After nearly a year of pestering by family members, I "graduated" from Etsy shopper to Etsy shop keeper. I spent several weeks knitting up a few items I thought would be good to start with and fussed about with my shop appearance and what not because I was worried no one would even see them, let alone be interested, especially as I knew nothing about promotion (and still know precious little ... but I'm working on it!) I was gratified to make several sales within a few months & my sales and original designs have increased greatly over the last couple of years. I have recently begun to offer my original patterns to other knitters as well. I like to make things with a story ... things of my own design and not from patterns, although I have adapted a few patterns I found to make them "just right" for my shop. I love to hear stories from my customers as well ... the baby's first Easter bunny, the daughter's Christmas gift, the gloves for a long distance love ... it's my favorite thing about being an Etsy seller. I seldom use craft store yarn, I prefer to use high quality fibers, and recently I've found local sources for top merino wool and Etsy sources for reclaimed luxury fibers like cashmere. That said, I'm a big time bargain hunter, so I buy "short skeins" from the local merino producer and shop sale yarns at my local and internet sources. I believe beautiful things shouldn't cost too much, and should be packaged simply and beautifully. Since my "labor" brings me much joy, I really don't charge very much for it. A lot of my knitting is done waiting for kids at soccer practices, 4H meetings & music lessons. Lately, I've taken to using my knitting as a kind of meditation that really calms my mind when things are crazy. I hope some of the joy and peace I find in my craft comes across in the finished products.