WE MADE IT! Update and stretch goals!
about 6 years ago – Tue, Feb 06, 2018 at 03:45:53 PM

Thank You!

This one has been a pretty wild ride for me so far. Starting off, I was extremely nervous and stressed about launching the project. Before pressing the 'go' button, I sent the preview of the campaign and the website I made (www.ulaandlia.com) to my family to check out. After getting a little bit of feed back and the "good luck kiddo!", my last words to them were that I was pretty stressed out about this one!

I was nervous because I didn't know if I had enough pictures, if the pictures were good enough, if the video was good enough, and if the goal was set too high. Launching a project/business is a vulnerable time, especially when your story is front and center of how we got to the end product. The next day, the US government shut down as well, which I didn't think was a good omen, but decided to launch anyways.

I wasn't really expecting my first campaign to be as successful as it was, so I wasn't as nervous before beginning that project. This time, I had already spoken in depth to my partners and maybe built expectations a bit, so I felt a lot more pressure launching this time.

Since then, I've had a ton of support and trust from some knitting forums that have given me a HUGE boost, and I'm also humbled that Kickstarter chose this as a "Project They Love" to give me an extra boost as well. I just want to say THANK YOU to everybody who's come along with me so far.

So What's Next?

This weekend I'm going to meet with my partner at the spinning facility to start getting everything in order to start getting contracts arranged to make sure we secure the best fiber ASAP. After I have a more exact picture of the demand for each fiber, we'll go ahead and finalize contracts so we can get a more concrete delivery date for our fibers in spring!

Stretch Goals

• Colors

Currently, I've gotten the most feedback for the crimson cashmere yarn, and that's going to be my first choice for the cashmere colors, and hoping we get some more capital to where I can stock the heather gray as well. The natural taupe, cream, crimson, and grey would be great staples to have in the cashmere. Working towards adding the light brown yak to the natural dark is something I'm really hoping for too.

Now that I have something more concrete to show my partners here, maybe they can work with me a bit more on minimums for different colors!

• Weights

I've also gotten the most feedback for fingering weight yarn. This is a bit further down the line as there are larger minimums for yarn weights than for dyeing runs, but something I'm still hoping for. Again, I'll update a bit more once I meet with my spinning partners this weekend!

Thanks again for the support, and as always, please don't hesitate to write or ask any questions!

-Jon

Thank you for 100 backers! And a few things about shipping!
about 6 years ago – Mon, Jan 29, 2018 at 10:31:32 PM

Thank you guys so far for all the support and trust. I knew this project would take a lot of backers, so thank you for the pledges. I'm still optimistic we will get to our goal, but I think it's going to be close! Please share the project around knitting communities you're involved with if you can, or let me know of groups and communities that might be interested and I'll show up and spread the word personally! It could definitely make the difference in the end.

I also wanted to give a little more shipping info, especially for my backers not in the U.S. I know shipping is a bit expensive compared to the cost of the rewards, so I wanted to break down how the shipping classes work and the costs for multiple rewards. Hopefully that can make the rewards more feasible for some of you guys!

For example, a 300g package is about $25 to countries outside of US/CA, but a 32oz/900g package is the same exact price ($25). Because of that, shipping will be the same price for the pre-funding special by itself, or if you add a 400g pack (720 total grams).  So, if you are interested in getting more than one reward, don't worry about paying double for shipping! $25 for 300g might sting a bit, but maybe makes more sense at 400 or 500g.

I'll be using backerkit for fulfillment, so I'll be sure to set up shipping classes for multiple rewards that ensure everybody gets the cheapest shipping prices possible. If it's hard to calculate now, you can also add more to cover shipping after the campaign ends in backerkit. I guess I just wanted to let you guys know that shipping will get cheaper after combining rewards, they won't just add together!

International Backers

Here are some more classes for my international backers if you guys are curious:

Up to 32oz/900g - $16 for Canada, $24 everywhere else

Up to 48oz/1350g - $26 for Canada, $36 everywhere else

Up to 64oz/1800g - $38 for Canada, $58 everywhere else.

US Backers

Shipping will also be cheaper to combine for US backers. Here are some classes that will help for combined weights:

Up to 16oz/450g- Varies (caps at $8)

Up to 32oz/900g- $10

Up to 48oz/1350 - $12

Alright that's it for me right now. Thank you guys again, and please let me know if you have any questions.

-Jon

A check in after the first few days!
about 6 years ago – Wed, Jan 24, 2018 at 03:49:06 PM

Thank you to everybody that has gotten on board early to give this project a great jump. Big thanks to backers from the first campaign that came on for this one too, it's awesome to have returning backers!

This campaign has started quite a bit differently from my first one. On my first project, the large majority of backers came from organic Kickstarter traffic. This time, a lot more of the pledges are from my personal facebook network and also from a couple of knitting forums, mainly ravelry and knitting paradise. Ravelry in particular has made me very aware of the issues that the knitting community has faced with campaigns gone bad in the past, whether it be with poor quality products or just theft/not delivering products.

I definitely appreciate the once bitten twice shy mentality, and will do everything I can to stay transparent and honest throughout this entire project. If I had any doubt I wouldn't be able to deliver a quality product at the end of this campaign, I wouldn't be running it.

With the somewhat spotty history that many have experienced with past campaigns, I'm humbled and thankful that many of you are still on board here, and I really appreciate the trust! As always, feel free to holler at me if you have any questions.

Thank you!

-Jon

Coldest night of the year!
over 6 years ago – Sun, Jan 21, 2018 at 06:50:38 AM

The animals are already busy growing out their downy furs! Launching on the coldest night of the year.

 Thanks for being a part of the campaign!

-Jon