Well, the obvious answer is a hat from my shop, but that's beside the point in this particular post.
I love giving gifts. I get so excited about giving them that I have to talk myself out of giving them immediately. Getting gifts is swell too. We all have things we want. New salad bowls, new jewelry, new sheets, new gadgets. It's okay to want things, and it's okay to give and receive gifts. But sometimes I think the holiday season makes people forget that there are many wonderful ways to be generous. Here are a few suggestions:
Very Sage's Non-Traditional Holiday Gift Guide (2011 Edition)
1. Let's start out with a big "duh." A unique, high-quality handmade item makes a wonderful gift. Whether you made it yourself or found something perfect at a craft fair or on Etsy, rock on.
2. Food presents. The first time I gave my friend Sara my peanut butter bon-bons she said "oh my...you have ARRIVED." Of course, make sure your food present is appropriate to the recipient's dietary restrictions. If you are giving goodies to someone you don't know very well, it's nice to wrap different things separately within the package and note important ingredients. This also gives you a chance to make cute labels with silly names like "Gluten-Free Coconut Snowflake Extravaganzas."
On a related note, do you have a great family holiday recipe that could use dusting off? Make it as a present. Every year my mom reminisces about her grandmother's Christmas cookies and laments not having time to make them. My boyfriend and I banished her from the kitchen on Christmas Eve Day and made a huge batch of cookies using the original splotchy index card recipe. It was a little hard to understand what Mom was saying through all those cookie crumbs, but we're pretty sure she loved it -- both the cookies and the idea of restarting a family tradition.
3. Old stuff. I don't get why antiques and vintage goods get all the glory, while regular old used items are uncool until they've had more time to age. Sometimes you really find the perfect gift in a flea market or thrift store. Does that beautiful coffee table book deserve any less respect because you got it at a stoop sale? Is that funky glass candy dish any less gift-worthy because you found it at the Goodwill? Of course you'll want to check your find for stains, mysterious odors, and all the usual practical stuff. Of course, that's something you often have to do with brand new items at some stores (ahem, Brooklyn Target).
4. Memories. When I graduated from college my grandfather gave me a little book of memories. It was something my parents had found in a bookstore, with a different question on each page. I learned so much about him from that little book, and it prompted some great conversations. You don't need to be elderly to share your memories, and it doesn't have to be a full on memoir. Consider writing a letter about the first time you and your loved one met, or a meaningful moment in your relationship. Too many to choose from? Write a bunch of memories on slips of paper and stuff them in a pretty box. It's like a reverse fortune cookie -- every time your loved one pulls out a piece of paper, he or she gets to relive something that you two shared.
5. The Two-Person Book Club. We're all busy people with lots of things to do. There are people we want to talk to more often, there are books we want to read, and it never feels like there's enough time for either of those things. Enter the two-person book club. It has all the benefits of a real book club (exposure to new books, intellectual stimulation, great conversation) and none of the drawbacks (pressure to read quickly, scheduling difficulties, that lady who only picks romance novels). Since it's just the two of you, you can pick the books you want to read and meet by phone or in person whenever it is convenient. It gives you an added incentive to keep in touch and lets you learn new and interesting things about your reading partner.
6. Charitable Giving. Perhaps more than any of the gifts on this list, this one needs to be tailored to the recipient's special interests and values. It's best to research where your money actually goes, how the organization acknowledges gifts (i.e. if their card could spoil the surprise), and whether the organization's mission and actions are in line with your friend's beliefs. Just to get you thinking, here are a few that I like:
Charity:Water helps to bring clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations: http://www.charitywater.org/
Bideawee is a New York-area animal rescue and veterinary facility that rescues animals from kill shelters and finds them loving homes: http://www.bideawee.org/index.php
Heifer International provides livestock and training to families all over the world, helping entire communities to improve their nutrition and their lives: http://www.heifer.org/homeview
Have you made it this far? I applaud you. Happy giving!
