Working Hard!

Just a quick update - St Alban's market was good, sales were up on last year and the weather held up until I was on my way home. We had quite a run on tea cosies and are making sure we are re-stocked for next time, which will be July 8th.

In the meantime, I've nearly finished my dyeing for Fibre East - just on more colorway to dye, which I'll get done tomorrow. I had a look at the range of colors that I'd done and thought "I need more blues", so mixed blues it is. I've just got to do the sewing up and finishing for my bolero and I'm about two thirds of the way through the first draft of the pattern, so I'm sure it'll be all ready for the show. I've dyed a selection of five semi-solid colors to make it with, so people can buy the yarn to go with the pattern.

I went to a training session at our local business centre yesterday on social media and marketing run by a very professional lady called Jo Sealy. She packed a lot into half a day and I came away with plenty of ideas about how I could promote my business. Starting after Fibre East, I think an email newsletter would be a good way to go. I'll get started on that in my spare moments!

           

June update

June already! It has, temporarily, stopped raining and I'm getting ready for another visit to St Alban's Farmers' Market. Last month was pretty busy and I'm hoping that this month will be good too, although rain and cold are forecast.

We've been having a run on our cushions over the past few weeks, which is great - I really enjoy making them and I've got two new ones ready for tomorrow.

Apart from that I've been dyeing, dyeing and more dyeing! Plus I found that the new yarn base I'm using is slightly different to the old one, so the bolero pattern that I'd designed will have to be re-sized and the sample re-knitted! Doh! Shouldn't take too long though and I'll post a picture here when it's ready.  

May already!

Just a quick update - I'll be at St Alban's  Farmers market tomorrow and am looking forward to it. It's finally stopped raining here and the forecast is for a sunny day tomorrow.

I've started dyeing in earnest for Fibre East now, so for the next few months my etsy shop will not have so much new yarn, unless I get all the fibre east dyeing done early! I've made a list of all the colors I want to take with me and in what yarn weights  - it looks a heck of a lot. I just hope I can sell most of it! 

Pictures etc. to follow.   

April Update 2

It's been fairly quiet for sales at my markets just recently- suffice to say that Wheathampstead didn't surprise me! I did sell a couple if bits there, but still came away having made a loss. I think it will have to go after May.

This weekend just gone I was at a craft fair in Hertford Corn Exchange on Saturday and that was even quieter! I only covered my parking, so another loss. I think it could be good there for the Christmas season, so I think I'll leave that one until September.

Finally, I was at Harpenden Farmers' Market on Sunday and at last some sales! The forecast rain held off too, so at least I can finish the month feeling good! I only do the winter months there, so I'll be back in September.

However, I've been busy online, especially with sales of my yarn, so the month is up on last year - not so bad in a recession.

My next event is a craft fair as part of the Kimpton carnival on 5th May - I stepped in as there had been a cancellation, but I did an event there a couple of years ago and it was quite well supported, so I'm looking forward to it.    

April Update

After a very pleasant quiet Easter at home with my husband and of course, plenty of knitting, I'm getting ready for my first Farmers' Market of the month at Wheathampstead. It's usually rather quiet, but I'm ready to be surprised!

I'm going to be computer-less for a few days next week while my machine is upgraded and tidied up - some thing necessary, but I'm not looking forward to it.

My consignment of yarn from India arrived very quickly (under a week!) and on a brief inspection the quality looks good. I'll have to go through it more thoroughly and also see how it dyes, but all looks well so far.

I'm down to my last few skeins of my previous base and have just been experimenting to try to get colorfast reds and yellows. One colorway (Firebird) is here and I'm going to try the same technique with a "berries" mix.

Easter Weekend

I sent my first parcel to Australia on Monday - it should be well on its way now and I'm dyeing again to re-stock the shop. Our new camera has really improved the pictures and I can get much better colour definition now.

I've added some more "Foliage" and have tried a new colorway - "Purple Berries", which I'm hoping will be popular. Pictures below:

I'm nearly at the end of this batch of yarn and will have to order some more soon.

Also, I've ordered a new base yarn direct from India, which I'm hoping will arrive shortly. I saw their stand at the Alexandra Palace show and bought a sample skein, which was really good quality - let's hope the bulk of it matches up! Just in case it doesn't, or that the parcel doesn't arrive at all (!) I've only ordered a relatively small amount.

I'm not at St. Alban's Farmers' market this Sunday at its Easter Day, but will be at Wheathampstead next week. Then the weekend after that I'll be at Hertford Craft Fair on Saturday and at Harpenden on Sunday.

New Plum yarn

Here's a picture of my latest colour yarn - Rich Plum. Three skeins available on etsy.