My job at a summer camp over, I returned home to Alaska about a week and a half ago. I have more than a month until school starts, and slightly less than that before I return to Washington. My parents suggested that while I’m home I should take a break before school and work start up again. I am more than happy to slip back into the rhythm of homestead life, and yet part of that rhythm is having a project to keep my hands busy.
“Me and My Dinosaur!” A school friend custom-ordered this hadrosaur. (Photo: Rebecca Snavely)
Knitting is one of my favorite pastimes. I enjoy creating unusual items, such as dinosaurs and other stuffed animals. I like making these creatures simply for the satisfaction of making them, but I also like to know that they will go to good homes and be enjoyed by others. My dad has provided a webpage platform through which I can receive customer’s orders for specific designs in chosen colors. This works well, and I have also taken orders in person at my college campus.
Most orders I get for customized creatures center around the Christmas/Winter Holiday season. Unfortunately, the weeks before Christmas are a busy time for me. I certainly want to get these critters out to people before the holiday, but I’m also finishing up fall quarter at school, working and making holiday gifts for friends and family. On the other hand, right now I have nothing hindering my production, but no holiday to spur orders.
If you know someone who would love to receive a knitted dinosaur or other handmade gift for Christmas, please consider ordering from me or your favorite local craftsperson now, long before we become bogged down by seasonal orders. I usually deplore the way stores seem to bring out their holiday merchandise earlier and earlier every year. And yet it isn’t quite the same, is it? Most handmade products, including mine, aren’t themed around any particular holiday (if there is a dinosaur celebration day I’m unaware of, please, please tell me. I’d love to know about it!) They are all-purpose, non-specific and otherwise flexible.
A craftsperson can only make so many of their products at a time, no matter how much they want to fill all their orders in a timely manner. It makes sense to make them ahead of time, but I like to customize them to the customer instead of guessing what people want. I love to knit, and I love the fact that people enjoy my creations. Selling them to people like you supports my college career, one stuffed animal at a time.
Aly, Could you do a bear?
I would be happy to make a bear! I’d love to discuss this further. For example, did you have a specific species in mind? If you email me at akzeigers.com, we can work on it together.
Aly