Do you Etsy...? And what do you do with YOUR eggs...?

I'm not talking food here, so I don't mean poached, boiled, scrambled or fried!

As the saying goes, never put all your eggs in one basket.  So my felted bag and purse patterns are listed for sale on Ravelry and Craftsy, and also on Etsy.

However, what to do with my handmade fabric Kindle, iPad and other eReader and tablet cases has had me scratching my head in recent weeks.  My website ticks over quite nicely, but with Folksy no longer being the decent selling platform it was before last November's changes, it was time to look for alternatives.  And alternatives that might work (for me) so Zibbet, DaWanda, MISI and Coriandr were out as I'd had no luck with them in the past.

I eventually decided on a couple of lesser known but recommended sites - Luulla.com and BigCartel.com - and, of course, that crafting world giant, Etsy, where I already have a shop selling my knit and felt bag patterns.  I'm not totally convinced my Kindle sleeves, etc, will sell from my Etsy shop, as US fabric prices are a fraction of those here, making it impossible to compete on cost.  But Etsy is becoming more widely known in the UK, buyers can search only UK shops if they wish, and I can price in £ rather than $ these days, so I live in hope.  Only a few items added so far, but I'll gradually add more as time permits.

If you sell on Etsy - or on another site not mentioned above - I'd love to hear your experiences. :)

Have Kate and Madonna really made knitting cool?

Among other things, I design no-sew knit-and-felt bag purse patterns, selling exclusively now through Ravelry and Craftsy (as downloads) and Etsy (as PDFs sent direct to a buyer's inbox). Interest has been huge, and the pattern on the left is one of my best sellers. Oddly, though, 99% of my customers are from the US. I've had the occasional Canadian and Australian buyer, but very little interest from the UK. Unexpectedly, the few UK sales I did make came mostly through eBay. (That was shortlived, though, as I logged on one day to find that eBay had removed all my pattern listings, for the reason that sending items by digital means is not allowed. When I asked why, no-one could give me a sensible answer. As sending hardcopy through the mail would have made the patterns unattractively expensive, that was the end of that!)

Anyway, I digress! The reason for this post is to try to find out why there's such an apparent lack of interest in knitting in the UK. It's a huge industry in the States, and lots of celebrities have supposedly made it 'cool'. So is it the prices of designer patterns that puts Brits off? Possibly, as I was once asked by a UK eBayer if I would consider selling one (priced at what I consider a modest £2.75) at half price. I politely explained the work and time involved, and pointed her at Etsy and Ravelry, where most pattern prices are a lot higher than mine, and she came back and bought!

So are we simply a nation of tight-wallets who want everything at car-boot prices? Or is it something else...? Your thoughts gratefully received!

(To those interested, the actual bag above, fully lined and with magnetic snap fastening, is available here.)