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.

Quick Update

Not too much to report since I last posted, as June was a very quiet month - perhaps the heat is making everyone lethargic.

Our cat Katie is still missing and we're trying to keep hopeful that she will be found. There was one possible sighting of her some weeks ago but we weren't told until a couple of days later, so of course when we went to call her, she had moved on. Our main hope is that she wil get back to us eventually because of her microchip.

In the meantime, our other cat refuses to come in the house, except very briefly to eat, and has become very vocal. We're not sure what to make of that and hope she will get back to normal when the weather cools down.

Knitting wise, I'm off to Leeds tomorrow for the Knitting and Crochet Guild AGM, which should be a good weekend. there's a "show and tell" session for members to talk about their current projects and I'm taking one of my tapestry yarn cushions, plus a color-changing cotton scarf that I'm working on. It will be interesting to see what else is on show too.

I'm at Wheathampstead market next Sunday (18th) - it's usually pretty quiet, but sometimes I do have some good sales there and it's a pleasant place to go. Who knows - I may be surprised by a rush of customers!

Here's a couple of pictures of my new cushions, the completed one is the "rustic" style mix of colours and the one on the needles is the blue-green mix. The colours on the blue one are a lot brighter in reality!

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.