Crochet Patterns, Then and now

Recently I have been working on a lot of vintage patterns along with some new designs.  What I find interesting is how much the designers have improved the way they write the patterns.  Some of the vintage patterns a very hard to determine exactly what you are suppose to do and takes a bit of trial and error.  Here are a couple of examples

Pot holder  http://www.etsy.com/listing/48422432/crochet-dog-pot-holder-or-trivet-white

Pot holders  http://www.etsy.com/listing/48213333/pair-of-pot-holders-panties-and-shorts

There are other examples of vintage in my shop.  The way they are written are more in paragraphs rather than rows.

The modern patterns are much easier to read and understand for the most part.  For years I have done patterns by a designer whom I think does excellent patterns with unique designs.  She doesn't do just the ordinary designs expecially in her doilies.  She has designed for many years, and no I do not work for her nor does she pay me.  I have just crochet a lot of her doily patterns.  I enjoy them because some of them are challenging with the way you stitch them.  Following are two of the patterns I recently worked on

Pineapple Halloween doily  http://www.etsy.com/listing/51760626/crochet-black-and-orange-pineapple-doily

Butterflies, roses, pineapples and hummingbirds  http://www.etsy.com/listing/52279162/butterflies-pineapples-roses-and

What is really nice about Ann White's patterns she includes photographs of exactly how the stitch is to be made and where it is to go.  She is a very talented designer and makes her patterns very easy to read and follow.  You can find her designs on this web site:

http://www.bellacrochet.com/

Just thought I would pass this along to all of you who love to crochet, and might be intimidated by some of the complicated designs, Ann makes them much easier to understand.

Christmas In July Sale

Well it is July again and many of the shops on Etsy are having "Christmas in July" Sales.  They can be easily found by going to http://www.etsy.com/ and then searching for Christmas in July http://www.etsy.com/search_results.php?search_query=Christmas+in+July&search_type=handmade or CIJ. http://www.etsy.com/search_results.php?search_query=CIJ&search_type=handmade

My shop,  http://www.etsy.com/shop/mishap1165 has 20% off of every item in the shop.  You can convo me and I will relist the items for you or if you purchase it, I will refund the 20% through paypal. 

This Christmas in July sale in my shop includes all items, I have Halloween items like this dancing skeleton towels to numerous Christmas items.  There are also a lot of machine embroidered lace bookmarks http://www.etsy.com/shop/mishap1165?section_id=5573134 and other machine lace to use as appliques or scrapbooking.   http://www.etsy.com/shop/mishap1165?section_id=5571752

Christmas in July gives us all an opportunity to shop early while in the Northern Hemispere the weather is still nice and a head start.  With all the great sales going on both on Etsy and in Storefronts it is a good time especially in this economic time to start our Christmas Shopping.  This time of year are the best sales.

An E-bay Sob Story, I have a store on e-bay which I have had for a number of years. When e-bay started their dsr ratings awhile ago there were a lot of objections and buyer's posting wrong dsr ratings. Well nothing has changed.The first low rating I got was from a customer who didn't pay until I filed a non-payment. That person gave me a low dsr rating on the shipping. Now again one of the last 5 that posted gave me a low drs on shipping. Now I do not charge handling and the shipping usually costs me money. If you were to look at the items these people bought and the amount they were charged for shipping you would know they were not charged more than what it costs.The next item on the list is shipping time, now I have a 5 rating but I should. As soon as I receive payment, I ship the item and notify the buyer. The only time this does not occur is Sunday or a Holiday. If that is the case I contact the buyer and tell them it will be shipped the next day that the Post Office is open.On communication I always e-mail the buyers and notify them of shipping and if delayed because the post office is closed I e-mail them.I have contacted e-bay about the latest low rating and of course they will do nothing. Because I am a small seller this low rating really affects my standing.When is e-bay going to treat sellers with proper customer service. After all we are their customers not the buyers. When are they going to understand that buyers should not have the power over sellers. As far as shipping charges go, when I have purchased items from some sellers, sometimes their cheap price is made up for by high shipping charges. It is up to me as a customer if I want to pay it. I have never marked a seller down over shipping charges because I agreed to them when I purchased the item.I have read in numerous instances that unfair dsr's have caused many sellers to have their ratings reduced. E-bay needs to change this policy and eliminate them altogether and just go with the feedback they way they used to. DSR's are a flawed system.

Here are the shipping charges for the last five, one of them left the low score:
Plate, charged 5.65 actual shipping charge 8.10
Towel charged 2.00 actual 1.90
Doily charged 2.00 actual 1.55
Sweater charged 4.90 (issued $3.00 refund) cost 1.90
Towel charged 1.50 actual 1.73

Guess e-bay wants me to pay the total shipping charge and ship free. All those items included boxes and the plate a lot of bubble wrap to protect it. With the low selling prices I use I can't afford completely free shipping.
To visit my store just click anywhere on the article and you will be redirected to my e-bay store, from there you can look at the feedback and that no one has been overcharged for shipping.