Never enough room. Or, I have too much stuff! I think I just need to have more space. Again. Always a struggle.
Not a great turn-out of people and we (other vendors) think that the nice weather was probably to blame. But, great sales so .... more people would have meant even better sales. Next year!
Now onwards and upwards and preparing for the next one in two weeks time.
Another one of my 'things to do when I retire' has been accomplished. A live streaming feed of a small bit of our backyard where I feed the birds - and squirrels! is now up and running and ready for viewing.
Freshisle Fibers' Backyard - http://www.ustream.tv/channel/freshisle-fibers
There are some ads, especially at the first, but it's a free service so that's to be expected. I'll wait and see how it goes before I decide if I need the bigger, better, paid service.
I can change the view and zoom in on each feeder so it may not always be the same view. It will be offline at night because mostly all you would see is black! And, sometimes there may be a glimpse of the Dusty puppy roaming around his backyard, too.
This is also the area where I do most of my natural dyeing in the summer and so I plan to post when I'll be dyeing so viewers can see some of the actual live process. The indigo dyeing especially will be super to watch live.
Enjoy! and please let me know if you see any interesting birds that I may miss.
Elva Doris Hester (Strain)
Elva, a resident of Gore Bay, died on March 22, 2015, at the age of 87 .
Elva was born on July 15, 1927 at her parents’ home in Gordon Township. She was the daughter of Edward Strain (predeceased 1983) and Irene Strain (Wilson) (predeceased 1990).
Elva attended No. 4 Gordon School, Gore Bay High School, and North Bay Teachers’ College. She taught school in Espanola, No. 4 Gordon, Sudbury, Ice Lake, Mindemoya, and Gore Bay. She retired in 1985 after thirty-three years of teaching.
She married Jack Hester (predeceased 2012) on June 12, 1954 and they had fifty-eight happy years together. Elva is survived by her daughter, Marian Hester, and her husband, Todd Bailey, her son, Robert Hester, and his husband, Yves Brunet. Elva was predeceased by her brother, Grant Strain, in 2004.
Elva enjoyed cooking wonderful meals for her family and friends and was especially adept at baking delicious pies. She enjoyed sewing, reading, card games, and visiting with her many cousins and former students.
At Elva’s request there will be no visitation. Private family memorial with interment at Gordon Cemetery at a later date.
Donations may be made to the Manitoulin Lodge Auxilliary or the Mindemoya Hospital Auxilliary or the charity of one’s choice.
I used to think when I was working that it would be so nice to have the time to write proper blog posts. The plan upon retirement was to post more regularly, more detail, better writing, more interesting.
Ha!
Little did I know that I would be so busy with the actual doing of life that slowing down and stopping to write about it would be the problem.
I've been curling. And curling, and curling, and curling. We have another bonspiel under our belt and came home with prizes from the third event. We also came home with sides aching from laughter, eyes drooping from lack of sleep, muscles sore from sweeping so much, and livers a little worse for wear!
I've been enjoying my afternoon walks with our furry friends. We've just recently had super cold weather, but for the most part, the afternoons have been perfect.
I've made my first homemade soap. I made salves last summer and fall and they were a hit at the markets and I've sold some online. I think the soaps will sell well, too. The most interesting part for me is that I'm using so many of the same things that I use for dyeing yarn. The same plants and herbs, the same colorants, a similar patient process.
And, lastly, the thing that's been gobbling up hours and hours is a new-to-me knitting machine. It's a Brother 970 and it's a steep learning curve. I have an LK-150 and it's child's play compared to this electronic machine!
A local lady purchased this years ago and was in contact with me when she purchased it. She passed away from cancer about two years ago and her family had an auction sale. Very similar to our own tale when my father passed away. I was lucky enough to win the bidding on the machine and all its accessories. I knew I wouldn't have time to work with it while I was still teaching, so it has sat in a closet waiting for this winter.
I've mastered plain knitting and am currently struggling through working with the ribber. There's a garter carriage, an intarsia carriage, a color changer, and more. So much yet to learn!
There's new fibre available now on Manitoulin Island. I am not alone!
Lobo Loco is a fairly new enterprise located in Sheguindah on Manitoulin Island that has alpacas. Such luxury!
One of our local newspapers wrote about the alpaca farm in an article this past spring - featured here.
