#10 - Here's for the guys...

Ever since my boyfriend found out that I could knit, he has been asking me to make a hat for him. And, with his help, I've designed this hat. I chose the colors, but he chose the pattern and design--from what color the top of the hat should be (grey or navy blue) and how long the stripes should be. I made the first hat for him, and then made another for some other lucky guy. Until I'm able to sit him down in his hat (which will be hard to do with the nice warm weather outside), these pictures will have to do for now.

I'm calling this hat the Mifflin Man Hat. Keeping with my general theme of using areas in Madison as an inspiration for naming my knits, I chose Mifflin St. It's an area that (at least to me) seems to be more dominated by guys. It's a fun area of the campus that's near downtown, but still far enough away that it is it's own distinct neighborhood. And, of course, there's the Mifflin Street Block Party every May, right before final exams. The block party is a way to release a little stress before settling down into studying for the next week.

Also, I liked how Mifflin Man kind of sounds like Michelin Man. I like that large doughy tire man.

As soon as I get the boy to sit down for a few pictures, this hat will be listed in my Etsy shop (probably by Tuesday). Until then, enjoy these pictures and just imagine how great your favorite guy would look in this hat.

Now, on to watching the Badger game. They need to pull through on this one so we can keep a bowl possibility. Plus, I'd love to see them move up in the rankings. I'm planning on starting a new scarf while watching the game--a little hint, it's going to be green and navy blue (I love that color combination). And, there will be cables. 

Go Badgers!

#9 - My Daily Routine

I realized this week that I have finally gotten into a routine with my Etsy store.

The day starts when I get to my day job in the morning. Log in to work e-mail, log in to Etsy. Check work e-mail and do anything that needs to get done immediately. But as soon as there's a delay (and by "delay" I mean saving a document and waiting the 2 seconds for Word to save), I'm back at Etsy to click into my store and check my views.

Once I feel I've gotten some "real" work done, I'm back to my Etsy store. I'll usually check the forums to see what people are talking about, maybe add a few comments to the threads.

Then I'll log in to Twitter. I'll twitter about something that I did the night before or a random thought. Since I still only have two items in my store, I limit myself to tweeting about them twice a week max. And that's two store-related tweets per week, not two for each item. I've noticed that there are a lot of people I've started to follow who constantly tweet about new items in their store, items that they're working on, or items they've seen on Etsy that caught their attention. However, since I am at work, I try to limit how many links I click on (don't want to make IT too suspicious...if they aren't already). I'm not sure how many of my followers also have day jobs and limit (or IT blocks) their ability to click to certain website links.

Back to my "real" work now...I try to make sure that I do at least a full half hour of work between breaks to my Etsy shop. However, that in no way means that my Etsy breaks are only a half hour...sometimes they're relatively short if none of the top forum topics relate to me, other times they're about an hour.

I'll usually tweet again during my lunch break, and that's when I am also most active in the Etsy forums. It's a struggle to pull myself away from Etsy after lunch, but I try to get myself away and do some work until 3:00. Once 3:00 hits, though, it's hard for me to continue focusing. And this was true even before Etsy...3:00 is just when I checkout. Probably related to that being the time I'd get home from school from kindergarten through senior year of high school

Before leaving work at 4:30 or 5:00, it's time for one last tweet. Then, I head home to craft, design, twitter, and post in the forums some more. For the next few days, I'm hoping the focus is more on the crafting and designing part, though...

#8 - tweet, tweet, tweet

So, I finally did it...I joined twitter. It's filling that the hole that AIM left me...

When I had been on AIM (AOL Instant Messenger), I had some great away messages. Granted being in college and trying to find ways to procrastinate definitely lent itself to some creative away messages. And, the more often the message changed, the more likely I was writing a big paper.

But, then I left AIM. Partially on a dare that I couldn't quit, partially because it had only become a procrastination tool and I rarely talked to my friends online anymore. The thing I couldn't get over was leaving random away messages sharing something about myself. Anonymously.

So, I gave in to twitter. I can post updates as often as I like about whatever I like. See a funny clip? Post it. Have a random thought that I just feel needs to be shared? Done. And, of course, advertise a new item recently added to my shop every now and then. Not too often, though.

If you want to follow me: www.twitter.com/ecaecho. I'd love to see you out there!

First Items for Sale!

It feels like such a huge step to finally post some items for sale--there are only two posted now, but I have additional ornaments that I plan on posting soon, as well as some new scarves that have been works in process for a while now.

Check them out at: www.ecaecho.etsy.com.

Birthday Week!

