Our Sophomore Year at Vogue Knitting Live
I've spent the last month planning and working on products for Vogue Knitting Live. In addition to getting extra colors of Koigu and sewing new project bags I spent time deciding how to market and display Chiagu items in a new booth location. Last year we lucked into the last booth in the first aisle. This year will are in the middle of the aisle surrounded by other vendors. By tonight we were ready to roll:
Marsha's shop, One Geek to Craft Them All, has one side of the booth while Chiagu gets the other side of the booth. There were a few odd items we needed to deal with:
- We noticed that our lightening could have been better but we found two spots near the front of the booth where people could get a good look at products.
- We decided to buy chairs instead of renting them.
- We ended up using more vertical space than we planned. We had curtain walls, not true walls - the displays ended up being a challenge but we managed to display many items.
We experienced more foot traffic during Friday night's condensed shopping hours. More people walking by translated into more sales. We both decided not to wait until the end of the show to treat ourselves - we each bought a skein of the mammoth Empire aran weight yarn which is hand dyed by Jill Draper.
Empire has a bit of a reputation - for most knitters, it's enough to make a whole sweater. We'll see, I'm not sure I'll get a whole sweater out of it but I'm sure I'll have fun trying.
And those of you who plan to attend the show, come by and visit, I always enjoy meeting everyone.
Chiagu
Booth 413, 5th Floor,
Vogue Knitting Live
Jan 15-17, 2016
Marriott Marquis Times Square
Yarn update!
A brief description of the colors that were added in November and December:
P133B
These skeins reminds me of the leaves and trees changing their colors in the fall.
P300
Browns with hints of beige and peach.
P439
There are so many gorgeous layers of purple, the color is quite stunning.
P524
This pink/purple is an example of the wild coloration that can happen while dyeing Koigu.
P854
Such a pretty combination of moss with rust/burnt orange. Another winner for the fall.
P123A
Lots of bright colors and some of the skeins have a chalkiness to the look.
P324
This color with its celery green, muted yellow and purpley pink makes me think of spring.
P333
To me this is an earthy, southwest color way. It's like finding bits of turquoise in the desert.
P357
Olive brown with an intense pink as a very subtle accent.
P637
Some call it fuchsia, others call it magenta. it's a gorgeous intense pink and it works for any project you have in mind.
P862
Shades of oranges and purples, very pretty!
Yarn SALE!
Save 15% on yarn - use code BF15. Ends Mon, Nov 30 11:59pm, EST.Launching a Craft Collaboration
Happy Thanksgiving! This year is the first time I am making a turkey breast instead of a whole turkey. We figured the breast is better for those turkey sandwiches we enjoy after the holiday is over. But I will miss having the drumstick. And last year I cooked the turkey upside down - it was very moist and delicious since the fat dripped into the bird rather than into the pan. But no matter how small the turkey it was always too much food for us.
What else is going on today? Thanksgiving marks the launch of knitting kits that are the collaboration by three Etsy sellers: Lexicorp , One Geek to Craft Them All (link) and Chiagu (that's me!). We created three kits to knit Christmas ornaments inspired by your favorite superheroes: Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman!
What's in the kit? The yarn, pattern, stitch markers and a project bag to put everything in. All you need to provide are the knitting needles. It's fun to make and a great gift to give the geek/nerd knitter in your life. They are available at the Lexicorp Etsy shop. Go take a look!
Rhinebeck 2015 ...and a lovely time was had by all
The New York Sheep and Wool Festival (aka Rhinebeck) is always held the third full weekend in October. I've been going for over 10 years, starting with day trips and lately for the whole weekend. This year we participated in the Indie Untangled Rhinebeck Trunk that took place Friday night.
Here is the booth being setup up (with much help from Lexie). I sewed project bags of various sizes and I even pulled an all nighter to get them done. It was a successful show for us and we hope to do it again next year. Over the weekend I'll replenish the Chiagu website and the Chiagu Etsy store with the remaining bags.
Eight of us rented a house for the weekend and we got off to a slow start Saturday morning. My inner giddiness surface when the first thing I saw was the nun walking two baby cashmere goats. I'm pretty sure I squealed. And every year there is a nun walking goats. I took an adorable picture of my friend Margaret and one of the goats:
It was a cool and crisp Saturday - those who knitted Rhinebeck sweaters wore them comfortably. As we walked the Dutchess County fairgrounds we saw spectacular color:
and in the vendor barns you saw cool business banners like this one:
I can say confidently that this was the most popular knit project:
Here's a close up of the Shetland Baa-ble Hat knitted by my friend Pamela:
That sheep hat was everywhere! It's a free pattern from the Shetland Wool Week website.
And who doesn't like running into a llama taking a walk?
By the end of Saturday we were all tired. Some of my housemates bought goodies in the Food Barn so we had a delicious dinner of appetizers and alcohol:
There's bread, several different types of cheese, olives, pickles, chorizo and sweet Italian sausages. Dessert was the same idea (and we forgot to take a picture of it).
As for Sunday I have to admit I was a sheep stalker. A Herdwick sheep stalker.
I've been a Twitter follower of James Rebanks aka @herdyshepherd1 for a couple of years now. His Twitter feed is full of gorgeous pictures of the Lake District, his herding dogs, and his Herdwick sheep. So when I saw this Herdwick ewe I had to see what she was up to. Her name is Haylie - she and a baby Herdwick were part of a sheep talk. When it was over they were walked to a pen in the next barn. I watched them eat and then Haylie walked over to her owner, Erin Bradt from Helder-Herdwyck Farm, for some petting.
ADORABLE.
And then I got to pet Haylie. She was SO SWEET.
And yes I ended up buying two aran weight skeins of Herdwick yarn. And that's another year for Rhinebeck.
So thank you to my fabulous housemates (yes, we had a selfie stick that we used at the house. Remarkably there were no selfie stick sightings on the fairground).
Already making plans for next year and I can't wait to see Haylie the Herdwick again!
