here are three tips that I found immensely helpful so far:

1. Plan your menu

Sit down once a week and plan what you are going to eat the following week. This gives you several advantages over the usual chaotic eating. First of all, you buy only the products that you need so you throw away less. Second of all, you don't need to shop every day which limits the temptations, transportation costs and you have more time for yourself. And thirdly, if you plan in advance where to shop you will be able to hunt for sales, offers and discounted goods and in general compare prices more effectively.

2. Don't let the marketers get to you

I don't think there is anyone in the Western World who doesn't know that marketers use incredible amount of mind traps to seduce the customer and sell the product. And we all know that not all of these techniques are designed to sell you the best value for money.
The first step to deal with the problem is to learn what tricks there are. Type "supermarket tricks" in google and you will get a list of articles and blog posts about sneaky marketing practices, along with a list of ways to avoid the traps.

My favorite tip so far was to look "outside the box" or at least outside the eye level. If you have a look below or above the usual eye-level, you will find products that are of the same or better quality only cheaper. This is so, because the big brands are able to pay the shop for a good shelf spot - and the bigger the brand, the higher the price.

3. Cool down your boiler

This tip only works for those of you who have boilers or water heaters at home and can regulate the temperature.

First, do a small experiment for me. Let the hottest water from your tab run for a moment. Now put your hand under the stream - hurts? Can you actually use water that is that hot? I bet good money that you can't.
We don't actually need the boiling water in our tabs and that means that we waste the energy that the boiler uses to heat it up to this point. Especially now, during summer, hot showers are not something you are really looking for in the mornings.
If you lower max temperature on your boiler, you will end up with lower bills and less wasted energy. You save your money and the environment. How cool is that?

Organic scarf

Thanks to the John Lewis sale I was able to buy a lot of beautiful naturally dyed organic cotton. My idea was to crochet a large shawl for which I had already found a pattern. But after reading Yoola's article and doing a quick analyzes of my shop I decided to produce several organic summer scarves - thanks to the sale I can sell them really cheap.


The pattern I used for the first two of the scarves is lacy but it also has regularly placed bobbles which gives it tick texture. I tested the prototype scarf on my trip to Belgium and the result is very good. The color fits summer outfits very well and the scarf can be worn loosely to act as an accessory or can be closely wrapped around the neck to protect you from cold summer evenings.

I will post the scarf on etsy very soon.

Earrings on Etsy

Yesterday, I read this great article from Yoola of Etsy's yoola.etsy.com posted on Handmade Marketing. Yoola is writing on how she was wondering what to do to improve her sales. Her exposure was great - blogs, treasuries, hearts, showcases and articles - yet she wasn't selling too many items. She analyzed her shop and came up with three ideas to improve her situation.

So, after reading the article I started wondering what I could do to improve my business. Granted, I do not have as much exposure as Yoola has but still there are quite a few people hearting my items and following my on Twitter and yet I have only sold one set of blue doilies. I looked at my shop long and hard yesterday night and I came up with one idea!

I need cheaper items!

Easier said than done. To keep my shop profitable I cannot lower the prices of my craft. The prices are set due to the high quality materials I'm using and the amount of time it takes to create any of the items. So what to do? I collected my wits about me and decided to work on a line of crocheted jewelery - the new earrings you can now see in my Etsy Shop are smaller than my other creations and therefore require less material and less time to create. This allows me to lower the price considerably and will hopefully attract business.

Creative process

I got this new crochet book 201 crochet motifs, blocks, projects and ideas and it looks nice and shiny. But to make absolutely sure that it in fact is nice and shiny I have started to crochet one of the patterns - lace summer scarf.

The picture above shows parts of the scarf in "creative chaos"... waiting to be connected. Then comes the finishing part.

So far I can say that the pattern has some flaws but once I'm done with the entire project I will write a full review of the book and post it on hook books so don't forget to check back.

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Go frugal

Frugality is the practice of acquiring goods and services in a restrained manner, and resourcefully using already owned economic goods and services, to achieve a longer term goal. (en.wikipedia.org)

Frugality - recently the word kept coming back to me again and again. First, I read this inspiring book by Kath Kelly How I Lived a Year on Just a Pound a Day. I picked it up in the bookstore on an impulse and couldn't put it down until I was done. And then a friend of mine posted on his blog his own experience of frugality. And this made me think: can I do it? Me? The compulsive shopper? The person who has no savings and loves sitting in cafes, restaurants and cinemas? Can I go frugal?

Luckily for me, the circumstances are favorable for a more economical life. What with the economy failing, moving to DK and planning our wedding. Saving some money is the right choice. And so I started thinking what can I do, to go frugal:

1. First of all the food. We don't have a garden so no homegrown veggies but we can definitely reduce our waste. With more planning, we can buy only as much products as we actually need and throw away less. We have also started to bake our own bread (cheaper and taster) and drink tap water instead of buying sodas, tea, coffee or juices (cheaper and healthier). Plus we will cut down on take aways and going out and have friends over more often instead.

2. It's summer so instead of going to cinemas or clubs, we can have pick-nicks in the parks and join some free events. There is plenty ads on the Internet.

3. I will also read all the books that I bought and haven't read yet. There are quiet a few so I don't have to spend money on new ones any time soon.

4. Mending and re-doing my clothes is quiet an obvious way of saving up. I like doing it anyway!

So, I am going frugal. Stay tuned for updates and maybe some tips on how to.