Our Manitoba mission trip has come and gone. The time again went by too fast. Our schedule gets so crowded there wasn't time to try my bison fleece experiment. But we have a bison ranch out here near Milton. So maybe Benny and I can do a road trip out there for that purpose this fall.
I have picked up the yarn for some fine gauge alpaca socks for Stella and some slippers for Audrey. The house is a disaster what with getting ready to sell, but i have managed to keep these precious parcels aside.
I have gotten totally hooked on camping, am dying for a teardrop trailer, and dream about a handmade wooden one, maybe arranging for someone to make it for me for my honey for our 25th anniv in 2 yrs. Would also like a really sweet tiny home, but that will take more of a sales pitch.
Cambodia Kevin had an FB status a day ago saying Manna4Life has been awarded NGO status in Cambodia - PTL!
And i'm still mulling whether the market experiment has worked.
On the one hand, i love the market. I'd rather be outside shilling knitwear any day than be stuck indoors at a mall.
On the other hand, my kind of classic knitwear doesn't seem to generate that much interest with the market crowd. You're there mainly thru summer, so i was making up cotton knits like crazy just to have something seasonal. But that's not what i want to spend my time doing. I ended up having a lot of sweater orders, and honestly, the time would have been better spent remuneratively out on my deck with a cup of coffee filling orders. There are really only 4 weeks of the market where people are thinking about cold weather knitwear. Around Labour day, it was still hot and little kids were chuckling about who would buy mittens in summer. (I had only just put them out).
The only other variable is whether or not the regulars would get used to seeing you there over the cycle of another summer and come to you with orders and gift ideas.
But i tell you, 5 am comes painfully early if traffic to your tent is light.
Depending on how flush we are and how ambitious i am, it might be worth considering for next year taking out a full time vendor spot, but planning not to be there too much in the spring.
But it is fun and friendly. Has been worth a try. I really wanted it to work. The jury is still to a certain degree out.
Planning, however, to fully enjoy (split infinitive) my last 2 weeks there.
