Saturday was the big day: the annual holiday craft market! The weather outside was frightful. By that I mean the fog was thick as peanut butter. ("You mean pea soup." "You eat what you like and I'll eat what I like!") It did end up affecting our foot traffic, I think. But I still feel like I did well for myself.
I didn't do the market last year, but in 2023 I did. Check out that table compared to this year's table! Aesthetically identical, yes -- I used the same shelves, signage, bunting -- but the table itself is longer, and my inventory freaking filled it.
In 2023 I had on offer crochet rainbow pillows, crochet mitts, crochet ear bands, barrettes with bear ears sewn on ("bear-ettes," if you will), beaded rings, and beaded bracelets. So I definitely had inventory! But I think I had maybe 25 pairs of mitts available, tops. This year, I had mitts on mitts on mitts on mitts! Over 70 pairs!
And this year, I had only crochet on offer! I didn't feel like doing other stuff. I didn't even feel like making a huge variety of crochet stuff, such as other mitt patterns, or ear bands, or charging cords -- or god forbid, scarves. (Did y'all know I'm a scarf hater?) I have plenty of rings and bracelets left over from 2023's inventory, but didn't feel like bothering with them. I could have made more "bear-ettes" but didn't feel like it. I just followed my crafting yens, basically.
I do think it would have behooved me to have ear bands or beanies in addition to just a scad of fingerless mitts. (I was asked about scarves too, but in all honesty, I don't really want to make scarves!!) At this moment in time I'm not super sure if I'll do the market again next year. But if I do, this is a note to self: maybe find a beanie pattern you don't mind making...
I also tend to forget men exist? 0:) But an old guy was like, "Oh! This stuff is perfect for this time of year. But it's all girly, huh." And I was like, "Well... yeah..." So it maybe wouldn't kill me to make some more masculine-leaning items.
ON THE OTHER HAND, I DON'T HAVE TO CATER TO BORING OLD MEN! THE WORLD ALREADY CATERS TO Y'ALL! This is for the girly-pops!!! The daughters and nieces!! The whimsical amongst us!
I want to share some more pics of some specific mitts, like I did in my last post!
I did a series of mitts with a trio of heart appliques on them. I really like these and so many people picked up the dark blue pair in particular to look at, but none of them sold! Wish I could go back in time and whisper, "Hey, don't spend so much time on these" in my ear. Because sewing on three separate appliques in a semi-neat row onto an unstable surface such as crochet was, for me, very time-consuming. I was so careful about the spacing of the hearts and sewed them on with a lot of deliberation and concentration. (But it's okay they didn't sell! No skin off my nose!)
I also did a series of frog/lily pad mitts that I am pretty pleased with! As with the apple series, each mitt in the pair had something different on them, which keeps it fun. I got the frog applique pattern from this YouTube video. I messed around with a couple of ways to do lily pads, giving some a bit of a scalloped edge.
I gotta say that the highlight of the market for me (besides speaking to a fellow lady who is also in a band -- a heavy metal band!! -- who was my biggest buyer) was selling the green pair of froggy mitts to a gal who had SEVERAL frog tattoos! A sleeve in progress of nothing but frogs! It felt like that pair went to the perfect person! Like kismet! So that made me happy.
Another thing that made me happy was that a couple of people said variations of sentiments like, "Oh, I have mitts I bought from you last time, and I get compliments on them all the time!" and "I was hoping you would be here this year!" The craft market is a small one, but it's been going on for a really long time, so we do have regulars who come to it every year to do Christmas shopping.
In all, I think I made about the same amount of money I made in 2023? Even though my inventory was much larger, and in my estimation we had less foot traffic due to the weather. It visually looked like I hadn't sold much just because my inventory was so large, but in fact, I did make lots of sales.
I can't remember the exact total I made in 2023, but it was enough to buy a Blythe!! Which I did, right when I got home from the market! I have been saving up for an instrument for the last six months, so I think this year's profits will go into that fund.
In all, I'm glad to have this year's market in the books, and to move out of the hardcore market prep mode I've been in. My room's still a crafting disaster, and all of my inventory and tabling supplies are in piles waiting to be stored away. I'm saving the chore of cleanup and the reassembly of my living space for a future day...