Online is where money is to be made these days and I've spent a while trying to figure out the best mechanism for doing so. I've summarised some of the pros and cons of online sales setups in the introduction to Google Wallet that I recently wrote for PC Advisor.

Along the way I discovered that there isn't really a magically simple way of selling direct to your friends on Facebook, despite what plug-in pluggers Ecwid would have you believe (you end up having to create your stock list all over again, as far as I can work out). And there are far too many confusions associated with Google Wallet and Google Checkout for my liking. Google likes to change things up every now and again and tweak the tools it provides people, which here has resulted in an imperfectly integrated mash-up of the two mechanisms it offers online merchants for selling directly from their websites.

I'm beginning to see why portal sites such as Amazon Marketplace and Etsy are so attractive. You lose out because of the cut the site takes from your proceeds, but you also end up being able to get on with the all-important process of sourcing, packaging and designing your products in the first place - presumably what you got into your chosen business for in the first place.

Since I've spent a while creating stockists, seller accounts and items that people might conceivably want to buy from me - and since no matter what I do, the 'dummy' site I created in Wordpress to host my pseudo shop just won't accept my Google Buy Now buttons whichever mechanism I choose to generate the relevant code, I'm now tentatively opening shop here on my personal blog.

Should you want to indulge in some handmade socks, hats, scarves or toys for your very youngest, I'll be making them on a 'make to order' basis. But if you are happy to bear with me, I'll make you something unique for a decent price.

Email me at rosiehattersley@gmail.com to discuss what you'd like me to make - or press the Buy Now button to buy baby socks if you dare.

Thanks for your interest,

Rosie

I'd like to teach the world to knit

but I can't, because I'm left handed.

We've had two knitting events over the past two weeks (we being the Brockley Knits group I help run) and I've dismally failed to teach anyone to knit properly. Right-handed, that is.

The Brockley Knits knitting tent, complete with knitted bunting and pompoms

I first realised that showing someone how to knit when one of you is left-handed and the other right-handed is a problem at our Knit Night at the Brockley Max festival.

Having a camera and video camera in my face while I tried to show a complete beginner how to cast on didn't exactly help. But nor did trying to compensate for my left-handed ways by attempting to work out how a right-hander would wrap the yarn. It was a right mess and only got worse the more I tried. A good job other people were on hand to show newcomers how to get started and pass on their knitting skills.

It was a great night and we were really pleased with the attendance and got many compliments for the knitted bunting and 'paper' chains we'd strung around the venue. Mostly not our doing, but it was nice to decorate the place. We've even been asked to knit some for permanent display at Mr Lawrence Wine Bar, our fortnightly knitting night venue.

Last weekend, we took Brockley Knits properly public. We had a large open tent up on Hilly Fields and welcomed anyone who wished to to join us in knitting or making pompoms. Our was just one of many activities that people could join in with - face painting, making felt butterflies, creating a graphic novel, taking part in the Animal Magic Carnival Parade or simply hanging out, enjoying the live bands, dancers, craft stalls, farmers' market, bar and brand-new cafe. Brockley Max's final day is always a great day out.

Again, I had the left-handed issue when it came to teaching the basics of knitting. It transpires that my self-taught method of casting on is different from other people's too. Well, it works for me. Anyway, creating a slip knot, then a second loop that you then slip on to the same needle as the first loop shouldn't be as awkward as I manage to make it look. Once you've got the idea of what it is that you want to achieve, which hand you hold the yarn in and which direction you slip your stitches shouldn't matter all that much. A few people were happy to be shown how to knit lefthanded as they figured they were trying it out for size anyway. Ruth spent ages teaching people how to cast on and knit the more usual way and there were always pompoms for anyone who didn't fancy knitting at all.

Quite a few people came along, pulled up a chair and knitted circular chains or bunting, while many more came over and talked about the knitters in their family and expressed an interest in perhaps coming along to a daytime or evening knit sometime. The day was really about meeting knitters and generally getting our name out there, and it couldn't have gone better. We'll be knitting in Brockley again soon - and not just when it's officially World Wide Knit in Public Week.

Off-kilter pompoms

Pom poms don't have to be adornments for garments - they can be creations in their own right

We're putting on a workshop tomorrow to show kids the basics of knitting. We don't really know what age the kids will be since it's part of our local Brockley Max community arts festival and people can simply turn up and give it a go. 

Our own experience is that learning to knit doesn't necessarily come easily - but it's pretty addictive once you start. But with lots of things to do on the day and limited attention spans, we thought it a good plan to also offer pom pom making as as option. Pom poms are often used to finish off a hat, bag or scarf and are ideal as a project to take away and complete once your enthusiasm on the day wanes. 

I remember sitting in my bedroom when I was about 10 making pom poms. I haven't done much of it since. With a bagful of multicoloured scraps of yarn, I've experimented with two and three colour pompoms for my pre-event practice. Now I'm thinking of what I can use them for afterwards - ideally something that doesn't lead me back in to the danger zone of flipping through a knitting pattern book and starting a new knit so I've got something my pompom can make complete.

Pom poms can be objects in their own right. Make a few and you've got the makings of an animal body, cut out and glue on felt shapes and give yours a face or attach it to a length of elastic and taunt the cat. But there's one inescapable fact: pom poms always come out spherical. 

Since I like to do different, I'm now trying out asymmetric pom pom making for size. I've figured out that simply shifting the hole off-centre will have little effect on the finished object. So I'm trying elongated shapes instead - long animal bodies and lozenges for legs. I may even make pom pom veg.