This year, Mary traveled up to Coombs with me which meant an early morning start to catch the 7 a.m. ferry across to Vancouver Island and then a one hour drive north through Nanaimo and Parksville to the little community of Coombs, best known for the emporium with goats grazing on the roof. We were set up and ready to go by 9 a.m. Sales were steady and I parted with about one third of the hand dyed yarns I had prepared as well as many of the natural coloured wool cones. In fact I sold out of the grey cones which are great for weaving. Mary keeps reminding me not to fret - the sheep are growing more every day!
Mary behind the counter with her drop spindle
I had taken along Emily's vest with the humming bird pattern and was also knitting an adult vest with a sheep motif (just visible in front of Mary on the table). If I had taken kits of these items with the patterns they would have sold well as there was lots of interest. I have promised potential customers that I will be posting the patterns in the next two weeks so watch this spot and my web site. The 3 ply yarn in grey and white that I had milled at Carstairs Custom Woolen Mill in Alberta is a good weight for these vests and the colour definition is great for this type of knitting pattern.
I was also pleased with the interest in the hand dyed yarns. I had dyed both white and grey skeins in the same dye baths for complementary colour shades primarily for weaving. The muted shades dyed over the grey wool were the ones that sold well.
The turquoise colour on the left was in the same dye bath as the more muted shade on the right.
The bright colours drew the eye but the muted shades were the ones that sold.
It was a great festival, both for vendors and for shoppers who learned from one another and came away with many new project ideas and uses for their fibre. I certainly learned a lot about what people want to buy and about presentation. It was also very gratifying to have customers return to purchase yarns that worked well for them over the past year. Mary and I made some new friends; found some familiar faces and got caught up on the latest fibre news and came home tired but very satisfied with the day. For me, it was also great to have the company and the help.
The next task is shearing the flock then skirting and sorting fleece; deciding where to get this years fleece processed; packing it; and sending it off to the mill. Mary is right! I should not be worried about having parted with any of it - it just keeps coming.............
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