Should I deviate from PayPal and accept cheques?

I realise the delimma that people have concerning the Internet. I have great concerns too, and that is why I like using PayPal. Customers don't have to have a PayPal account, just a debit, or even credit card, and PayPal deal with the money side of it. It is nothing to do with me. If customers don't have the money, it is PayPal's problem. I also have access to PayPal's invoicing system which records my sales, so I don't have to do any of that. Personally, I would be more concerned about sending money to an individual online than I would be to PayPal.

With regard to printing, I have no idea of the cost! With regard to postage, I would have to send things by Special Delivery so that I know that they were received. The cost would just be too high. That's why I set things up as a download. And it seems to me that if I were to start doing this for some customers then I would be legally obliged to do it for everyone who asks.

What do you think?

Redesigning website continues...

I am changing the design of the website so that it has a fresh, new look to it. It still keeps its knit4dolls banner, and banners for Bratz, Barbie, Action Man and HM Armed Forces. But a lot of other things are going. These things tend to slow down the loadtime of the page and Google doesn't like visitors having to wait too long!

There are several other things that need doing as I work my way through the site. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the buzz phrase at the moment. It means that, without good SEO, a site will very likely not appear on Google searches. And as this is how most people find things on the internet, it is important to try and get it right. Google doesn't like broken links either, and I've corrected a couple of those.

And I'm learning more and more about 'keywords', good ones and where to put them. From an SEO point of view, there is a world of difference between 'knitting patterns for barbie' and 'barbie knitting patterns'. Who'd have thought it!

Well... I'd best get back to changing yet another page...

Which one?

A new year, a new decade even, so a new look for our website...



First is the old-look, and then is the new-look website designs.

I've got to consider things like weight of pages and load times. Google is not happy with websites that keep you, the visitor, waiting for ages, well... seconds, for the website to load up onto your PC. And we all need to keep Google happy to ensure that our websites appear in the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages).

I think that Google will be much happier with the new design... even the weight of the new photo above is much less than that of the old design! But I have only changed the Home page as yet, and shall have to plug away, bit by bit, with all the others...

Which do you prefer?

HM Armed Forces are Dads too...

Knit civvies by using a variety of different colours. And be brave and put your own design onto the jumper. Use the blank grids from our Freebies page and show us how they look by posting a photo on our knit4dolls Forum.

HM Armed Forces in Newcastle United football strip...

This is to be my son-in-law's Christmas present... well, the football strip anyway. I have cheated with the design of the T-shirt, as vertical stripes are so awkward. I bet you can see what I've done with the front... but what do you think I've done with the number on the back?

New combat colours for HM Armed Forces action figures too!

We have concentrated our knitwear photography on the present camouflage colours of mainly dark green, as with the trousers, and beige, as with the hat. The new colouring though can be achieved by using the lighter green/brown yarn as shown here with the jacket and T-shirt.

And there are numerous other colours and shades available in Rowans Classic Siena to knit up some civvies for Dad to wear too!

I can't believe it...

I only finished one of them a few days ago... And they've been stolen! My knit4dolls HM Armed Forces Eco-Items knitting pattern, and, a week or so ago, my knit4dolls Action Man Eco-Outfits knitting pattern.

They were purchased as pdf downloads via PayPal, but have cropped up at other locations. I know the woman's name, postal address, email address and I have found her IP address. I have found 2 recipient IP addresses, and 1 university provider.

I have blocked everything from my website... but she has my files... I just can't believe it! What can I do?

Please... keep your eyes open for these knitting patterns on ebay or anywhere!