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:

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!

August update

I've just signed up for my first CAL (crochet along) on Ravelry. The pattern ( www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/simple-circles-scarf ) is a lovely scarf designed by the talented Valerie Bracegirdle and she used mini skeins of my yarn for her prototype. I've got one and a half skeins of Silver Berries in my stash for personal use, so I thought I'd join in, expand my crochet skills and make something nice for myself.

Here's the yarn:

I'm starting to think about my September (and beyond) markets and am getting autumn/winter stuff on the needles. I've got a new yarn for this season, which is a nice and bright space-dyed wool-acrylic mix in three colorways. I've used a chevron design again (my favourite!) and I'm pretty pleased with the result:

 

The colors remind me of liquorice allsorts - my favourite sweet - and the scarves will be going out starting with my October markets. 

 

I'm starting a new market this year in Ware, the Artisans of Ware craft fairs, which begin for me on  6th October. It looks like a great venue - indoors too, yay! I went to a college in Ware for a while and it's a nice town, not too far from me. September at St. Albans is my first though on the 8th. I've been off for a couple of months and it will be nice to get back - fingers crossed for dry weather. 

 

I've taken the plunge and joined Facebook too www.facebook.com/WillowKnits so there's another way to keep in touch with people.