Lobo Loco attended many of the same markets as I did recently and it was reassuring to have them there. I try to price my yarn to be competitive with other online shops, but the self-striping yarn prices shocked some of our local buyers. Explaining how labour intensive a process it is sometimes helped! But, to also have alpaca available right down the aisle to compare was wonderful. We both benefited.
Another bonus of Lobo Loco is the the owner, Richard Lathwell, is assisted by one of my very favourite former students of all times, Mariana. It was so nice to see her again and have a visit. Mariana and her siblings suffered through having a non-bilingual anglophone teacher trying to teach completely bilingual francophones in a Core French program. They and their parents were simply the best!
Loco Lobo not only offer yarn and rovings, but they also have finished socks and insoles. I think the socks and insoles were a hit from the comments I heard from shoppers at the markets!
The Loco Lobo website is a work in progress, but they can be contacted by e-mailing richard at lobolocoalpacas.com to order their products.
I am Christmas marketed out. Done with markets for this year. They were lots of fun and successful in many ways, but they are also a lot of work and exhausting in many ways.
The markets are a terrific opportunity to network with other vendors. I've met many vendors who have been doing markets for years and I've learned so much from talking to them and watching them at work. Getting to know the other vendors is one of the best parts of participating in these markets for me.
It's a totally different experience to sell my yarn and salves face to face than it is selling online. It's very exciting and satisfying to share my passion with others and have that immediate positive feedback in person. There are always a few who can't help sharing things like their allergy to wool or that socks are so much cheaper in a store, but for the most part, customers are delightful.
Each market was different with different items being very popular at some and then not selling at all at others. Again, very different from online sales where I'm better able to predict what will generate interest. I think that's probably because I've been selling online for awhile now and the markets are new for me. Hopefully this will improve with time. I think that some of it is the atmosphere of the market, the products offered by other vendors, and the crowd that shows up that day.
The flip side of all this happiness over being a market vendor is that I've been doing Christmas things for months now! All fall!!! Everyone else is just starting to get in the Christmas spirit, and I need a rest from Christmas things! Ready for Christmas? I am. I've been ready for months!
I do know that next year's Christmas markets will be better because this time I have the whole year to prepare. Much better.
And, the last drawback. Exhaustion. This last market was held over three days. Twelve hours of actual market time plus setting up, arriving early, leaving late, packing up. It's hard work to be up and pleasant and happy and selling and remembering the customer is always right! I'm tired. A good tired, but tired. Good thing I'm retired and can rest today! And tomorrow, and tomorrow, and ....
Sales at the Mantioulin Secondary School Shopping Spree were brisk and a roaring success. Our products were new to many people and that was one of my goals accomplished. We even sold out of a few things early on Saturday!
The new display stands made by my amazing husband made everything show so much better. It was easier to set up and we definitely had more room.
I have black tablecloths and a banner on my Christmas list, so hopefully after the new year, the tables will look even better.
There were two things that put a little bit of a damper on our weekend market. One small, one large. The small issue was with another vendor, but it was solved on Saturday by the organizers. I've read myself silly on everything I could find about going to markets. I realize that not all vendors do the right thing or even think about how their actions impact those around them. A little disconcerting.
The larger issue involved the silent auction. One of the items, a Legion sweatshirt, on the silent auction table was stolen at the very end of the market on Saturday.
Stolen!
My niece, who was helping me again at this market, was the high bidder and when she went to pick up her sweatshirt, it was gone. Very sad. The silent auction items were donations and it was a fund raiser for students. Very sad. Not a good ending to an otherwise wonderful market.
My first time as a vendor at the Gore Bay Christmas Market is done. It was a wonderful time! So many people, so many wonderful items for sale, and of such good quality. But, I'm exhausted! I'm so ready for a nap!
I had my amazing and wonderfully patient niece helping me. She doesn't knit, but she sure can sell !
I took way too much stuff so we had to borrow a rack to place behind the table to hold some of the overflow from the table. I still don't have a handle on how much to bring and exactly how much will fit on different sized tables. So much still to learn.
I have two weeks to rest and re-stock until the Manitoulin Secondary School Shopping Spree market. It's a Friday night and then again on Saturday (November 21, 22). Busy times!
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