WoollyRhinoCrafts

    Well, I figured out why my pattern sales (and shop visits in general) have been way down over the last several months. I'm talking 85% lower than last year, which is an absolutely insane number. Etsy is no longer my main source of income, which it has been for years. I was perplexed. I was downright baffled. I couldn't figure out if it was my prices or changes to Etsy's search or what. It was/is all of the above, but not for any obvious reasons. First of all, I personally do not buy patterns from Etsy unless they are NOT available from other places. I have no interest in lining the pockets of shareholders and I would rather more of my money go to the actual fucking artists. That being said, I did some searches for my patterns. They came up in the search results nicely. So I was sure it was my prices. My patterns are extremely detailed, even my older ones, and they are priced accordingly for the effort I put into them.  You can still find my patterns if you do a really...

UPDATE 2/11/23: All of the below shops are now defunct. Adults Are Kids Too may one day rebrand and reopen. I want to start doing monthly posts like these again. And if you have an Etsy or shopify or you're a streamer, I don't care, just contact me on Facebook and I'll do a little feature! It may not help a ton, but it IS definitely good for your page to have other pages linking to it on the internet! Everything little bit helps, for real, and I am glad to help out other crafters and creators.  I usually do this around Christmas time, but these shops all have awesome year-round items (unlike me, although I am leaning more toward plushies and patterns lately, which are totally rad all the time). I've also been painfully bad at blogging the last several months, and this gives me a nice reason to make a post, right? lulz ;-) So here goes...check out these freakin' cool Etsy sellers and buy stuff from them because they're cool people selling cool stuff. Get some...

UPDATE 2/7/23: Made some changes/corrections to reflect the present day.  Everyone's favorite most hated robot on Pandora (and Elpis) is now available in an adorable 13" crochet version...made by me, not by Hyperion! And made of yarn! For cuddles?! He's supposed to be a general purpose robot, but we all know he's a useless piece of garbage! A crochet Claptrap is just as useless, but at least he doesn't talk, so that's an improvement. Made-to-Order Crochet Claptrap $90 + shipping 1-2 week production time, but I will try DAMN HARD to do it in under a week, especially with the holiday season upon us...I will also do colors other than yellow! If you'd like me to make you a Claptrap, contact me about a custom order! My commission status is in the announcement at the top of my Etsy page ! Claptrap Crochet Pattern Includes charts and other junk in an attempt to help you understand my brainprocess. I do intend to have some ready-to-ship Claptraps (ava...

UPDATE 2/6/23: If you have an Etsy shop or whatever and you'd like me to feature you in an article like this, please reach out to me on Facebook ! I'm hoping to make posts like this at least a once a month thing. I will in theory have some sort of theme each month, but who knows. I'm glad to help out. I can't guarantee it will help, but I will make the effort to get you some views and likes at least! People make some cool things and once in a while I come across especially cool things and some totally cool people on the Great Interwebs. It's been a while since I rounded up a list of rad crafters and this week seems like a good week to do it. Since I've finished up my mood blanket there will be no more Mood Blanket Mondays and I need to fill that void with something. This will have to do for this week. If you think I make cool stuff then you should definitely check out these people because I'm pretty sure they're all cooler than me. Give them a ...

UPDATE 1/26/23: These were an absolute bust! I love them and ended up with two on my old backpack. I gave the others away as free surprises with other orders. Womp womp! If you stumbled across this post and you want one, you're welcome to request I make one. I'm not sure I have any of the adhesive backing left. I handsewed mine onto my backpack like they were patches.  Check out my Etsy to see what I have available now! Check my Ravelry for patterns! I also have a Ko-Fi ! Wtf Are Crochet Stickers?! Well, a lot of people make embroidered patches. I've accepted the fact that I don't find sewing particularly enjoyable in any form. I do, on the other hand, find crocheting to be quite enjoyable. I'm sure someone else out there in the world has made crochet patches before. I know everyone makes crochet appliqués. I'm not sure if anyone has given them adhesive backing to make application effortless for the laziest of humans. Again, I don't find sewing very enj...

