Socks Made On 88

Socks Made On 88
Socks Made On 88

Thursday 28 February 2013

Paper Bag Princess no actually I am the putter Queen!


I just love to putter, I could be the putter Queen and today I have been puttering with SMO88 most of the morning.  I needed to stamp some more paper bags.  We use paper bags for our socks at the market when someone needs a bag, as most regular market goers carry their own reusuable carry- along bag! A couple of pictures to share of what I stamp on the paper bags.  I wanted something simple but unique and came up with these using my scrapbooking/card making stamps.  A Yarn ball and the words, Thank you!

MsB from Socks Made On 88

SMO88 made a donation to auction in honour of 5 young men lost at sea!

Sometimes the act of making a donation, warms the heart on your end just as much as the other party receiving it!  Socks Made On 88 is very happy to have made a contribution for an auction for the families of 5 young men who recently lost their lives, Lost at Sea!  We donated two pair of socks, which seems like a small gift, but in circumstances like these, something is certainly better than not giving anything at all in my books!  Here is the link if anyone is interesting in checking it out, bidding on any items or also contributing!

https://www.facebook.com/MissAllyAuction
It is very nice to see that people in this day and age are still very generous for a cause!

MsB from Socks Made On 88

Tuesday 26 February 2013

Rainbow of Colours


Rainbow of colours, a good variety being added to our collection for show and sell for our next Market, March 9th!

MsB From Socks Made On 88

Sunday 24 February 2013

R U Longing for Spring?



MsB from Socks Made On 88

Links.....I figured it out!

The other day I tried to post some links and for the life of me I could not get it  to work, but I just had a light bulb moment and I think I got it, so I will try and share those links again.

Historic Farmers' Market, Brewery Square, Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada. (We are listed as a vendor here)  We make appearances ususally on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the month.

http://www.historicfarmersmarket.ca/ 


Socks Made On 88's facebook page  Please come on over to facebook and LIKE our page:
www.facebook.com/SocksMadeOn88

And of course our website page although it is posted here on the entering blog page
http://sockson88.wix.com/Socks-Made-On-88


There now you are all linked up!
Thanks for your interest!

MsB from Socks Made On 88

Couple Close-ups!

Couple close-ups from the Socks Made On 88 couple!
Today MrB is cranking out socks!
Close-up pic of MrB's work in progress on the 60 cylinder.
Today MsB kitchenered a pair of socks!

Close -up of MsB kitchenering the last sock of this particular pair!   

Saturday 23 February 2013

Increased... the word of the day

Increased is the word of the day!  Increased appearances = Increased Sales = Increased cranking for MrB!

Just when we thought we were on tops of things, increased our targets of each size and goals of socks pairs on hand,  we surpassed them today by selling way more pairs than we anticipated.   This is great for us, and the demand seems to be increasing!  We are just wondering how long it is going to last and if it will last into the summer with less visits to the market for part of that time period.   This is a question that can not be answered, we only have to test the waters and see for ourselves.

The market seemed very up beat today!  Many vendors had very good sales today including the new vendors too.  Nice to see new vendors onboard as that makes us not the newbies anymore. Vendors were visiting vendors, vendors were talking with other vendors, vendors were visited by board members, and all was one big-little happy community.

It doesn't matter how many increases there are, the increase in market spirit is alive and well.  Speaking of spirit also... MrB had a malfunction or minor machine break and treaded along with a bit of masking tape as a temporary fix.  I don't think anyone else noticed it and he was able to keep cranking away.  It is the spirit of this market that keeps us going, as every single time we get home and we are exhausted!  I am exhausted as I type this but I feel so darn good.   And both exhausted, here we are hours after the market is over, still working within Socks Made On 88 while everything is still very fresh in our minds.  But not for much longer...MrB is winding yarn for his busy black-board orders from MsB, posted for his work ahead the first of the week.  I am finishing up this blog entry and then it is on to cups of tea and a TV watching night of Canadian Curling...the Scotties Tournament of Hearts!  Next market is in two weeks so I will be returning before then.  But for now Good night all and have an awesome rest of the weekend, time to put our feet up!

MsB from Socks Made On 88


Friday 22 February 2013

Packing, gettting old hand and more decisions!

