Not much to Show, quite a lot to Tell, and no time to do it in

As noted: Busy

Doing what? You may well ask. Well, there was the Autumn Fair to prepare for. I was knitting like crazy for the last few weeks and much of last week was taken up with labelling goods and making signage.

I manned two stalls this weekend – one for myself and one for the Sanday Spinners. It paid off and I made several sales, plus gave out business cards to a couple of prospective commissioners of knitted items and a potential web site client. Networking. That’s what it’s all about.

I had freaked out on Saturday, thinking I had little in the way of non-knitted stock to sell on Sunday (I had failed to make the planned felted pebble paperweights)… so I made a batch of polymer clay buttons. I took photos this morning to show you, but as already noted today – photo skills seemed to go missing just at the point at which they were needed.

The fact that I took the photos this morning should tell you something: alas, they did not sell. Well, I sold one card. Not a total disaster then. Our local craft shop is keen to take these, and more –but I might list them on the relaunched Sanday Spinners site (if I can get some decent shots taken of them.)

Yes – that’s what I  have been up to for much of my time. Spinning Gill and I have been very busy revamping the Sanday Spinners web site. We have installed a shopping cart and are busy adding catalogue to it. Today I was trying to photograph Jean’s skeins ready to list them for sale. It has not gone well. I need to try again.

We should be open for business soon – we just need to get to grips with Paypal… then we hope that we will be your first stop for all your Ashford requirements — not to mention handspun yarns and, er, polymer clay buttons 🙂 There will be Sanday Spinners original designs too. Not yet. I find it hard to make time to sit and concentrate on recording the designs  but I do have a few simple patterns tucked up my sleeve for release in the coming months. What we do have already are locally-made nostepinnes and niddy noddys. Worth looking out for when we open, as they are really lovely – and astoundingly cheap! Here is a sneak peek at the Nostepinnes

It all helps the Matchless fund — now standing at 27 months remaining, since I made sales on Sunday. There is also another small knitting commission on the horizon, so maybe I’ll get that down to 26 months remaining…

On the other hand, we have had an Oops moment. A small matter of a parcel from Colinette – ordered the day before I decided to go on a yarn diet.

It has arrived – a bag of Jitterbug scraps destined to enliven the sock yarn blanket (which I badly want to be knitting on soon!)

These are really good value: 250g for £9.95 Jitterbug  retails at the same price for a 100g skein. I considered buying two but wanted to see what I would get first… Hmm. Lots of blue.

While  I was spending postage, I thought  I would investigate the ART yarn too. I was delighted with my 450g Creative Pack for £14.40. I received 7 decent-sized skeins, some of them large enough to make a hat on their own. The remainder are colours that might be used together in a project.

I am pleased as Punch with this lot. I shall be creating small wearables to sell at the Christmas Fair and will convert my £14 into some profit for the Matchless fund.

Got to go – the chooks need feeding (still no eggs, by the way!)

(Whoops – never rains but it pours, eh? As I was typing this… the phone rang and I picked up another knitting commission. So that’s 5 items in the pipeline and I think perhaps my sock blanket is on the back burner for a while longer.)