So how do you spot a reseller? There’s no clearcut process, only certain red flags that you can train yourself to look for.

1. A lot of sales in a short amount of time, especially if the same exact item keeps being relisted. If someone keeps selling and relisting the same owl necklace, you know for sure it’s not “one-of-a-kind” and very likely little work goes into making the item. Look at the shop, how long it’s been open, and how many sales it has. On the left side of any Etsy shop, you can find the text “XX (number) sales” and click on that to see exactly which items have been sold, and how many. Sometimes people come out of the gate with great idea that takes off immediately, but more often than that sales in the hundreds for the first week of a shop being open is clear indicator of a reseller. Use common sense when investigating- someone can easily make large quantities of bars of soap by hand, or hand screened t-shirts in a week, but hundreds of “handmade” designer purses? Don’t think so. Also watch for easily assembled pieces- I buy jewelry supplies on Etsy, and often see people who simply put a brass piece they bought by the dozen on earring hooks and add all kinds of nonsense to the listing about it being “handcast”, “vintage”, “hand aged”, “unique”, etc. If you do a quick search on Etsy for “jewelry findings” you can see which ones are the most popular, and recognize them when you see them in a shop. Also take the basic descriptions of an item and make sure they aren’t being sold in large quantities on other sites, like overstock, eBay, etc. You can also use a reverse image search like TinEye.com to find other sellers using the same photo or components to make similar items, or sometimes find the wholesale listings for stuff that is being resold. I also look for base components that take very little work to embellish, and watch out for people who claim to make it from scratch- for instance someone could take a trendy boho style leather belt that is verrrrry cheap on eBay ($10), add some chains, and turn around and sell it for $100. They may claim in the description that they cut the leather by hand and added hundreds of little rivets, but if you don’t see any other handcut leather items in their shop, hmmm, that’s a bit suspicious. Not to mention the time it would take to make such a thing, which seems like exploitation with such a low price tag.

2. Badly cropped/photoshopped photos and poorly written descriptions. If the photo looks like it was clipped from a magazine, with a model that doesn’t look anything like the seller in the photo (or a friend who might be modelling for them), and it is crudely blacked out around the edges, you can bet it’s a catalog photo intended for wholesale items. Another dead giveaway is badly written descriptions using weird phrases and bad syntax, (and not just the occasional spelling mistake) a good indicator that your “seller” in California didn’t write it. Even if the address is listed in the US, you may dealing with a drop shipper.

3. A lack of passion and personality. When I charge $250 for a tribal fusion belt, it means I’ve spent the better part of a week looking at it, perfecting it, and pouring my heart into it, and you bet your sweet pie that this will shine through in the description. I will probably tell you which antique store I got the lace from, and so on. People who love what they do will often go into the details of their process in the item description, and vague language is often a sign that someone didn’t put a whole lot of work or thought into the item. Also along this same train of thought is someone who doesn’t explain one thing about their process of making dozens of chairs by hand from recovered wood, what tools they use, their finishing techniques, and so on. Highly suspicious! Another thing to look for is an item that seems to clearly be cashing in on a trend. I’m not talking about something simply being steampunk (I make plenty of steampunk stuff myself, and I’m not going to apologize) but more along the lines of a “steampunk octopus” necklace you can find on dozens of sites not including Etsy, or even your local Target or department store. If it is designed to have mass appeal, and not unique or have a story in any way, I often doubt it’s handmade.

4. Feedback! Mass producers, resellers, and factories pretending to be tiny shop owners rarely have time for awesome customer service. There is one shop in particular that has tens of thousands of hearts on Etsy, and its feedback rating is 95% (out of thousands). Ouch! That’s not easy to do- and if you look at the negative feedback it is CLEAR that they are a factory overseas and can’t seem to get their shipping, customer service, or sizing together. So why pay $50 for a dress on Etsy when you can essentially get the EXACT item at Forever 21, and at least there you can try it on?

You can also check out other known resellers, or report any you find at this site. (“Calling Out On Etsy”)

The handmade revolution has truly inspired me, and I am thankful that I’ve been able to carve out a living from it. And I do believe there is plenty of room for me and plenty others to continue doing so, we just have to be smart, and vigilant, and inform ourselves, and help customers make informed decisions. Only by supporting sellers with integrity can we hope to weed out the marketplace from the bad apples.

I love bibimbap, but had yet to find an awesome vegetarian version. This was so delicious, immediately after trying it out, I had to sit down and furiously type the recipe for next time!

