The INCrowdteam - Indiana's Etsy Street Team: INCrowdteam Interview, 5/23/09

This is a REAL treat for me...I am handing the INCrowdteam Interview series off to an Etsy and INCrowdteam newbie who has style, talent, and a great sense of humor. Annette is terrific, and our blog is lucky. Get to know her AND her work! Read below...

Where were you born & raised? Where are you now & what led you there?
I was born and raised in Apple Valley, CA. I lived there for 25 years and then made a brief stop-over in Minden, NV for a couple of months to spend some time working in a photo lab with a friend before heading east. In September I'll have been in Indiana for 15 years. I guess it's my brother-in-law's 'fault' that I've ended up here. He's from Boone County, and he met my sister when he was a Marine in 29 Palms, CA. When he got out, he went home, and my sister went with him. I used to come visit them in the summertime or fall when I was a kid, and I've always loved it here. When I finally wised up and said, "I've gotta get out of this desert!" my brother-in-law told me I had to come out in the dead of winter, so I could "find out what 'cold' really is." So I did! You all are going to think I'm crazy, but I love winter here even more than summer or fall! Who wouldn't want to live here? The people are so kind, and there are TREES! I stayed with my sister and brother-in-law in Pendleton for several months when I first got here. Since then, I've lived on Indy's west side (I thought the track noise was bees in my apartment wall!), in wonderful Woodruff Place, near the State Fairgrounds, and now my fiancé and I live downtown.

What's the origin of your shop's name?
I'm part of a knit graffiti crew called the Yarnburners. A crew member's husband (who also thought up the group's name) came up with it, and it ended up being my 'tag name.' There is a stitch in knitting called stockinette. Since my name is Annette and I knit every day, it made sense to me that my Etsy shop would be called Stockannette.

What types of creations do you sell in your Etsy shop?
My main focus is handknit scarves and hats, but since I wasn't sure if people would want to buy knit things until the weather gets cold, I've also listed a few random crafty items, like a vase that I gussied up with glass gems and mirror tiles, some gift tags and stamped notecards.

What's your educational background, as it relates to your work?
Uh oh... my education doesn't related to my work at all. I went to community college in CA, and I went to Marian College for a little while. I was an English major (mainly because that major required the fewest math classes).

What’s your real-world job (shudder)?
I'm a Manufacturing Assistant at Wiley (we publish the ... For Dummies books, Webster's Dictionary, Happy Healthy Pet series, technical bibles, and Teach Yourself Visually books, among others). It sounds like I work on an assembly line or something, but really I monitor the book manufacturing process and compile reports and statistics... and file - lots of filing.

Does creating stuff run in the family? Were you taught things on purpose or by osmosis from prior generations?
My mom is a very gifted knitter and crocheter. She can crochet or knit while sitting in a dark movie theater (and other places). If only I'd paid attention when she tried to teach me when I was little - I would be so rockin' now!

How'd you get started creating?
Regarding knitting: I learned from a coworker on Easter last year. I had no idea it would "stick," I just wanted to hang out with my favorite girls for an afternoon!

What's your muse, or what turns that little creative light inside you on
A ball of awesome yarn and an empty circular needle.

Do you belong to any Street Teams (other than the INCrowdteam)?
Nope; I go where the INCrowd goes.

What's your favorite thing about selling on Etsy?
I just had my first sale on Wednesday, so my favorite thing right now is the anticipation of positive feedback from a buyer. Secretly, I can imagine walking down the street here or in some far-off place and seeing someone wear a scarf or a hat that I made; I might start screaming and clapping!

Recommend your five favorite shops on Etsy.
1) PixieDustinc
2) timesandchimes
3) chinquapin
4) Vegancraftastic
5) FlyingPigFibers

Show us three of your own favorite pieces, from your shop and work.

Blue-and-Green Striped Hat: once I started knitting hats, it did not take me long at all to get sucked in by the magic that is self-striping sock yarn.

The Lemon-Lime Fuzzy Popcorn Scarf started out as a gauge swatch for a graffiti light switch cover, and I just kept on knitting! This scarf made it to Etsy's front page one day at around 4 a.m.!

Glass Vase with Blue Glass Gems and Mirror Tiles: this vase happened because my aforementioned fiancé is such a good flower-giver that we started to amass quite a collection of plain florist vases. I figured that a decorated vase could be decor on its own and not just get shoved into a high-up cupboard somewhere. Add to that the kind of glass gems used in centerpieces/floral arrangements that I seem to have a knack of "winning" at weddings, and let the sparkle-y goodness commence!

Do you sell on consignment? If so, where?
Not yet, but maybe someday. Baby steps, people!

Do you blog? If so, where can we find your blog?
Yes, I do: http://stockannette.blogspot.com/

Do you Tweet? What’s your Twitter username so we can all follow you?
I rock in the treetops all day long... ha ha. I mean, yes; my username is stockannette.

Are you on Facebook? What’s your FB id so we can all friend you?
Type in "Annette Dutro" on Facebook if you want to find me.

Anything else to brag on?
Last month the Yarnburners tagged the inside of the Harrison Center for the Arts as part of the First Friday event, and a photo I took of one of the pieces is on page 34 of the June 2009 issue of Indianapolis Monthly. Friday June 5 between 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. the Yarnburners, in conjunction with the Indy Craft Mafia will be tagging the outside of the HCA with knit/crochet/woven graffiti in preparation for the upcoming Indieana Handicraft Exchange, and any fiber artists are welcome to join in (feel free to contact me for more info).

And now, the big question: why on earth would you want to take over the INCrowdteam Interview series? Are you nuts, or what?
I'm a newbie, and I think the only person on the Team that I've met in person is dragoncat, who referred me. I've been wondering to myself, "Who are the rest of the people on the INCrowdteam? How am I supposed to get to know them?" So I finally decided to volunteer to help, in the hope that I would be assigned the Interviews. I can't think of a better way to acquaint myself with you all than to ask you questions myself!