Background
I thought it might be interesting to take a peek behind the scenes of what happens during the week of a yarn show. You can expect a blog every evening this week at around 9pm, although the posts during the show weekend may be shorter as I’ll be updating from my phone. Every dyer will have their own methods of preparation and how they deal with the show, but here’s mine!
Summer Wool Festival takes place on Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st July at Redborne School near Bedford. So you know what I’m preparing for, I have a 3m by 2m stand located in a marquee. I’m travelling on Friday and camping on the school fields, and I’ll be doing this show alone. I’ve had help at every show so far. Usually my husband comes with me, but last time at Southern Wool Show he spent most of the weekend away from the stall as having two of us there didn’t leave much room for anybody else! He did offer to come this time but I didn’t want to subject him to unnecessary camping and hours of potential boredom. At Fibre Quest my dad helped me setup as he lived nearby and I only had a couple of hours between arriving and the show opening.
Thankfully as vendors we’re usually all happy to watch over each other’s stalls if someone needs a quick break, and I’m sure this show will be no different.
Morning
I got up at 7am, made a cup of tea and got to work. One of my tasks for this week is to finish designing and printing any signs and leaflets. I usually reuse these but I’m changing my layout this time so need new ones. I got a good start on that before heading out to get some shopping done before it got too busy.
I found the last big things I need for camping then did my food shop. I’ve got all the essential camping gear now and just have a few small bits to get when I’m in town on Thursday. Thanks to convenient timings of sales I managed to get tent, blow up mattress & pump, stove, gas and camping chair for around £100, which is cheaper than a hotel room for one night, so I’m pretty happy with that! Having the option of camping for future shows will make a huge difference, and of course I’ll be able to use everything recreationally too.
I’m wondering why nobody has produced an affordable wool sleeping bag. The only one I could find was £500! Our wool duvet was significantly less than that, and while I know it would be fairly heavy, when taking a car that doesn’t really matter. I’ll be using a sleeping bag I already have for this trip, but hate the feeling of sleeping under synthetics now after having a wool duvet for so long.
Afternoon
After a quick lunch I was back on the computer. I managed to finish creating nearly all the price signs. I’ll have to finish the stitch marker one once I’ve finalised which ones I’m taking.
Evening
I was fully intending to make some more stitch markers in the evening, but ran out of steam and relaxed a little instead.
I hope this was somewhat interesting. Come back tomorrow for more!
when I camp I sleep under a ‘wild’ quilt, scruffy patchwork and old tablecloth with a moth-holed woollen blanket as the batting. In theory you could make one up and add a zip… though not for this session of camping as well as that sock!
I was wondering if I could make something for the future, that sounds ideal! I don’t actually need a zip, I find it can feel claustrophobic to be zipped in, so maybe I should just treat it more like a normal bed.