It could easily be made vegan by simply omitting the egg, and is a great way to use up leftover takeout rice and assorted veggies.

STEP ONE- START THE RICE
If you don’t have leftover rice to reheat, you can cook it fresh. For Asian style rice, I like to start by measuring the amount of dry rice I want to use (it will double in volume), rinsing it, and putting it in a small saucepot with just enough water to cover it, plus 1/4 inch (1 cm). You can add a little cooking oil, butter, and/or rice vinegar as well. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to lower than “warm”, as low as you can get it without turning the burner off. Leave it covered and cook for about 25-30 minutes (if using white rice). For brown rice, cook for about 35 minutes.

STEP TWO- PREPARE THE VEGGIES
You can use any veggies you want for this- in the picture above, I used red bell peppers, carrots, and asparagus. Cut them into thin, long strips. Fill a saucepot with about 1/2 inch of water, and try to prop veggies in the pot where they are not laying in the water and turn the heat on medium low. Steam for about 10 minutes, and remove from heat.

STEP THREE- COOK THE BBQ “MEAT”
Start by preparing the BBQ sauce, which is very simple: 1/4 cup ketchup, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, and a teaspoon each of chili oil and sesame oil- this will make enough for 2 people. The chili oil and sesame oil are essential to the flavor, so try not to substitute for them. I buy all of my condiments at Asian markets, they are much better and cheaper than their American counterparts. Also, please don’t judge my crusty ketchup bottle.

Next, slice up your meat substitute into “steak-strip” size pieces. We are partial to Field Roast sausages in my house, but tempeh, tofu, and cauliflower would also make excellent substitutes. Heat a cast iron skillet on medium high, and sear the pieces in the pan with a little chili and sesame oil. When they have a nice dark brown char on both sides, throw them into the bowl with the bbq sauce, and stir gently to coat. Return the cast iron skillet to the burner, add a bit more oil, and crack eggs into pan. You can cook them any style you want, but sunny side up seems to work best for this dish.

Now it’s time to assemble! I love the presentation of bibimbap almost as much as the taste. Scoop the rice into a large bowl, and add sections of each steamed veggie, any raw veggies like green onion and sprouts, kimchi if you desire, then the bbq “meat”, and last top with the fried egg. Sprinkle with black sesame seeds, and a dash of hot sauce! And prepare to be amazed… you will not be missing the meat.

I figure this is the part everyone wants to hear about, so I’m starting with the good stuff. 2012 came up a least a dozen times of the course of our trip, and every time was met with the complete bewilderment of the Belizean people. My husband and I bought a handcarved stone Mayan calendar from a vendor on the beach. I don’t remember how 2012 came up, but it did, and he assured us that we had nothing to worry about, and asked me what I thought was the source of the phenomenon, and all I could think of was “people want to sell books”?

Now don’t get me wrong. You can believe whatever you want to believe is going to happen this year, and I won’t judge you. The problem here lies with conflating the end of a long cycle in a cyclical calendar with the destruction of the human race. I could go on about it, but as usual the wise elder Wiki has far better things to say than I: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_phenomenon

As another wise person put it: “if you had to carve all of your calendars in stone, the end of a cycle seems like a pretty good place to stop”.

If you don’t feel like reading all that (though I found it fascinating!), I’ll sum it up for you: yes, it’s true that the Mesoamerican long count calendar cycle ends on December 21, 2012. The fact that the date will be 13.0.0.0.0 by Mayan rendering would have been of great significance to them, as 13 is a sacred number. They would have, however, seen it as at great reason to celebrate, and neither past Mayans nor contemporary Mayans have made any “prophecies” most especially NONE about human destruction. One of tour guides mentioned the galactic alignment, which some fear may cause earthquakes, but that fear is unbased, according to astronomers. Other galactic alignments have come and gone without catastrophe. That same tour guide also asked us group if anyone thought something crazy was going to happen. No one raised their hands, and he replied, “GOOD. We have a really good group today”. Later on, a starry-eyed dingbat of a lady was talking about a cycle of “no-time” and that humanity would have this time period to prove itself, and if we worked for peace, we would begin a new era of peace. But that sounds like the song “Age of Aquarius” to me, and not like a culture of people who held the sacrifice of life as very sacred.

