December Give-Away brought to you by Firefly Cargo Bay

Gorramit! I was so busy knitting all weekend that I almost forgot to announce the December Give-Away! This month's give-away is very special indeed as it is a small sampling one of the very fine products that you will find when you visit Firefly Cargo Bay. Yessir, Earthgirl has many fine items hiding in the little nooks and crannies of http://www.fireflycargobay.com/, but one of my very favourites is her collection of temporary tattoos:

There are four fabulous designs perfect for any Browncoat: Blue Sun, Serenity, The Fruity Oaty girls, and the Independent Patch. And for the month of December you can get a set of all four tattoo designs with any purchase from Ma Cobb's Hat Shoppe! Just enter the code "Firefly Cargo Bay" in the notes to seller when checking out and you can take home these shiny tatts:

Perfect for wearing with your Jayne hat, or with some of my very fine Browncoat Buttons!

And of course you need to see all the other shiny wares that Earthgirl has in her Cargo Bay! I don't think a finer collection of 'verse wares have ever been together in one place at the same time! Independent flags, black-market beagles, Badger hats, Kaylee-esque parasols, terrifying space monkies.... this stash has got it all! And if you hurry you can get it all in time for the holidays for that special Browncoat on your Christmas list!

Much love, and stay shiny,

Ma Cobb

Customer Appreciation Pictures! Shiny!

One of the things that I absolutely love about etsy.com is their feedback system. The first great thing about it is that it's completely optional, which is awesome cuz there's no pressure (although I do leave feedback for each and everyone of my buyers, regardless if I get feedback back. That's just common courtesy, in my opinion).

But the best thing about etsy feedback is: customer appreciation pictures! Another optional yet awesome feature which has allowed me to take a little glimpse of my happy hats on happy heads. Here are few little gems that made their way to me. Thanks to LordGorthaur, Kontxesi, and XBettieMacheteX.

Oh so shiny. ;)

Well that's all from me for now. Stay tuned later this week to find out about December's Give-away! Wait, is this week almost over already? Gorrammit!

Reminder For Christmas Holiday Shipping Dates

There are only a couple weeks left to order Jayne hats and buttons so that they will ship in time for the holidays, and I just thought I'd pop in and put up a little reminder about these dates. These are suggested mailing dates, and with occassional customs hold-ups for orders going outside of Canada, it's important to order early if you want guaranteed delivery for your Holiday gift-giving. So here they are:

Expedited within Canada: Dec 12th-22nd (depends on location, if you're in a remote community, or outside of Ontario, err on the side of caution)
Airmail to the USA: Dec 9th
Airmail to the UK & Europe: Dec 8th
Airmail to Australia: Dec 8th
Airmail to Everywhere else: Dec 1st-8th (depending on your country)

With that said, of course I will still be knitting and shipping Jayne hats after these dates, so if you're not worried about getting them in time for the holidays, then just ignore my frantic worrying. ;)

Jayne Hat Review at DrFaulken's Very Fine Blog

A nice little surprise awaited Ma Cobb's Hat Shoppe this week! Earlier in the week I got a message from a Browncoat to let me know that he had gotten his hat, and that he loved it! But that's not all! He also sent me a link to his blog where he had done an in-depth review of the experience of opening his Very Fine Package. And now I present it for all to read at DrFaulken's Very Fine Blog! A very big thanks to DrFaulken for the kind words!And I must follow that up with another happy Browncoat in his Very Fine Hat. This one sent to me by greg of blindpigpress.etsy.com a fellow Etsian! Check out his shiny buttons and prints!

Thanks to greg for letting me borrow this one! :) I love to see happy Browncoats in Jayne hats!

The hats have been flying right out of my hands this past week, and I think there will be a couple more crazy weeks of Christmas shoppers before it gets to be too late to ship in time for the holidays. I'm trying to take it all in stride. Despite being the busiest that I have ever been, I am having quite a good time running around like a crazy person. My local postal workers have come accustomed to seeing me everyday at the post office, and they all know what is in my little boxes and envelopes. I am "the hat girl". Heehee. Nothin' wrong with that. :)

Milestones

Howdy friends of Ma Cobb,

Things have been bustling around here! I'm fair certain that the Christmas shopping season is in full-swing here on the cortex... or at least at my little shoppe. I'm not nearly as prepared as I wanted to be, but I think that's only because I have underestimated just how busy things can get. But I am wholly enjoying the busy-ness (business? lol). And I'm not frantic... yet. Also: I am so grateful for early Christmas shoppers! Thank you all!

