I am a knitter, honest!

I keep starting every post with an apology and a promise to start posting more after I finished the craft show.


The craft fair went really well. I sold out of the adult sized felted hats by mid-day on Saturday. They were so popular. I will be working really hard to get more of those done for next year. I will also be including a few accessories for them as well to make them more appealing. (I took one and pinned a broach on it so it looked like a cloche from the 20's. It was very cute!)


I received a couple of custom orders as well, so I've been scurrying to finish those up. The first hat I finished up already and when I called the person who ordered it, she canceled. I hate it when people are flaky like that. I put a lot of effort into getting it done quickly and then I get nothing for it. (Well, not nothing, since I can put into inventory for next year. But, still, it is pretty rude if you ask me.)

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I have an announcement.


Brace yourselves.


I have finished a pair of socks.

Not just any socks.

The socks that sucked the soul from me.

I have finished the Pomatomus socks.







I started these last summer. But I had a few problems with the yarn. It was knotted in at least 4 places and when I went to return it to the store, the hours on the card that I picked up when I purchased the yarn that week were wrong. Then the clerk was rude to me and said that I couldn't possibly have gotten the card there recently. She didn't even have the class to apologize when proven wrong either. (It was the last time I shopped there.)

Then, Eric got so sick and life fell apart. I knit on these while he was in the hospital and ever since they have left a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach.


Then, when I decided that it was not fair to the yarn to let it languish in my WIP basket forever, I found this. I finally screwed up the courage to try and fix them this weekend. I decided to reknit the 2 rows that were damaged and just run a strand through all of the remaining loose stitches. I think it came out pretty well, all things considered.


Honestly, it is as if I was not supposed to knit these socks.

Yarn, anyone?

Looking forward to the end of the craft fair season, I am proposing another contest. Let's think of it as an on-line scavenger hunt.

There are craft fairs out there that are great with lots of beautiful hand-made items of high quality. However, we all know of the other type of crap craft fair. This is the type that interests me.

Ways to enter:

1. Find a link to the fugliest handmade item you can find online. (Nothing from Go Fug Yourself or The 4th Knitter of the Apocalypse - these need to be items you find.) They do not have to be knitted. Leave a comment with the link on this post - one link entry per person. Be kind however - do not trash the item in your comments - someone tried (we hope) to make something.

2. Post the contest on your blog and earn another entry. Leave a link to the post in the comments as well.

3. If you find this contest listed on someone else's blog, let me know where you found it and that person will earn another entry to the contest.

4. This one will run for a while. Entries will be accepted until midnight on Sunday November 18th, the last day of the fair. Once I recover, I will use a random number generator to determine a winner.

Fini

So, the big craft fair starts on Friday. I'm working it on Saturday and Sunday and am really looking forward to it. For me, a huge perk will be seeing my friend, Nicole, who recently moved back from Germany. But, I am hoping to get some solid information on what styles of hats and bags sell well. This will really help me determine what types of materials to purchase for the coming year.

I've started the application process for fairs in the spring and summer and a lot of them require photographs of booth displays. This will also give me the opportunity to snap some pictures of my stuff all set up. When I sold bags at the Granary in October, the owner took a birch branch and wound white Christmas lights through the twigs. She is kindly letting me use the same display for the show and I am hoping that she might let me keep the branch. If not, I will try to go for a hike at my parents and get another.

I have just a few more items to finish up. One hat still needs felting. Over the weekend, I did a felted bag that I need to attach the handles and line. If this sells, I am thinking of adding it to my website. They are not cheap because of all of the time that goes into it, but using the knitting machine makes it much easier.

Once the show is over, I am planning a complete revamp of the website. Hopefully, there will be enough sales at the show to pay back all of my personal money that has been invested as well as purchasing a new digital camera.


I have been working on Ribbi Cardy, which has been a welcome relief. The back is done up to the beginning of the arm hole shaping. I have both fronts on the same circ and they are about half way to the beginning of the shaping. I fully intend to have it done before Christmas.

I will try to snap a few pictures and post my progress on the cardi.