What once used to be a big task, is getting old hand!  It takes no time at all to get our packing arranged to to take the market now.  It is Friday today and tomorrow is our market stint.  I looking forward to it very much.  We missed our last time to go because of a horrendous snow storm ......we were not die-hards to battle the weather.  That was actually a good thing though, as it has given us the test of missing going twice a month.  This month will be once a month and we will be back to twice a month appearances for March, April May and June.  That is our hope any ways!  I know we have changed our minds and schedules off and on.  For anyone following us and needing to know our market schedule please check our website as it will always be listed there.
 http://sockson88.wix.com/socks-made-on-88
 
We also announce our immediate appearances of that week also on our facebook page too, so you can check either one.
http://www.facebook.com/SocksMadeOn88

Historic Farmers' Market facebook page also posts blurps occasionally and they too have a website if you are frequest goers of this market. We are listed under vendors of the market also.
 http://www.historicfarmersmarket.ca/

I will advise all customers that we have decided to only appear at the market once a month for three months throughout the summer.  Those  months being July, August and September!  Our attendances will continue be the 4th Saturday of the month for those 3 months.   This will give us the opportunity to do some much desired traveling and a few camping trips too.  This is one of those big decisions we were pondering on earlier in the week.

Yes, now back to packing!  Sometimes I come here thinking I have nothing to say and then once I get here, I have lots to say!  MrB will be chuckling under his breath when he sees this statement.  He thinks I ALWAYS have lots to say!  :-)

I have everything ready to go, but I must do a double-check today!  MrB will be getting all his stuff ready today.  Not often do we forget anything, but it is the little things I have to check on.  I must check to see if I have my try-on sockettes, and an extra pen and pencil (sometimes they walk away or get misplaced)   And then of course there is a lunch that I pack very early in the morning.  I rotate kinds of sandwiches and I already spoke to MrB and concluded that we will take egg salad sandwiches along with us tomorrow.  

I called this post, "Packing, getting old hand"  I meant that to imply that packing is getting routine not mundane!   This is a good thing!  And in another month or so packing will even get easier.  We are going to try something new.  We are going to attend the market without the machine and see how that goes?
Our circumstances at the market have changed for April onward and we want to give this a real test.  But we have some new tactics up our sleeve and they will be revealed later, the end of March or mid April.  ( more decisions we had to make earlier in the week) but all is good!   The mid April appearance will be exciting as we will have just returned from a vacation to Cuba.  Here's hoping we have a nice tan glow upon us and we are refreshed to start the next phase of our adventure at the market.  

It was not an easy decision to finally decide on our summer schedule as well.  We were torn to attend or not, how many times, flexibility, balance......yada yada!  Well in the end for us , balance always wins out!  We want to travel and we have a couple significant trips planned for July and September.  August will be the in-between month with a little bit more leisure upon our plate.  MrB craves some non-cranking time in the year and he will get it.  Last year we did not do much in the line of shows or markets through out the summer.  I think we did one show and sell from the end of May till the end of September.  So you can see our hesitation in making  decisions for this year.  We have decided that is an outmost importance to at least attend our market once a month, and that is what we are going to maintain.  That is very doable for us and keeps us flexible also.  Probably in a normal year we would appear twice monthly in the month of September too, but this year is not a so-called normal year.  I will explain that later on towards that time.   October will bring back twice monthly visits and we will carry on from there!  I feel it is very important to make our intentions known even if they happen to change down the road to unforeseen circumstances.  I am a very honest person in real life, and so that honesty oozes over to our business life also.  

Any question to when we will be at the market will not be hard to locate.  Recap:
Check our Socks Made On 88 facebook page or
Check our Website of Socks Made On 88 or
Check for notifications on the market website or 
Come here to check my blog!

I think this note is getting too long  as I keep getting a warning so I think its time to post it.
Packing is the theme for today!
Take care all, and have a fantastic weekend, where ever you are! 
Talk again after market, as I always have something to report then.