Friday, December 2, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Wherever She May Be, It Will ALWAYS Be the Emily Hat
You may not know this about me, but my go-to Very Sage model has been my best friend since we were 12. Emily is lovely, of course, and she has always been wonderfully amenable to letting me take hat pictures on a moments' notice. She is even the inspiration behind a Very Sage hat style.
After a few years of living wonderfully close to each other here in Brooklyn, Emily is now on a trip around the world! (You should really check out her blog.) As happy as I am for her, I miss her like crazy. I also found myself in a bind when the time came to photograph my new inventory.
Luckily, I have lots of gorgeous friends -- although I still plan on telling Emily that it took three ladies to fill her shoes during our recent photo shoot in Madison Square Park. Here are some highlights.
Val rocks the Organic Cotton Sapphire Blue Emily Hat (left). I'd been wanting to make a cotton ear flap hat for a while, but cotton is kind of funny. It has a stretchy texture that doesn't lend itself very well to hats, and the actual yarn ranges from slippery to bristly. Also, the color selection is usually terrible. I guess the assumption is that people only make cotton things for babies, so unless you want to sport a cotton hat in rubber ducky yellow you're up a creek. When I found this silky organic cotton in an actual grown-up color, I pounced. I only wish they had had more colors! I would have loved to make one in green. 
This may be the greatest picture I have ever taken of anyone, ever (right). Zehra is glamorous and elegant, but she's also a total bad-ass. If this picture doesn't make you want an orange hat of your very own, you must be blind. It obviously imbues the wearer with a special brand of awesomeness. I could use some of that awesomeness for myself.
As you may have noticed, I love bright colors. I think New Yorkers are entirely too interested in neutrals. Why not take a leaf out of Morgan's book and spice things up with a bit of bright red (left)?
After a few years of living wonderfully close to each other here in Brooklyn, Emily is now on a trip around the world! (You should really check out her blog.) As happy as I am for her, I miss her like crazy. I also found myself in a bind when the time came to photograph my new inventory.
Luckily, I have lots of gorgeous friends -- although I still plan on telling Emily that it took three ladies to fill her shoes during our recent photo shoot in Madison Square Park. Here are some highlights.
Val rocks the Organic Cotton Sapphire Blue Emily Hat (left). I'd been wanting to make a cotton ear flap hat for a while, but cotton is kind of funny. It has a stretchy texture that doesn't lend itself very well to hats, and the actual yarn ranges from slippery to bristly. Also, the color selection is usually terrible. I guess the assumption is that people only make cotton things for babies, so unless you want to sport a cotton hat in rubber ducky yellow you're up a creek. When I found this silky organic cotton in an actual grown-up color, I pounced. I only wish they had had more colors! I would have loved to make one in green. 
This may be the greatest picture I have ever taken of anyone, ever (right). Zehra is glamorous and elegant, but she's also a total bad-ass. If this picture doesn't make you want an orange hat of your very own, you must be blind. It obviously imbues the wearer with a special brand of awesomeness. I could use some of that awesomeness for myself.And what is a Very Sage photo shoot without a Jaunty Newsboy or two?
As you may have noticed, I love bright colors. I think New Yorkers are entirely too interested in neutrals. Why not take a leaf out of Morgan's book and spice things up with a bit of bright red (left)? Then again, I also think that a really great hat doesn't have to match your outfit, and that idea shows no sign of catching on. The first Jaunty Newsboy I ever made was a mix of three different shades of green and two purples. It goes with absolutely nothing, and I wear it all the time.
Last but not least, here is my favorite from the day. Many thanks to my lovely ladies! Check out the shop for more new stuff.
Very Sage, where have you been?
Nearly a year without a post? Absurdity!
I have kind of a good excuse, though. Not long after I posted my last update I became a real, live attorney. Like, the kind with a job.
The pros: A salary (it's nothing like what you're thinking. I'm not that kind of lawyer). Learning new things. Meeting new people (also sometimes a con). Health insurance!
The cons: long commutes all over the City (sort of a pro, although my yarn sheds all over my suits and I look like I have a multicolor dog), not enough sleep, working nights and weekends waaaaay too often, and not enough time to design new things. But still -- a salary! Health insurance!
