A Taste of Spring

It was 17C before noon yesterday and it is 17 just after 9 am today!  How incredible is that weather?  I have made an peppermint herbal tea and I am going to sit out on the deck for the first time this spring, and stitch the toes together ( Kitchener) of the remaining socks I have to do to catch up to MrB.  I have one mate and a pair yet to do.  Then I should have a group photo to attach here later today!  Now to go enjoy the morning air, the birds chirping, and the feel the sunshine beaming on me as I sip and sew!  What a great early taste of spring!  Enjoy your morning too!

msb from Socks Made On 88

First Day of Spring

It was the first day of Spring today!  I can tell Spring is here, there are so many other things on the go and just not sock stuff.  Back to walking, and we did a wonderful woods walk on Monday at a farm operation of producing Maple Syrup.  How cool it was, sold some socks for cash and maple syrup.  I would put a plug in for his farm, but I tend not to mention names here at my blog.  If he is reading he knows who he is, and thanks.  MrB knitted a little bit today.  I have 5 pairs of socks that were waiting for me to kitchener today, and I only got one pair and one sock done this evening.  The good thing is that they are not going anywhere and will still be there waiting for me again tomorrow.  And now it is soon the strike of midnight and I must retire for the day.  Catch you all again real soon.

msb from Socks Made On 88

Happy Hump Day~ Wednesday

MrB and I have taken a couple days off and just getting back into sock stuff this evening.  We have been concentrating on our spring cleaning, and other things this week.  Still have more cleaning to do, errands and such but we are dabbling in sock updates and sock making as I type this note.  I usually have lots to say and to report but things have been quite quiet.  I hear the cranking sound now so I am guessing by tomorrow morning I will have some toes to graft.  For something I hated doing at first, I now look forward to doing and miss when I don't have some on the go.  MrB is working on producing some smaller sized socks.  After attending our market, we realized the need for size 5-6 women's pairs, and also some size 9 men's. We should be able to tend to our cleaning again tomorrow as we are to get a dumping of March Break snow tonight and into Thursday. We may have to break out the shovels which has not been a common occurrence this winter.  So tomorrow you can think of us with cleaning, snow, shovels, and sock stuff too if we can work it all in our blustery day. Hope everyone had a happy hump day and that you all have a wonderful evening.

msb from Socks Made On 88

Just to let you know

New poll up, in case you did not notice, thought I would let you know, as I had a good response from the last one.  I was told it was fun, so let's try another one!

And for those of you who may be reading my blog and have no friggin' idea of what a crank-in is, then please admit to that in the poll. After the poll has been completed, I will explain what it is.


I think MrB and I are taking tomorrow off, so the beginning of this week may be slower with blog enteries.  But I will be back soon enough...just watch for me.


msb Socks Made On 88

Brain wave for next market

So as you know we had our very first market today.  Ever since we got home, my brain has been in overdrive!!  Oh, I know you are thinking, again?  Well when we were there I observed that kids especially young girls with their moms, aunts or grandmothers like to buy something.  We had nothing small to buy, so on went my thinking cap.  I knew MrB had a small piece/string of i-cord he made as his first project.  I snapped it up and asked him if he was saving it or could I please experiment with it, and off I went, thread and a small piece of left-over felt and a brotch type pin that robbed from my jewelry box.  Tada this is what I came up with, and I call it my i-cord sock- flower!  I put it up to a couple of pairs of socks and it looked awesome.  Another unique thing I think is only to have one per pair even more odder like a rebel like me would think.  Since they have a pin on them they could also be attached to your sweater, coat, head band or anything else just to add a little bit of colour and funk!  Now, it will be my mission to make a couple for our next market.  I am so proud of myself coming up with this little nifty idea that I just had to share it with you.  Here is my little i-cord sock- flower pinned on to a sock, and  hope you just love it as much as I do!

msb Socks Made On 88

 

Market Experience was good!

Brigadier all set up in his glory ready to get his show on the road.....

msb was proud of the display she captured and the arrangement of things worked out very well!

Our very first market experience was good!  It was good in so many ways... the exposure for MrB and Brigadier, and the exposure for us selling as it is a very new concept for us, talking with people, and seeing their interest captured in just stopping by to see the machine working and cranking and to hear all about it. We even had an elderly lady come by and tell us of when she was a young girl of how her family had one (a CSM) and she had knitted on it a couple times. Many passersby touched the socks and liked the feel of them, some asked if we would be coming back. And we also found out that there is a demand for smaller sized woman's and men's socks too. I had one lady say to me that she has a friend that knits hand-knitted socks, but that our socks looked so much nicer!  Many people comments on the bright colours we had, and lots liked the earthy tones we had also.  I was glad we had colours catering to separate groups of admirers.  We put ourselves on the market list to return for a couple months.  Also got a special request order and what really made my morning was that we achieved the objective or met our goal of expected sales for the day. We were so very pleased! We got lots of compliments on the knee highs and was a good attraction too to draw people to our table besides Brigadier himself of course.  We did have a good time too....it was fun!  I wanted to report back here just for a special person so that she could see, YES we did have FUN!  I took a couple of photos of Brigadier all set up and also of our table of socks.  This was a memorable first round to get our feet wet.  The people running the market where all very welcoming and it felt very comfortable there for us. We were among a few new crafters appearing this time.  They too were also very friendly.  We spent 5 hours there, with an hour to set up.  The time went by very quickly so that too is a good first indication that we can do this.  Now we will sit back and ponder on a few things we can do differently, or things to do to improve upon, like more variation of  what sizes we have for next month. We are also going to focus on adding one new surprise item to our table.  I think this item will sell nicely, and add a little less expense to the people interested in making a small purchase. So all in all today, a good morning early afternoon, good enough that we want to and will return!  What more can we ask for?  It may be nice to have another place for exposure too, if we could get out twice a month but we have to investigate into that further.  For now we are very happy just to know we have a place to go in our leisure and pursue selling SOCKS MADE ON 88!  There are two smiling faces and hearts at the household, just being able to  accomplish our goal set out for today. And next time, next month,  we will do it all over again!  A special thank you to my friend Sandy for inviting us!


msb from Socks Made On 88

Off to Market tomorrow

Well here we are, Friday night, the night before the big day, our very first market.  We have all our things ready to go.  I have checked my list more than once and counted the pairs of socks more than once also.  I think I have a little bit of nervous jitters setting in as my stomach is not feeling up to par.  But I know from experience once tomorrow comes I will be just fine!  And do you believe it, we will have to set the alarm clock and that is real rarity in this household since retirement for us in June of 2010.  This will be the 4th time to set the alarm! We have absolutely no idea of what our expectations should be or will be for tomorrow.  This is truly a new notch to put on our learning curve of our new adventure.  All and all, and above all I, hope that the two of us will have some fun and enjoy our time amongst other fellow crafters selling their products.  Surely to goodness, there will be that one customer to buy a pair of socks!  If we sell one lone pair we will be so very happy, as that will give us the incentive to do it again next month in April!  It is going to be a quiet night, soon going to watch a movie, no sock stuff this evening, and then rise and shine with the birds and away we go.....off to market! Wish us luck!

msb from Socks Made On 88