MsB from Socks Made On 88  

edited: sorry I can not make the url's show to click and take you right there.
I have tried many times.  Sorry for the inconvenience.  Our website is listed to the right of this page.  Facebook is self explanatory, and if you need to search Historic Farmers' Market, google is the way to go. And if you go to the market in person I have business cards and appearane date slips for your convenience to know when our next visits will be!  Thanks ~ b
 
    

Wednesday 20 February 2013

work space improvement

Ya ya I know I told all that I was going to relax. But I decided there was one more thing I needed to update on and post here before doing anything else.

We have a new old fashioned black board for our work space!  MrB did such a wonderful construction of it, as per my suggestion.  I love it!  It works great for the what we wanted to use it for.  It looks awesome with the trim painted in Caribbean Blue, as I call it.

MsB from Socks Made On 88 

Decisons, Decisions

When you have a little business venture there are ALWAYS decisions to be made!  The last 24 hours we have had to make some decisions.  Decisions, decisions....I think we have made them together in what is best for us (MrB and I) and also for Socks Made On 88.  Things are always a changin'.  Change is always the constant in everything we do and in life, so we just deal with it and strive forward... Little bumps on the road make us take note that there are always minor adjustments to be made.  We try not to get our knickers in a knot too tight and we try not to get our socks in a knot either :-)  Changes and decisions if you look at them on the positive side, keeps ours mind sharp and always working!  So our minds have been active today, now its time to take a break and have some fun or relax.  I am choosing to relax for the rest of the day.  MrB is busily doing something as well on his own time.  Socks Made On 88 will not run away and it will be in more focus closer to the end of the week as we prepare for our market outing. Remember we enjoy balance!

MsB from Socks Made On 88

 

Monday 18 February 2013

More snow and more left-over socks made!

More snow, and more snow, and more left-over socks made by MrB!  These three pair were kitchenered up by me this afternoon, and they are all washed and laying flat to dry!  Tomorrow they will be tagged and added to our show and sell collection for market.  Market for us is again this coming Saturday.  Yahoo!  We actually missed going the last time due to the storm.  It will be great to make our appearance,  and see all the friendly smiling faces again of people dropping by to chat, to ask questions and to make purchases. We simply enjoy this outing having the social contacts and so it does not seem like work to usIf you are in the local area, slip on down to the Historic Farmers' Market at Brewery Square 7am-1pm, and give Socks Made On 88 a visit!

MsB from Socks Made On 88

Tuesday 12 February 2013

Blizzardy Days, what do you get?

MsB completed this felt applique stocking!
MrB made some left-over yarn sock pairs! Don't they look yummy!

Some snow to show for our shovelling efforts in the last 3 days!

Between cranking, and shovelling, and snow blowing MrB also finds time  to work on a jig-saw puzzle.  Comes in handy when he needs the sock on his cicular sock machine to relax and it also give him some much needed R & R too from time to time!

And this time of year MsB has yet another felt appliqued stocking to work on also.  Finish up one and start another one!
Big snow storm, centimetres of snow to shovel!  And in between shovelling what are you to do, but .....work on projects!  In the last few days ( 3) MrB and I have been productive in the project department.  From the pictures above you can see how we spent our blizzardy-time!  We got a little bit more snow last night and now it is friggin' raining, so that makes a big time mess on the roads early this morning.  We are hunkering down again today, continuing on working on projects and see what gets accomplished today?  We may not always be working to get things done in Socks Made On 88 but if that is the case, we certainly do enjoy our other projects as well.  You will hear me say over and over that BALANCE is a very important key in the lives of MrB and MsB.  I for one am going to get back to my stocking today..... catch you all later when there is more SMO88 news to report! Oh I must  remember to tag those two pair of socks first!  ( Going down to the basement to fullfill that task then running upstairs to sip tea and stitch! )  Yes I will give you permission to call me the Stitch  _itch, but only today :-)

MsB from Socks Made On 88

Wednesday 6 February 2013

We will NOT be at the market Feb9/13

To our Historic Farmers' Market customers:
MrB and I would like to imform you that we will not be attending this Saturday's market due to the pending storm and several cm's of snow!
Sorry for the cancellation, .....we will see you again, Saturday Feb 23/13.  MsB and MrB of Socks Made On 88
Thank you.

posted byMsB from Socks Made On 88  Wed. evening of Feb.6/13.