I'd like to welcome Megan from Write Meg! as my very first Guest Blogger!
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Give me a call on a Friday night and ask what I’m doing. (Go ahead, I’ll give you my cell.) If I’m not at the movies or running around shopping, I promise you this: you’ll find me curled up in my living room, a thick paperback wedged at my side while skeins of burgundy-and-gold yarn cover my legs. In my hands, maybe along with a mug of tea, will be a long purple hook. And attached to that hook? That yarn. And lots of it.
My mother Lisa taught me to crochet when I was a rather serious 8-year-old; as soon as I could hold the hook capably, I was making runners out of pastel-colored yarn. I still have the first piece I made: a lumpy, uneven stretch of pink yarn with very fine stitches.
Now? I’m a 24-year-old crafting machine who’s all about Etsy, where I set up shop last February, though it took me a solid five months to get my first sale. And that first fateful transaction was for the item in my shop I thought would attract the least amount of attention: a burgundy-and-gold Gryffindor scarf.
And thus my “Harry Potter” scarf business was born.
Since last July, I’ve made approximately 30 Gryffindor scarves (in trademark burgundy and gold) and Slytherin scarves (in gray and green) and sent them to folks all around the United States and Canada. Fans of our beloved, valiant Harry will be happy to note a HUGE disparity between the number of Gryffindor students now running around — lots — and the smaller number of those in the house of the nefarious Draco Malfoy. Good still trumps evil.
I’m a huge fan of J.K. Rowling’s sweeping series myself, reading all seven books for the first time the summer that Harry Potter And the Deathly Hallows was published. I’ve taken in every film with wide, excited eyes. Making “Harry Potter” scarves is a labor of love — an extension of the love I have for the series. I don’t turn a major profit, but I’m not trying to — crocheting has always been something I do because I simply love it. And I’m pretty sure my friends and family will strangle me with my crocheted creations if I give them even one more scarf.
When Christmas rolled around this year, I even crocheted the scarves while watching “Harry Potter And the Prisoner Of Azkaban” (a fact I noted in the thank-you cards I wrote to customers!). Maybe making “Harry Potter” scarves while watching “Harry Potter” will bring the wearers good luck? Regardless, it made me feel awesome to imagine happy brothers, sisters, kids and parents opening my Gryffindor and Slytherin scarves on Christmas morning.
And hey, if any of us finally get our acceptance letters to Hogwarts? We’ll blend in seamlessly with the other students crowding the school’s hallowed halls! Though I might have a bit of trouble tracking down some appropriately glamorous dress robes... naturally, mine would have to be pink. And sparkly.
******************** Thanks Megan for stopping by and sharing your passion for crocheting and Harry Potter with us! While I don't know how to crochet, I do knit. And by "knit," I mean I can probably make a straight simple table runner. I'm not even sure if I could 'end' it though, I've never gotten that far! It sounds like a great idea though, knitting and reading at the same time. I wonder if I'm coordinated enough?
Thanks for stopping by and make sure to visit Megan at Write Meg! and her Etsy shop for your own Hogwarts Scarf needs.