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.      

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.

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.