Day One Olympic Totals

by carmen | Aug 9, 2008 | Uncategorized

The opening ceremonies were spectacular, beyond expectation and I was able to use this inspiration to create my own free form opening ceremonies piece. Wonderful circular orbs reminiscent of the Olympic rings and the majesty of the opening performances. Who doesn’t like a little drama?

The design is primarily silk and bamboo from some cones from France and the handpainted is a lovely Koigu in merino wool.

It will be for sale, however, I am not able to part with it quite yet…maybe when the Olympics are over.

MelonHead Fibre Olympics

by carmen | Aug 8, 2008 | Uncategorized

Since I am basically starting from scratch with my inventory I have decided to have my own Fibre Olympics. I am not great at competition, so this way I will only have to compete with myself, and baby we are going for gold!!!!!……each day to hit all my categories.

1. Hat – adult or kid depending on time
2. One hand spun
3. One scarf or neck wrap…

Every day for the entire Olympics. Photos will be posted. Since I want to watch as much of the games as possible, this is a chance to get caught up on my inventory and cheer for my team. On show days I may falter, but there is always time to knit in the car on both 2 hour car journeys.

I am in the shop with Pearl tomorrow which means I definitely have a good first day start. Go Team MelonHead —I mean Team Canada, GO.

Show Highlights

by carmen | Aug 7, 2008 | Uncategorized

I haven’t actually talked about the show itself and it’s been almost impossible to put it all together. In a word, the show was overwhelming this year so I’m going to break it down into categories.

Great Friends

Judy
offered up her vehicle, her time and against impossible odds, made all ferry reservations. Even though the vehicle broke down during the show, she kept a cool head, kept us together and got us back to Vancouver on a band aid and a prayer. Oh, and Judy brought the wine.

Toni
saved my inventory by calculating the tent peak into the tarp equasion, seriously keeping the rain from drowning my inventory the first morning of the show. She also took on a more dangerous mission by running with me through the woods on the last morning of the show when the car wouldn’t start to get me there on time. I have never seen tent walls removed so quickly!

Pearl
stayed with me in the booth every day of the show, she fed me, gave me bathroom breaks, wrote receipts, kept the troops entertained, seamed hats that didn’t have a chance to get finished and felted me some green eggs and ham.

Here they are exhausted on the ferry coming home. Yes, not too tired to knit though.

Customers

About 50% of my customers have already bought something from me in the past, either as a gift or for their new additions. It is a thrill to see these new and growing families return to Filberg each year and stop by. Sometimes old hats just come by for a visit.

The people that attend this show appreciate handmade. No one talks about how much things cost or how expensive they are. They talk about how beautiful things are and how they treasure things that they have purchased over the years. How thrilling.

A small skirmish broke out over one design. My apologies to the woman who did not get the hat that she wanted. If you ever read this, I would be happy to make you another one.

A young girl bought a hat with her own money and then tried to tip me. To which her mother replied…”no honey, that’s okay, we only have to tip in restaurants”. She attempted to give me ninety cents which was all the change in her pocket. I thought I was going to cry.

People who did not buy from me, but sent me e-mails after the show telling me that they enjoyed meeting me and my friends and that they found me somewhat creative.

Customers giving me commissions, trusting me to recreate their visions.

Those who now have 7 hats in their personal collection.

My favourite customer who called me a “really good liar” this year, after her friend bought a scarf for her at the show last year and when she came back to buy it for herself I told her I sold it to someone else.

Other vendors

Talent abounds at this show, whether it be fine art, ceramics or just a big piece of fudge. There is nothing out of place here.

The Filberg Festival Volunteers

Each year over 300 people volunteer to make this show a success. From the woman who bring the muffins and coffee in the morning to the volunteers that actually collect donations to donate to the volunteers at the end of the show to thank them for their hard work, everyone contributes above and beyond.

And how about this for an ending —-the ferry ride from Nanaimo back to Horseshoe Bay. This is just after 10:00pm on Monday night.

Until next year — time to create some new inventory.

A Garden Cottage Retreat

by carmen | Aug 6, 2008 | Uncategorized

Diane of Garden Cottage Retreat created an oasis of calm in the middle of my 5 days of chaos. It was the loveliest B&B I have every stayed in.

She has a massive garden as well as an orchard on her property. Small creatures abound and the sound of herons nesting near by cut through the silence. Talk about the perfect place to knit (and to retire at the end of a 10 hour show day)

The Orchard

It’s amazing how important where you stay for a show makes a difference to the whole day. We were greeted with a basket on the door with local jams and artisan cheeses and breads. Yippee. And Judy being in charge of the wine made this basket of goodies so welcome.

The show itself is so busy that as a vendor, I do not have a chance to actually shop the show. After Pearl and I finished setting up the tent, we went for a walk in the rain around the show grounds.

Just a corner of my booth looking out on to the rest of the show.

What, a yarn store in Nanaimo?

by carmen | Aug 6, 2008 | Uncategorized

Thanks to all the coordinated help from the posse, getting to Vancouver Island was a breeze. Landing in Nanaimo, our first order of business was to head up the coast to the Comox Valley and set up for the show……Oddly enough we were sidetracked….

A thrift store—–vintage needles

A Yarn Store—baby alpaca and koigu

Pearl on our way in to the thrift store. She scored a vintage cookbook and more needles for me, a button as well. As you may notice the weather was NOT perfect. Setting up in the rain for a show is definitely a challenge.

While we were already running late, why not head out to Coombs for a little visit. If you ever have a chance to get to Vancouver Island, this weird little tourist town is a trip. The town store has goats that live on the roof and the store itself carries a selection of very strange things. In addition, the bakery is to DIE for. It is a bit visually overwhelming, so be warned…

No photos of the show set up itself. Suffice it to say that the rain and my tent did not have a loving relationship, and since there was no trust, we had to condom the tent. Judy and Toni went on an excursion and corrected my roofing problem.

The Filberg Festival has such an amazing following that I knew the rain would not affect my sales, so no worries there. Just needed to make sure that the weight of the water would not bring the whole thing crashing down. We enjoyed the B&B (which was walking distance, or sprinting distance —that story later….had a little meal and a few drinks and knit into the wee hours.

I love having friends that knit. It makes my world normal.

Playing "Ketchup"

by carmen | Jul 31, 2008 | Uncategorized

By the time you read this post I will be sleep deprived and on the road….It was impossible to choose a priority so I flitted all day from one thing to another.

• Finish new bacon and egg wool – done
• Felt two hats – done
• Crochet two seaweed hats – done
• Ply remainder of yarn – NOT DONE
• Still knitting kids hats – shit
• Doing laundry…..enough panties –good enough
• NO time to make lists…..