Hey friend,
I’ve finished my first two days at market and have done much better than I was expecting, but I had pretty low expectations. On Thursday, I set up and enjoyed the good (if not cool) weather and had some nice chats with market goers and vendors. I was set up beside a nice farmer from Lumby (via Quebec). Her friend was visiting from Montreal and we all had some laughs and I bought some of their yummy chives. Unfortunately, I didn’t get their names and I didn’t see them today, so I hope this doesn’t turn into one of those weird things where we just don’t ever get to know names… I’ll have to make sure that doesn’t happen. Hopefully I’ll see them next time again.
Yesterday was a rainy market day, and while the crowds were a bit, erm, thin for a long weekend, I had pretty good sales, and actually did better than my first day. I had some really nice chats again with new knitters, experienced knitters, other vendors and especially with Arnold from Cape de Hoop Tea. What a cool guy. He told me this crazy story about being a 13-year-old photographer with a secret darkroom under the stairs in his boarding school. They had no running water (as under-the-stairs-darkrooms generally aren’t plumbed), so they drilled a hole in the wall and ran a garden hose from the nearest faucet. Naturally, the hose had to be disconnected each time so as not to be discovered. He and his partner took pictures of the school’s team athletes and while they had intended to sell the prints to the athletes themselves, it turned into a teenage fan thing. “The girls bought the photos of the boy athletes and the boys bought pictures of the girls.” Though I’m not a Harry Potter fan, I couldn’t help but draw comparisons. I’m pretty sure that story made my year. And so I bought some of his Honeybush tea which is just divine. I’ve been a huge fan of his rooibos for a while (you can get it an Nature’s Fare).
And now, as promised, the first story behind a colourway: Hokitika Storm.
In Hokitika NZ, on the south island’s west coast, we caught the brunt of an Antarctic front and watched the storm surge from the relative safety of our rented Tercel. Huge, frothy waves were crashing on the beach under the dark sky. The force of the wind and rain were pretty formidable and it was something to have the whole car shake in the wind. The storm stayed with us for almost 3 weeks, I think. We travelled almost 1500 km to Kaikoura before we had a day warm enough to shed 8 of the 9 layers of clothing in which we had been living.
Finally, enjoy the cute baby pictures. I sure did!
With love from the Maker’s House,
Sylvia
