A couple of months ago, I had an urgent order for my first “lovey” from a friend whose son was sick with an ear infection, about to have surgery to have ear tubes put in, and his bunny lovey was about to fall apart. I had never made a lovey before, but I was happy to come up with a pattern that would make a good replacement for this little boy–and fast!
I worked as efficiently as I could and made the lovey in just one day! I used the softest yarns I had, including a puffy yarn for the “blanket” portion of the lovey, which I had used to make a baby blanket a few months before.
Unfortunately, only a few weeks later, my friend sent me a picture that the bottom of the blanket had started to come apart. Previously I hadn’t had to even think about any warranty on my products, but of course I knew that it would likely come up at some point in doing business.
I immediately set about making a replacement bunny lovey free of charge, and I added improvements to help the blanket portion stay stronger. My friend mentioned that the unraveling likely happened because her son is comforted by twining his fingers throughout the “holes” in the blanket, so I did several rows of double crochet in the middle, to create holes of different sizes and tensions for him. I also added a border with worsted weight yarn matching the bunny, and at my friend’s request I used a non-white yarn, which would show dirt less and require less frequent washings.
I delivered the replacement lovey in person, along with two more loveys that she had ordered, and felt great about how my little business handles returns and replacements. (Luckily they only live an hour and a half away from me!) I was also pleased to see that the original lovey hadn’t actually unraveled–the strands of yarn had just pulled tighter and looser in different places, so it only needed to be balanced back out to be fixed, and adding a border should completely solve the issue for future loveys made with this soft, puffy yarn.
I already have plans to add a border to the original bunny lovey when I have a break in projects and orders. I am really happy with our truly “satisfaction guaranteed” policy, and with how much fun it has been so far to own a small business in general. It has been about five months so far, and I have been kept pretty busy with a steady stream of custom orders, and have recently been able to make a small amount of inventory to offer for sale online and at our local farmer’s market. The ratio of money made to time spent and materials purchased is of course not particularly profitable, but I have at least been able to make back the cost of materials for the most part, and I love getting to make things for people, and getting to try new projects that I wouldn’t have come up with on my own. It feels so great to get to be creative, and to share what I’m making with the world!
~Crafty Reba
**Update!**
In early July I was able to add a border and reinforcing circle on the bottom center to hold the bunny’s head steady. I look forward to returning the stronger bunny to his owner in person in a couple of weeks!