In other good news: I went in for a 6-month check up and had a chest x-ray, and the pneumonia was fully resolved. Let's hope that never, ever happens again.
On to more business-y things. Very Sage has been resurrected for the holiday season. Things have been quiet so far. I'm having a hard time standing out in the crowd (see previous post on "made in China"). I'm having an even harder time with the realities of business: to succeed, you have to make what the people want. And the people want...baby booties.
Baby booties. It started as a way for me to give a homemade, heartfelt gift to the bazillion people in my life who are reproducing. It became a monster. Sure, they're cute. But they fit for 10 minutes, and they take way too long to make. I only have one design that I really like (suitable for boys and girls, not too fussy) and I haven't perfected my technique yet for speedy production. It's often more difficult to make something small than it is to make something large because of the detail involved.
It comes down to this: hats are fun. Booties are work. Just like children, right? So...what do I do now?
I have kind of a good excuse, though. Not long after I posted my last update I became a real, live attorney. Like, the kind with a job.
The pros: A salary (it's nothing like what you're thinking. I'm not that kind of lawyer). Learning new things. Meeting new people (also sometimes a con). Health insurance!
The cons: long commutes all over the City (sort of a pro, although my yarn sheds all over my suits and I look like I have a multicolor dog), not enough sleep, working nights and weekends waaaaay too often, and not enough time to design new things. But still -- a salary! Health insurance!
In other good news: I went in for a 6-month check up and had a chest x-ray, and the pneumonia was fully resolved. Let's hope that never, ever happens again.
On to more business-y things. Very Sage has been resurrected for the holiday season. Things have been quiet so far. I'm having a hard time standing out in the crowd (see previous post on "made in China"). I'm having an even harder time with the realities of business: to succeed, you have to make what the people want. And the people want...baby booties.
Baby booties. It started as a way for me to give a homemade, heartfelt gift to the bazillion people in my life who are reproducing. It became a monster. Sure, they're cute. But they fit for 10 minutes, and they take way too long to make. I only have one design that I really like (suitable for boys and girls, not too fussy) and I haven't perfected my technique yet for speedy production. It's often more difficult to make something small than it is to make something large because of the detail involved.
It comes down to this: hats are fun. Booties are work. Just like children, right? So...what do I do now?
Saturday, January 8, 2011
My New Year's Resolutions, or, Blogging from my Deathbed
Okay, so I have a flair for the dramatic. I am not actually on my deathbed. I am, however, on my sickbed. For those of you keeping track at home, I've been griping about Death Cold 2010 since mid-December. I found out two weeks ago that Death Cold 2010 had morphed into Inconvenient Pneumonia 2010-2011. I found this out when my inability to breathe landed me in the ER on Boxing Day. I spent the afternoon with an IV in my arm, imbibing a tasty cocktail of cough syrup, albuterol, and antibiotics.*
It took an extra week at my parents' house for me to be well enough to travel, but I finally got the go ahead to travel back to Brooklyn. I still have to rest non-stop, but now that I'm no longer sleeping 22 hours a day I have some time on my hands to think about things that I would like to accomplish in the new year.
Very Sage's Totally Attainable With a Little Work New Year's Resolutions
1. Unravel the mystery that is New York State's destination-based sales tax system
Since New York prides itself on making things as difficult as possible, it shouldn't be surprising that this fair state's system for online sales tax is a riddle wrapped in an enigma wrapped in bureaucratic red tape. I'm not tax expert, but I know that I am supposed to charge people sales tax. Since my shop is an online entity based in New York, I am supposed to charge my customers tax based on their location. This means that I cannot act as though they've walked into my quaint little imaginary shop in Brooklyn; we have to pretend that I have traveled to the buyer's political district (yep, we can't use something simple like a zip code) to make the sale. Paypal lets you set up a tax rate for your own location, but as far as I can tell there is no way to automatically add tax based on the buyer's location. The only way to handle this is to process each transaction twice: the buyer purchases the item without actually paying, then I send the buyer an updated Paypal invoice that includes the tax amount, THEN the buyer actually purchases the product. Or doesn't, because maybe she's changed her mind during all this dilly-dallying. For a more cogent and less whiny explanation of this system, check out this great blog entry at Go to Great Panes.
