Still no photo's but some exciting news

I am so excited that the second part of my plan has finally come together and I can share it with you, but alas still no photo's yet as I spent all day yesterday sorting out the under stairs cupboard and the shed to make room for.................................................................... My stock!

I am so pleased, I have been allocated a little market stall at the traditional, market town, market, which starts on the 18th of March in our little town. It's a very old right and tradition that had fallen by the wayside over the years but has now been reinstated by the town council and I've got a stall there every Tuesday for 5 hours. I'm so pleased as its always been a dream of mine to run my own craft shop and have a studio where I can display local people's work and run classes from. Up until now it's remained a dream due to family commitments and lack of cash! But now I can finally see the  flicker of a beginning of a dream.

I've got all sorts of haberdashery items: thread, needles, felt, thimbles, tape measures, gorgeous ribbons, pins, scissors, pinking sheers, etc. I've also got loads of beautiful fat quarters that I just want to keep for myself!  But my absolute favourite item to shop for was my yarn and needles and hooks. Imagine my delight (and my husbands despair) when 2 enormous, and I mean enormous boxes arrived full to bursting with delicious yummy scrummy yarn!!!! I just wanted to take all my clothes off and dive in!!!!!!  (For any potential customers you'll be pleased to know I resisted the urge!). I've got knitting needles in every size possible from minuscule to huge, cable, circular and sock and crochet hooks by the spillion in lots of delicious colours, types and sizes. I am one happy bunny!!!!

My plan is to put some of the profit into repurchasing new stock and the rest into a savings account so that once my boys have decided to stop running me ragged with worry (my eldest needs a third heart op and my youngest has a form a skeletal Dysplasia, epilepsy and hypotonia) I can open my dreamed of craft shop. I'm thinking on a 5 year time time scale which hopefully will give me enough savings to open without the need for a business loan. I was horrified when I realised how much you'd need to pay back on a loan and then with rent to consider its no wonder many businesses just fail to make it past the starting line no matter how good the idea.

So there it is, my long held dream is finally becoming a reality and I am so excited to be starting on it, now to decide how to display all that fabulous stock of mine, it's like being a child playing at shops!

Exciting news

Wow, I feel like I haven't blogged for ages but in my defence I have a very good reason, I mentioned in my last post that I had some exciting news but was just waiting on the final confirmation and now I have it so can finally reveal my plans.

In the little town where we live is a beautiful old Town Hall that houses a museum, a town office, a ball room and has an undercroft (a sort of roofed open air area) and a "Shambles" that up until now has been open to the elements and so called because the upper building over hangs part of it. The building itself is very large and imposing and gives the air of belonging to a very large town when in fact our little town is relatively small and probably only just scrapes in as a definition of a town rather than a large village

The town hall has recently been undergoing some refurbishment to the Shambles, to take it from an open air area to a beautiful glass roofed meeting room. It's hard to see it on the picture above, the area to the front behind the columns is the under croft and then behind this is the town hall office and the shambles.

For ages I have searched for a local social group where I can meet like minded crafters to share ideas and skills and have a general chit chat. As you may have probably gathered, I'm a bit if a social recluse, big social events aren't my thing, I just don't enjoy them, in fact they positively terrify me! I also have a hearing loss due to loud tinnitus for which I have to wear hearing aids and I find I just can't follow conversations in noisy social gatherings and it just makes me feel silly keep asking people to repeat things over and over again or just smiling and pretending I've got the jist of what's being said when really I don't have a clue! I guess some people are social butterflies and some just aren't, and I fall into the latter group that prefers a smaller social interaction.  

Anyways back to what I was saying, I hadn't been able to find a crafty group and during a craft event at our local church in the summer I was discussing this with people there and discovered the only thing available craft wise was the U3A (university of the 3rd age) which is aimed a retirees of which I am not! I was also talking to a lovely lady who oversees the town council and she told me about the shambles and suggested I created my group and met there once the renovation was complete. First of all I dismissed it, then I thought "why the hell not?!" And it is with great pleasure that I can finally announce that my new craft and create social group starting in March!  I'm really excited, it will be on a Monday morning for 3 hours and I've planned it as a not for profit group, thinking I'll just charge £3 per person each week which will cover the cost of hiring the shambles for the session and provide refreshments. 

I'm really hoping it'll take off, if it does I'd like to start some more groups in the surrounding villages as I'm sure there are probably many like minded people there too, and worryingly probably some lonely older people as well, who would appreciate a weekly get together, we're quite rural here and the transport links aren't great so something like a morning group could be just the thing.  Although crafting is very in vogue at the moment, it did drop from fashion for a while and has seen a decline over the past few decades with the invention of modern materials and quick ways to make clothing and home wears etc and I fear if we don't act now, some of the experience and skills held by older folk won't be passed on and could be lost forever. They have something very valuable to pass onto us younger folk and it would be a dreadful shame not to learn from their experience.

I also have another piece of exciting news, but I want to take some pictures to show you so I'll keep you hanging on until I've done so! It won't take long and I'll try to do it today.

Ta ta for now! X

Super Sample Blanket Update 2

I've really been struggling with the dregs of the stupid cold I had but thankfully now I think it's finally making an exit as I'm starting to feel human again, my shoulder seems to be on the mend too, but I fear it may be the very thing I love that is causing the problem :0(   I really am worried it's holding my shoulder in the same position whilst crocheting that is causing the problem. I had a good massage and my Aunt showed me some Pilates moves that have helped but I am thinking I might ask for some physio to see if that can help, in the meantime I'm just taking it steady, even though that is far easier said than done!

I've done a bit more to my Super Sample Blanket, gradually plugging away at it and adding a few rows here and there, it's grown a bit since I last showed you. I was following Another Vegetarian's colour scheme and patterns, but as I thought might happen it's developing into my own version of it and I'm happy with how it's coming along.........

Some of the rows look a bit wobbly wobbly in the photo's but its mainly due to being folded up on my kitchen table, however I do think it might need some blocking once its finished to completely straighten it out.

I also have a work-in-progress (WIP) for an exciting project that I'm just waiting for final confirmation on and then I'll tell you all about it. I'm so excited about it and can't wait to share!

I've started a baby cot blanket following a pattern I have in one of my books

I'm really into this blanket and enjoying this variation on the granny square, you may notice that there are 4 of the green, orange and red squares and only 3 of the yellow. I took the yellow ones with me while I waited at the leisure centre for Little H's gym class so that I could put the cream border on them, but to my utter frustration I discovered I'd left my crochet hook at home so couldn't work on it, then to make a bad situation even worse, I think I lost a yellow one whilst I was there. I'm going to call back in tomorrow morning to see if I can locate the runaway square, but in the meantime I've advanced 4 more levels on Pet Rescue Saga instead!!!!!!!!

I finally finished my patchwork cushion and I have to say I am suitably proud of it, I stitched it all together and sat it pride of place on the sofa where I can admire it.

I just love my "Boo" Bunny

And I think the rustic style hearts finish the corners off well.

As for the weather................... Well I live in Somerset, what more can I say other than amber weather warnings and torrential rain! I've built the Ark, think I'll start loading it on Sunday!

                                                            x - o - x - o - x - o - x