Sara's Texture Crafts... HQ Log

All that hard work done, it was time to set of for the show…

Saturday:

We started off early and after a sleepless, anxiety driven night I was less than equipped to make the drive and travel sickness got the better of me. Not the best start to a weekend show, but one I seem to be getting used to as a result of the last few years of treatment. We took it slow, stopping a few times as we went and eventually got there with about three-quarters of an hour to set up. Fortunately Darrin is a trouper and really rallied round for me. I found that throwing myself into titivating the stand really took my mind off my anxiousness and nerves settled… that and some hellos from stall holding friends. John and Frances of www.lakesidecrafts.co.ukare always great to stumble across… huge hugs all round! And what was even better… we had the stall next to them!!

Here are a couple of pics of the stall…

My hand dyed tops…

Darrin’s batts. Aren’t they wonderful… he really helped me out this time. I had found myself wiped out of stock after the last show and had to start from scratch, so without his training put to good use there was no way I would have had batts for the show without him taking some time to help. Thank you D, as ever you are my best friend and hero xxx Maybe at some point in the future you can give up the day job and come work with me?

I took some video of the sheep run down the high street and will get that ready for the podcast next month at www.dreaminginfibre.blogspot.com. They had Alpaca head up the show… they were just the most darling things… didn’t want to run down the high street at all… preferring instead to sit down or play dead in the road! Still the sheep were better behaved this year and didn’t take a detour into Boots the Chemist!! Instead they formed a close huddle of gentle trotting past the on-lookers towards their pen, being closely watched by a very well trained sheep dog.

Things got busy back at the stall and so I missed the Fashion show in the afternoon and the sheep dog trials up at the Tor, but from what I hear they were a really great display.

Darrin and I worked very hard to field woolly enthusiasts’ questions and show off stock… so much so that I lost my voice on the way home!  Still it was a great first day and we had to cut more stock when we got back… which is one of the few times I’ve had to do that in the past, so a good sign that my new direction is suiting my customer base. A relief and a real boost. Thank you!

Sunday:

Woolly hat day was a slower affair, but definitely fun.

Darrin stole my Precious Rock Cheviot Hat… good job I’m spinning up yarn in colourway Africa for a second hat, eh?!

I also wore my Flower Girl fascinator… not quite a hat, but let’s face it, it was hot, hot, hot and no-one wants a full hat on in that weather!

Other events, like the flock blessing up at the Tor and final sheep dog trials took place on the Sunday, which made it a great day for tourists and families… and a chance for me to shop. I’ll show you my buttons on the podcast!

All in all it was a wonderful event… next year is a three-day bank holiday festival and will hopefully see a lot more wool, as well as other family-focused events, so definitely worth a visit. I have put down a deposit for the stall and will make a note to bring much more stock.

A big thank you to all that came to see me and thank you to the organisers for inviting me to come along.

Sara x

www.sarastexturecrafts.com

Shop Update 29^th June 2012 – from 9:30am- 10am

Welcome to the next shop update!

‘Wow’ you say… not only is she notifying me a day early, but she’s even put a time of upload on it! Yes, well… in light of the last week I’ve tried to give as much advance warning as possible. The reason being that braids in particular have been flying out of the shop leading to many emails and phone calls about what’s in the next update and what may have been missed. So in the interests of making things a little fairer and easier, I’m changing the way I update;

1. Update days – You can find the dates of these at http://sarastexturecrafts.com/page/5172-events.aspx. I use Google calendar for my event diary. So if you have a Google account you can add specific events to your own calendar and set alarms if you wish…
2. Update times – I will update the shop at 9:30 each update day and do my best to finish by 10am. If I cannot meet this time, I will add a notice to the event page.
3. Stock – I will also try to update the diary with contents of each update as I get them ready. These will also be added to the news section of my website (links  on home page), which will also be added to social networking sites (facebook, twitter, ravelry, etc…) I will try to have this ready at least 1 day in advance of the update.
4. Photos – I will try to make sure that instead of teasing you with photos of some of the product in the update, I will include all of them. That way if you miss something you will know what it looked like… and if you want to custom order then you know what to ask for. I will make my lists below match the order of the photos from top left to right and so on.
5. Etsy – If you shop with me on Etsy too (http://www.etsy.com/shop/SarasTextureCrafts), then I will also be updating here at the same time. I will try to have the same stock levels and variety, but please note that my website is my main update priority.

I hope this helps?

I have also doubled my production capacity recently, so I am hoping to have more than 1 of each hand dyed item available. This means that there is now more chance to get your hands on something during an update. Remember so things go faster than others, so please try and keep an eye on the update news and events.

…

Ok… Today is all about the hand dyed… a chance to grab braids and fleece for spinning, or felt making.

Here’s the list;

• Hand dyed Tops – I have 2 of most braids;
  • BFL Hyacinth
  • BFL Dartmoor
  • BFL Wildflowers (just 1)
  • BFL Nightfall (just 1)
  • FalklandFall Leaves
  • FalklandHarlequinn
  • Merino Autumn (just 1)
  • Merino Anemone (just 1)
  • Merino Pansy (just 1)
• Hand dyed Fleece – these are easy to draft from in most cases. Where you have a curl and don’t want to make an art yarn, then you can card by hand (you can use a drum carder, but I recommend a quick comb by hand just to loosen the curls).
  • BFL Dartmoor
  • BFL Fall Leaves
  • BFL Nebula
  • Romney Marsh Malachite
  • Romney Marsh Fall Leaves
  • Romney Marsh Nebula
  • Romney Marsh Bluebell Woods
  • Romney Marsh Dartmoor
  • Romney Marsh Nightfall
• Hand dyed Knops – great for felt making or spinning.
  • Tourmaline
  • Fall Leaves

You can find all of these in the shop at www.sarastexturecrafts.com, by selecting the hand dyed category from the shop menu bar. I have added this to the front page for this update.

Sara x

Next Update Due: 6^th July! This will include more fleeces (depending on the weather for shearing) and stock (including yarns) left from both June shows (WSD Somerset Guild Fleece day and the Lace Guild Sale day).

Don’t forget to come and see me at my next events! http://sarastexturecrafts.com/page/5172-events.aspx

I always love Jo and her sister’s work over at Sisters Crafty Creations blog shop… they turn their hands to some lovely sewing craft work! So it’s really wonderful that they choose to use some of my products in their work… a real honour.

This is a picture from Jo’s blog http://twiglet5.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/woyww-little-dumfling-update.html

… where she used some of my PreFelt as a base.

Thanks for sharing Jo… as ever, I am thrilled to see your work!

Sara x

www.SarasTextureCrafts.com

Coming Soon!

Due to many request and a sucessful customer poll I will be opening a 3 month hand dyed tops club at www.SarasTextureCrafts.com. There will be 30 spots (world-wide shipping) and these will be opened to my newsletter mailing list firstly. To be in with a chance please join the list at http://sarastexturecrafts.us2.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=034d65ea7755ec79ab11ad55e&id=8b697643c0 and watch out for your special update email!

Sara x