A visit to the Warner Textile Archive

Just recently, I was fortunate to enjoy a visit to the Warner Textile Archive in Braintree, Essex. The archive is held in the original nineteenth century mill buildings, now restored and adapted for use as a museum and store. A representative selection of the archive is on display, along with the history of the site.

The visit started with a talk about the history of the company, the site and how the archive came to be. I had wondered how Essex and East Anglia had become silk textile centres and it was fascinating to learn that it was a result of companies based on the original Huguenot silk weavers of Spitalfields, East London needing more space for their growing businesses and moving out. Weaving had continued on the site until the 1970's and after that the company had continued trading, weaving off site, until 1990.

The archive came about and grew as the Warner company, who specialised in furnishing fabrics, documented and sampled their own fabrics, as well as acquiring archives of companies they took over. They encouraged their employees to source inspirational pieces of textile that they saw on travels that could be used to develop their products. These items are known in the archive as "documents" and with swatches of woven and printed fabrics plus notes going back nearly two hundred years, it is now second only to the Victoria and Albert museum as a collection. When the company closed, it was transferred around different purchasers, fortunately never being split up, and eventually being bought and brought home to Braintree in 2004 as a wonderful heritage resource for academic study.      

After the talk and a break for coffee and some cake, we moved into the archive itself. We were not allowed to look through the many racks of boxes at random, which was so tempting, as some of the fabrics are of course very fragile, but we were shown, over a couple of hours, a selection of the different textiles held in the huge collection and found out how they were made. It covered most periods, methods (woven, velvets, printing) and budgets - from fabric used on the royal yacht "Britannia" to war time "utility".

After the tour was over, which seemed to go incredibly quickly, there was the opportunity to look around the public gallery and purchase some very nice quality souvenirs featuring designs from the archive.

What came across to me was that the company had done everything right over their two hundred years, putting quality, innovation and design at the forefront, establishing royal connections as well as mass appeal and keeping ahead of technical developments, but changes in demand as well as competition from cheaper overseas manufacturers put too much pressure on them in the end.

However, we do have this wonderful archive as a resource for posterity and some of the designs are still manufactured under license.   

Usually the tour is only for groups, but as an individual I joined a tour through the "Invitation to View" organisation. Invitation to View site - click here 

Find our more about the archive: Warner Textile Archive

Wonderwool

I'm home now from my trip to Wonderwool Wales and time to catch up with my much neglected blog.

This was my fourth year as an exhibitor and I've learn a lot in that time, mainly about improving the presentation of my stand. It's always great to look round the other stands and see what other people are doing that could inspire me to try for myself. Over the years the show has got busier for me, so whatever I'm doing must be working. I do enjoy meeting the customers and I love chatting, as anyone who has been to my stand will know! This year I had conversations on subjects as diverse as the design process to the plot of the Walking Dead. Be warned though - if you start talking about Star Trek you may never get away!  

One area I'm trying to expand is the range of pattern support available, especially as my yarn is mainly worsted weight and there aren't a lot of commercial patterns for that weight in the UK. My bolero is still going well and I'm soon to add a waistcoat with side vents - I'm having some issues with the shoulder shaping, so it's taking a bit longer than I had hoped, but it shouldn't be too much longer now.    

On the crochet side, Valerie Bracegirdle (agrarianartisan on Ravelry) has used my yarn for some of her designs and she has let me have a scarf pattern to distribute. It has proved very poplar and I had it on display at Wonderwool. I used one of my packs of five x 20g skeins to make the sample and was very pleased - it's a quick and easy make, but the tassels just give it a little some thing extra. I sold out of the "blue to green" colorway I had used pretty quickly, but will be dyeing some more!

My next big show is Yarndale in September, which feels like a long way away, but isn't!

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.      

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!  

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!

 

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!

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!

  

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!
 

Autumn News

Well, autumn is in full swing now and I'm getting busy. Harpenden was very good last week - plenty of customers and nice weather! I've got a "free" weekend this week and then back to St Albans on the 12th.

