Here is one of my tables at the Farmers’ Market.

Winter Bins

In fair weather seasons I use table cloths and try to make an attractive display that will entice people to stop and have a boo.

But in the later fall and winter months this can be a disaster because, even with a roof overhead, the sides are open to the wind, rain, sleet, snow and whatever else wants to blow in. Socks can get wet, blown off the table or even fly across the parking lot.

For my Jazzy Sox, this is my weather solution: each bigger bin in the photo is a plastic under-bed storage bin.  I’ve already taken the lids off in this picture, and they are sitting in the back of my truck, which is backed up to my space.

Inside each bin I’ve got 4 smaller ‘shoe box’ style plastic tubs that I got at Home Depot for a buck a piece. The lids are also already off in the photo.

In each small tub I can comfortably fit 5 – 6 pair of socks. Each pair of socks is in a plastic sleeve – I got a case of two sizes of these from a retail supply house.

So on one 6′ table I’ve got 96 pair of socks. I keep the extra socks in Rubbermaid tubs in the back of the truck so I can easily replenish the inventory quickly on the fly. To further simplify – everything in this particular set of bins is one price point, and then sorted by size within. I use additional sets of bins for other price points.

The best thing of this simple system is – if the ‘weather’ comes up as is usually does – without notice – I can cover everything securely in about 10 seconds – that is put the main lids on the under-bed bins.  It also means when the sale is over I’m packed an outta there in no time at all.

With the individual plastic sleeves on each pair, I don’t even have to put the lids on if there is just a bit of drizzle or a few flakes of snow blowing through.

The purpose of the small inner tubs is to keep things easily organized. And even if I drop a big bin, the small inner lids will keep everything hunky dory.

I don’t think this would be a good display in a venue where my primary purpose was attracting  new traffic or in an indoor sale, but for and existing client base, out doors, in Canada’s winter – perfect!

What do these have in common?

• wire coat hanger
• cable tv
• police two way radios
• 5 pin bowling
• jock strap
• remembrance day poem “In Flanders Fields”
• Yukon Gold potato

All were developed/invented in Guelph, Ontario, or by someone born and raised in Guelph.

The city of Guelph has a population of ~ 122 000, and is a little over 2 hours drive almost straight south from my farm.  It was named after the House of King George IV (House of Welf in Bavaria) who was the king of Canada at the time of the city’s founding in 1827.

Guelphites are, I swear, the nicest people on the planet. Which makes it particularly nice to participate in the Fair November Craft Show at the University of Guelph.

The show was on last week from Thursday through Sunday and I had a fabulous, if exhausting, time.

I don’t know what the attendance is/was – I recall hearing 25 000 at some point – but it is hard to know as there is no entrance fee or tickets. Maybe they have one of those clickers that clicks each time someone walks by the door. We have one of those at the Owen Sound Farmer’s Market – some of the kids know where it is and spend hours jumping back and forth to rachet up the numbers!

Anyway – there were 83 exhibitors. A lot of shows say they are ‘juried’, but I will tell you this show is very, very juried – no crap, no stuff that slipped in on a skid from China.

I love the farm. But I tell you, if I were ever going to move, Guelph would be on the top of my list.

Alas, I have no photos to share. I did remember to take my camera. But I kept forgetting to bring it from the hotel to the show ;o(

My neighbour at the show was potter Tim Smith. A really nice guy that I’ve encountered at other shows but never been neighbours with. It’s always nice when you’re on your own to be next to someone else on their own – when you hit the odd lull in the crowd its nice to have someone to chat with.

The One of a Kind Christmas Show 2011 is now behind me.

Egad.

This is, no doubt, the premier show in Canada and it is great to participate with 800 quality artisans and/or fraudulent  importers.

I have to admit the hours pretty much sapped me out. 10 days of 11 hours each plus one day of 13 hours is one heck of a lot of smiling and standing!

The show was excellent for me and for my neighbours.

I felt well prepared for my double booth with close to double the inventory of 2010.

What I hadn’t counted on was an invasion of Medium footed people early in the show. Even with the increased inventory I was 85% sold out of Mediums by the end of day 4. Which left 7 days of saying, ” Yes, sir. Men’s shoe size 8 would be XL”  ;o)

4 of 5 sizes of Eco Socks sold out in the first two hours. (Yes, madame. Ladies 9 would be XXL”.

I had a lot of returning customers who came  early to get first dibs. Many, it seems, with medium sized feet. This is, of course, generates very warm feelings and a healthy till.

During my first two years at this sale I was somewhat put off by the number of rude shoppers. I’m not sure why, but there were very few of those this year. Or maybe my skin is just getting thicker.

