Christmas in February?

These past weeks of the new year have meant much brainstorming and goal setting for my Prairie Path Etsy shop.  It seems as though the Christmas stocking business is the niche that I have found.  Unfortunately, that limits the cash flow throughout the year for material buying, etc.  Nevertheless, I am determined to make this coming autumn and Christmas season a fantastic (and hopefully less frazzled) one.

Back in Texas after holiday, I began working on stockings in a variety of designs including, white on white lace; fair isle patterns; hand applique designs of stars, snowflakes, alpine trees; and something I call elf stripes.  I am still deciding how I want to do the hangers for my stockings.  I did have one complaint, so I figure if one person didn't like last year's hangers than maybe more people didn't like them either, they just didn't voice it.  There is ALWAYS room for improvement and I take even one disappointment seriously!

Last autumn, not knowing what to expect, I was frantically making stockings as fast as I could because customers were buying them up.  I had numerous special orders, and am counting on more this year.  But if I can work up to a large stock throughout the year, I can devote more time to special orders when they come in the fall.  By the way, it's never too early to special order stockings (Mom, I haven't forgotten your request)!  That is my plan and (not to rush the year away) I can hardly wait until September.

This past week has given me several prospects that I was not expecting.  Within a week's time I received 3 emails regarding selling in (physical brick and mortar) shops.  Stay tuned for more info on that subject as the details become a reality.  I also have a special order for a twin sized cashmere blanket in these colors:

I can hardly wait to get started on this one!