Important: why the prices on Etsy might rise

June 12, 2016July 27, 2018 / Asta Lamminen / 2 Comments

Hello, everyone! And happy summer! To be frank the spring was more summery over here in Finland than the June itself, but I still hope for some nicely warm days. I hope your summer (or winter!) is going well!

Today I wanted to address one important thing, which includes both the buyers and the sellers on Etsy: the prices. If you are shopping on Etsy very often, you might have noticed already (or maybe not), that in quite many small shops (like mine) prices rose a bit. Everyone has had their own change, but prices in PurringPyjamas rose €1-2 (US $ 1.12-2.25). I really hope there will be no need to raise the prices even more. Here comes in the most important question: WHY? The answer is simple: additional VAT. Or, at least, I wish it was that simple.

As we all know, people pay VAT from goods and/or services. But in order to be eligible to pay VAT, you need to earn a certain amount of money (it differs from country to country). In my case – or PurringPyjamas case – I’d need to earn from the shop €10 000 or more in order to pay VAT. Guess, do I earn that much? Not even close. So I don’t need to register as a VAT payer for PurringPyjamas and I do not need to pay additional VAT to Finnish government, ‘cause my income from this little Etsy shop is not even close to the limit. But guess what – Etsy requires EVERYONE to pay VAT. It doesn’t matter, how much you earn from your shop – you can earn €50/year or €50 000/year, you still will have to pay THE SAME percentage of VAT, unless you already registered yourself as VAT payer beforehand. So, basically… Even if I earn that €50/year, I still have to pay VAT. And no, that money definitely does not go to Finnish government (as I am not required to pay tax), it goes to Etsy’s pocket. So, this kind of decision to take VAT automatically might be the right decision for big shops, that have huge sales on Etsy, but for small shops it hurts, because now we need to not only pay taxes to Etsy (yes, Etsy as sales platform has it’s own taxes too), but also pay VAT, for which we aren’t even eligible.

I just thought to clarify this a bit as eventually it might raise some questions. I simply didn’t want the buyers to think that I rose the prices for absolutely no reason. Shipping prices will not change (at least in my shop), even though Etsy charges tax from shipping too (crazy, I know!).

I hope you all are having a beautiful morning/afternoon/evening/night! 🙂

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What’s New In PurringPyjamas In April?

April 29, 2016July 27, 2018 / Asta Lamminen / Leave a comment

Oh, the time flies! It seems like just a moment ago we celebrated Christmas and beginning of the 2016, and here we are now – almost half a year is gone. Everything is green again, the sun’s shining and we meet the summer soon. But it doesn’t mean that life in PurringPyjamas stops! This month there came quite a few new designs to the shop. And here they are – I hope you like them!

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We start with this beautiful white sweater. It is made from very thick and warm yarn, that consists of 75% wool & 25% polyamide. The sweater is white with small dots of brownish and orange color, which makes it a little more fun. And oh, don’t even get me started on these gorgeous marble beads! I bought them a while ago, and once this sweater was crocheted it just came together perfectly – it looked like these beads were meant for it! You can get the sweater here: Marble Sweater.

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While making sweaters, I didn’t forget about the beds too! When I noticed how much my cats enjoy sleeping in cat beds, I just couldn’t resist, but make one for you too! This beautiful bed is made from 100% acrylic yarn, it is very thick, holds its shape like a dream and also is extremely comfortable to take with you while traveling. Get the bed here: Blue & Brown Cat Bed.

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Continuing with the sweater topic, here comes in this super thick beauty. It is extremely warm and breaths very well. And oh, it is so soft! I personally haven’t seen such soft wool in my life. The sweaters are made from 100% pure new wool. They are not only very comfy and super thick, but different sizes have different patterns. That means there’s no chance you will meet 10 other cats wearing the same looking sweater! Get this woolen beauty here: New Wool Sweater.

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And here is something for those, who love something a little more unusual and fluffy. This sweater is very warm and soft. It is extremely stretchy, so it won’t restrict your cat’s movement at all! I also love the color of the sweater – it’s so funky! Yarn that the sweater is made of is 45% wool, 30% polyamide & 25% acrylic.