Like everyone else in New York, I live in fear of the Tax Man. The last thing I can afford right now is to owe him money in April. Thus, I am officially going Nancy Drew on the System to figure out what I should be doing and when I have to do it. Also, wouldn't the powers that be be better off going after all those rich people who haven't paid income tax since the 80s?
2. Design fabric labels for my products to increase brand recognition
I know, it's funny to think that something I crochet on my couch qualifies as a brand. Be that as it may, tags communicate a message -- and I don't just mean nuts and bolts information like materials and place of production. A tag makes a handmade item look more professional, and thus more desirable. Maybe if your grandma had sewed a fancy tag with a brand name like Granny Millicent's Couture into your sweaters you wouldn't have given them all to the Goodwill.
There are a few obstacles to my label goal, the main one being that I am very, very cheap. I don't want to spend loads of money on something that probably won't generate much income. I also have very specific ideas about how I want my labels to look -- the last thing I want is to be stuck with the templates and fonts that the company offers.
I think that my best bet is to invest in some satin ribbon and iron-on transfer paper. It will be a hassle to make them one at a time, but I haven't found any pre-made woven labels for the right price.
3. Streamline the Inventory
I enjoy making lots of different styles of hat, but I definitely have two styles (ear flap hats with ties and jaunty newsboys) that are most popular. I like making both of them, and I hate the thought that I will get tired of them, but it makes sense for me to make these two styles in lots of colors and hold off for a while on other items. I initially started making pins, fingerless gloves, and small purses in an effort to introduce different price points into the shop. The fact of the matter is that they are not selling very well. I always thought it was a strength to have a lot of different items, but I'm starting to think that it is hurting my shop. I've done some research on other, considerably more successful shops that offer crocheted items. They tend to offer a few designs in many colors. Maybe if I made a dozen pairs of fingerless gloves in different colors I would be able to appeal to more people. I get the sense that if shoppers do not see the color that they want, they cruise off to another shop rather than going through the process of placing a custom order.
So from now on, I'm holding off on making anything other than hats. I want to spend some time perfecting a few core styles and widening my color offerings. The good thing is that I'm my own boss on this -- if I decide I hate making the same thing over and over again, I can change things up.
One good thing on being on pneumonia-induced modified bed rest is that I have plenty of time to crochet. My sweet mom was kind enough to restock my yarn stash for Christmas, and then to supplement it again as a "We're really sorry you have pneumonia" present before I left the nest, so at least I have a lot of great materials to work with.
4. Write It Down
People often ask me if I work from patterns. All of my work is based on patterns that I design myself (once you learn to crochet a basic hat crown in the round, the world of hatting is your oyster). But here's the thing -- I've never written any of my patterns down. On occasion I'll make something I really like, sell it, and then get a request for an identical item. The last thing I want to say is "Oops, I made that hat 3 months ago and have no idea how I did it." So far I've muddled through by looking at pictures of the original hat, but it would be really helpful to have it all written down -- especially the patterns for my tried and true designs so I can make sure I'm achieving uniformity.
This will be especially helpful when I develop amnesia from trying to teach myself NY sales tax law.
Happy New Year!
*A word to the wise: if you don't have health insurance, don't even think about getting pneumonia.
It took an extra week at my parents' house for me to be well enough to travel, but I finally got the go ahead to travel back to Brooklyn. I still have to rest non-stop, but now that I'm no longer sleeping 22 hours a day I have some time on my hands to think about things that I would like to accomplish in the new year.
