Season’s Greetings!

Hope that your festive season is going well. Me, I’m a touch “Bah Humbug” about it all; I love this time of year, as these two weeks are generally filled with Time. Time to relax, to see friends and take stock of the past year. The “Spirit of Yule” – the opening of the heart to joy and the return of light, the giving of self to loved ones and sharing good times with people close to you.

However, too many enforced and structured “celebrations” of the day itself (that were really anything but pleasant time) in my twenties and thirties have left me very “Bah Humbug!” about how over commercialised and pressured the concept of “Christmas day” has now become.

So, now that the day itself is done and dusted, I’m enjoying a week off from the day-job and firmly looking forward to 2015; planning dye jobs, doing labelling, yarn prep, website admin, & getting ready for the first show of the year – Waltham Abbey Wool Show

Date: Sunday 18th January 2015
Time: 10am to 4pm
Venue: Waltham Abbey Marriott, Old Shire Lane, Waltham Abbey, EN9 3LX

Tickets: £3 in advance on-line or £4 on the day

In their second year, this show has definitely found their niche, with  luscious hand dyed yarns, beautiful handmade wool and felt items, unique knit and crochet kits, a wide selection of accessories from buttons to project bags for sale, demonstrations of spinning, weaving, rag rugging and crochet plus a gallery of projects on display as well as Workshops, a Best Funky bag competition and Knit & Natter area.

For more information please call 01992 651066 or see their website: www.walthamabbeywoolshow.co.uk

So, I see you there I hope!

I’m heading over to Braintree on Sunday for the Textile Fair at the Warner Textile Archive.

This is this show’s fourth year, as you might know, I sadly couldn’t make the timing work last year to attend, so I’m looking forward to going this year.

Date: 11th May 2014
Time: 10:00 – 17:00
Venue: Warner Textile Archive, Silks Way, Braintree, CM7 3GB

Tickets: £5.50 in advance (plus 55p booking fee) / £7 on the day (Under 16s free when accompanied by a paying adult)

Parking available at various locations in Braintree including disabled bays, please see this map for more details http://www.parkingpartnership.org/braintreemap.pdf
For more information please call 01371 557741, email infoATwarnertextilearchive.co.uk, or visit www.warnertextilearchive.co.uk

I hope you can make it if you are in the area, it looks like it will be a good day out.

---

Also, some interesting news from Twisted Thread about Knitting and Stitching 2014 – This year’s Knitting & Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace will open a day early to the public – with five open days running from Wednesday 8th October to Sunday 12th October 2014.

After the event attracted record visitor numbers in 2013 (nearly 33,000), they felt that the show needed to grow, and combined with the late opening evening on Thursday that they added in 2013, they are aiming to create space for new customers and offer a slightly more comfortable experience for everyone.

Opening Hours
The Knitting & Stitching Show / Alexandra Palace

Wednesday 8th October – 10am-5.30pm NEW!
Thursday 9th October  – 10am-7.00pm
Friday 10th October  – 10am-5.30pm
Saturday 11th October –  10am-5.30pm
Sunday 12th October  – 10am-5.00pm

So, start planning for that one now. I suspect that it will work well, and hey, we all know how hot and cramped at can get at its busiest… and apart from anything else, adding an extra day is the only way that this show can expand really!

2013 was a good year, all told.

Unlike 2012, 2013 had a great deal of  momentum in all sorts of parts of my life, not just in Fibres Exotica! It’s still stuck in a couple of ways, but I’ve got plans in place to move these on also.

Technically, the change to the back end of this website (after the initial work to get it transferred)  has made life way easier. No longer does the shop break when any form of update is applied and administration is so much faster. I’m also hoping that it’s made your shopping experience easier and more intuitive. If you can think of more improvements, please do let me know

In the real world, the first two shows of the year were wonderful in terms of meeting people but financially? Not so good.
The focus at Five Lakes was PaperCraft and Beading,  not the type of show where my “higher end” yarns sell, so regretfully, I won’t be exhibiting at that company’s exhibitions again. The people that did come fondle, chat and buy from me were lovely though.