I liked having a corner booth – it made be much easier to find for folks who had a look and wanted to return. The double booth, however, may have been a little much given that I was on my own except for weekends. I haven’t counted my remaining inventory against my cash register tapes, but I’m pretty sure some socks walked away on their own. On the busier days I found it hard to keep an eye on all areas of the booth.

The late night on Dec 1 – the thirteen hour day – turned out to be pretty good, despite my forecast to the opposite. The place was packed and it made it worthwhile crawling back to my hotel near midnight.

I had great neighbours, which is true of every year at this sale and happily was nearby neighbours from last year which allowed catching up, gossiping, and such.

Fastest selling out sox this year – Lorna’s Laces Eco Socks, Qiviut, and Cashmara. Followed closely by Koigu.

Next year? Dunno. I am very tired and I worked very hard all year to get ready. I’m pretty sure I could have taken twice as much again and still run short. But I’m also sure I’ve hit the wall with what I can knit in a year.

There is an option to take a booth for the first half of the show or the second half. I’m not used to doing anything by halves, but its something I may think about.

But for today…..no knitting….no unpacking. Going to play with my dog!

Here’s my booth at One of a Kind Xmas Show, Toronto for this year.

Setting up was a bigger pain than usual. I was on my own this year and setting up a 20′ corner style booth for the first time, jerry rigging bits and pieces of hardware to convert my 10 x 10 set up. It all came to pass ok – erecting the 20′ wall alone was a trick, but all it took was a little extra time.

Normally it takes me one day to set up the booth, and the second allotted day to set up inventory. This year it took me a day and a half just to set up the booth, and then the rest of the second day plus three hours before the show to get my inventory organized.

I’ve got one 8 foot table and three 4 foot tables. They are 42″ high instead of the standard 30″. This is great for tons of storage, and the extra height is also a more convenient height for shopper viewing, and less convenient for wee hands to be pulling things off tables. Of course the truck is still half full, and my DD’s van is also full and at the ready.

Two days of the actual show have now come and gone. I’m very pleased with the corner location – much higher visibility and easier to re-find for customers and proprietor alike.

The eleven hour days are grueling,  but in another day or so I will enter a stupor that will see me through to the end of the eleven day show. The one day I am not looking forward to seeing is Dec 1, when some rocket scientist decided the show should have extended hours – running from 10 a.m. to 11. p.m. Ugh!

I don’t want to jink myself but so far the sale has been fabulous, and I have been so pleased to see many return customers who’ve come to the show early days to get first dibs on my socks.

OK -  off to work!

Just a little over three weeks until the One of a Kind show.

Ack!

So much left to knit. So little time. Last year I set myself a goal for knitting. I actually got pretty close, but fell short. So I raised the bar and headed for a higher target this year. Alas, I will fall short again, but have well passed last year’s target. Round about mission accomplished!

I have a double booth, with a corner this year. I don’t know what I was thinking. (Actually, I do know what I was thinking. What I don’t know is why I wasn’t thinking clearly.)

You re-sign for this show for the following year on the first day of the current show. While DD and I were setting up last year we kept complaining that we couldn’t get enough out on display because we have so many different socks, and just a few or less of each kind. So when the form came around on day one last year I had that in my mind and requested a double booth. It was later that I thought, oh, I guess that means I need twice as much inventory to make the same % profit. So the orignial problem is not solved as I have twice the inventory as well as twice the space.

Ack! Ack!

I don’t mind saying, I’ve knit my brains out this year. I did drop my other shows except for the weekly Farmer’s Market. And of course this is the time of year which becomes my ‘High Season’ at Market, meaning it takes me two or three days a week to replenish my market inventory, which means less time knitting for One of a Kind inventory.

Oh well, what can you do when you live in a shoe.

My booth number this year is W-30 (so, aisle W).  Here’s a link to pdf of show map:

OOAK2011-BOOTHS

If you visit the show….please drop by and say hi!

The One of a Kind Christmas Show, Toronto,  has a theme competition for artisans participating in the show each year. Two years ago the theme was Teapot and last year the theme was Love.

The idea is to make something – in your own medium – that represents the theme. So for the teapot theme, a potter would make a teapot, but a painter would paint a picture of a teapot.

I didn’t participate because I felt the notice was too short. Or at least too short for the panic mode of inventory building that I was feeling.

This year the them is Coffee Cup, and I’m pretty sure the notice is earlier.

The only thing that springs to mind off the bat is a coffee-sock-cup-warmer kind of thing with some kind of generic cup – maybe disposable vs washable.