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Now this is the design I wanted to try for a while. The thing is that I had its scheme for a while and I forgot how it originally looked like, I just remembered one thing: I liked it. So one evening I took this graphite gray color and started knitting. And this is how it turned out! I think it looks really good, what about you? The yarn is 75% wool and 25% polyamide, so it is very warm & soft. You can get the sweater here: Graphite Grays.

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For some reason I never really had many green sweaters in my shop, I don’t even know why! I found this gorgeous yarn and I just knew I had to make something from it. This sweater features the same design as my previous sweater that was made from soy & wool yarn (unfortunately, it is sold out). This green sweater is very warm and super soft. It is also really stretchy, so it is really comfortable to wear. Yarn is 100% wool. If you like this sweater, get it over here: Green Wool.

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Am I the only one, who thinks that this bright pink color suits Bacha really well? I am sure it would suit any cat, because just take a look at it – isn’t it one of the cutest sweaters you have ever seen? This pattern makes the sweater super stretchy, so it will fit well both very thin and chubbier cat. The yarn is 80% acrylic and 20% polyamide. Get the sweater over here: Think Pink.

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From bright pinks to neutral beige – this is how I like it! I love it when everyone can find something to suit their taste, for that reason as much as I love bright & fun colors, here’s something sophisticated and elegant. This sweater is made from 100% wool, it is very stretchy, soft and warm. It also has amber beads to make it look even more stylish. If you have a cat at home that simply loves being stylish, you should definitely get this sweater! There are two sweaters available – one is with sleeves, another one – sleeveless. Get the sweater of your choice over here: Beige Amber With Sleeves; Beige Amber Without Sleeves.

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The next sweater is made for the little kitties out there: this sweater is available in the kitten size and it is adorable! It is made in the same pattern as the pink sweater, just has some white stripes too. It is really soft & stretchy, so it will fit your little kitten for a while. It is also a great sweater to start with, because it is made from acrylic, which means that the sweater will be incredibly comfortable and will not irritate even the most sensitive skin. You can get this cutie here: Striped Kitten Sweater.

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And we have more green sweaters! This one looks extremely Christmasy to me not only because of its green color, but also because of this super cute reindeer Rudolph button! If this doesn’t say “Christmas” to you, I don’t know what else could! The sweater is quite simple, yet very cute. It is warm and soft, made of 75% wool and 25% polyamide yarn. If you feel the holiday spirit of this sweater, get it here: Rudolph Sweater.

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And the last, but definitely not the least is this sweater, which I call Christmas tree. Wonder why? Because it is green with some other colors mixed in, so it looks like a nicely decorated Christmas tree! The yarn is extremely soft and warm, because it consists of 50% acrylic, 30% wool and 20% mohair. Want some softness for your kitty? Then get this sweater here: Christmas Tree Sweater.

And here is a little picture from behind the scenes – Bacha was yawning in this picture. Isn’t she hilarious?

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Addiction to hoodies and colorful cat beds

March 24, 2016July 27, 2018 / Asta Lamminen / 2 Comments

And here comes another blog post just before Easter! The sun was shining so much these days that I just couldn’t make gray things anymore. So what happened? Look below!

So the most colorful thing in this post definitely has got to be this cat bed. I crocheted it a while ago, but just couldn’t find time to take some proper pictures of it. But I did today! This bed is super comfy, so my Cornish Rex cat Coco got immediately addicted to it – she just didn’t want to give it back! I think I will have to make one for her too. This bed is hand crocheted from 100% acrylic yarn, so it’s really soft & thick at the same time. It holds the shape perfectly, weighs about 400 g (almost 1 pound) and is very easy to take with you while traveling! You can purchase the bed over here: Colorful pet bed.

Now here come the hoodies! I haven’t made hoodies in a while, so when I found this soft acrylic yarn, I knew immediately what I’m gonna do with them. This yarn is 100% acrylic, so it is super soft and will not irritate even the most sensitive skin. It is also very stretchy and snuggly, so if you want your kitty to have something cute & soft, this sweater will meet all your expectations! You can get the hoodies here: Brown cable hoodie, Forest green & blue hoodie.

I hope you all are having a wonderful day!

asta

The Jungle Spirit

March 15, 2016July 27, 2018 / Asta Lamminen / Leave a comment

And here we are again – a week later there’s more sweaters and more designs coming to my shop! This time it’s all about those bright and beautiful spring colors.

