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.      

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!

  

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!    

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:

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.