I'm making poppies this year, after a suggestion by one of my customers, which are being sold in aid of the British Legion - picture below:

I didn't get into Unravel, which was very disappointing, but I understand competition is fierce. I do hope that I might get a place if there is a cancellation, as it's commutable and I would be able to go at short notice. I was asked to take up a cancellation place for Yarndale, but I just couldn't do it. I wouldn't have had enough stock, plus getting somewhere to stay for the weekend would have been very difficult, I'll still apply there next year though. In any case, I've got Festiwool in a few weeks and then the Waltham Abbey wool show in January, so there's plenty to keep me occupied. I've just applied for Wonderwool Wales 2015 too and am keeping my fingers crossed for that.

I've added an "Events" page to my website, so I can keep a diary running covering the next couple of months' fairs and markets, so it will be easier for people to know where I'm going to be. I've already had a couple of enquiries via the "contact us" form - it's nice to know people are looking!    

Into Autumn

Wow, I've just noticed that I haven't posted here since May. I have been using my Facebook page to give small updates as I dye more yarn or do something interesting and have been keeping this for a longer posts, but always end up thinking that I'll sit at the computer and do it soon, but not right now - hence the long gap!

Anyway, here goes:
The yarn club went well this year. I announced the colour themes in advance, so people could pick which months they wanted to go for, avoiding anything they didn't like. I like the opportunity to experiment a bit and came up with some colours that will be keepers and going into my general rotation, plus a couple, which didn't fit the colour themes I was aiming for, but did happen to be just what I've been trying to dye for general yarn.

Shows: I've signed up for a new show, Festiwool, in November which, like the Waltham Abbey Wool Show, is fairly local to me. This one is in Hitchin, Herts - about 45 minutes' drive from home and timed in early November, so customers will still have time to make their gifts! I wasn't planning to do any more shows this year, but this looked to good to miss. For 2015, I've applied to Unravel in Farnham, my first attempt. The deadline for applications has passed now and I'm in tenterhooks waiting to see if I've been successful.

Markets: After a couple of months' break, I went back to St Alban's Farmers' Market on Sunday. It was fairly busy and several regular customers came up to say Hi and buy stuff! I'm at Harpenden in a couple of weeks time. I've got a new alpaca scarf in the ready-made ranges and am hoping it will be popular. The sample I took with me was stroked a fair bit, so that bodes well. I've applied for a couple of extra craft fairs local(ish) to me too, so I'll be adding them to the "Events" page of my website when I get confirmations. 

and finally, I've moved and updated my website to a 1and1 my website - I found it pretty easy to do and I like that I can update it myself, the old one relied on a webmaster to do everything and it just wasn't satisfactory.

This post is quite long enough now, so that's it for today - I'll write again in the next few weeks,     

Moving forward

Well, Wonderwool was quieter on the sales front than I had hoped, but otherwise a good weekend. Several customers from last year came back to buy more and I found I had given out all the leaflets I had brought with me, so as a publicity exercise it was good - since coming back I've had more likes on my facebook page and my yarn club sign-ups have been going well.

I think I really need to re-vamp my display and range of products, so I'll be working on that for the remainder of the year. I decided not to go to Fibre East this year and got turned down for Yarndale, so there won't be any more shows to do until 2015. I've started by ordering a vinyl banner with the logo very prominently on it - several people said they had been looking for my stand, but hadn't realised until they were right there and speaking to me, that they had found it!

I'll be investing in some gridwall too, so I can display the stock more effectively. I've been working on some designs for the stand too - sadly pilfering of both stock and samples is becoming a problem at shows and I'll factor in some anti-theft elements to the design.

As for the range of yarn, I'll be trying some silk mix yarns and some different weights. I don't want to move away from silk entirely, as I want to have products that are different from others that are on offer and there are already so many beautiful wools on the market.

The first show of 2015 has already been announced - the Waltham Abbey Wool Show, which will be in mid-January and I've already been contacted by the organisers. It was a new show last year and I found it very successful, plus it's held only 20 minutes drive from my home!

Some of the new yarns I'm considering have arrived - a silk-alpaca mix and a merino-silk mix, both lace-weight - and I'll be starting the dyeing over the next few weeks. Pictures to follow!