These first sweaters are from “Colibri” series. It was a limited edition yarn, which (unfortunately) I found a little bit too late, so I could grab only couple different balls that were still left. I absolutely love the color of this yarn – it’s so bright and just associates with warmth, sun, good mood and great times! The yarn is not only beautiful looking, but also is very thick due to the pattern I chose for these sweaters. It consists of 100% acrylic, which means that it’s soft and doesn’t irritate even the most sensitive skin. Only blue colibri (the middle one) is still available, so make sure to grab it if you want it! You can get it here: Blue Colibri.

Another sweater continues the jungle theme. Because where else could you see such an elegant leopard?! Well, probably at your home if you get one of these sweaters! This style is available in few sizes, so it will make quite a few kitties happy and wild. The sweater is hand knitted, while the decorations around neck, bottom of the sweater and sleeves are hand crocheted. This sweater was designed very fast and impulsively as I didn’t know how I want it to look like once it’s finished. But I am happy with the result – I think it looks really good! The yarn is 75% wool and 25% polyamide, so it’s very warm and breaths really well. You can get the sweater here: Elegant Leopard.

Now this sweater is a real improvisation! I started it with this beautiful brown yarn that has tiny golden threads in it and ended up with soft wool & mohair mix. This sweater is really comfy and will keep your kitty really warm! Peach color yarn is 48% acrylic, 32% polyamide, 10% wool and 10% mohair, while the brown one consists of 100% acrylic. Get this warm sweater for your one of a kind kitty here: Peachy Golds.

And the last, but definitely not the least is this sweater made of 100% acrylic yarn with little golden threads. I am really unsatisfied, that it was quite impossible to show in the pictures all the shine that it has, but my camera just refuses to see what I see! 🙂 Probably it’s because the golden shine shows up in certain light and only in some parts of the sweater. It also has this cute kitty button, which nicely finishes up the sweater. You can get this nice and soft sweater over here: Golden Shine.

I hope you enjoyed this little blog post and have a wonderful day! 🙂

asta

Where birds of paradise flee and Arctic foxes sleep

March 5, 2016July 27, 2018 / Asta Lamminen / Leave a comment

Hello everyone! It’s been a while since I last made not only a blog post, but also something new for PurringPyjamas shop. I was so busy working on different things, making sweaters that are already staples in my shop and still trying to keep PurringPyjamas Facebook page updated. But now I have more free time, which means I can make more new stuff. And so here are some sweaters I made over the past few weeks. Let’s get right into it!

The first sweater is what I like to call “Bird Of Paradise”. I know that the colors might not be exactly the same, but it was the first thought that came to my mind once I finished it. It is very soft and warm, made out of 100% acrylic yarn. This is not an actual sweater, because it is quite short, so I like to call it a vest or a crop top – whichever you prefer. There’s only one sweater available. You can get it here: Bird Of Paradise.

Continuing with the fluffy theme, here we have yet another sweater, just this time it is called “Moss”. That’s how the yarn was called, and I think it describes the color & general appearance of the sweater quite accurately. It is extremely soft, very comfy and warm. The yarn is 40% polyamide and 30% acrylic, which gives it the softness, and it also contains 30% wool to keep the kitty warm. You can get it right here: Moss sweater.

And the last one – but not the least – sweater in this fluffy series is this Arctic Fox sweater. It is M size, so none of my cats fit to model it (considering it’s 3 sizes too big for my cats). I tried my best to show how it looks like, but then again – when the sweater is this fluffy, you can’t even tell whether you’re looking at the front of the sweater or the back of it. 🙂 Nevertheless, this sweater is the warmest, fluffiest and thickest out of all three fluffy sweaters. The yarn is 100% acrylic. It is available over here: Arctic Fox.

This yarn I had for a while. I think I bought it back in the summer of 2015, because as soon as I saw it, I fell in love with it and had to have it. Especially, that it was a limited edition yarn, which means that once it’s gone, it’s gone. Few days ago I checked the company’s website, and I was so happy I bought quite a bit of this yarn, because it is not available anymore. This sweater has beautiful ombre effect that goes from dark gray to gorgeous baby blue/bluish mint color. The neckline has a design of cable knit, while the front of it is decorated with metallic beads. I was thinking for a while about the design of this sweater, but in the end I decided to leave this gorgeous yarn on it’s own without adding some crazy patterns and instead I played with the neckline a bit. The yarn is 100% acrylic, so it is extremely soft, very stretchy, thick and warm. There are quite many sweaters available in different sizes. Get one of these gorgeous sweaters for your friend over here: Fresh mint.