THE PEOPLE
The people of Belize were truly incredible. Totally vibrant and culturally diverse, Belize is populated mostly by Mestizos (Euro-Spanish descent), Creoles (African/Caribbean), Garifuna (West African/Caribbean/Native), and Maya (Native, more commonly referred to as Mayans, but I think that’s incorrect). They are happy, unabashedly friendly, helpful, and made us feel welcome at nearly every point in our trip. Belize as a nation doesn’t have too many natural resources, and became a sovereign nation in 1981, and as a result I think they have evolved into a very non-aggressive, mostly unpolitical, peaceful nation. Everyone on San Pedro seemed to encourage a philosophy of “Slow down. Relax. Drink your rum.” And boy, did we.

Also in Belize are a huge community of Mennonites who produce most of the country’s chickens, eggs, butter, and cheese. Their reputation was somewhat tarnished when some Mennonites were caught growing pot. Our tour guide also relished in telling us that the roads in rural Belize are crooked and winding to keep airplanes from landing and smuggling pot out.

RUM, RUM, RUM…. AND PLANTAINS.
The drinks on the island were weak but tasty. Probably all for the better since it’s hard to drink enough water when you have to keep buying it by the bottle. We refilled them as often as we could, but still ended up buying so many! Luckily, the hotel office recycled them for us. Every tour we took offered all the free booze you could drink, and our tour guides would gladly make your drink as strong as you wanted.

Cashew trees grow widely and the fruits are used to make a delicious port-like sweet wine. Each pear-sized fruit only produces one cashew, which must then goes through several processes before it’s edible, hence why cashews are so expensive.

The default meal in Belize is stewed chicken, beans and rice, fried plantains, and potato salad, and tour guides gave you as much of that as you wanted as well. Most of the food was some combination of classic American barbeque, Caribbean, and Mexican. Burgers, side salads, tacos, beans and rice, plantains, fried conch, seafood. All very delicious. I also found my new favorite drink, the caipirinha. Hard to pronounce (KAI-pee-REEN-ya), but a simple drink: white sugarcane rum, muddled limes, and cane sugar.

THE COUNTRY
We were warned that Belize is a “third-world” country, but it has clean running water, sanitation, and such. I got into the habit of flushing the toilet with my shoe because there was often no soap. Not that doing that probably made any difference, I’m sure it was a mental thing. We also had to get into the habit of throwing toilet paper in the trash instead of flushing it. I guess most of the plumbing was sensitive. But apart from that, there was no big culture shock. Everyone spoke English, took US money or credit cards, even the wall outlets are the same.

We tried as often as possible to hear the history of Belize from the people from Belize. It was a familiar story- San Pedro was an idyllic island that Belizeans flocked to for opportunities, and foreigners with lots of money invested into hotels, restaurants, bars, and tour companies. You can see the older, well-established tourist joints closely packed together, and on the outskirts are dilapidated and abandoned buildings sitting right next to high-end condos built sky high to block out the sun from the slums. Like Oregon, the beach is public property, so you can walk everywhere. Vendors hock their handmade wares, and from what I hear are far less aggressive than say Mexico or Egypt. All of them seemed to be selling a small variation of the same necklaces, earrings, animal wood carvings, stone Mayan calendars, and handwoven textiles.

During the superbowl, while all the burger-eating Americans were watching the game, we stumbled upon all the locals gathered around a huge, grassy field for a soccer game. Don’t know who was playing, but they looked to be local men in their 20′s. They were selling food for 1/10 of what it cost in any tourist joint, and playing loud dancehall music. The locals really seemed to enjoy such simple things like good music, friends, and good food. It really moved me.

THE REST
There’s stuff that is very hard write about, like how beautiful it is to swim in a pristine coral reef exploding with colorful fish, or to pass through a dark cave that centuries ago was a door to the underworld and a place for human sacrifice and ritual. Or to see the ruins of impossibly old temples, and impossibly intricate stone carvings. To think and feel how different another world is from mine. To see enough birds, mammals, reptiles, and fish to fill a book. The pictures are better, but still don’t even come close. It was every bit as mind-blowing as I expected and more. I’m so grateful I was able to go!

All sorts of tribal fusion goodies! Please contact me there if you’d like a custom item/trade/etc.

I will be bringing cat hats back this year and posting them there. Also looking forward to designing some patterns for knitpicks in the fall!

HOLY SHIT.

“This garment defies categorization… Andalusia is a skirt, a cardi, a dress, a tunic, a poncho, a shrug, a cape – and more. Since it is created in crochet Hairpin Lace and Broomstick Lace, this garment is a very quick project for its size. We feature 10 different ways to wear Andalusia, but our suggestions are only meant to prime your imagination. Stretch your wardrobe with this versatile design.”

These are gusseted fingerless mitts with columns of lace that reminded me of art deco patterns, hence the name.

