I just came back from a beautiful trip (I went and visited three greek islands). As I was leaving Australia, of course I took my crocheting with me. It’s some 20 odd hours on the plane. After checking in my luggage I was left with a carry bag in which I also had my little crocheting bag.

Going through that thing which scans you, it started beeping. To make a long story short, it was discovered that my steel crochet hook set it off. What came next was something that really upset me. They made me throw it away. I couldn’t put it in my luggage (which I had already checked in) and couldn’t carry in on the plane with me.
I was upset because I had aimed to kill the time by crocheting. I mean I can crochet for hours. I had nothing to do except watch some boring movies. I still can’t live it down!

Has anyone had any similar experiences?

There is a local craft store in my area where I buy yarn if I'm desperate. But that store is expensive (being the only store in my area, they have no competition). I usually buy my supplies online or when I'm in town go hunting for bargains. Can you recommend any cheap places online where you buy your craft supplies?

There are many methods of promoting. Some more effective than others. As nearly everyone has a store, website or blog, lets help each other with our promoting methods. Here is my contribution:


Top 1 method: Article Directories.

Submitting articles to article directories like: ezinearticles.com, ideamarketers.com, goarticles.com etc, is great because not only do you get visitors coming to you from the article directories but also people take your article and include it on their website/blog. This also gives you a valuable backlink.

Top 2 method: Yahoo Answers or Allexperts.com

This is such a fun method because you are helping people. Not only do you get traffic but of course, also a backlink. I try to help out as much as I can (usually once a week).

This year I've decided (and it's a big project!) to make christmas gifts for everyone that I will be giving a gift to. Since making something says 'I love you' more than just buying something, here are my gifts so far. Most of the items I have crocheted, very few I have knitted.

Mum - Shawl
Dad - Jacket
Brother and his family (for new baby due soon) - baby blanket and baby set with bootees and hat
Friend no. 1 - 3 piece doily set
Friend no. 2 - 3 piece doily set
Friend no. 3 - Handmade gift basket in which I will fill with chocolates
Friend no. 4 - Handmade gift basket in which I will fill with chocolates
Friend no. 5 - Scarf and hat

These are what I've made so far but now I'm panicking. Christmas is close by and I've got another 14 people to make gifts for. I need to make something simple that wont' take too much time but have run out of ideas... Help!!!

Hi all. Just wanted your advice. Which craft would you recommend for a man? My husband is on long service leave and I need to find him a hobby. Something that we will both enjoy making together. I don’t think he would go for knitting and crocheting (my crafts). Nor is he the type that is interesting in woodworking.

Does anyone else here create crafts with their other half? If so, what do you do? I need something that doesn’t take too much of a learning curve (sorry I know I’m asking too much!)

People have added some great marketing tips here. I've got a few of my own...

One of the top ways of getting traffic to my website is through writing well written articles that help and posting them to ezine directories, like ezinearticles.com and ideamarketers.com.

Another great way is through answering questions at Yahoo Answers and All Experts. When you give personal advice to people that helps them, you also get voted 'best answer' which gives your website more exposure.

A friend of mine suggested we get together with a few of our other friends and host a party, each displaying their crafts. I’ve never done it before and thought it was a great idea. But when she suggested that we also advertise our party for other people to come and see (and sell) our crafts, I began to have doubts.

You see, I have a large house and it was suggested I host the party at my place. But I don’t want all these strangers coming to my house.

Has anyone done something similar? and what were your experiences?

Learning to read patterns is the most challenging thing, but after you master that, there is no stopping us!

What I did was to print out the patterns I found on the internet, and in the right margin, write out long hand what each abbreviation meant. By the third pattern, I had somewhat mastered it and could get on with creating my masterpiece (I wish LOL) 

nice! nice! nice!

I love them both! They are gorgeous. How long did they both take you to make?