Etsy Gift Cards and Instant Downloads!

Just a quick note to say that Etsy has finally implemented an instant download system for patterns - and I'm signed up for the beta test. So, all the patterns in my Etsy shop will now be available for download instantly after you purchase them - no more waiting for emails!

At the same time, I've also enabled Etsy's direct checkout, which will allow you to pay by card without Paypal, and allows me to accept Etsy Gift Cards. So now it's even easier to buy. :)

~Joyuna

Polypay sweater! (I'm getting crazier by the minute)

I'm just back from visiting the USA to see my family - it was a great trip, albeit rather last-minute. Right before I set off, I decided to order a few things that would be hard to find back in the UK. And by 'a few things', I mean two pounds of wool...

The majority of it is Polypay wool roving (actual carded roving, not combed top - I'm not sure why so many Americans can't tell the difference) from Shady Side Farm. I was absolutely thrilled to find this shop - you might remember I encountered Polypay before at a workshop. And I quote...

"I would love to make a nice cushy (but still sturdy) sweater from this stuff. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get ahold of more Polypay in the future..."

Well, I did! Shady Side's Polypay is softer than the fleece sample I worked with, better reflecting its Targhee ancestry. I cannot say enough good things about this wool - soft, bouncy, very easy to spin. And yes, I'm planning to spin a sweater out of it, so it's a good job I'm pleased with it!


I have a pound of natural undyed roving and three balls of dyed wool in teal, yellow, and brown. I think it's a really nice combination (for a striped or colorwork yoke). I haven't decided yet whether I'll dye the white yarn or leave it natural. Another color would be hard to coordinate with the set I've already got, but I don't wear white or cream very well. We'll see...

~Joyuna

Featured at Louise Knits

Louise at Louise Knits wanted to post a feature about me on her blog, and it's now up! Check it out here. She's also got several patterns on her blog worth checking out.

Thanks a bunch Louise!

~Joyuna

The Etsy shop is back!

I've re-opened I made yarn by Joyuna! When I left for Tajikistan, I put the shop on vacation. Since I left for the UK shortly after, leaving most of my stock behind, I never opened it up again. Today I've decided to open it up, since that 'on vacation' page depresses me - and my shop page still gets some traffic, for some reason. I spent all that time promoting it in the past, it seems like a waste to have it totally closed down.

It doesn't have any yarn in it right now, only PDF patterns. Perhaps in the future I'll start selling handspun again; we'll see. For now, I'm working on listing all my patterns on Etsy, for a slightly higher price than they are on Ravelry due to higher fees. If you prefer to shop on Etsy, please take a look - otherwise, you can purchase them on Rav where it's easier, cheaper, AND I get a bigger cut.

~Joyuna

My yarn is 'Darn Good'!

I'm pleased to announce that I Dyed Yarn is now available at Darn Good Yarn! DGY has a number of great and original yarns, including some gorgeous sari silk and banana silk yarns, and my sock yarn has recently been added to the list.

They're all semisolid shades - yellow, blue, green and purple. The base yarn is Hydrogen, which is a good all-around wool/nylon blend. Check 'em out, along with the other Darn Good Yarns!

~Joyuna

Some gratuitous photos of freshly-dyed yarn

I recently got a large order, which was oodles of fun to fill. 20 skeins of sock yarn, 5 skeins each of 4 yummy semisolid colors, including two all-new colorways.

The colorways are:
-Canary's Song, bright yellow and orange (as seen here in my socks)
-The Grass is Greener, a darker variation of Grass Stains
-Blue Marlin, a nice bluish teal
-Mass Wisteria, a purple with pinkish spots



I love dyeing! I had a lot of fun with these. Those skeins specifically are shipped off already but I still have some skeins to dye up for the shop. I ordered enough yarn for 35 100g skeins, but I ended up winding 31 skeins of yarn... so these skeins have a little extra yarn bonus in them ;)



~Joyuna

Feature on Dip Your Toes

I got interviewed over at Dip Your Toes (into something new). I talk about how I got started in spinning, what I do to maintain my shop, and some of my favorite Etsy sellers.

