Another last effort!

Since I last posted, I've decided to do a final market at Harpenden tomorrow - the local council has allowed it to trade for a bit longer (3.30 pm)  and has arranged some christmas carollers etc. so it make the whole event a bit more festive. I'm hoping that people will still want to buy last minute gifts and the weather forecast is for dry conditions, so fingers crossed!

I've started making my husband a fair-isle style hat as part of his present, but he'll have to watch it being made over the holidays rather than unwrapping it on christmas morning as I've been making a few last bits for the stall. I had some odds and ends of yarn left which were not enough for a scarf, but have made cowls, mittens and hats from them and am hoping they'll sell. 

After a bit of an early mad rush shopping on Christmas Eve, I'm looking forward to putting my feet up with some knitting and a box of biscuits before we go to Christmas Day Mass and then welcome friends and family for lunch.

After Christmas it's the tax return!

One last effort!

Just getting ready for my last Farmers' Market before Christmas - it's at St. Alban's tomorrow. The weather forecast is for cold, but no rain, so not so bad. We've had some odd weather here, with some high winds - A couple of weeks ago Harpenden market was cancelled as the stalls were being blown all over the roads as they were being put up, so it was unsafe to hold it.  This was such a shame, as it's my busiest market of the year and I'm sure a lot of people were going to buy their Christmas gifts - let's hope they find their way so St. Alban's this week!    

To compensate a little, the Christmas Fair at Russet House School that I went to was great - really well attended and plenty of sales. I've been knitting like crazy over the past ten days, but as ever, there's still some stock that has sold out and I won't be able to replace in time.

Next week it'll be all go getting my own Christmas preparations done and then I'm hoping to have a week relaxing a bit and  perhaps doing some dyeing!

November update 2

Not the most snappy title for a post, but I really couldn't think of anything better!

I'm off to Harpenden Farmers' Market on Sunday. It is held to coincide with the town's Christmas Carnival, so it wil be a later start and a longer day (12noon 'til 6pm) than normal. The weather forecast isn't great, but I hope we will be able to set up while it's still dry and then we'll just have to take our chances with the rain! My husband is coming to help me and to provide much needed relief breaks during the day, so it will be nice to have some company. I was reasonably busy at Royston last weekend, so I'm just trying to get enough stock together at the moment.

I sent out the final shipment of my yarn club on monday and it's started arriving - so far people seem to like the colours and I'll be listing some spares in my etsy shop, once I know they've all arrived safely. I need to dye some more yarn, but may wait until after the holidays as I'm so busy trying to keep up with scarf sales at the moment.

I've only got two more events after this weekend - a school Christmas fair next Wednesday (28th) and then St Alban's Farmers' Market on 9th December. It's always a relief to finish and get ready for my own Christmas - so far all I've done is order a turkey!  

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!

October update

Wow - October already! Things have been very busy - which is good - but the blog has been sadly neglected.

I've been busy dyeing and am now on the second instalment of my mini-skeins yarn club. There aren't as many members as I'd initially hoped, but those that are in the club have been very positive and it's a good opportunity to try out some new colorways. I dye two or three large skeins at the same time as I dye the mini skeins and those that are popular, I'll bring into my standard rotation of colors -there's a couple already that I think will be a hit, plus a couple of custom colors that can be added too.

I'm off to the Knitting and Stitching show at Alexandra Palace tomorrow, where I'll be helping on the Knitting and Crochet Guild stand for the morning and then get a couple of hours to look round. I still haven't made up everything I bought last year, so I'll have to try to be restrained - not easy when there's so much good stuff there!  

On Sunday I'm at St Alban's farmers market - fingers crossed for good weather. We've got much more autumnal weather now and I just hope that it doesn't rain. A cold bright day would be lovely! I'm taking my yarn too as there was a lot of interest in it last month. People were talking about Christmas presents last month, so I'm hoping they'll start buying now!

September Markets

It was a lovely sunny day last Sunday at St Alban's Farmers' Market - warmer than it's been for the rest of the summer, which was nice to be out in, but unfortunately made for quiet sales. There's no market at Wheathampstead this coming Sunday, due to (I think) a change of management. I'm actually quite pleased as it has been very quiet and generally unprofitable during the year and it remains to be seen if it will get going again in October.

It will be nice to have a Sunday morning at home this week anyway.I've got some custom dyeing to do, plus getting my yarn club parcels ready to send off on Monday, not to mention knitting, so I've got plenty to keep me busy.

It's back to Harpenden Farmers' Market on Sept. 23rd, after my summer break, one I look forward to going to - it's always fairly busy and it's a pleasant town to visit.  

Into September

Now we're into the autumn and it's time to get ready for a new season of Farmers' Markets and even start thinking about Christmas! I'll be at St Alban's on Sunday and will be taking some yarn with me as well as my ready-made scarves, cushions etc. I'm charging up my Credit Card machine, so lets hope it's a busy start to the season.

Before that, here's a few pictures of Ireland, just to show it doesn't always rain in the summer!