The Latest Craft Fair

I went to a craft fair on Sunday. Although the pub is lovely it didn't seem right somehow for a craft fair. The lighting was very dim and the table was quite small. The weather was glorious which didn't help. I think people had gone out for the day rather than visit a craft fair.Plus I don't think that it had been well advertised.

 To be honest my stall layout was all wrong. I took a photo and it looked more like a second hand stall than a crochet one. I do need to work more on my presentation if I do any more craft fairs.

In all honesty I think that if I was a customer then I would have walked past this stall too.

The clothes rail idea doesn't work but I am at a loss as to how to display things without using it. When I sold things before I had a shop window to dress and I could use walls and transparent thread to drape things at more appealing angles but as there is no facilities to do anything like this at a craft fair display is very awkward. My things would display better on the old fashioned stalls with canopies. Then I could hang things around the struts of the stall. Displaying things side on is not the best way.

My only consolation is that the other stalls didn't sell much of anything either. Thank goodness the stalls were free or I would have been in a loss situation. My older niece gave me a lift with my things. She is really good to me that way. I could not do craft fairs without her help (or my friend Sue when she does the fairs with me) It's a pain having no transport but I cannot afford to buy a car at the moment and pay for insurance and road tax when it would sit on the driveway 90% of the time. Plus if I did drive anywhere then I would still have the problem of walking to the shops once I had parked the car in a car park. I would not have this problem if the metro would allow mobility scooters on the trams. Technically they are allowed on the buses but the space is so limited there is no room to manouver on a bus

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This is a shawl that I rushed to finish off for the craft fair. It is from a pattern by Ken Jones called Doily Shell Stitch Shawl that I bought from Etsy . I did misread the pattern though and increased more times than I should have in the first few rows so mine has turned out a  much fuller version of his shawl. I do quite like it this way but next time I would follow the pattern to make it more of a summer shawl. It is one of those top down patterns so any thickness of yarn could be used with any size hook. The only difference is that the sequence of increase rows would have to be repeated more often. I can imagine this shawl made in a fine colourful sock yarn on quite a large hook to make it light and airy for summer.

I am taking a break from crocheting things for sale this week. I already knew about my niece's baby boy who is due at the end of April but now I also know of 2 newborn boys. I have reached out my blue, cream and white wool and will spend this week making some small items for the newborns and then start on somethings for my niece.

I also have some items to crochet for my friend who is going on holiday in June. She has chosen the kind of items that I like to crochet so I am happy about that.

Tonight I am going to a meeting of like minded craft fair people and hope that I can get some better ideas on how to create a web page and other methods of selling. I need some help in this department and as some of the others in the group are having more success than I am then I will sit and listen to how they market their goods.

These are two books that arrived last week. The one on the right looks a very interesting book. I haven't read it as yet but it is all about altering the patterns to fit. A few of he patterns inside this book are ones that I would be interested in making. The book with the green cardigan has a couple in it that I like but as with all books patterns grow on me the more I look at them. I believe my copy of the latest Interweave Crochet is on it's way to me although from the preview photos I am a bit underwhelmed by the designs.

The sun is shining so I think that I will sit in the garden and crochet for a while. I have to shower first but as I am waiting for a parcel that needs to be signed for I am dithering about trying to decide when is the best time to risk it. It takes me so long to get out of the shower and down the stairs that the postman has gone before I open the door. I can't sit here in my pj's all day. I think that I will just have a quick wash, throw some clothes on and shower before I go out later once he has delived the parcel.