After the Knitting is Done

Hello All!

Sorry for the lack of an update on Friday, but with the holidays coming up and trying to finish a handful of scarves, I've been running around like a chicken with their head cut off.

Anywho - instead of talking about what I'm currently working on, today I'm going to discuss what  happens after I finish knitting a scarf. That is the modeling, photo-taking and Photoshopping aspect of selling scarves (or anything really) online.

As I said last week when I talked about the conundrum of guy's scarves, I have two very good friends - E and her sister A - who graciously allow me to stand them out in the cold, modeling my scarves for pictures, all for the outrageous price of a dim sum dinner and a few movies (and maybe a bottle of sake…). This time around E's husband J also allowed me to take pictures of him wearing my new line of scarves for men - manly scarves! And while we poked quite a bit of fun at J's first time modeling - he took it all in stride and did a fantastic job.

After the photo-shoot - where I take about 12-15 pictures of each scarf, in various poses and  multiples to make sure I get at least one with open eyes and in focus - I spend a few hours Photoshopping. This is mostly to get the pics to the right size for Etsy and make sure the hue and color balance look alright.

That done, I work on pricing my items and writing descriptions - which is much more difficult than it sounds. How do you convince someone to buy something they can't first see or touch? Mostly I try to describe why and how my scarves would be something they want to buy - why it would make their life better. Sounds corny, but its true - you really have to convince people they need what you're selling. Furthermore, you have to accurately describe how the color of the scarf and how it feels - which is also more difficult than it sounds, as everyone sees color differently and experiences textures in distinct ways.

After I finish all this - they go live on Etsy. Be sure to look for my new items this week! And use the coupon code BLKFRI15 to get 15% off all items in my shop now through next Monday!

Casting off,

Megan