UPDATE 2/4/23: There are a couple bigfoot hats in my Etsy shop right now at the time I'm writing this and I am also planning to do a shop update with more bigfoot hats on March 1st! Ever since I posted the free bigfoot hat pattern I've gotten non-stop custom requests for all sorts of bigfoot hats! This was super surprising and I took a moment to whip up four different versions and they are all ready-to-ship! They're also on sale because I'm apparently in the holiday spirit like some sort of jolly Dickens character. Head to the shop and order one! I don't have plans to make more of these once they're gone (unless it's a custom order), so snag one while you can. I'm not taking any more custom orders until after Christmas because I gots to make some presents for my lame-o family. ;-)

UPDATE 2/4/23: Hey! Get the Dalek hats pattern here !  I'm hella excited for Season 3 of Twin Peaks in 2016. I don't make plans for my life that far in advance, but I'm totally planning to watch the long-awaited third season of one of the greatest shows to ever grace television.  I've been trying real hard to clear out my mighty yarn stash to make room for new yarns and I ran across a little of this beige and a little of this bronze. They seemed to serve no other purpose except to make a double-knit Owl Cave hat (that I'd been meaning to get around to for ages)! Get it here . Reversible! Double-sided! Twin Peaks! OMG! I also whipped up a couple of Baby Dalek hats for the holidays! The red and green ones are all part of the RED N GREEN SALE, so they're $5 off. Unlike the prototypes I made when I was creating the pattern , these are made of extra-soft premium acrylic yarn instead of regular ol' acrylic.  Yellow-Orange 1-3 Year SALE  ...

UPDATE 2/4/23: For real, gonna do more posts like this again this year! 2023! Yeah! I did a blog post last week about Handmadeology's Shop Unique. Shop Etsy For the Holidays promotion and I mentioned a handful of my favorite Etsy shops that everyone should check out. I also made a couple of purchases for myself because I'm such a great salesperson that I found myself compelled to buy some shit after writing about it. I snagged a pair of custom cat earrings in MIRROR CHROME from SouthPaw Engraving . They're shiny as shit and awesome. I also got a pair of his Black Kitten Earrings . He can make these cats in like every color ever except sparkle purple (which is what I originally wanted, of course). Here are some selfies of me looking rough but sporting these snazzy earrings. They go great with cat apparel as well as nautical headgear. He's also got some awesome prop/cosplay stuff for sale here . Then I also got a custom-made, hand-embroidered Sailor Saturn merit ...

UPDATE 2/4/23: This was a nice thing that I did periodically that I will start doing again this year! I also can't figure out why this post is formatted so weird and I cannot seem to fix it. I have rifled all through the HTML and I give up.     Hey Internet,  Handmadeology  (Facebook page  here ) is doing a neat promotion called  Shop Unique. Shop Etsy for the Holidays . If you didn’t know about this already then you should totally check it out. There’s lots of cool handmade stuff out there, you just have to find it. If you're a fellow crafter then you should support your fellow starving artists for sure. Here are a couple of my favorite Etsy shops/shops of my pals to feast your eyeballs on: SouthPawEngraving  ( Facebook ) - He makes a lot of earrings, but he can pretty much do anything from pendants for necklaces to Christmas tree ornaments. He also make things he’s already made in a million other colors. He's the dude behind Jarman P...

UPDATE 2/4/23: I still make terrible graphics like this. It's part of my charm. Especially since I'm 100% capable of making high-quality ones. My Etsy is still valid, but if you've stumbled on this post somehow, check out my Ko-Fi page for lots more (and also cheaper) patterns! Head on over to the Etsy shop and check out the featured items and also be sure to check in each shop section for more items that are part of this festive, holiday sale. It's not even Thanksgiving, but I don't care.

UPDATE 2/4/23: None of these hats are available anymore because this was many years ago. I am thinking about making some double-knit bigfoot hats for this fall though. Get the FREE bigfoot hat knitting pattern here .  Absolutely go check out my current inventory on Etsy ! You can also find my commission status there! If you're interested in patterns, then go to my Ko-Fi page ! There are a lot of patterns there that I don't have on Etsy or even on Ravelry and I even offer monthly subscriptions for goodies!   1. Bigfeet I promised the internet a pattern for the bigfoot hat . I've made two as custom orders (one without a pom pom and one with a pom pom) using worsted weight yarn, but the original hat is most certainly double knitted using DK. I'll post the pattern for the one-sided knit version this Friday for...Free Pattern Friday! I need to take a stab at making the double knitted version. Mentioning this transitions nicely into my next topic of discussion. 2. Dou...

UPDATE 2/1/23: Hot damn! How did I pay my bills selling hats for $20 each! Lord have mercy! This was insanity! The patterns for all of these hats are FREE right here !  Go check out my, now sensibly-priced Etsy inventory!  I'll hopefully get back to my regular blog updates soon (including Free Pattern Friday!). I've been working a whole lot on the super cool, super secret items that will be part of my upcoming Tumblr and Facebook giveaways. Ok, so they're not really super secret. Here a picture of the epic hat stack. Some need pom poms and others need some earflaps. Heck yes, I'm making some laplanders. Who doesn't love a laplander? I've also been working on a handful of custom hats for friends and, of course, the Lantern Corps beanies. Once I finish up these giveaway hats I'm going to sit down and put on serious pants and go ahead and finish up the next Beam Guardian scarf before winter hits. Lantern Corps Beanies I finished up Black Lantern tonig...