The Spring Knitting and Stitching show (previously “Stitch and Craft”) at the recently re-fitted Olympia didn’t quite work either. The new layout at Olympia confused people with people entering the front entrance not realising that there was another hall behind the one they were in and visa versa. Also, some of the aisles were very narrow, causing congestion that could have been avoided. We also found that the attendance was very weighted to people attending on the Saturday, which made some of the layout problems worse and caused problems for visitors and exhibitors alike! As of now,  I’ve not signed up for a stand at the 2014 show, but if they offer me a good last minute deal on space, you never know!

Knitting and Stitching at Ally Pally worked very well all round however; the layout I used made the silks really sing out, the new labeling system worked well and so people could find what they wanted more easily. I actually made a little bit of profit, the first time in 4 shows, and the coffee trolley next to my stand this year was either a blessing or a curse, depending on whether you like coffee or not! 😉

So, looking forward…

I’ve got big plans for 2014. As previously mentioned, I really want to get back into the dyeing and also (finally!) broaden the fibre range I offer. I’ve about 12Kg of hand-dyed that I have to get photographed to upload.

I’ve also signed up for some smaller shows as well as the usual big ones.

Waltham Abbey Wool show – 19/01/2014  10:00 –  16:00, Marriott Hotel, Waltham Abbey, EN9 3LX

This is a brand new show,  Diana at The Crochet Chain approached me at Ally Pally to come exhibit, she’s looking to create a small yet exclusive content show.

Possibly maybe: Spring Knitting and Stitching – 13-16/03/2014, Olympia Central, Hammersmith Road, London, W14 8UX

Notes as above

ICHF Creative Stitches  – Stand C03 – 3-5/04/2014 10:00 – 16:30 (Sat 17:00),  ExCel, London, E16 1XL

This is this show’s second year. I’m really hoping that we fit here, with a new show, you really can’t tell, but there seems to be a nice balance of stalls attending

Awaiting confirmation: Warner Textile Archive – Textile fair – 11/05/2014 times to be advised, Warner Textile Archive,  Silks Way, Braintree, CM7 3GB

Kate from the Archive asked me to attend last year when she saw the stall at Five Lakes, but the show schedule clashed horribly with some unavoidable life. So, I’ve applied to attend this year and I’m just waiting to hear back.

Knitting and Stitching- London – Stand TGA13 – 10-13/10/2013, 10:00 – 17:30 (Thurs until 19:00, Sun until 17:00), Alexandra Palace Way, Wood Green, London,  N22 7AY

Need I say more? 😉

You’ll notice that there is a big gap in the middle of the year,  so I’d love to attend some smaller shows; anything offering a “table” within 1.5hrs drive from SE London considered. If you are having a local craft fair, get in touch!

It’s the time of year again… Knitting and Stitching 2013 is upon us!

10th – 13th October The Knitting and Stitching Show – Alexandra Palace – Stand TGA13
http://www.theknittingandstitchingshow.com/london/

So, as I’m away into the 14th with the show, if you can’t come and see me (or even if you can!) just enter the phrase SHOWTIME at the checkout to get a 5% discount across all products until the 14th of October.

As to what I’m bringing to the show? Well, all the usual silks, needles, dye kits and patterns, and I’m also bringing a much larger selection of my own hand-dyed art yarns. (This is also why there is new stuff with no pictures coming up on the site, I’ve figured out a way to do automated stock-take! So, the stock is going up now, and I’ll sort pictures out when I get back. 🙂 )

If you’ve been following my ‘blog, you will know that I merged Fluffenstuff into Fibres Exotica (hence also the swap over of URL and e-mail from SariSilk.co.uk to FibresExotica.co.uk).

Now my house renovation is over, I want to move back into dyeing more again. It’s very personally fulfilling to dye all manner of non-skinny, luxury and/or rare breed fibre yarn and it also allows me to expand into offering an even more excellent selection of yarns and pretty things based on both companies mission statements.

Talking about the FibresExotica Mission statement- “sumptuous fibres from exotica places” – I’m also working with a Peruvian Spinning collective to get their yarns into my shop. The yarns they spin are to die for, so, as you can imagine, I’m very keen to get them in! I couldn’t quite get them over here for K&S, there has been a huge storm in Peru which has damaged the Alpaca herds drastically, hence little fibre for the collective to spin! So, news on that coming soon.

Well, that’s it from me, looking forward to seeing lots of you at the show!