Cushions and distractions

I can't believe that its been nearly a month since I last posted here.







May was very busy - after the wet and windy morning at Royston last month my markets at St. Alban's and Wheathampstead were pretty busy with the best market of this year (so far) for Wheathampstead.







We've been a bit distracted recently as our lovely cat Katie (pictured)has gone missing - she's been gone for eleven days now and we're so worried about her. She did this three years ago and we found her after three weeks, straying in some gardens not too far away, so we're hopeful that we will find her again this time too, although it is difficult not to dwell on all the bad things that can happen to a lost cat.

Knitting wise, I've been using up a stash of tapestry wool (plus buying a bit more on ebay!) to make some colourful cushions. I'm very pleased with the results - there's such a great range of colours and you can plan out the stripes with the little skeins of wool before you start. I've enjoyed mixing colours that may not "go" to make a rustic effect in my first cushion, and I'm now graduating shades of blue and green to make a more shaded effect for my next one. There's no chance of getting bored making these either, as the colours are changing so often.

I'm waiting for a delivery of cushion pads so I can finish another and then they'll be ready for my markets this month. I'm off to St Alban's on Sunday and then Wheathampsted the week after.

Markets

Another busy week - I was at a very cold and wet Royston market last Sunday and was amazed to sell a scarfs. Several things blew off the stall and got wet and at 11.30 the stallholders rebelled and quit! It was nice to finish early and I got to go and have a coffee and big slice of cake in the old cornmarket buildings there - so warm and cosy after being outside since 8.30 and a really pleasant oasis!

There is now a proposal to move the market indoors - let's hope it goes through, so I can get out my spring and summer stuff without fear of it all being ruined.

I'm off to St Alban's this weekend - the forecast is for cold, but at least no rain - I don't think I'll be putting away the thermals just yet!

On a better note, I had an etsy sale this week, which was pleasing.

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!

April Update

Well, spring now finally seems to have sprung and we're enjoying some fine weather at last! It's been a long cold winter and we're all ready for a change.

I haven't posted for a while, but I have been busy re-vamping my website (www.willowknits.com) - I'm changing it from a shop to a general information site and moving all my online shop stuff to Etsy. I've passed all the necessary alterations over to my website people and they should be doing the update fairly soon. I'll let everyone know when it's live.

I've also been busy deciding what to make a priority for my spring & summer Farmers' markets - I've decided on the centrepieces being my silks and the light cotton "colour changing" scarves. I've got a couple of the cotton scarves made already (silver -blue and silver-purple) and yarn for some more, so there's plenty to get on with. I've also dyed some more silk in two new colourways - a tropical blue-green- turquoise mix and a vibrant berry-lilacs-blues mix. Pictures to follow when the scarves come back from the knitters!

April is the end of my "winter season" and I cut down the markets to just St Albans' and Wheathampstead from May to September, although this year I'm going to give Royston a go as well, at least for May. They have had a new person take over the admin and she has been working very hard to promote the market, so if there are new customers coming I'd like to be there.

Update

Over a month since I last posted - how time rushes by!

We've been very busy, mainly because we've been away for a skiing holiday in Jasper, Canada - which was fantastic, although a very long journey (20hrs) and I came back with a heavy cold which has taken a while to shake off.

While away I found a lovely yarn shop - Stychen Tyme (www.stychentyme.ca)- I never actually stop thinking about yarn or knitting - and was tempted by some of their great range of books and patterns. It was only that I had very full suitcase going out that stopped me from buying more of their yarn, though I did manage to get in some skeins of a nice handpainted uruguayan wool to add to my stash! If anyone is visiting Jasper, Alberta it's well worth a look.

I'm off to St Alban's market tomorrow and am hoping that we will see some signs of spring at last. I've got my summer bolero samples ready to put out and some silk daffodils to decorate the stall, so I hope my customers will be inspired to place their orders for the new season!

Some more silks are due back from my knitters too, so I'm looking forward to that, plus I have to get dyeing so I can keep them busy!

More Markets

Hatfield and Royston were both very cold, but busier than I had been expecting and well worth going to.

I sold one of my new silks (sapphire sea), which was very pleasing and at Hatfield one kind lady gave me a pattern for a tammy that I can adapt and another gave me some pretty yarn (sirdar Fizz) which she didn't want - many thanks to them both!

We had some minor dramas over the weekend - one of our cats had to be taken to the emergency vet's with an infected eye on Saturday afternoon and then our washing machine broke down on Sunday with a load of wet washing still in it. Fortunately all is well now, the cat, Tess, is recovering well although she didn't like the journey to the vet's and has spent several days hidden away since she got back and the engineer is coming to fix the machine next week.

I had some more of my new silks come back from the knitters and think they look fab!

Here's a picture, from left to right the colours are amethyst, rose pink and salmon. The picture shows each shade with a little bit more blue tone than it is in reality, but overall it's reasonably accurate.

I'm off to St Alban's market on Sunday, so I hope my customers like them. As ever - if you would like to reserve one, just get in touch.