Exciting times

It's all happening at the home of Mongrel Socks. We are the happy recipients of a TCF grant help to renew our website and improve online business practices. There's a whole raft of new products to get up and out on the new site and much work to be done to make all this happen. We are thrilled to have the help of a business professional, we could never normally afford. It is a real learning curve for us. The going will be hard, but we are pumped! We just can't wait for our new online presence to be reality. Baby steps for for now, until we stride into the brave new world of WEB 2.0. Yee Ha!

Techno Woes

For a redhead I'm making a very a very good job at being blonde! This has been the week from Hell, for me and my computer. Friday afternoon my computer went from being the best thing since sliced bread to a very expensive lamp - the lights were on but nobody was home. On to the help line, 1/2 hr of trying different fixes, on to the local "authorised' repairer. Listened while the person on the other end of the line moaned about the information given to me by the computer makers - Mac. Then wonder of wonders organised the computer to be picked up Monday am. It was, by a lovely young man, said he would have it fixed by Tuesday afternoon. It was. He'd managed to save the info on my hard drive which was faulty, replace it, good as new. Oh happy day! Opps! He forgot the power cord, so I had to wait until Wednesday afternoon, for that to be delivered before I could give it a go. I switched it on and.....blooooody hell........the computer did the same thing a gain. Straight on the phone, another 1/2 hour of trying all sorts of things. Until we tried checking the cord arrangements, amongst others I disconnected the printer, and voila! Apparently, the printer is faulty and as such the computer would let itself switch on - I can't believe how smart my little imac is. I think I just got a new hard drive for nothing - oh well - lucky it was under warranty. Then just as I was about to hang up, I thanked them for cleaning my screen as I had been having trouble getting it clean, and Dr mac said no problem as I probably didn't have the magnets I needed to clean it - as soon as it was out of my mouth I realised I'd made an idiot of myself but....I said...."Oh, I didn't know magnets got the dirt off things." He said "Um, the magnets take the screen's covering glass off, to clean behind it"
Anyway my macs back, we're back online, and I've got 49 emails to sort. The one upside of the whole thing was I got a lot of socks made in the last few days, not having my computer, as useful as it is, taking up buckets of my work time.

Snail Mail

2 weeks before Christmas was a busy time for us getting those last minute online orders out. One of those Pure Wool Mongrel Sock orders was to Italy to an Aussie expat. Auspost quotes 7 - 10 days transit time, so week thought it would probably arrive by Christmas or shortly after. But no. I received an email from the customer in late January to let me know they hadn't arrived. She wasn't worried - and thought they would turn up and was happy to wait a bit longer as the Italian Postal Service is renowned to be slow. Over the next 2 months we communicated, waiting, waiting. Good thing I was sitting down yesterday when her email arrived to tell me they had arrived! Intact! Unbelievable! The Italian Airport Customs date stamp was Jan 31 2009, it then took over 6 weeks to get from there across town to be delivered. They certainly went the long way. I'm thinking the Postman's vespa must have broken down. As consequence we now have to change how we send those Italian orders, opt for the much dearer Express Post option, hopefully they'll arrive a bit quicker.

My Inbox

Along with many of our online line orders coming though we have an area for comments often it's used for extra delivery details etc, but also some of our lovely sock customers leave comments for us. Here's a few recent ones.......

Hey, I am the proud owner of 3 pairs of your sexy socks, and they have travelled with me extensively, including hiking the inca trail. Kept me cosy and foot fetishly attractive the whole way. Just excellent socks!Lucy

Friend brought pairs back from Tasmania. Ideal for diabetics. Phil

Love wearing your sox so much want to share the pleasure with friends! Thnx so much! Bev

Your help was very much appreciated the last time. And she loves the socks, it is just that the chemo makes her feet turn septic, and anything that touches her skin causes her extreme pain.
Thanks again, Janet.

Hey there very groovy people. I am the one who bought a purple and blue beanie today, who takes all my friends who visit me from the west, you remembered me today by face. Anyway I am a musician and have a myspace site up and I would love to put a banner advertising your company up. I have absolutely no idea how you do that, but if you figure it out and you are cool with me doing that, can you let me know. Kris.

Hi Helen,

How much is postage to the UK?
What colour are you running at the moment?

I'm loving these socks over here in London.

- James

Knitting away as we do in our rural workshop, it's does give us a lift to hear that our socks are traveling the world and people really like to wear our Mongrel socks.

Down for the count

Well, winter is upon us.....apart from the fact that the weather has turned in the last few weeks, one sure sign is the dreaded lurgy has descended on the house. We'd be doing alright, then suddenly, bang, the whole family has it. I won't go in to the specifics but none of us are up to much right now. Unfortunately, when you work for yourself, there is no such thing as a "sickie", it really doesn't matter if we feel good or ordinary-if there is work to be done, it gets done, just without the usual enthusiasm. So we are all trying to stay rugged up and warm( all of us have our mongrel socks and arm/leg warmers on), the workshop is freezing, so I have been doing just about anything I can think of to stay out of it. Lucky, we're up to date with our production, and really only have the online order's to deal with. I can do most of the processing in the comfort of our office, with just quick trips out to pick and pack. Thank goodness for the computer, because dealing with customers face to face while battling the flu is unpleasant for all. I'm happy to share the love with our customers but not the flu.

Free Socks!

For the months of Oct-Nov '07 we are offering all our online customers a chance to try either our Mongrel Tasmanis Possum Socks or cotton rich Dr Socks for free with online purchases over $50 (for a free pair of Dr Socks) or with orders over $100 you'll receive a free pair of Possum Socks to try. Both are a completely different product to our ever popular Pure Wool Mongrel Socks and our Tuff Mongrel Socks, both are a fine sock rather than the thick and woolly nature of our Mongrels. The Dr Socks are a healthy fine cotton rich(95% Cotton/5% Elastine) featuring a loose non-restrictive top with no toe seam to irritate sensitive toes. These socks are great worn in warm weather, when bare feet is not an option. They are light weight and very comfortable. We have sizes from Ladies right thru to XL men's size, with a good range of colours.
Our Possum Socks are also a lighter weight sock, good worn in shoes that won't allow a thick sock comfortably. These socks are incredibly warm for their weight, featuring a top that is generous, so won't grab tight on your ankles. They are made of Possum Fur blended with Merino Superwash Wool (33% of each) with stretch nylon(33%) to give the user decent usability. These socks are machine washable unlike many of our competitors offerings.
All you need to do to take advantage of this offer is type in special notes area of our online order form "free socks" with your size when ordering and you'll received your free gift.