Finishing Off

It has been such a busy week preparing for Easter and the family coming home that I decided to just concentrate on finishing a few projects which have been in various stages of completion.

I actually started these little outfits before Christmas, with most of the pieces already knitted up, but they were put aside when other more urgent orders came in. The little matinee coats are from an old vintage pattern which I used for my own children when babies.

Both Matinee coats are from the same pattern, I just reversed the colours which are a lovely creamy yellow and white and the lacy pattern gives a very pretty effect

I used little duck buttons on both coats and made a pair of Mary Jane shoes for one and a pair of little booties for the other

Using the same yarn I knitted a jumper and some seriously cute tennis shoes, which would fit a baby 6-12 months

The white stripes are achieved by two rows of garter stitch which give a ridged effect, and for easy dressing it has a three button fastening at the back.

Nothing worse than trying to squeeze a neck opening over a baby’s head! The tiny tennis shoes were a pattern on ravelry which I just fell in love with. They are very quick and easy to knit and seemed to go so well with the jumper.

Also finished  a pair of Crossover Shoes for a little girl in pink and lilac, so all in all quite a productive week

Hope everybody has a joyful Easter, will have a little break from the knitting and start on some new projects next week

Another Day at the Fair

Last Saturday saw us at Kenyon Hall Farm for the ‘Family Fun Day & Craft Fair’

Sadly the weather was against us, for most of the day it poured down so it was a bit of a washout. For most of the day a forlorn looking bouncy castle and some sad looking donkeys stood abandoned in a nearby field.

There were over 30 Craft Stalls all set up in a barn which was partially open to the elements so it was coats and scarves on all day. The farm does have a very nice shop and cafe attached to it, so does attract a number of visitors who did trickle through to the Craft Fair. Most of these visitors came to look rather than buy, I did get a lot of very nice compliments but only sold enough items to recover the cost of the table which was disappointing.

Other traders seemed to be in the same boat, which does beg the question ‘how good are Craft Fairs as an outlet for selling your goods?’ It is only my second Craft Fair so I’m trying to be philosophical and not come to any rash conclusions, but from what I picked up from other traders the Craft Fair does seem to be a ‘hit and miss’ affair. Obviously Christmas is a lucrative time as people are eager to buy gifts they can’t find on the High Street but at other times success at the fair appears to be down to a large dose of luck!

The crafter can make sure their product is of good quality, reasonably priced, well displayed and their customer care skills are top notch but there are so many factors they can’t control. You can’t control the weather, which can play a big part in visitor numbers, and of the visitors who do show up how many would be looking to buy your particular product. It isn’t like trading on the High Street where you can establish yourself and build up a client base, at the fair you only have about 6 hours to sell your product to the random number of visitors coming through, of which many maybe only window shopping!

If there is one thing I have learned, it is that the location of the Fair is an important factor, need to research my Craft Fairs more carefully, it hasn’t put me off!