Fibre Week

I got home from Ontario with a nasty cold, and spent one full day in bed drugged to sleep with Advil Cold and Sinus so that by the time I got to Olds for Fibre Week I might have a chance of surviving. The sleep did seem to help, and I got the motorhome all packed up, all the gear loaded, and managed not to forget anything important.

I arrived to a rainy afternoon and some people standing about in bright yellow rain gear. Apparently southern Alberta was in the midst of major flooding (I don’t listen to the radio, usually, so I had no idea this was going on) and many conference attendees were unable to get through as the roads were washed out in places. This, unfortunately, included my business partner, who was stuck on the other side of the mountains with all the roads between us closed due to flooding and mudslides!

That meant I was on my own for setup, but I just made lots of extra trips and took my time getting things organized. The booth finally got put together and by Friday noon, we were ready to roll.

The Batt Bar was an amazing success. It was set up like a salad bar: pick your ingredients (as many colours as you want, then the ‘toppings’, like silk or sparkle or carbonized bamboo) and I’d blend it all together for you. On Saturday there was a steady backlog all day, folks would choose their ingredients and come back in an hour or two to pick up their batt, once I got through the pile of waiting fibre!

I was super busy at the vendor mall during the four days I was there (my partner did arrive on Saturday, so I had some help with hauling things and having meals delivered and such!) and I took it easy and skipped most of the evening events and such as I wanted to be sure I had enough energy to make it through the week, but it was awesome to be at Fibre Week, as it always is. By Monday afternoon I was running on adrenaline alone, but I did make it through and I enjoyed it all.

The event was such a success, we were able to order a new, wider drum carder that means we can make batts at about 4 times the speed, which is wonderful! There’s now an online batt bar at our shop, too, so people can have this much fun even when we aren’t there in person doing our street entertainment gig. (Several people commented that watching me was like watching a busker or a street entertainer at work – not only did you get a cool batt, you got a show!)

Pretty copper things

I’ve been dealing with a bit of a “mental health flu” – nothing too serious, just enough to make me feel a bit off balance and short of words.

So, I will share some pictures instead. These are some lovely new hand made copper shawl pins that a local artisan makes – we have them in the Flannelberry Creek store, and they are just lovely!

Just the thing to hold your shawl or scarf in place. Light weight, with a natural finish that will age to an interesting patina over time.

As I was putting up the listings, there was one lovely spiral piece that simply refused to upload the image … even after trying three or four times. I took that as a sign that this particular one must want to belong to me. :)

Flannelberry Creek opens the doors to the world!

We’ve officially opened the doors at Flannelberry Creek.  Come on in and look around – there’s a lot to see!

We are still in the midst of sorting out inventory and unpacking boxes, and then there’s Fibre Week at Olds at the end of June, so orders won’t be shipped until the first week of July. But you’re more than welcome to come in and shop – there’s a Wish List feature so you can tag your favourites and come back to them later on, or if you’d like to order right away and get a surprise in the mail in July, go right ahead … use the coupon code CELEBRATE at the checkout to save 10% on your order.

Welcome to Flannelberry Creek … a fibre store in your mailbox!

Market stall: what would you want to see?

Flannelberry Creek will likely attend some events with a market stall: a 10x10 foot space (or thereabouts) with yarn and fibre and fun things all set up for purchase.

If you were shopping at a market stall for yarn or fibre, what would you want to see?

I figure it’s important that you be able to see the wide array of colours and yarns from outside, that you be able to touch everything, and yet at the same time, things need to be reasonably well attached to the display racks so they don’t blow away (or, ahem, wander off).

All the gear for the stall has to be highly portable – no big shelving units or heavy tables, as it’s gotta fit into my van (along with all the stock). Ideally the gear isn’t too expensive, either, we do have a budget to stick to.

I’ve seen a really neat stand made from a cut down tree trunk about 4” around with dowels and wires fixed into it at angles to hold hats and mittens for sale, and I’m contemplating something like that to hold skeins of yarn or baskets of fibre. A couple of them would fit into the van without too much trouble.

Everyone uses those wire snap together crates, and they are practical but … well … I hate putting them together and I was hoping for something a bit more aesthetically pleasing, preferably made from natural materials.

So … any ideas for me?

A Big Cool Awesome Thing Has Happened

My friend Colleen (Flannelberry) has been running an online yarn and fibre store for the past couple of years, a place called Flannelberry Fibre. Recently it became obvious that much as she loves the shop, it takes too much out of her life right now … she actually started talking about letting it go. When I heard her say she was thinking of moving away from the shop, I volunteered immediately to adopt it.

It’s the perfect partnership: Coleen’s already got a great business up and running, she just hasn’t got the time to make it really grow. Me, I have nothing but time … but I haven’t got the capital to get anything new up and running. Thus, we’ve become partners: I’ll take what she’s started and see that it flourishes, and together we’ll enjoy the fruits of our shared labours.

Thus, it gives me great happiness to announce the launch of Flannelberry Creek – the new joint venture of Flannelberry of Flannelberry Fibre and Frazzlehead of Apple Jack Creek.

Work on the new infrastructure has been underway for the past week and in the next week (or perhaps a bit less), the store should be up and running … complete with a sale to celebrate our grand opening!