It has been a rather slow paced week for me but still a good one. I developed plan to balance career, craft business and personal life and for the most part followed through on the plan. Organization is my nature and since starting my craft shop things have felt sporadic and somewhat chaotic. The plan sets aside time to volunteer, market the business and create items on a schedule.
On Saturday I met with festival shop owner and went over products to carry this summer. Everything was well received although I might need to tweak the prices on the yarn up a bit to flow with the booth. The CVM items were well received and thought to work well for men as well as women. She is not sure that cowls and sachet bags will sell at the festival so I will be listing these items on Etsy. She also advised to not display white items as it is an open booth exposed to the elements and items will not stay white for long. All in all she liked the items I offered for sale and now we just wait for opening weekend to see if things will truly sale.
I also met with the owner of a local yarn shop on Saturday to discuss selling fiber/yarn at the shop. It was very informative and helpful. They are looking for more hand spun local yarn versus mill spun yarn. I learned yardage requirements for lace, fingering and sport weight yarns which will guide me in what to produce. My core for the 4th bobbin still has not arrived to 3 ply yarns are not looking promising. I am thinking a 3 ply is as close as I can get to spinning a worsted weight yarn as bulky is not in my nature. It does seem easier to spin thickly from a batt versus a roving so I may give that a try. I know to stick with the plan of converting the fleeces to rovings/batts versus yarn to reap the most profit from selling it online or locally.
My fiber has not arrived from the mill but the shop is open to carrying some if it is unique. Not certain if my costs would be met by selling it at the shop. Toying with the concept of it being a loss leader but a good marketing venue to at least get the store name in the marketplace.
The cotton bolls are still on the spindle and progressing well. I am spinning the second bobbin of the llama/silk roving - hoping to get a yarn of at least 300 yd. My Estonian lace scarf is coming along very well I am on the 11th repeat of 16. Reviewed the border and I can tell it will require true focus so as to not need to do any ripping especially with the live stitches unraveled to create the border. I do so love a challenge. Started making some fingerless mittens with the CVM but the pattern bores me - will probably rip this out too. A fellow knitter suggested creating mismatched fingerless mittens with my small batch of yarn. They have sold well for her and people apparently like the uniqueness of each mitten. As I am color challenged I am willing to give this a try perhaps with the basket weave pattern and alternating every 2 sets with different yarns. I'll keep you posted - sorry no new pictures as of yet but hopefully next weekend I can show you the cotton and Estonian scarf!
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