Ravelry Day 2009

UK Ravelry Day 2009 was a big success despite the pretty awful weather. I did kind of panic when I arrived at 7.30 and saw the state of my stall. There was a problem with back drops to the stalls being provided and I was in a row of 3 stalls and I think the Mulberry Dyer who was next to me, supplied the back drop to our 3 stalls. However, it didn't go to the end of my stall and the side was completely open which meant half my table was wet and had rain coming in, so was completely useless. The Mulberry Dyer was then allowed to move inside so I moved along to her stall which was much better than mine. i've learnt a few things for future outside shows, like bringing my own back drops and ground covering, as everything I put underneath the table got wet and muddy.

Despite the move we managed to set up on time and had customers browsing and buying even before we'd finished setting up. I was then lucky enough to get inside to teach my two socks at a time workshop. Two hours of warmth and dry. I left Jacky manning the stall and she did a brilliant job.

The stall was very busy all day and sales were very good. I had no idea what to expect really as it was my first show. The laceweight yarn was very popular, especially the ones I had patterns for. I had Midnight Stole, Strawberry Patch, Dazzle Shawl and some scarves on display along with a selection of socks. We had some lace virgins too and were able to encourage them to have a go at lace with sock yarn and the Trellis Scarf or my new Slinky scarf for those who wanted to try laceweight for the first time.

The biggest surprise was that my British yarns didn't sell very well, after all this event was to promote British yarns. But my exotic and imported yarns sold much better. I nearly sold out of Silky Merino, Supreme Lace, Exotic Lace and Exotic Cobweb Lace and Amazing Cashmere and Luscious Lace sold well too, along with the brand new Pure Silk Lace.

After I had moved stalls, the Toft Alpaca Stall was next to me and they were pretty busy all day too selling gorgeous alpaca kits and they had 2 alpacas on display next to their stall too. And aren't they cute?I didn't manage to get a picture of my own stall before we started, as we had a crowd browsing before we even finsihed setting up and I had to run off for my first workshop. But here's a photo of crowds browsing my stall and the Toft Alpaca stall next to me.
And some other stalls.
I didn't even have time to look around all the other stalls or the inside exhibitions and displays. Neither did I manage to get to the talks by Meg Swansen and Debbie Bliss or the fashion show but I heard it was all a big success. And surprisingly I didn't buy any yarn at all. All I managed to buy was a Ravelry Day souvenir cotton shopper.

I finished the day teaching a continental knitting workshop with the help of Katie, which went very well. in an hour everyone managed to try both the continental knit stitch and Norwegian purl.By the time I came back outside Simon and Jacky had finished packing up the stall. I decided to have a quick look aroudn the other stalls but most people had packed up by then.

All in all, it was a great day with lots of buzz and happy knitters and the mood was high despite the rain. I met a lot of old and new online friends and I'm not even going to try to name any of them as i'm bound to miss some out.

A huge thank you to Katie for helping in the Continental knitting workshop and Jacky for manning the stall all day, she did a fab job. And thank you to everyone who bought from us on the day and attended my workshop.

I've listed some Alpaca Lace and Organic Merino sock yarn which is reduced in price along with the leftover Exotic Lace, Supreme Lace and Glorious Sock Yarn. There will be more leftover yarn in the shop later in the week.

If anyone managed to get a nice pic of my stall please can I have a copy.