Tis the Season

School gyms and churches all across America are teeming with crafts this time of year. But are people shopping at them? This year I found attendance was there, but buying was consistently at about a third of what I made at shows last year. Despite the Made In China Scare of 2007, people are still very careful with their money.

I sold at several craft shows this season, the first was The Public House Harvest Festival, in Sturbridge, MA. This was my first year doing this show. I had signed up early on, after my first sign-up got lost in the mail, and my friend Denise agreed to sell. Problem was, Denise thought I said Stoughton, not Sturbridge. So the directions confused her, and she made me promise that no matter how much we sold, we would never do this show again, because it is just too far of a drive from the Cape for her.

This was not a hard promise because the sales were only so-so. And there were spiders in the tent. Big, fat, hairy spiders right out of The Forbidden Forest dangling their hairy spider legs all over my precious baby hats. I had to work really hard not to scream like a little girl. But I did get a few of the suckers.

A funny moment of the day was when two women swooped down on my lavender blossom hat and started to almost rip the flower off trying to figure out how I made it. I told them they could buy it and take their time to figure it out, but I think that would have taken the fun away from doing it right in front of me. They insisted that it had to be crochet, I said no, it was knit, this turned into an amusing Who's on First dialogue.

I told them that there are several sites online that gave free patterns, books too. But they wanted me to give them the pattern right there. But I didn't have it on me. But this is my favorite website for finding new pattern ideas Knitting Pattern Central. They also have one for crochet, but since I can't figure out what you are supposed to do with just one needle, I don't use that site so much.

After returning from our trek to Sturbridge (it was a beautiful drive), we were off to the Needham High School Craft Fair. I did this one last year, and it poured, but we were in the hallway and we had great sales. This year we were at Pollard Middle School (PMS) because the High School is under construction. Sales were sluggish despite my fabu new hat stand that Denise found with her mother while alley-diving. They live near a shopping district that can toss things to be picked up for trash, and many people can find great things there, and they found me a hat stand! So my table set-up has changed from cluttered mess to nice and organized.

My new hat rack! The hat stands on the table I already had. I bought them off of eBay from Matthew's Wire and they match the stand perfectly. So I have a nice updated display.

The final fair I did this season was on Cape Cod, the Coonamessett Farm Artisan Fair. Again it was cold and we were in an unfinished building, which was better than those who were in the green house, or worse, the pavilion. But I sold well, not as well as I had in the spring, but I did a decent business. It was a two day fair and I had a good time despite the cold, the customers were lovely and the rooster crowing kept me entertained throughout the day.

Denise claims that this is it for her for craft fairs, but who knows, next season, she may be bit by the bug. There is something nice about selling to people in person, helping them, and then they come looking for you at these shows. That's why I go back.