Custom orders

It has been a while since I was able to blog.  We had two wonderful vacations this summer.  One to see our darling grandchildren and one to see the Colorado mountains where I get so much inspiration.  When I got back, my computer broke.  After the purchase of a new one it is finally up and running.  Then came the loss of my father in this world. (I know I will see him, again, one day.)
 One thing my father taught me is, when life gets tough, start looking at everything I can find to be thankful for.

I thought I would do a post on one of the wonderful serendipities to selling my knit and crochet on line.  That is custom orders.  They always challenge me.  One concern I often have is in using words to describe what a customer wants can cause confusion.  (i.e., they want a tree.  When I think tree, my mind envisions a Ponderosa pine tree.  Is that what your mind envisions?)  Most of my customers are not artists and so sending a simple drawing to show me what they have in mind is not an option.

A few months ago, I had a customer who was an artist.  She could define colors to the shade and sent simple drawings.  She also loved my rendition of columbines and she was wanting different versions of what I had in my shop with color variations from what was already there.  She loves dark columbines and she wanted barrettes using these colors. Here are the pictures of the barrettes she wanted.

She also wanted a set of traditional colored columbines.

 

 

Custom orders give me an idea of what others are looking for and so I often make more to add to my shop.  Here is what I am currently offering but color variations are an fairly simple request.  current supply of barrettes in my etsy shop

 

Besides this particular item, she also wanted columbines made into bookmarks and I came up with this design.

 

 

current columbine bookmark in my shop

 

Finally she wanted a columbine necklace in various shades.  I added this particular variation to a columbine pattern that is available in my pattern stores because I love how it came out.

current columbine chocker necklaces available in shop

 

If you would like to make your own choker necklace in the colors of your choosing, the pattern for it can be found here.  columbine necklace pattern  The pattern includes picture tutorials that explain any stitches that might seem challenging.

 

It is amazing what ideas can spring from one customers order.  I am very grateful for custom orders.  I love making just what the customer had in mind and it sparks all sorts of ideas in my mind to do for future shoppers.