Whew...it's been awhile since I've posted. This past week has been a busy one, though. My birthday was a three day event--a concert with Joshua Radin (if you haven't heard him before, he's great! mellow, acoustic music...with some rock in his upcoming album), lunch with my parents, and then dinner and drinks with the boyfriend. And I loved his gift--he made me a collage of pictures of us over the past two and a half years. Even better was that he remembered exactly where we were in each picture.

The rest of my week got caught up in party preparation. It was a combined birthday and CPA party. But there was a risk--my final test score was going to come back on October 1 and my party was scheduled for October 2. Failing that last exam (and therefore spending the next 2 months studying again) could've put a damper on the party mood. Fortunately--I passed!!! I never have to take a test again. Fantastic.

Here's a few pictures of the food from the party:

There was a lot of food: (clockwise) a sweet and salty tray (such a good combination!), homemade chocolate bonbons, chips and salsa, and homemade Mexican roll-ups. I also had some meatballs and artichoke dip. Yes, this was all for about 10 people. Maybe in some later posts, I'll add these recipes...those bonbons are delicious and soo easy to make.

And today I just got back from an Oktoberfest party in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. I'm ready to settle down this week and relax. I've been able to spend a lot of my cooking time thinking of new pattern ideas. And during a wandering tour of Michaels, I found another project--decorating glass ornaments. I started a few of them today and I'll post pictures once they're finished.

#5 - I'd Like to Introduce...

the Bascom Scarflette!

This is the first finished project for my upcoming etsy store. It is named after Bascom Hill in Madison--a steep hill that students (myself included) often climb at least once a day. This hill was one of the scariest areas to walk during the winter, though. Being so steep, I was always nervous that the path would still be frozen over at 7:30am as I walked to class. One false move and I'd be sliding down the hill, hopefully foot first on my back. Now, this scarflette definitely wouldn't protect me during a fall, but at least I'd still look good.

The Bascom Scarflette was knit with a soft acrylic yarn (that I had previously planned on using for the Camp Randall braided scarf) in a rich deep purple. Because this yarn is so thick, I knit it in a pattern that creates small windows throughout the scarflette. Sometimes I find that my scarves can get too warm, to the point where I want to take it off, but as soon as I do, I get cold again. It's quite the conundrum. With these little openings, a little bit of air is still able to get in to keep from getting too warm...

In addition, the openings make it easy to quickly fasten the scarflette closed. This is so warm and cuddly, I can't wait to make more. And I'll be keeping one for myself.

#4 - Fun Times with Google Analytics

I've recently started using Google Analytics, but have always been a little afraid of the custom reports--until now.

I kept looking at my views for my store (pretty small so far, but then again, I don't have anything in there) and wanted to know a little more about my viewers. When did they visit? What time are people awake and browsing etsy? (maybe an occasional 2am, like me?)

Imagine my surprise when I found out that it isn't scary at all to make these reports--far from it. All you need to do is a little clicking, a little dragging, and you've got a report.

So, to help others who are also wondering these same questions, I've written up a little tutorial on how to create a custom report. This report focuses on creating a custom report to tell you the day & time someone visits your store, but once you've made one report, they can only get easier from there.

To start, go to your Google Analytics and click "View Report" for the profile you want to create a custom report. Next, click on "Create a Custom Report" and we're on our way...

You’ll now see blue and green boxes for your metrics and dimensions.

• Metrics are what you want to analyze, such as page views, time on your site, or any goals you have created (I haven’t set up any goals yet—once I figure it out I’ll post it here too!).
• Dimensions are how you “dig down” into your data. Since I made this report for looking at the day and time people come to my store from different areas of the world, I’ll focus on those dimensions. However, explore the other options—you could end up discovering some great metrics! 

First, choose your metrics. To add them, click on the category name (site usage, content, etc.). This will open a drop-down list of the metrics available. Click and drag the metrics you want to use to an empty metric box. I chose to view Visits, Time per Visit, and New Visitors.

Next, add the dimensions. In my report, I used the dimensions available under “Visitors”. I made Country/Territory my primary dimension and then drilled down from there:

• Region
• Day
• Hour of the Day

You can drill down further if you want, but I decided to save that for a different report. Gotta keep it simple.

Last step! Give your report a name…you can call it anything as long as you’ll know what the report is when you come back later.

If you want to see what your report will look like before you complete it, click the “Preview Report” button at the bottom of the page.

Once you’re ready, click “Create Report”. Your report will now be saved in your account to view whenever you’d like. If you ever need to make any tweaks to it, just open it up and click on the “Edit Report” link near the report name.

I haven’t been able to figure out how to create the custom report once and then run it for multiple profiles—like if you wanted to use this report for your store and blog. If you know of a way, please let me know! It doesn’t take long to create, but it would definitely be helpful. Maybe another idea to research and share later…

Let me know if you have any questions and I hope this helps!

~EcaEcho