Very Sage's Totally Attainable With a Little Work New Year's Resolutions
1. Unravel the mystery that is New York State's destination-based sales tax system
Since New York prides itself on making things as difficult as possible, it shouldn't be surprising that this fair state's system for online sales tax is a riddle wrapped in an enigma wrapped in bureaucratic red tape. I'm not tax expert, but I know that I am supposed to charge people sales tax. Since my shop is an online entity based in New York, I am supposed to charge my customers tax based on their location. This means that I cannot act as though they've walked into my quaint little imaginary shop in Brooklyn; we have to pretend that I have traveled to the buyer's political district (yep, we can't use something simple like a zip code) to make the sale. Paypal lets you set up a tax rate for your own location, but as far as I can tell there is no way to automatically add tax based on the buyer's location. The only way to handle this is to process each transaction twice: the buyer purchases the item without actually paying, then I send the buyer an updated Paypal invoice that includes the tax amount, THEN the buyer actually purchases the product. Or doesn't, because maybe she's changed her mind during all this dilly-dallying. For a more cogent and less whiny explanation of this system, check out this great blog entry at Go to Great Panes.
Like everyone else in New York, I live in fear of the Tax Man. The last thing I can afford right now is to owe him money in April. Thus, I am officially going Nancy Drew on the System to figure out what I should be doing and when I have to do it. Also, wouldn't the powers that be be better off going after all those rich people who haven't paid income tax since the 80s?
2. Design fabric labels for my products to increase brand recognition
I know, it's funny to think that something I crochet on my couch qualifies as a brand. Be that as it may, tags communicate a message -- and I don't just mean nuts and bolts information like materials and place of production. A tag makes a handmade item look more professional, and thus more desirable. Maybe if your grandma had sewed a fancy tag with a brand name like Granny Millicent's Couture into your sweaters you wouldn't have given them all to the Goodwill.
There are a few obstacles to my label goal, the main one being that I am very, very cheap. I don't want to spend loads of money on something that probably won't generate much income. I also have very specific ideas about how I want my labels to look -- the last thing I want is to be stuck with the templates and fonts that the company offers.
I think that my best bet is to invest in some satin ribbon and iron-on transfer paper. It will be a hassle to make them one at a time, but I haven't found any pre-made woven labels for the right price.
3. Streamline the Inventory
I enjoy making lots of different styles of hat, but I definitely have two styles (ear flap hats with ties and jaunty newsboys) that are most popular. I like making both of them, and I hate the thought that I will get tired of them, but it makes sense for me to make these two styles in lots of colors and hold off for a while on other items. I initially started making pins, fingerless gloves, and small purses in an effort to introduce different price points into the shop. The fact of the matter is that they are not selling very well. I always thought it was a strength to have a lot of different items, but I'm starting to think that it is hurting my shop. I've done some research on other, considerably more successful shops that offer crocheted items. They tend to offer a few designs in many colors. Maybe if I made a dozen pairs of fingerless gloves in different colors I would be able to appeal to more people. I get the sense that if shoppers do not see the color that they want, they cruise off to another shop rather than going through the process of placing a custom order.
So from now on, I'm holding off on making anything other than hats. I want to spend some time perfecting a few core styles and widening my color offerings. The good thing is that I'm my own boss on this -- if I decide I hate making the same thing over and over again, I can change things up.
One good thing on being on pneumonia-induced modified bed rest is that I have plenty of time to crochet. My sweet mom was kind enough to restock my yarn stash for Christmas, and then to supplement it again as a "We're really sorry you have pneumonia" present before I left the nest, so at least I have a lot of great materials to work with.
4. Write It Down
People often ask me if I work from patterns. All of my work is based on patterns that I design myself (once you learn to crochet a basic hat crown in the round, the world of hatting is your oyster). But here's the thing -- I've never written any of my patterns down. On occasion I'll make something I really like, sell it, and then get a request for an identical item. The last thing I want to say is "Oops, I made that hat 3 months ago and have no idea how I did it." So far I've muddled through by looking at pictures of the original hat, but it would be really helpful to have it all written down -- especially the patterns for my tried and true designs so I can make sure I'm achieving uniformity.
This will be especially helpful when I develop amnesia from trying to teach myself NY sales tax law.
Happy New Year!
*A word to the wise: if you don't have health insurance, don't even think about getting pneumonia.
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