Saturday, December 03, 2005

After the fayre

We made a profit of about £35. This was mostly because of Big Bunny - £1 for 5 guesses about his birthday. Helen was ambushing people with the diary as soon as they came in. It is a lot harder to ambush people with Christmas cards; we only sold four of those. Only two stalls seemed to do well, which were the cake stall and the tombola. I don't understand people paying £1 for five chances to win tat, when for the same money they could buy sweeties, calendars, etc. It's not even as if there was any booze to win.

Mark forgot to bring the bag with the hats & scarves. He was apologetic but of course my paranoia kicked in. Was it because the stuff was rubbish? No, just me being paranoid. Anyway, the table was small and only had just enough room for the stock we did have with us. I noticed that the gift boxes we had made were also missing. I think we should check about table size before the next sale and maybe get two tables if they aren't very big. I had one curly whirly with me, and it was sold as soon as it came out of my bag. Of course, it was bought by our Glorious Leader, who then had fun prancing around the hall in it.

The next sale is on the 14th so we are going to re-think our strategy seriously. The calendars will have to be sold, obviously. We don't have the storage space to keep much stock over for next year. One lady liked our things a lot but didn't have any money with her. She begged some cash off her husband but didn't manage to get everything she wanted. I made a point of telling her about the next sale & said we'd look forward to seeing her then.

Helen has commissioned me to make a long black scarf for her grandson, 'like all the young ones wear, all foufy, to wrap round and round'. I'm not sure what this means precisely, but I'm sure I can come up with something. It's to be a Christmas present so I'd better get cracking. I think I have some stash that will fit the bill. I also have to make a hat for Helen's great-nephew.

David is away until Wednesday. He pointed out yesterday morning that this would be an ideal time to make his Christmas present. Am I in the mood for that particular project? Dunno. I'm thinking we need something attention grabbing for the next sale. Maybe if I finish the radioactive pig... Or knock out some little dollies or something. It's getting people to stop and look long enough to see that there are things they would actually like to buy.

I sat & crocheted for about ninety minutes. We were hoping it would attract extra attention and it did bring a few people closer. The number of visitors just plummeted though. It turns out that the rain had just got heavier & heavier. On my way home the streets were practically empty and the few pedestrians were bundled up heavy against the cold and rain, hurrying to get somewhere warm and dry.

I want the next sale to be more of a success. I felt guilty at first about not making the flower brooches but none of the brooches we did have were sold. I'm trying to think of things I can make which might be popular and of which I can make multiples in the next ten days. I can make another couple of kitties & ask someone else to sew the faces. I'm not very good at producing cute expressions. I think children would like the kitties.

Obviously I can make more curly whirlies because they only take me a couple of hours or so now I have got them down pat. I just don't know if it's worthwhile when I'm not sure if they will be popular. There are four in storage, and I have nearly finished another one. I have the yarn to make a hat to match the CW in progress but again, I don't know if that's worthwhile.

It's easy to tell that David isn't around. Normally I would talk to him about all these things and it helps get stuff straight in my head even if he doesn't have much of an opinion.

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