When we register for shows, part of what we are paying is expected to go to advertising. This year the fee was upped quite a bit and we were told the increase was earmarked for advertising. When we do out of town shows our costs skyrocket - motel for 2 nights, eating out for 2-3 days, gas there and back, U-Haul rental, booth rental, undyed fiber costs, wood costs, etc. We do not complain because the results are usually more than adequate and we thank you all for coming.
Friday afternoon we set up at the museum.
On one of our trips to the SUV I saw a big black bird in the grass which turned out to be a raven. Ravens don't often live in cities.
For some reason the people in charge thought we would all be done setting up by 4. Never mind that some of us come a distance and some have day jobs so don't arrive before 2. Still at 4:15 we were being told we shoulda been outta there already. This was our 4th time at this show but the first with these crazy hours and the second with it being run by folks who don't know much about putting shows together. We then left a few things to be done in the morning.
As we were driving down East Ave toward our motel we saw the billboard sign outside the museum entrance announcing:
Artistry in Thread
April 30, May 1
11- 4
Wrong - as Sat was supposed to be 10 - 4.
Another tell tale item - the museum website only posted the show on their home page last Monday.
The owner of our motel had not heard anything nor seen anything about this show.
Our guild was not officially notified except for me and neither were any of the guilds in Syracuse or Elmira or Canandaigua.
Looking out the window of our motel room I watched a lone raven walking around and pecking in the grass for quite a while.
Saturday morning we stopped at Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast. Their credit card machine was not working so we used some of our vending cash for breakfast. I decided to go pee before we headed out of there but the handle on the Women's Room door was missing.
We were all set up by 9 and, despite the signs, ready for a good day.
By noon we had seen but a few souls. Jim filled a spindle.
In the afternoon on Saturday, Kristin came by with miracle baby Julia. Julia was born last November at 1.5 pounds but was due in February. This beautiful feisty miss now weighs in at 9 pounds.
I got to feed her most of a bottle and hold her while she slept. Kristin remarked that at any other fair she just says hi 'cause I am so busy I can't stop for very long to socialize. BTW this is one knitted for baby. She has enough blankies and sweaters to last until age 2 (mostly in purples and pinks).
I want to show you how much knitting I accomplished on Sat and Sunday. That's most of a sock foot, done in Bistro. It takes hours to knit that many stitches, the majority of which was done at the show. I always take knitting but usually get to work maybe 2 rounds, if that. Oh and the cables are mock cables, done without a cable needle over 4 stitches. Very fun to do if you have very pointy needles, which I do.
What little traffic there was during the show did purchase and try out Jim's new wheel but there were maybe 100 people in 2 days? Sorry no.
Our little Roc Day Show in cold snowy January does 2.5 times that.
So the positives are that I have very little dyeing to do to get ready for the next show in June, I got to play and visit with Julia and Kristin, we got to vend across from Anne of Watershed Designs (the project sack folk), and we had a great breakfast at a local diner with Anne, her brother and SIL.
While one of the negatives is that we did not even meet costs.
We probably should have heeded the raven but didn't understand the warning until too late.
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