Now these 3 sweaters are made out of the same yarn, just in different colors. Let me tell you: these sweaters are the softest things you’ve ever touched in your life! They’re extremely stretchy, which means that they give maximum movement ability for your cat. The yarn is made of 48% acrylic and 32% polyamide, which provide the softness and stretchiness, while 10% of mohair and 10% of wool give the warmth and nice fluff to the sweater. These sweaters are available in few sizes, you just need to choose the color you like! You can find the sweaters here: Soft Beige, Browns & Grays, Deep Blues.

And here are some behind the scenes pictures. I hope you enjoy it! 🙂

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So who’s the winner? (Video)

December 22, 2015July 27, 2018 / Asta Lamminen / Leave a comment

Christmas is only two days away… And that means the giveaway on PurringPyjamas Facebook page has ended! Even though I had many ideas on how to choose the lucky person, in the end I decided to pick the winner using a random name picker as I wanted everyone to have equal chances of winning and simply to make all the process easier and faster. And here I created a little video on how the winner was picked!

Congratulations to Jaz Zie! I will message you on Facebook, so don’t forget to check your inbox section of “Other/Message Requests” (that’s where the messages go from people that you’re not friends with on Facebook). If the prize won’t be claimed within 48 hours, a new winner will be picked! If you didn’t win this time, don’t worry – there will be way more giveaways in the future!

Again, congratulations to the winner and have a wonderful day everyone!

asta

Review: Zooplus Advent Calendar For Cats

December 2, 2015July 27, 2018 / Asta Lamminen / Leave a comment

Even though I don’t have an Advent calendar for myself, as soon as I saw this on Zooplus website while buying cat food, I knew I needed it in my life. You know how they say that many toys for kids are actually made for their parents to attract them? I’m telling you: that’s the case with me. Just my kids are my cats.

Yes, I know I’m a bit late here, but I just received it yesterday! Finnish post offices were on strike for a week, so yeah… Everything got kind of stuck somewhere. But regardless of the fact that it’s already December, let’s see what this calendar has to offer!

The calendar has 24 days in total (needed to clear that out, because apparently there exist calendars with fewer days). And can we just appreciate all this beautiful-crazy-cat-lady-like art on the cover? I mean, come on, even the snowman is actually a snowcat! It’s just so adorable.

The back side of Advent Calendar.

Beautiful little text.

Types of snacks and ingredients.

Calendar has 4 different types of snacks: chicken, beef, duck and tuna. Everything is freezer dried and super healthy for your pet – I mean, what could be healthier than 100% meat treats with no additives? Each day you get different treats. For example, on December 1^st we got a pack of 2 beef treats, while today (December 2^nd) there were 4 small pieces of tuna treats. I wonder what tomorrow holds. 🙂

You might ask: OK, you like it, but what about your cats? Well, firstly, let me tell you, that Beliza doesn’t eat meat, so I knew immediately she won’t like this calendar. And yes, she doesn’t. Bacha eats meat sometimes, especially if it’s treats. Meanwhile Coco absolutely loves everything meat related. So yesterday she was the one to finish up both beef treats and then she thanked me by rubbing against me and purring as loud as she could. She is just so sweet ❤ Anyway, today there were tuna treats, so both Bacha and Coco enjoyed them. Overall, I think it’s a great thing to have – this calendar is fun and if your cat loves healthy meat treats, he/she will be beyond happy to get something like this. The price of the calendar won’t empty your pocket either – I paid for it around €5-€6.

Sleepy Beliza.

If you’d like to get an Advent calendar like this one, simply go to Google and type in “Zooplus”. I advice to do it that way, because Zooplus has different websites for specific countries, so there would be no use if I gave you the Finnish version of it. But if you’d like to take a look at it and read more, here is link to the English website: Advent Calendar For Cats.

Let’s share the beauty of December with our purring friends too. 😉

P.S. Christmas giveaway is still up on Facebook! You can participate right over here: Christmas giveaway.

