February already!

Into the second month of the year already - I've started my spring and summer designs already as I know I'll find it hard to keep up one the season is here.

I bought some lovely soft wool and cashmere lace weight yarn on etsy (www.chopped-tomatoes.com) and have started using it to design a stole, which I hope will sell well this summer. It's a lovely moss green colour, which is always popular, and I'm thnking fishtail lace pattern for the two ends, with some thing a little more solid (cat's paw?) for the middle third. I'll just have to see how it looks as I go along. I'll put up a picture one enough is done to get a good idea of the pattern.

I've also got some alpaca and silk lace weight yarn to dye and some bamboo, which I've heard is going to be the new eco fibre, as cotton becomes too hard on water resources to irrigate.

I've also just unpacked my maths course for this year - complex analysis - which looks very interesting, although I think I may find it quite challenging! I want to get well ahead with it as we're off skiing in Sweden for a week at the end of the month and I know I won't do anything if I take the books with me except feel guilty for slacking!

No markets until the middle of the month, when I'll be at St Alban's on the 13th and Wheathampsted on the 20th. No Harpenden as I'll be away.

January Markets

Well, Wheathampstead went quite well, it was nice to be back after the holidays. The wet weather held off until we were packed up and ready to go and sales were up on January last year, so all in all, a good start to the year.

I'm off to Harpenden Farmers' Market tomorrow, again the weather forecast isn't too good, but as long as the rain holds off I'll be pleased. It's always a nice market to go to and I did well there last year, so I'm feeling quite optimistic.

I've finished at two of my more unprofitable markets - Hatfield and Royston, so I'll have the first weekend in every month free now, which I'm looking forward to. Plenty more time for knitting and my Open University studies (Mathematics) and of course housework (a very poor third!).

Finally, I've taken some pictures of my throw, still a work in progress, but I am making a concerted effort to finish it!

New Year

Happy New Year to everyone.



This is my first post of 2011 and it certainly seems to have taken a while to get back to normal after the holidays. I'm off to my first Farmers' Market of the year tomorrow, at Wheathampstead, and have loads of hats ready - let's hope there's plenty of customers there to buy them. The weather forecast isn't too bad (no rain) and I'm quite looking forward to it.



I've been trying to finish off various projects from the stash, including a squares pattern throw that I've been making for ages. It's in Sirdar Escape, a lovely soft spun pure wool in toning colours of blue and grey, and is nearly finished now - I'm hoping to have it ready for the end of the month - pictures to follow!

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!

Christmas Markets

I've sadly neglected to update this blog just recently - Christmas started in late September and I've been in a rush ever since!

This is just to let you know where I'll be for the rest of November and December:

November 21st - Wheathampstead Farmers' Market (10am to 1pm)
November 28th - Harpenden Christmas Carnival (12 noon to 6pm)
December 4th - Hatfield Farmers' Market (9am to 1pm)
December 5th - Royston Christmas Fair (approx 10am to 1pm)
December 12th - St Alban's Farmers' Market (9am to 1.30 pm)
December 19th - Wheathampstead Farmers' Market (10am to 1pm)

After that..... relaxing at home, knitting new stock and no markets until the end of January!
I may even find time for a little blogging!

Update

I have been a bit neglectful of my blog during the summer, but now that autumn's here I'm getting into a more busy mode and, as I've been reminded, Christmas is only 12 weeks away!

My Farmers' markets have been busy, (with one notable exception!) and I'm going to be at full stretch replacing sold items from now until December. I've added some new silk colours to my range , plus I've dyed some alpaca yarn for the first time.

More pictures and comments on my next post, but as a taster, here's my latest silk colorway - chocolate lime.

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.