The Power of People

Starting up your own business is a scary, exciting and costly thing to do. And it always helps when you have moral support and of course financial. At your first steps, having someone believe in you enough to invest in your business, and in you, is a wonderful, uplifting, confidence-boosting thing.

So, I'm absolutely thrilled to tell you that recently I started a Kickstarter campaign.

I believe in my business, I believe in myself. But, I also know that I am a recent graduate and soon-to-be jobseeker who has severe chronic fatigue. And unfortunately that has financial restrictions added to it. The sad part of being a grown-up is that rent, bills and food are pretty important to me - so as a start-up business my initial capital is quickly running out. However, I want to keep dyeing. I believe that a well-stocked shop is a necessity for any online business. And I have so many ideas bursting out of my head, that it would be a shame if I was halted in my tracks due to a lack of funds.

I have made some sales, and have started to recoup my initial investment, however there is still a little way to go. Which is why I turned to Kickstarter,

I know I could do great things with yarn dyeing, and that fact that people believe in me enough to invest is magnificent and will allow me to expand and continue growing my fledgling business.

I am so thankful for every single backer, both for the financial investment and the belief in me. I hope I live up to your, and my own, expectations.

If you would like to explore my Kickstarter project, you can find it here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/218238096/the-cryptozoologist

Shop Update

The shop was updated today, with three new colourways and a returning one that sold out within minutes the first time I listed it! 

Unfortunately the light was not as bright and beautiful as during my last update so the pictures really don't do the yarn justice. I'm hoping for a glorious sunny day tomorrow so I can take some fresh pictures and use them instead, but it seemed more important to keep my promise to update.

So, without further ado, here are the yarns!

Team Rainbow is just what it sounds like! A rainbow of colours with some white mixed in. This is inspired by the Adult Swim game Robot Unicorn Attack II, and represents my team alliance. Team Rainbow forever, Team Inferno NEVER! 

 

Stormborn was inspired by Dany from Game of Thrones. I originally dyed two skeins for a GoT themed knitalong I was joining, but the pattern was a bit of a no-no for me (see my last post!), so I have kept one skein and have added the other to my shop. It's a lovely subtle blend of blue, turquoise and gold. 

Celestial Resonator is a lovely soft, blended mix of purples and blues and is also inspired by Robot Unicorn Attack II. I'm trying very hard to keep this yarn from slipping into my personal stash! 

Twilight is a mixture of pinks and purples and is inspired by a 1980's My Little Pony toy. I was a bit of a collector back in the day (and who am I kidding....now!). This is part of a set, which includes a beautiful project bag, made by the wonderful and talented Karen.

 

So, that's the update. I also have some very exciting news to share, but that deserves a post of its very own. 

Game of Groans

A few weeks ago, my newest knitting buddy (and all round best pal) Karen pointed out a pattern on Ravelry that really interested me. The pattern was a Game of Thrones knitalong aiming to make a Daenerys-themed shawl. Now as a big fan of shawls, Dany, Game of Thrones and knitalongs the pattern really jumped out at me. We decided to make the pattern together, and I even dyed myself some yarn to go with the pattern. I chose gold, blue and turquoise, the colours that predominantly make me think of Dany - plus I'm not a huge fan of hot colours so wanted to avoid the fiery themed yarn the KAL chose.

The KAL started well enough. I adored how my yarn was knitting up, and the pattern was starting to look like beautiful dragon scales. I whizzed through clue 1 and eagerly awaited clue 2.

However, this is when it all started to go wrong. Clue 2 was incredibly confusingly written, and I had to rip out and reknit several times, each time ending up with extra stitches all over the place. It was becoming a chore to knit, and I decided that enough was enough and frogged the entire shawl.

I was a bit dubious when clue 3 was corrected three times in a short succession, but carried on trying to make clue 2 work. But when knitting becomes hard work rather than pleasurable it's time to reconsider.

I guess the problem with mystery knitalongs is that you don't know where the designer is taking the pattern so it's tough to make any adjustments, and of course the pattern is so new there hasn't been chance to iron out the errors.

So, I've picked myself up, felt sad about the loss of the shawl - because despite all of the issues it was a beautiful shawl. I know I will find the perfect project to replace this pattern and use my lovely themed yarn.

New Beginnings

It's always hard to know how to begin a new blog, should you introduce yourself, or just jump straight into content? The world of blogging can be sticky with etiquette at times.

I'm not going to do a huge introduction, if you want to know a little bit more about me then I suggest the about me page, or visiting my lifestyle blog nekomentsu.  However I do want to discuss the reason I have decided to move the majority of my blogging over to The Cryptozoologist. 

To begin with, nekomentsu was, and is, primarily a lifestyle blog. When you are suffering from a severe chronic condition you begin to discover that there is not that much to your life at all, especially not if you want to blog about it. I found that whenever I tried to talk about my life it turned into an endless dribble of "I stayed in today" "today I stayed in my house" "today I was at home". And let's be fair, nobody wants to read about how I sat for 4 hours watching Rupaul's Drag Race and eating almonds. I'm not depressed about my situation, I'm dealing with it. I need the time at home to heal, and while it might be boring at time, it's what my body needs right now. So this means I can't share pictures of exciting adventures, things I've bought or jumbled thoughts on politics and news.

In fact, most of what I have shared on nekomentsu recently has been pictures of cake, cats and knitting. Which to be honest, to me means I am living a pretty fabulous life right now. But certainly not lifestyle blogworthy.

The reason I have made this step now, is that I have started my own business. I have been dyeing and selling yarn. I wanted to open this blog not just as a place to share my knitting patterns, projects and ideas, but as a business resource so that I can share the day-to-day running of a kitchen enterprise, show you pretty pictures of yarn and silly pictures of my cats. Because, with me, there are always silly pictures of cats. 

So, I'll hope that you follow me in my journey. And I hope I continue to keep you entertained. I have never taken a single follower for granted and I constantly appreciate your comments and support.