Welcome.

Welcome to the Willow Knits blog.

I'm Anne and I'll be using this blog to let you know what is happening with Willow Knits during the year.

I'll include which Farmers' Markets and shows I'm going to be at, what I'm working on and general news and events plus a little about myself.

If you want to buy one of the scarves or some of the yarn featured, just look in our etsy shop (to the right of the page) or contact me and I'll reserve it for you.











Monday 5 October 2015

Autumn

The highlight of the autumn so far has been my first time as an exhibitor at Yarndale. The weather was perfect and although the journey up took longer than I had expected I found the venue without any trouble and got checked in quickly and ready to set up. Unfortunately the cable ties I had bought to secure my gridwall panels to the pen bars were too short, but I improvised with the trusty bits of useful rope that we keep in the boot of the car and got everything lashed in place. After an early start the next morning, I was all ready to trade when the show opened. Here's the stand.


I was pleased to find that the space was a bit bigger than I had envisaged - usually it's the other way round - bur the floor looked a bit bare, so next year I'll take a rug to make it a bit more homely and welcoming. That being said, after the first hour or so I was busy all day and was stunned at the end of the day to find that I'd taken more than I'd expect for an average entire show!

I was delighted to meet up with Valerie Bracegirdle,  agrarian artisanwho has used my yarn in several of her designs and lent me her sample of a simple crochet scarf to promote my yarn and the accompanying pattern. Needless to say the packs of 20g mini skeins sold out almost immediately and the scarf attracted a lot of interest all over the weekend. As a result I'm going to add more packs and "loose" 20g skeins to my inventory, so look out for these in the shop!

  
Sunday was quieter, but still pretty busy, and overall I had a great show. I treated myself to some John Arbon "Knit by Numbers" to make a mitred squares "gradient" blanket,
but apart from that I didn't really get the opportunity to look round much at all.  I did see some of the ladies I know from Knitting and Crochet Guild, who were manning the Guild stand and providing a very popular skein winding service, plus several people I've "met" online stopped by to introduce themselves which I appreciated. It was nice to relax in front of "Downton Abbey" when I got back to my hotel after packing up and I'd love to do it all again next year.

Now I'm focusing on my next show, which is November's Festiwool in Hitchin. A new delivery of yarn is coming this week and I've made a list of colours to start dyeing. Plus I'm at St Alban's Farmers market next weekend.      

Wednesday 8 July 2015

Summer

Since my last post, where I anticipated having a bit of a rest, I've actually been quite busy!

I had an exam for my Open University course (Maths and Stats degree) in June and now that's out of the way, I'm feeling slightly less stressed. I've only got three more courses to do, so the end's in sight now and I've got way too far ahead to give up, although when I'm up against assignment deadlines I do some times wonder why I started it in the first place! Only a passing thought though - I enjoy having my brain exercised and the course has been full of so much interesting stuff.

Last weekend I went to the Knitting and Crochet Guild convention in Sheffield, plus an open day at the Guild collection, which is based nearby in Holmfirth. We got to see some outstanding pieces of historic knitting and crochet from the collection and some highlights from their pattern archive.  I didn't take as many pictures as I should have done, but one piece that I found very inspiring was a fair isle style slipover in a lattice pattern. I took a picture of the pattern and think it would look great used on a cushion or some other decorative textile.
      The first step will be to get the pattern onto squared paper and then the fun bit of swatching and planning!

I'm at a local show on Sunday (12th) at Southridge RSPCA centre - I'll be putting up a gazebo for the first time, which should be fun! Then I'll be having a break in August, although the online shop will still be open, and back to busy in September.

Designs featuring my yarn are going to be in issues 69 and 70 of Inside Crochet magazine, so I'm looking forward to seeing that. There'll be a "10% discount code" on my ad for those issues - so do look out for it and grab a bargain.

Finally - I'll be at Yarndale at the end of September. I've made a list of all the colours I'd like to have ready by then and it's a lot, so August will be give over to dyeing!  

Sunday 17 May 2015

Spring Shows

Since I last posted I've had two shows - Wonderwool Wales and Iknit Fandango and I've now got time to pause and reflect.

Wonderwool last year was a little quiet, for everyone and not just me, so it made me think about what I could do to enhance my display and make my stand more attractive. I sketched out some plans on the back of the proverbial envelope and the end result was that I invested in some gridwall panels so that the yarn is hanging up rather than just being stacked in baskets, devised some better labeling, made some samples and added some props to make the stand more "homely" like a rug and some chairs to make it more inviting as a space to step into. Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera with me, so I couldn't add a picture here of the  finished effect, but I had my best level of sales yet at the show, so it must have been effective! I stayed at an absolutely delightful B&B too, so the whole weekend was a pleasure and I'm looking forward to next year already.

Just a few weeks later came Iknit Fandango in central London and after some intensive dyeing, I was ready for that! I did remember my camera this time, so here's a few pictures of the stand.