In the meantime, as summer appears to have arrived, I went for a lovely walk with my husband last week along the canal/river Lea towpath from Hertford to Ware and through the Hertfordshire countyside. Here's a couple of pictures:

Wonderwool

We set off on Friday and I'm almost ready! Just a couple more skeins to wind and then the checklist to work through on Thursday. The weather forecast isn't great, which won't affect me, but my poor husband has to amuse himself during the day and it looks like he won't be able to do much walking or fishing!

As ever, I always wonder if I've dyed enough yarn and is it the right colours. I've run out of undyed yarn now, so I can't do any more for the show! I'm always happy to take orders, so I must remember to tell people if they can't find what they were looking for. When I went to the Waltham Abbey show in January, I came away with some and it seemed to work well.

I'm starting the mini skeins club a bit earlier this year to coincide with Wonderwool - sign-ups open in May and I'll start organising that when I get back.

Thinking of Spring

Time has again gotten away from me once again and I've come here to collect my thoughts and put a bit of an update on screen.

Firstly, it seems to have stopped raining at last - I've had some very wet markets this winter! However, that doesn't seemed to have put off my customers at St Albans farmers' market and it's a big "thank you" to them for their support. Not the same at Harpenden unfortunately, which has been a bit of a disappointment overall this year, but I'm finished for this season there now and won't be back until the autumn. I'll see how it goes for the pre-Christmas trading and then make some decisions.

Otherwise, I've been pretty busy with online sales and now getting ready for Wonderwool Wales in April, which I'm looking forward to very much. This year my husband is going to come with me. I'll be working the stand alone during the day, but it will be nice to have his company in the evenings. We're going upmarket and staying in the Caer Beris hotel for three nights, which will be a nice touch of luxury. I've got a list of all the colours I want to dye, but don't know if I'll get it all done in time. At the Waltham Abbey show in January, I took orders, which worked out well, so I'll do that again.

Before Easter I've got three fairs to go to - I'm at Artisans of Ware on April 6th and the following weekend I've got two events - a fair in Wanstead on Saturday 12th and St Albans farmers market on Sunday 13th.

Finally, we had a nice break a couple of weeks ago, skiing in Levi, Finland and here's a picture of the snowy landscape which I loved.

January review

I can't believe how quickly January has gone by and it has been a great month, largely down to the Waltham Abbey Wool show, which took place on the 19th at the Mariott Hotel, only twenty minutes drive from home. It was a new show and I was wondering how things were going to go, there's always that feeling as you're all set up and the doors are about to open "will anyone come?" Anyway I needn't have worried - there were queues of people waiting and it stayed busy all day until we closed at 4pm. I don't know what possessed me to think that high heeled boots were a good footwear choice and I should have taken more yarn, but it was a great day and I came home having sold loads, taken orders and met very pleasant people. Let's hope it becomes a regular feature on the show calendar.

I'm not going to Fibre East this July. It was just too quiet last year, so I thought I'd give it a break and think about it again next year. I've been accepted for Wonderwool though and am planning my dyeing schedule for that, plus I'm going to apply for Yarndale in September. I take my yarns to St Albans every month too.

I had my new colors at Waltham Abbey, amber, slate and claret, with slate proving the most popular. I though claret would go first and amber is my favourite - which just goes to show that my own opinion isn't the most reliable guide!

  
I had a busy day at St Alban's market on the 12th and a non-busy wet day at Harpenden to finish the month on the 26th. Let's hope it finally stops raining in February. I'm at Artisans of Ware tomorrow, which is indoors, Yay! I don't know if it will be busy or not, but it's always a pleasant day and I'll take some knitting with me.

After that, I'm at St Albans again on the 9th.

New Year

I love January - it's great to review the past year and look forward to the new one.

December was a storming month for sales - my best month ever, so not bad for a recession! After a lovely Christmas, January has got off to a good start with a busy market at St Albans last  Sunday. The weather was kind and we had a fine clear morning with a heavy frost. It's been raining do much recently that I think people were glad to get out.

I'm off to Waltham Abbey Wool Show next Sunday ( www.walthamabbeywoolshow.co.uk ) and am just getting my yarn ready. As ever, I'm not sure how much to take, but time has caught up with me and I can't dye any more and get it dry in time, so I'll take what I've got ready and offer to take orders if it's not enough!

