attirbutes different for each product

I have read the tutorial and it is great - but I have gotten my mind around all this yet.

I will need the attributes to be different for each product
ie
needles
Tapestry or chenille
24,26,28.

Then baby afghan - white, ivory or window pane

scisssors
green, pink, purple.

and
knitting needles
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 etc.

instead of t shirts are large med and small or red white and blue.

Can this be done?

Go to the Catalog ... Option Name Manager ... and add the Option Names that you need such as:
Needles
Scissors
Knitting Needles

Make them as Radiobuttons or Dropdown depending on what you want ...

The Sort Order is for how they will display on the screen if used together ... I like to number them by 10s ... 10, 20, 30 ...

Next, go to the Option Value Manager ...

Select your Option Name, and add an Option Value such as:
Option Name: Knitting Needles
Option Value Name: 1
Sort Order: 10

Option Name: Knitting Needles
Option Value Name: 2
Sort Order: 20

Option Name: Knitting Needles
Option Value Name: 3
Sort Order: 30

etc. etc.

Once all of your Option Names have their Option Values, go to the Attributes Controller and find your Product ...

Select the Option Name and Option Value and add any Price or Weight information ...

When done, you can hit the UPDATE SORT ORDER to set the Sort Order of the Attributes based on the Defaults that you set in the Option Value Manager ...

If you look in the FAQs, there are more detailed instructions on Attributes and other features of Zen Cart that can help you out ...

Thank you I will try - I have been reading and rereading everything I can find on this and I am a :ohmy: deer in headlights.
can I set the sort order to numberic or alphabetized?
or is the manual the best?

I am assuming I can have as many option names as I want?
Will all this slow down my site?

I have the 3 column mod and the attributes did not show up on the same page as the product..

Attributes only show on the product_info page not in the Listings ...