  
The venue was great - it had a glass roof and so much natural light, ideal for seeing the yarn and so many customers commented on it. It could have been a little busier from a sales point of view, but I loved being able to come in on the train and as it was fairly local to me, I met up with so many people I knew already from my Guild group, farmers markets and customers who had been to Unravel in February, so the weekend was as much social as business!

My next show isn't until Yarndale in September, so I can draw breath a bit now, although I do have some orders and my yarn club dyeing to do. It will be nice to do some knitting and crochet of my own too - I started a CAL on ravelry and have only done three motifs so far while other people have finished!

 

Tuesday 24 March 2015

Into Spring

It's been a little while since my last post, so time for an update. I've been dyeing lots since I got back from Unravel and I've nearly finished the colours I'd listed as "I must take these..". Once they're done I can move on to the "It'd be nice to take.." list. I've planned a new display to revamp the stand after last year's rather disappointing sales, so it will be interesting to see what difference there is. I'm going to try and make it a bit more homely and welcoming and will have chairs with cushions and a nice rug so I hope people will want to step in and of course buy something while they're there!

On Sunday , I took a few hours off and visited a local urban farm, Forty Hall Farm, which was having a lambing open day. It was a bit cold, so they were mainly cuddled up keeping warm and not gambolling about, but it was a nice afternoon out and I enjoyed seeing the animals - here's a picture:

  
I've been thinking about this year's yarn club and will probably go for at least two gradients this time round as there seems to be a lot of interest. I haven't decided finally on the colours yet, but am leaning towards cerulean blue and amber-honey, but I can always change my mind right up until the announcement is due! Sign-ups will open perhaps a little earlier this year, to coincide with my next newsletter (see right) and I'm going to offer two skein sizes each month - 5 x 20g and 5x 50g.  

I'll be announcing it on facebook too - here's a link to my page if you'd like to follow my ramblings!Willow Knits on Facebook

Back to the dyepots!

Wednesday 25 February 2015

A busy winter

Following on from my last post, it certainly has been onwards and upwards!

January got off to a great start with a very busy St Albans farmers market followed a couple of weeks later by a successful Waltham Abbey Wool show. It's the most local show to me (about 20 minutes' drive!) and it was good to meet several people I knew from Guild and from my general social life as well as customers old and new!

February has been busy too - I was offered a cancellation spot at the Unravel festival in Farnham and was absolutely delighted to be able to go. I had been turned down in my original application back in September, but must have been on the reserve list. It was my first time there and was my best show ever in terms of sales. The venue, organisation and general ambiance get a big thumbs up from me too - the tea trolley going round the stalls and the house cat deserve particular mentions! I did take a picture of my stand, but it is so out of focus that I can't put it up here - you'll just have to take my word for it that it looked good.

I've got about eight weeks dyeing time to get ready for Wonderwool Wales now and then I Knit Fandango is a couple of weeks after that, so no pressure then!

I've got a couple of new colours for spring - Lavender Garden and Seascape (pictured below) - which are going to be featured in Inside Crochet magazine's next issue (no 63) Inside Crochet, but the surprise hit of the season has been Petrol Green, which has sold fantastically well. Bottle green was my school uniform colour, so I've always felt a bit ambivalent towards it! I'm sold out at the moment,  but will put up a picture when I've got a new lot ready. Now to go and get some more yarn ready to dye!

  

Friday 2 January 2015

2015 - onwards and upwards!

After a bit of a struggle to remember my password, I'm ready to get going in my first blog of the new year! I love this time of year and the feelings of taking stock of the past and looking forward to new opportunities.

I seem to have been very busy last year, but not always as productive as all the activity would warrant, so making the best use of my time is something I'm going to have to keep track of for 2015. To that end, I've decided to have rest from Harpenden Farmers' market this year. Although some individual months were great and it's a pleasure to go there, overall the year's taking don't justify all the work. I'll still be going to St Albans, which has really built up well and it's in the same area, so determined Harpenden customers can still get to me! I'm there on the 11th for my first market of the new year.

A week after, on the 18th, is the first wool show of the year - the Waltham Abbey Wool Show. It's  local to me which is great and was really busy last year, so I'm looking forward to that. I'm a little low on stock, but I've been doing lots of dyeing and hope to have built up to a respectable level over the next couple of weeks.

I've signed up for a new show in May, Fandango, run by Iknit which will be in the Horticultural Halls in central London, again pretty local to me. I'll have to take the car up to load and unload, but will be able to commute by train for the rest of the time - another plus!

I'm hoping to get into Wonderwool Wales in April - the results of the applications should be out any day now, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I didn't get into Unravel, but am hoping for a cancellation, and I'll apply for Yarndale again later in the year.

With my ready-made items, I'm going to look at going to more "country house" type fairs and generally move a bit more into upmarket homewares, but that's all in the planning stage for this year and 2016 will see more action.

That's it for this post - a Happy New Year to all, let's hope it's a prosperous one too!