Monday, 14 April 2014

April Update

It's been a while since I posted anything.  My husband and I have been concentrating on establishing our Scottish arts and crafts shop/gallery in the West End of Glasgow, called Janet & John.

My hot water bottles with cases were popular purchases in Janet & John at Christmas time.
I've been knitting all Winter, though, probably more than in the same period in 2012-13.  I have a wonderfully comfortable armchair in the shop, in which I can work when the shop is quiet.  I sold a lot of my work in Janet & John in the run up to Christmas.  Thankfully, I was able to put some of the stock that came back from the Loch an Eilein gallery in early November straight into Janet & John, or I'd never have kept up with demand in November and December.

My 2013 design Christmas tree decoration, a stocking with a cute wooden heart button.
By Christmas, it was clear that I couldn't continue to stock Janet & John, the Loch an Eilein Gallery and fill tables through the Spring 2014 craft fair season.  Although I could not get confirmation at that stage that I would be exhibiting at the gallery on the Rothiemurchus Estate this year, I decided to concentrate on knitting for there and the shop and not to exhibit at fairs until the Autumn.  We have booked a number of "Janet & John" stalls at craft fairs through the Spring and Summer and there will be Baljaffray Handknits items on those stalls.  These are listed on my Craft Fairs page (link top left).  Our next one is at New Lanark on May 5th - this is a fair I've exhibited at for the last 4 years, though it will be our first time there with a variety of arts and crafts from the shop.  I'll be demonstrating my free mobile phone case (available on this website) during the day.

With less than a month to go until it re-opened, I heard at last that I would again be exhibiting at the Loch an Eilein.  They were in the process of changing manager, which accounts for their late notification, and they're now open for business again, until early November.  Thankfully, my decision to build up stock to take has paid off and there's a wide variety of my work to be seen there.

I needed to knit large quantities of everything for delivery to the Rothiemurchus Estate, including paper cup cosies!
By contrast, I have significantly reduced the quantity of knitting in Janet & John until the Autumn.  We still stock my mugs with cosies, tea cosies, cafetiere cosies, phone cases, other gadget cases and purses.

A two cup Price & Kensington teapot with cosy is still £10 in Janet & John.
Just today, I have booked my first Baljaffray Handknits stall for 2014.  I will be at The Curlers Rest in Byres Road (very near our shop) on August 23rd.  I've already booked three Autumn Byres Road Makers Markets and a November date at Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh and hope to add another couple in Glasgow in late November or early December.

The Curlers Rest, Byres Road, venue for my first fair of 2014 in August
I'll post some design photos over the next couple of weeks.  In the meantime, there's lots of photos from the Loch an Eilein delivery on my Baljaffray Handknits Facebook page.