So a couple of little milestones happened this week. First of all I wore out my first pair of knitting needles! Well, okay, it's not like they're completely worn down to the nubs or anything, but they got a couple little cracks and started splitting a bit and kept catching the yarn, kind of like a hang-nail. My diy patch-job with pink nailpolish really wasn't cutting it, so I decided that with 300+ Jayne hats under their belts, it was probably time to retire my much-loved needles.

Which brings me to my second milestone: 300 Jayne hats! Yes folks, that's right! I have passed the 300 mark! There are over 300 Browncoats walking around in the world wearing one of my cunning knit Jayne hats! Well maybe they're not wearing them right this minute, but... you get my point. The number isn't completely accurate, as I didn't start keeping track until sometime in 2005 when I started selling them (at that point I had already knit a good little number for friends and local Browncoats).

Anyway, I thought that was an interesting tidbit, for those who like to keep track. It's funny, but 300 seems simultaneously like soooo many, and yet not that many at all. Is that weird? I've been doing this for awhile now, and yet I can't even imagine what all those hats would look like if, say, they all got together to hang out, or something... But then again, maybe my sleepiness is making my brain-pan a little whimsical. So perhaps I will turn in for the evening.

See you in the world,
Love,
Ma Cobb

Suggested Mailing Dates for the 2008 Holiday Season

Well, despite the lack of updates, I thought it was probably a good idea to let everyone know that I am back from my little weekend away, and finally just starting to catch-up from my weekend without knitting. It was indeed a nice little break, but I got back feeling a bit panicked as this past week was hectic with keeping up with orders (of the Jayne hat and button variety). But I gave myself a bit of time this weekend and I'm pretty much all caught up now(or ahead of the game, in some cases), so let the Christmas Orders begin... or continue, as the case may be. :) Thankfully there are quite a lot of on-the-ball Browncoats out there who have already started their Christmas shopping. Despite not being much of an advance-Christmas-gift-buyer myself, I do salute those that are staying ahead of the game. It makes things quite a lot easier for me, and all of us who make hand-made items perfect for gift-giving.

Speaking of Christmas, I've been meaning to post the Suggested Mailing dates for the 2008 holiday season. Unfortunately Canada Post is being a bit cagey, and they're not posting the dates for packages that are being sent to the US via Small Packet Air, which of course is my main shipping method. They're also not giving dates for Expedited within Canada (my second most frequent shipping method). This is so frustrating! Sometimes I just don't understand Canada Post. And going to the Post Office every day, I've heard much the same thing from my Postal Workers! Anyway, the following are the best guesses that we could come up with:

Expedited within Canada: Dec 12th-22nd (depending on location, if you're in a remote community, or not in Southwestern Ontario, err on the side of caution)
Airmail to the US: Dec 8th-9th
Airmail to the UK & Europe: Dec 8th
Airmail to Australia: Dec 8th
Airmail to Everywhere else: Dec 1st-8th (depending on your country)

As I've stated, these are just our best guesses, and should make it on time. I suggest ordering early in order to guarantee your package gets to you before the holidays. If you miss these dates, or it's close and you want it guaranteed to reach you on time, these quicker (and more expensive methods) are also an option. Just email or write a note to me while checking out and I can upgrade you and send you a paypal invoice for the extra shipping:

Xpresspost to the US: Dec 15th (approx. $20 for shipping depending on location)
Xpresspost within Canada: Dec 22nd (approx. $20 for shipping depending on location)
Xpresspost to Europe, Australia, & Everywhere Else: Dec 12th (approx $32-$55, depending on location! Quite pricey!)

So, there's good news in there, and there's bad news. I wish that I could control the Post, but sadly I am just a little Jayne-hat-knitter, and I can only bend to the whim of Canada Post. Please let me know if you have any questions whatsoever, and I'll do my best to answer them (or find out from my trusty Postal Workers).

Stay shiny, and order early!!
Love,
Ma Cobb

Ma Cobb away from the Cortex for the weekend

I just added this to my shoppe announcement on etsy.com but just thought I should mention it here as well:

:::Please note: Nov 1st-Nov 2nd 2008 Ma Cobb will be going on a little trip to visit her boy Jayne on Serenity and will be away from the Cortex! Any convos/emails or orders received probably won't be responded to until Monday November 3rd. Rest assured that all orders placed over the weekend will still be shipped promptly on Monday as usual:::

Anyone cashing in on November's free give-away will still be able to do so over the weekend. I will confirm all orders, and respond to all convos on Monday, once I get back to the world.

Thank you all for your patience! :)