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Coco’s 1st Birthday + Christmas Giveaway

November 27, 2015July 27, 2018 / Asta Lamminen / 2 Comments

The last post being kind of negative, I think it’s time we come back to being positive! And while many bad things happened, I am blessed to say that even more good things are happening! One of them – Coco’s birthday. Yep, this little coconut turned 1 year old this month. Even though it’s been less than a year since I got her, it seems like she has lived with me for ages. And though she isn’t seen by the public as much as my Sphynx sisters, she is loved just as much! Coco is such sweetheart, who purrs and rubs against you all the time. She is just one super happy and positive kitty!

I still remember how I could hold her in my palm – she was so tiny and cute! Now she’s a real lady – super soft one, who loves to play and run around. And sleep under the blanket of course.

I am so happy that she and my two Sphynx girls get along so well – Coco is just a sister from another mister. 🙂

I don’t know about you, but it starts to feel like Christmas. Now I just need some snow, and Christmas songs will come to my home! But at the moment it’s cold, windy and rainy. Not very Christmasy, huh? But I refuse to accept that and that’s why I decided to do a giveaway! It’s my way of saying “Thank you” to all the wonderful people, who support me and believe in me. All the information about participating is in PurringPyjamas Facebook page, you just need to follow this link: Christmas giveaway. I wish you good luck, because that is the only thing that will decide who’s the winner! 😉

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But for now, have a wonderful Friday evening and an amazing weekend!

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A walk in dandelion fields

June 26, 2015July 27, 2018 / Asta Lamminen / 4 Comments

This week was so busy I thought I’ll lose my mind! I needed to do so many things, and my failed health definitely didn’t help me at all. But at least by now I’m finally getting a grip of everything and can finally focus on the important things. But, well, at least I always have my cute soft kitties to cuddle with. And let me tell you – their purrs heal better than any medicine! Like, how can you feel bad, when you walk into the room and see something like this?

When I was still feeling good and had some free time, my fingers were itching to do something. And so I found yarn, which I bought a while ago and started knitting. I didn’t really have any clear idea of the sweater, so I just went with the flow. I knew that even though the yarn is thick, I wanted it to look “summery” and fresh. And to me there’s one thing that remind me of re-born nature and late spring – dandelions. So why not to make a Dandelion sweater?

Doesn’t look bad after all, huh? It required some precision to make it, but it was so much fun. And oh, I love that bright coral color!

I have only two sweaters available in sizes S and XXS. Yarn is 100% polyacrylic.

This sweater is sold out.

And even though the sweater was so bright and nice, my model Beliza was all grumpy and sleepy. Nothing helped – no treats and no toys were interesting to her. Maybe it was the rainy weather that caused it, or maybe she just didn’t get enough of her beauty sleep. Anyway, we managed to work something out and got some nice pictures!

Bright reds and puffy fringes

June 23, 2015July 27, 2018 / Asta Lamminen / 1 Comment

The last few days I’ve been knitting and crocheting day and night. Literally. And now, as I am writing this post it’s exactly 4:18 am. Do I feel like sleeping? Nope. Am I tired? Can’t be sure, but my back would say a definite yes. So what do you do, when you have insomnia? In my case, you watch something and knit knit knit. Meanwhile Bacha is sitting on my laps, purring and giving me constant kisses. She’s such a sweetheart, it always seems that she understands so much more than I think she does. Cats are absolutely amazing animals sharing their unconditional love with us. 🙂

Anyway, so as I said before I was knitting loads of things. And here I represent one of the shirts I crocheted – a light, bright colored summer sweater with cute fringes all around it. This sweater is perfect for every naked sun worshipper as it protects sensitive skin from the sun, but also is very light, because it’s made of 100% cotton.

Actually, I’ve had different plans for this yarn and I even started crocheting an absolutely different sweater. But after some time I realized, that it will take loads of time to finish it. Yep, my imagination again went wild and created something that is so much harder to fulfill in the reality. So then this boho-kitty fringy sweater was born. It is available in 3 colors: bright red, medium blue and white as snow.

The sweater is available for purchase in my Etsy shop right over here: Fringy sweater.

And here are some pictures of Bacha enjoying her photoshoot. It was one of the lightest weight sweaters she has ever worn, so she definitely didn’t think twice about the play time!