I'm busy with dyeing, designing (a lace shawl!), and various part-time job work, as well as preparing for the boy's visit next week (!!!). As soon as I get some spare time I have a few informational articles planned, which should help people, with such intimidating topics as untangling yarn and washing wool socks! Stay tuned...

~Joyuna

Expanding your shop's reach with Off-Etsy Promotion

Attention Etsy sellers! Chances are, you aren't promoting your shop enough. Promotion leads to more visitors which leads to more sales, and everyone wants that. Now that I've discussed what you can do to improve your shop and promotion within Etsy, it's time to move offsite to other promotion venues.

There are roughly a million sites outside of Etsy where you can potentially promote your Etsy shop. I've signed up for a good number of them, but I'm only active on a few. Google around and you can find huge lists of sites you can use, but I'll only go over the few that I use, and you can take that information and extrapolate it to other sites.

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A little bit in shock

I just purchased...
an electric triple skein winder from Crazy Monkey Creations.

Isn't it beautiful?

I see many cones of yarn in my future. Oh boy.

~Joyuna

Joyuna's Etsy Favorites: Sushi bar

I'm not gonna lie: I love sushi! The combination of the different flavors, the attractive arrangement of the pieces, the exotic ingredients. Sushi rolls have become almost as popular as cupcakes for "cute anthropomorphic food items", but I don't mind because I love it. Here's some cool, cute, spicy sushi stuff from Etsy's best.

One of the best and cleverest food-shaped-soap-shops I've seen has been DirtyAssSoaps. Besides their awesome name, they make some realistic, fun, and funny soaps that look good enough to eat. They have a wide variety of sushi soaps, enough for a whole meal. Plus other treats for dessert!

Sushi roll and Nigiri soap

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Featured on Oceanside Creations

There's a feature about me on the Oceanside Creations blog, for 'Behind the Art Monday'... Take a look if you have the time, I've answered some questions about what I do and what inspires me. There's a coupon over there for you too, for 15% off!

By the way, this is my 100th blog post! I have so much fun writing about the stuff I'm working on, so I want to send out a huge thank you to everyone who reads this blog, even if you've just stopped by for the first time. :) Blogging is truly addictive, I get to write, show off what I make, vent my frustrations, share my thoughts... I have a blast!

~Joyuna

Thanks Jerri!

I want to give a huge thanks to Gems by Jerri, because when I got home to Cincinnati I had a package waiting for me, with three pairs of earrings. I was the winner of her May giveaway. All three pairs are really gorgeous, and I'm so happy with them. Thanks a bunch Jerri!

I'm finally getting settled in at home, and I'm super-excited because tomorrow is Worldwide Knit in Public day. Sock Knitters Anonymous is having a 'scavenger hunt', where you take photos of your sock with various things to earn points. I think it's going to be so much fun! I just have to decide what kind of sock to cast on tomorrow... I'll tell you all about it. :)

~Joyuna

Joyuna by the numbers

1895 blog views this week
788 Etsy shop views this week
7150 Etsy item views
55 items currently in shop
37 Etsy items sold
67 Etsy item hearts
128 Etsy shop hearts
203 Twitter followers
63 blog followers
91 blog posts
441 Flickr photostream views
35 Facebook fans

This post is inspired by a similar post in Biku Designs' blog. I think stats like this are very interesting! If anyone wants to post their own, we can compare. Not that it's a competition ;) But it is interesting to see how you measure up to other bloggers and crafters, IMO.

~Joyuna

Keeping up with Joyuna

Things are getting quite hectic what with the end of the quarter and all, especially with next week being exams and moveout week. I haven't been blogging as often as I'd like, and I expect the next week to be no different unfortunately. Even though I'm not blogging, you can still get updates about the shop, my crafting and me personally.

Twitter: Joyuna - I use twitter a lot, both about my Etsy shop and about my life in general. You might find it interesting, you might not, totally up to you.
I made yarn, by Joyuna on Facebook - Any major updates and news about the shop are posted here. There are also photos and links, plus you can write on my wall. :)
Joyuna on Ravelry - You have to have an account to see my Ravelry notebook, sorry. I keep all my knitting stuff here, including what projects I'm working on and my ever-growing stash. You can also see how far along I am on my projects, and any comments I have made about them. Ravelry is my favorite website bar none, so if you're a knitter I highly recommend getting an account - not only for networking, but also for the wealth of information in the Ravelry database. There is a waiting list for sign ups, but it should only take a couple days to get your invitation.

