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,     

November Update

I can't believe that it's been a month since I last posted here - things have certainly been busy!

I had an exhausting but enjoyable day at the Alexandra Palace show - it was great chatting about knitting and crochet to fellow enthusiasts and we had several items from the Guild's collection on show, which were great conversation starters. Another lady demonstrated Tunisian Crochet - something I've never tried but now feel I could tackle. Probably something to keep for a break over Christmas - before then I'm just making stock for my Farmers' Markets.

St Alban's was very busy last month and I'm off there again tomorrow. Fortunately the weather is forecast cold and bright, ideal for me, and I'll be putting the holly garland on the stall as a not-so-subliminal "Christmas is coming" message to market-goers!

 The following weekend I'm at a craft fair at Royston garden centre - indoors (yay), which I'm looking forward to. I did one day there last year and it was pretty busy, so I'm hoping it will be the same again this year. As there's no Wheathampstead market this year, I can do both days and I can leave the stall set up overnight on Saturday. 

I've sent of my application for Wonderwool Wales, so fingers crossed that I'll be accepted. After the muddy experience of Fibre East, I'm not sure if I can persuade my mother to come with me, so I may have to do it on my own....anyway I'll cross that bridge when I come to it!

Relaxing - sort of!

Well, Christmas Day is over - we had a lovely day, but busy, with family and friends visiting and a big lunch to prepare and eat. Now it's boxing day and we're relaxing at home - just us and our cat and a lot of leftover turkey!

I've tidied up my wool stash and have found a lot of yarn that I'd forgotten about, so there will be some interesting projects to look forward to making in the New Year. I've also got to re-stock my Farmers' Markets stocks - I had a really busy time late on and have sold out of so much. I'm also going to have a big effort at making lots of hats - it has been so cold here that they've been flying off the stall.

I had to cancel my last market of the year, at Wheathampstead, as there was just too much snow for me to risk getting the car out, which was disappointing, but I'm planning on being back there in January for my first market of 2011. Just a note to anyone who was hoping to catch me at St Alban's in January (2nd Sunday) - I'm taking that week off as it's too soon after Christmas and no-one has any money left to buy anything!

The overseas post has been dreadful this year - I sent a parcel to a customer in the US on 13th December and there is still no trace of it. The royal mail tracking number has said the same thing ever since I sent it, so I don't know where in the system it is - either it is still in the sorting office here or someone has forgotten to scan the barcode as it has moved on. It is so frustrating and I feel for my customer, who wanted it as a gift. I will have to go into the post office when they re-open and make a fuss!

Holidays

Just a quick note to say that we're off to the west of Ireland on holiday tomorrow.



The weather is always uncertain there, so I'll be taking plenty of knitting with me! I took a couple of orders for boleros at Wheathampstead last week so I'll be getting on with them plus my open university studies (maths and stats) - I always seem to have an assignment hanging over me!



The weather has been very hot and dry here, which doesn't suit me, so it'll be a relief to be somewhere cool and damp.



We've remenbered to pack the camera, so there'll be pictures to post when we're back.