I’ve done the Wine Socks with felt (insulator) liner…..maybe something along that line.

If anyone wants to stimulate my imagination….. go for it!

My big shows are finally over. We were hit with ‘weather’ on Sunday but I was determined to sleep in my own bed that night so trudged through the winter storm that has gripped much of eastern NA.

I unloaded the truck when I got home, but haven’t unpacked yet. My camera is somewhere in one of the bins so I have no photos of the winter wonderland that the farm has become.

It won’t take me long to unpack as both big shows were highly successful. After a few days of rest I’ll have to knit up a different kind of storm for the farmer’s market on Saturday.

I was so glad to be back with Jesse. He’s sitting by my chair right now. He loves the snow and if the wind breaks a little we’ll take our first snowshoe of the season.

Jesse has never been to a kennel. His groomer, to my good fortune, likes to babysit him. And I can tell by the tear in her eye when she departs that she really loves him, so it does make it easier for me to go on the road knowing that he is well cared for. Nevertheless, he is my almost constant companion, so I am always anxious to get back home.

I have two more Farmer’s Market Saturday mornings before Christmas. I can’t wait for January when I have some special knitting I want to get back at – especially some more argyle and cable knitting work.

And I have a big decision to make.

I promised myself I would either: Drop the One of a Kind Show and keep all my other venues. Or, keep the One of a Kind Show and drop all other venues. I sort of promised myself to make that decision last year and didn’t follow through. As I result I near knit myself to death this year.

No question, the One of a Kind show is biggest and I sell as much there as all other shows combined. It, however, costs a king’s ransom to participate, not to mention two weeks’ hotel expense and the grueling 11 hours a day for 11 days.  I met many wonderful shoppers, knitters, and crafts folk,  but this show also seems to have a much higher proportion of shoppers that are just plain rude.

On the other hand, Fair November is a fabulous mid-sized show that gives me great sales and a much more modest (though not cheap) cost, and only 4 days in a hotel. It’s my happiest show – so many great shoppers and artisans, and so few grumpy bears. It also has very nice hotels a mere few minutes walk from the campus. The one downside to this show is that you ‘re-apply from scratch’ each year. Just because you were there doesn’t mean you will be accepted next year. You have to re-apply and be juried anew. This is good from a show perspective, because it allows them to keep the show looking fresh. And I expect culling is more apt to affect potters and jewelers which are numerous more than sock knitters who are few. Still, there would be an element of risk in making this my primary show.

I’ll have to sort out the pros and cons, and soon, as there is a Jan deadline for One of a Kind re-application confirmation.

OK. That’s clearly not me.

But do you recognize the socks?

Fair November 2010 at the University of Guelph is now behind me for another year.  And I have to say the Fair November was much more than ‘fair’. The show should be renamed, Fabulous November.

The stars were perfectly aligned – beautiful cold days – too cold to play outside, but not rainy or snowy to discourage attendance.  This show was busy from beginning to end.

I was so happy to meet quite a number of my blog readers. Some that I’ve had to pleasure to meet before, and some for the first time. You know it still takes me aback when someone I don’t know comes up to my table and says, ‘how’s Jesse’.

Some things that stood out in this show – the number of young men who agonized over that special gift for that special someone – visiting my table, pondering, wandering away, returning, pondering, deciding. This must the be the new generation of man-shoppers that are replacing my generation of get-in-get-out man shoppers!

My ‘featured socks’ at this show were Lorna’s Laces. You may be interested to know….the first colourway to sell out Vera. Followed by Calumet. Followed by Jeans. ( I didn’t have my Rainbow socks at Fair November. I held them for next show.)

The ‘most smiles’ were generated by my lineup of Sock Scarves. So many people would walk up and stare at them. You could smell the smoke from the wheels turning in their minds. Then you could see the light bulb click on. And then the big smile. It was a hoot!

Alas, I kept forgetting to take pictures, so have none to share ;o(

But with Fair November behind me, it was back to the farm, unload the truck. Repack. Reload the truck. Drive to Toronto. All in less than 24 hours.

Tomorrow the Toronto One of a Kind Christmas Show 2o1o opens. DD and I have been two days setting up and are now ready to rock and roll.

I did remember my camera this time, and this is my booth (click for larger).

The opening volley will feature my Thigh Highs and Knee Socks (rear of the booth), and on the front sides – Koigus and Cottons, and on the counter – Qiviut, Cashmara and Silk.

The One of a Kind show goes for the next 11 days, 11 hours a day. If you are going….drop by and give me a hello at U-50.

And if you are going, wear comfortable shoes!  There are 800 artisans, and the show is an 8 km walk to see everything.