~Joyuna

Just Dyed: Warm Colors

Continued from the last post, these are my warm colorways in the latest merino lace and merino-silk fingering yarns. Some of them are already up in the shop, and the rest will be up soon.

Tangerine - Similar to Canary's Song, but warmer with more golden and terra cotta orange, on a yellow-orange base. Lace weight.
Dark Chocolate Raspberry Truffle - Mmmmmmmm! Dark warm reddish pink and brownish gray, a lace yarn that melts in your mouth.
Melted Neapolitan - It was just going to be Neapolitan, but the colors got mixed! The ice cream melted. So now it's warm reddish chocolatey brown, pale sweet strawberry pink, and creamy yellow-peach-pink vanilla. Fingering weight.
Pink Elephants on Parade - They're here... they're there... Pink elephants everywhere...! Lace weight.
Parma Violet - My first try at duplicating a previous color. Turned out well, I think. A delicate, feminine lavender purple semisolid lace named for a violet-flavored candy.

~Joyuna

Just dyed: Cool Colors

I'm posting my latest batch of hand-dyed yarns in small spurts... It may be a while before I get them all listed, due to my busy end-of-the-quarter schedule. Exams are soon, and you can bet I am studying (that is, if I'm not knitting). But in the meantime, I wanted to show off the colorways I've created for this batch in case any of them catch your eye. I've divided the yarns into two groups, warm and cool. These are my cool colors:

Chlorophyll - A semisolid green, ranging from mint to grass to yellowish green. Lace weight.
Grass Stains - A yellow-green base with spots of grassy green, like its namesake. Merino-silk sock, fingering weight.
Aqua Vitae - "Water of Life". Clear blue with spots of darker teal. Merino lace yarn.
Birch - One of my favorites, though it was sort of an accident. Mauve with light gray, and a few small spots of green. Sock weight.

I'm photographing and posting these yarns as quick as I can. They'll be up in I made yarn soon. Contact me if you're interested in a yarn I haven't listed yet and I'll set up a reserved listing for you.

By the way, I got a shoutout by the St. Louis Green Living Examiner, Annie Mueller. Needless to say I totally agree with her stance of supporting handmade! She also featured some other great knitting shops, and will be running a regular column on great handmade sellers.

~Joyuna

I Made Yarn's first FO!

I always encourage people who buy my yarn to show me pictures of what they have knitted, because it's exciting to see how my colors knit up and gives me an idea of what dyeing methods work and what doesn't. Now I've got my first picture of an FO made from Palladium luxury sock, the cashmere sock blend.

Jen of Hanks in the Hood (which makes some wonderful yarn and spinning fiber, by the way) showed me her cashmere merino socks, in the colorway Beach Surf.

Don't they look cozy? Plus they've got a neat diagonal striping thing going on.

I'm busy posting some new lace and fingering weight yarns in the shop, in some really nice colors (in my humble opinion ;), plus don't forget to enter the Handknit Heroes giveaway!

~Joyuna

GIVEAWAY - Win the first issue of Handknit Heroes, the knitting comic book! Free!

This giveaway is now over. Thanks for entering!

The moment you've been waiting for... I'm holding a giveaway! I have acquired a brand-new first issue of Handknit Heroes, sealed in the bag and ready for you. And I'm giving it away to one lucky blog reader!

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Sheepy and Owly welcome another new friend!

Meet Kirby!

I received him today courtesy of Nooshka and the Salad for Breakfast blog. He's so totally adorable, and you know I love owls... I think I may be starting a collection.

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Memorial Day

Hope everyone's had a good Memorial Day long weekend (or bank holiday, if you're in the UK). Tomorrow I will be back in Columbus and back to promoting and blogging (...and studying...). Things to look forward in the coming week are newly handdyed lace merino yarn and fingering weight wool-silk blend yarn, some new handspun yarn, and a giveaway on the blog. I hope you all will stay tuned!

~Joyuna