If anyone actually happens to be reading this, I’m also announcing my hiatus from knitting and writing knitting patterns. I will still be around for pattern support and whatnot, and who knows, I may get totally inspired and come back all blazing guns in the fall. But for now, I’m shifting gears big time. I’ve been getting really into tribal fusion dance and flamenco, and want to work on costuming and jewelry for both. This stuff is inspiring as hell! Heapieces, earrings, and fabrics, tribal metal pieces, feathers, lace, whee whee wheeee!

Very simple cabled belt modeled by the lovely Brittany. Pattern and such will be forthcoming, as I’m taking a big break from knitting.

(a WTF alchemy request)

There’s only one website that I check compulsively. I’m fairly certain I’ve read single every post, most of them several times over, and my favorites when I need a good laugh. Nope, it’s not boingboing or the Oatmeal, the HuffPo or the Onion. It’s Regetsy, and lately I’ve been asking myself why.

As an Etsy seller myself, I’ve been frustrated countless times by the ups and downs of trying to sell there. I was one the first one hundred (#85 to be exact) to open an Etsy account. I should be rich right? Nope, my sales have always been pretty tepid. One person can only knit so much, and I’ve always done better at trunk shows and consignment shops. I’m somewhat embarrassed by the items I first sold as a fledgling entrepreneur, and though I’ve honed in on my niche and have cat-hat-knitting down to a science, I’m still baffled by selling stuff on Etsy. And there are so many things that infuriate me because they make things even harder.

And Regretsy nails them all on the head.

My Etsy shop had been up nearly a year when my knitted cats got featured on the front page. I had learned to make them from a friend and did not yet know the etiquette of selling items knitted from someone else’s pattern. I had sold over a dozen when the designer of the knitted cats caught wind of me and asked me to stop selling them. Since I’m a decent human being, I did (after finishing up the orders I had already committed to). Little did I know that dozens of other sellers were also making and selling them, and still do. After I filled my shop with original designs, I noticed people were now copying ME, some of which even hearted my shop. I wanted to eventually sell patterns, but was terrified of having scumbags purchase and resell my patterns. I do sell patterns now, but only because I’ve grown thick skin to it- perhaps like musicians who don’t mind being torrented because it’s exposure, but dammit, at least they get to keep their name on the music. They say the imitation is the best flattery, but that’s little comfort when people are making money stealing your ideas. My strategy now is to keep things simple, and reassure myself that others may come up with the same ideas I have, I just need to be really good at making them, and making customers happy. And I still don’t mind if people sell the items they make with my patterns, as long as they’re not selling the pattern itself.

Now enter Etsy and their not-my-problem attitude towards rip-off artists. I’ve heard horror story after horror story of Etsy doing absolutely nothing to stop shop owners who are blatantly stealing, not even so much as SUSPENDING suspicious activity. Talk about disheartening. A recent post on Regresty showed a clear case of copyright infringement, and Etsy’s only response was “please stop flagging artists and read our policy”. I read the policy. It basically says “fuck you, you don’t know what you’re talking about” and “if it’s really that bad, get a lawyer”.

If you want an unfettered example of laissez-faire capitalism, look no further than Etsy. It’s a marketplace that is barely monitored, has very few rules (except for zero tolerance of criticism against itself), and now that it’s hit critical mass, anything goes. And as you might expect, the people who cheat can easily get ahead. This goes for resellers, frauds, and rip offs. And there’s nothing to stop floods of substandard crap from being listed. In fact, the easiest way to make a quick living on Etsy is to relentlessly list things for weeks at a time, which doesn’t bode well for true artisans who take months to finely craft a piece. And once you list an item, you’re not even really selling that item, you’re selling the photo. Apparently, the photo is everything.

I feel this is a casualty of hipster culture where image is held above quality or genuine value. I see it on tumblr and ravelry as well.

This is why we NEED Regretsy. April Winchell is calling out the bullshit, most importantly, the bullshit Etsy itself refuses call out. It is the one thing that brings balance to the behemoth that Etsy has become. I used to wonder if I enjoyed Regresty so much because I felt inferior on Etsy, but now I realize there’s so much more going on there, and not only is it necessary, but we can all laugh about it too.

I’ve been wanting to incorporate more math into my knitting, so I decided to use the math constant pi as a design element. The first ten digits were plotted out and used to switch between knit and purl stitches on a standard slouchy style hat. To make things even more interesting, I put rows of eyelets on either side of each section. If a person wanted to get REALLY nerdy, they could chart out pi to 60 digits. Maybe I’ll try it myself!