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,     

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.

 

July update

I'm still working hard and getting ready for Fibre East. I've finished dyeing now and am very pleased with the final batch of "mixed blues" that is now dry and ready to be re-skeined and labelled. I've decided to call it "cornflowers".

All the labelling and re-skeining is taking a long time, but I've still got about 10 days to go and I can sort of watch the tennis while I'm doing it!

I've got a day off on Saturday to go to Birmingham for the Knitting & Crochet Guild AGM - it's an early start, but I enjoy the train journey and of course, I'll be taking some knitting with me to be getting on with. The day starts at 11.30 with a "show and tell" session, where members can show off their projects. I'm taking a scarf worked on the diagonal with self-striping yarn. It's an interesting technique and the yarn makes for an effective pattern.

On Sunday I'm at St Alban's farmers market - hoping for a rain-free day, which may be a tall order this summer, a busy morning and an early finish so I can get home and watch the tennis final!

St Alban's Market

Just got back from St Alban's Farmers' Market - we were so lucky with the weather - the forecast showers held off and, although it was quite windy, the market was busy and we had a successful morning in bright sunshine.

Several regular customers stopped by and after a fairly quiet start, sales picked up and we were busier than we were in September last year.

I'm at Wheathampstead next week, which has been pretty quiet so far this year - let's hope the wallets come out and people start shopping (very) early for Christmas!

I bought some lovely handspun yarn in the summer and I couldn't resist making it up - in spite of having a huge stash of yarn to knit up! I made a garter stitch scarflette "on the diagonal" with one 100g skein and am nearly finished another in a "squares" pattern. Pictures to follow.

Finally - I have been published! Not as grand as it sounds - I was a runner up in a "design a scarf" competition run by "Knitting" magazine and they have published all the winning and runner-up entries in a new book. It's called "Scarves" and is published by gmc books (www.gmcbooks.com) I do get a namecheck as the designer though, so I am thrilled!

New Silk - 2

I've just had a scarf in my latest colourway back and am very pleased with it - I've decided to call it "blueberry". It's already in my etsy shop and I'll be taking one to Royston market with me tomorrow.

I had a fairly busy morning at Harpenden last Sunday, although the weather was not nearly as nice as had been forecast and we had quite a lot of rain to start off with! however, it didn't seem to put people off coming out and it was a good end to my season there - I'll be back in September ready for Christmas!

Tomorrow is forecast quite wet and windy too, so I'm not really looking forward to a morning outdoors. Royston can be a little quiet too, so let's hope people come out to support us.

New Silk

Just a quick update to show off a new colour in the silks - I've decided to call it "tropical" as it reminded me of a warm caribbean sea - turquoise and blues with a hint of emerald green.

One of the finished scarves is in my Etsy shop and I'm taking another to my Farmers' markets. I think my customers are going to like them!

I'm off to Harpenden farmers' market on Sunday, which will be my last one there until September.

The weather is forecast to be very warm, so I'll be concentrating on my silk and cotton scarves, plus hoping to get orders for my summer boleros.

I try to wind down a bit in the summer and get ready for my busy time in the winter - it will be nice to have some free weekends and I may even clean the house!

New colours

We woke up to a bright morning today, with a dusting of snow on the ground - perfect weather for taking some pictures of my new scarves.

Here are two of the silks, "spruce" on the left and "sapphire sea" on the right. "Spruce" has photographed more yellow toned than it is - in reality it is slightly darker and more shades of bottle/pine green, but "sapphire sea" is just right.

I tried getting a picture of my cranberry red shade, but it just wouldn't come out anywhere near the true colour, so I'll have to wait until I can get outside with the camera.

I've also just finished this scarf in a wonderful new yarn from wolles yarn creations (available in etsy) - it is a cotton yarn that graduates from one shade to the next, so the finished article looks as if it has been dip dyed. I've got another to do in silver-purple and am awaiting a parcel with some more. I'm planning to make them a feature of my Farmers' markets stall in the spring.