Lost in the Wood

Two of my favourite businesses have very sweetly given house room to a selection of Lost in the Wood Designs Christmassy items, most exciting! Pop into the truly lovely boutique shop Lotti & Wren (Palace Street, Caernarfon) www.facebook.com/lottiandwren to admire and buy 'Night Before Christmas' pie & carrot sets (above), individual crochet mince pies, tree decorations, single cards and Winter Warmer decorated teacups.                                            Lebkuchen Teacup                                            Carnival Teacup  ...

Last weekend was the much anticipated iard Glynllifon Christmas Craft Fair and the first public outing for my strange Christmassy creations. Crochet mince pies and carrots for Rudolph, a range of cards, 'Winter Warmer' decorated teacups, lovely clementines and little lebkuchen were arranged as a feast table. I was heartened by the positive reaction to it all, which was mostly amused interest and people doing a double take after thinking I was a rouge/rival pie seller! While it seemed people were mostly not convinced that crocheted food was the festive ornaments they'd been seeking, at least the concept is now a bit more familiar and hopefully will consider it in the future (what seasonal fun we could all have together, the possibilities are endless!). On reflection, I'd have changed some of the items offered, bringing back the needle felted robins, offering more hanging mini pie tree decorations, having single Christmas cards for sale rather than as packs and havin...

Today has been a day of crocheting, sewing, glueing, photographing and yes, ironing of mistletoe (the crochet kind). The weekend's craft fair looms ahead and me and my able/infuriating assistants (two curious cats) have made big efforts to be at least vaguely presentable and ready. I'm quite excited by the space I'm going to be in at the fair, a little corner with a sweet, old looking window, perfect for hanging up glass bunting (handmade by my clever mum) and sprigs of crochet mistletoe. I'd like it to look like a scene from a Dickens novel (obviously a charming curiosity shop type, not a slum dwelling) and will endeavour to hunt out my old copy of 'A Christmas Carol'. (no success on the initial look although I have been distracted by finding lots of interesting books I'd forgotten I own) as 'set' dressing. While most of my creations are original, I did borrow the pattern for the crochet from an inspiring book '100 Flowers to Knit & Croche...

It's going to be the first festive season for Lost in the Wood Designs and while I have experienced selling at a Christmas craft fair before (last year as the lampwork bead and jewellery-orientated 'Ginger & I') the one this month really will be a launch of this enterprise. This time I'm oscilating between being nerves and excitement. Worried about having enough stock, people liking my work (especially since it's a bit more niche than last year's items) and generating interest, but also hugely looking forwards to setting out my stall (figuratively and actually) and presenting my work, hopefully in an eye-catching & attractive manner. Despite intending a very organised approach to the festive season, centering round a comprehensive planner for Christmas makes drawn up in August (having learned something from last year's October panic), predictably I'm a stressed out crafting bunny now. I can see from the various crafters I follow on twitter ...