Travelling Anonymous Market Bison Farm.

On Saturday I took my little shop to the Bison Farm at West Knoyle in Wiltshire. I aimed to get there early so I could drive in and drop off my bits instead of walking it all in, got there just in time..5 minutes after Kate and I unloaded our cars everyone else arrived.  That gave me an extra half hour to set up, I was not so stressed this time and everything seemed to fall into place. Putting the wool in the boxes worked really well.


Kate has been collecting lovely vintage bits and upcycling them as well as mixing with more modern fabrics and selling gorgeous bits of china, love the coffee and tea flowery pots.
The Lavender Russian dolls make a great use of the fabric I have in my shop, I imagined doing something like that when I originally saw the fabric so its really nice to see them made up, backed with vintage fabrics. I have asked kate if I can have some for my shop so hoping she hasn't sold out ;)
There was a great feel to the market, the sun was shining and everyones stalls looked fab! The bus above was a cafe inside and sold delicious coffee.
Dee has just started a cake business and sells to offices in and around Gillingham and Shaftesbury, her cakes are yummy :)
A que formed immediately hee hee :)... who let the goats out!
I loved Rose Hatchers felt, she has not been felting that long but has done some amazing work. I can see her work selling well in Galleries. I have got some of her cards in my shop which look fab and I really like to stock local artists work especially when people are just starting out.
and I really really want this coat!!! but would have to win the lottery or maybe sell one of my original paintings. Will have to have a go at wet felting it looks great fun.
some more lovely stalls :)

There was lots of fab food too, the most delicious salads and Olives.
and of course the bison..who luckily didn't get out..you would have seen me abandoning my stall if they did!
It was a great day in the sun, and Arthur went off with his best friend Ted to a little theme park..so I had a lovely break, could have done with lots more customers though!! think people went off to the beach instead :)

Tony went off to The Goodwood Revival and texted me what a fab time he was having and how it was vintage heaven..mmm he originally told me it was  a car thing!  I will be booking my tickets for next year i think!

Lots Going On

I have not blogged for a couple of weeks, I seem to spend lots of time on twitter as it is more instant and you can also chat to other crafters while you work :)

I was embellishing these little hats last week. After teaching lots of teenagers how to do blanket stitch over the summer holidays while making mobile phone socks, I realised I could do it myself, I had not been able to do it neatly before, its still not perfect but I am pleased with the results.  I have used found bits of fabric and embroidery to add onto the hats a great way of recycling little bits of fabric.  I have cheated and not knitted the hats first, the credit for those goes to Bridgette my knitting angel :) using the Adriafil Mirage yarn. I have just realised i have not put those on my website..lots of updating to do next week :)

On Saturday I ran a Needlefelting workshop, always great fun. I cover the table with all the lovely Merino wools, a mixture of the embellishing yarns I have in the shop as well as beads, buttons and findings so everyone can take home finished items.

This is what every body made Tina aka Mollimoo has blogged about the workshop :)

One of the ladies went home wearing her cupcake and leek brooches she made during the class and was also armed with enough knowledge to go and teach needlefelting at a craft workshop in the school where she works.

I am getting ready to have a stand with The Travelling Anonymous Market at the Bison Centre East knoyle On Saturday.

Arthur helped me to paint these lovely old potato trugs, he loves doing little jobs like this,

and cocentrates very hard :)
I chose some colours I thought looked a little bit vintage and would look great sanded down to give an aged feel.
Then I realised that I had been influenced by the colours in the car museum..inspiration can come from anywhere, it is funny that I took the picture above while we were at the car museum, it obviously was ingrained in my brain. As I took the picture below I had a feeling I had seen it before and had to search back through my photos for the one above ;)
They have come out quite well considering they were covered in mud and looking very shabby.
Now I can put my yarns in them and they will stack on top of each other (easier to use sack trucks to get to pitch) and then go straight on the shelves saving me some setting up time.
George said they look like 'farmers market' but with yarn instead of veg, well that about sums it up I think?

Fibre Fest, Coldharbour Mill.

I had such a great time at The Fibre Fest in Devon, organised by the lovely John and Juliet. 

 I arrived at 8.30 on Saturday morning , and had volunteered to help two mornings in return for getting in free and staying on the exhibitors campsite.  Obviously I did not do this to save money as I realised after I volunteered it was only £6 to get in if tickets ordered in advance :) I thought it would be great fun meeting other Ravelers and there was mention of spending time in the Phop knitting tent.

So I arrived on the gate armed with knitting.  I met the girls on the gate and was a handed a high vis waistcoat to put on, then I was thrown in at the deep end by Juliet and sent round the exhibitors tent to hand out the Fibre fest brochure to all the exhibitors.  Which was fab cause I got a sneak preview of who was in the marquee before the general public arrived (good job cause it got so busy later it was hard to get to any of the stands) what i didn't realise was that with the lovely green jacket on I looked like I must know every thing, 'where are the toilets?' 'can you get me a ladder' etc.. I just smiled and said I had just arrived which didn't go down so well lol.

When I got back to the gate all hell had broken loose and there was a long que of people going way up the street..and thats where I stayed.  The girls on the gate were fantastic and kept smiling all day dealing with any problems that came up really quickly.  It was great to see so many people coming through the gate many of whom I recognized.

Dee and Debs arrived on Saturday so i spent saturday afternoon going around the fest with them, Debs was trying to make up her mind between one of the fleeces or a gorgeous big handmade basket.  The setting for the Fest was perfect the marquees were put up in the grounds of Coldharbour Mill a working textile water mill.

There were animals outside alongside basket weavers and music playing next to the knitting tent.

A great atmosphere!
Above is a little bit of the yummy tops I bought for spinning and felting, I was trying not to add to much to my stash as we may be moving soon and I already have soo much!
Dee fell in love with this gorgeous fleece, the colours in the marquee were fantastic, but I did not take any pics of the stands, I was put off at Ally pally last year when I asked if I could take pictures the standholders said no and glared at me as if i was just going to copy them. So now I am very careful, what i need though is a more discreet camera.

On Sunday I worked again in the morning and was lucky enough to do the Vintage sock workshop in the afternoon. It was great fun and I felt like I had used one before, though I did get lots of holes! I'm sure with practice a pair of socks could be knitted in no time. I will be on the look out for one of these little machines :)
I fell in love with all the bits inside the mill especially the bobbins which just look amazing with the yarn on. Debs bought some from The Threshing Barn with lovely multicoloured yarn wrapped around them.
I really enjoyed my time at The Fibre Fest and was more than rewarded by John and Juliet when they sent me a box of mixed bobbins as a thankyou..I was so excited when I opened the box :0  (not pictured) I now have them on display in my shop. ( though I will not be selling them they are just for looking.)

I forgot to mention all the lovely people I met up with like Picperfect and knitcave and puddytatpurr.