I've got three new shades - claret, slate and amber - pictures to follow.

I've had my confirmation through for Wonderwool Wales in april, so I'm looking forward to that already.

Now I can relax?

Just got  back from a very pleasant market at Harpenden, my final event before Christmas. I cancelled the one at Royston as soon as I saw the weather forecast for Saturday (rainy and windy all day!) Much better today - after driving through some heavy showers on the way there, the sun came out and stayed out, so there were plenty of customers in the town and everyone was in a good festive mood. I'm full of ideas for new ranges of scarves for next year.

I'm having a winter sale in the online shop from 26th - 10% off.

Now to start cleaning the house in time for our Christmas visitors! 

November-December update

Well, I knew it had been a long time, but I've just seen that I last posted on October 17th and have missed out November entirely!

Since then, I've dyed and posted the third instalment on this year's yarn club and I hope people like it. I've tried a different approach this year, by thinking of a base colour and trying it in different strengths and combinations, so each month's club yarn is a toning set rather than a collection of different colours. The final set of the third instalment, which was based on turquoise as the dominant shade, is now in the shop.   

I particularly like the Plum & Jade colourway on the far right - I think it will be added to my repertoire!

November sales were a bit varied - in particular I was really busy at St Albans Farmers' Market, but only took about a third of what I was expecting to do at Harpenden Christmas Carnival, which is usually the best market of theyear. Other stallholders felt the same, so I'm glad it wasn't just me, but it was disappointing all the same. Anyway, in contrast December has got off to a storming start - Ware was really good and I had my best market ever at St Albans yesterday. My bank manager will be pleased!

I'd like to wind down for Christmas, but can't do that not just yet as I've still got three fairs to go to - I'm at an event in Wanstead Village (London E11) on Saturday and then two final markets the following weekend - Royston on Saturday and Harpenden again on Sunday. Let's hope they're just as busy as the previous December events have been!  

October Update

I was going to call this "into october", but as we're already half way through the month "october update" is probably better. It has been rather quiet this month for sales, which is a bit disappointing - the new craft fair I went to in Ware was very quiet in spite of being well publicised and in a very pleasant location and I had to abandon St Albans market as it was just too wet to even unpack. I'm at Harpenden market in a couple of weeks' time - let's hope that makes up for it all!

I've dyed the second round of my yarn club and am really pleased with the combinations. I won't say more about the colors, as I don't want to spoil a surprise for the members, but some will be finding their way into my normal rotation of colorways.

I've just sent off my application for Wonderwool Wales 2014. I really enjoyed the show last year and hope I'm successful in getting in again.

More later, and some pictures, when the weather improves enough for photography.

September update

Now that the dust has settled a bit, I can update with what has been happening in September.

Things have been overshadowed by the death of my brother-in-law after a short illness. Sadly he had undiagnosed lung cancer and by the time he got any treatment, there was nothing anyone could do. RIP Michael.

Although we have mainly been occupied with organising the funeral and now clearing his house, I have been to a couple of my usual Farmer's markets (Harpenden and St Albans) and have dyed the first instalment on my yarn club. I'm trying a different approach this year and, instead of doing a selection of colours, I'm dyeing five toning shades, so that they can be used in a project together. The first instalment was blues, and there's a spare set for sale in the shop - picture here:

I also attended a workshop last weekend on victorian style knitted lace run by the Knitting and Crochet Guild - it was so interesting to learn a new skill. I had seen in books how very fine steel needles were used and it took some getting used to - my hands ached after the session, as the needles (1.25mm) were so much thinner than those I'm used to! However, the lace you can make is lovely - crochet cotton is used for yarn - and makes beautiful edgings and trimmings as well as small gift items.

I'm starting a new market next weekend at Ware, run by Artisans of Ware www.artisansof.co.uk and am looking forward to it. It's indoors and a late morning start, which is a bonus!

Into September

Just a quick note - I wrote a post and then seem to have lost it all before I published it!

Never mind - I'll be at Harpenden Farmers' market tomorrow, my first one here this season. The weather forecast is good and I'm looking forward to it. Once I get back, I'll write more about what's been going on in Spetember...