The five questions everyone asks before ordering
I have spent years answering order enquiries and I promise the questions repeat themselves with near-scientific precision. So here they are, with the answers I always give, to save us all that first exchange of messages. Well, not all of us: me. You go ahead and ask anyway — that is what I am here for.
“How long does it take?” Depends on the piece, but the honest answer is: longer than you think if you write to me in November. A medium amigurumi is several evenings of work; a blanket, weeks. And orders go in order. If it is for a birthday or a birth with a date attached, tell me in your first message and I will tell you if I can make it. I would rather say “I can’t make it” in time than deliver a gift late.
“Can you make the one in the photo but in blue?” Almost always yes. Send reference photos without embarrassment — from Pinterest, or a doodle on a napkin, anything. A man once sent me a drawing by his five-year-old daughter and out of it came the strangest, loveliest dragon I have ever crocheted. The doodle rules.
“How much does it cost?” Here comes the awkward answer: I have no fixed price list, because no two orders are the same. What I do promise is a clear quote before I start, with no surprises after. And if the price does not work for you, we can adjust: a smaller size, a simpler detail. We talk it through and that is that.
“Do you ship?” Yes. And I am one of those people who wraps a parcel as if it were crossing the Atlantic. Tissue paper, a little box, and one personal quirk: there is always a small surprise inside. I will not say what, or it stops being one.
“What if I don’t like it?” People ask this one quietly, almost afraid. In years of orders it has happened once: colours that looked different on a screen. We redid it by talking. You are not being a pain by asking for changes while I work — that is why I send progress photos. The strange thing would be keeping your doubts to yourself.
Got a sixth question? The form is right there. And if you do not know what you want yet, start with the collections — half of all orders begin with “I saw this and thought of…”.