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Shake Down In T-Town Postmortem

A bit over a week ago, my friend Crystal and I shared a booth at Shake Down in T-Town.  
We set up our little booth about 10 o'clock in the morning.  I brought my winter knits as well as my summer ones because if I don't, invariably people ask.  

Crystal's jewelry is all on the table with the green cloth.  Its a really cute little display case she has.

It was so very hot outside.  I grouped all the cotton and summer accessories together so that people who were not interested in winter stuff wouldn't have to paw through it for the most part.

And because it was World Wide Knit in Public Day I went ahead and brought all my stitch markers.  I figured there might be the occasional knitter wandering around.

Next to our booth was Crystal's friend Gina who makes the most amazing fire pits.

I love this dragonfly motif.

And these paisleys.  Absolutely beautiful work.

Briana of Bifftastica was just down the way a bit with her jewelry and purses.

And there were these really interesting photographs which all featured a set of wicked witch legs.

See?  Legs.
They were pretty neat.

Some dudes who thought they were pirates had set up a huge ship for the kiddos to play on.  And the Children's Museum had a table in the shade where they helped kids make and illustrate their own pop up books.

Unfortunately, the heat and the fact that there were a thousand other things happening in Tulsa that weekend, including Pride, kept many people away.  Traffic was not what I had hoped (and they had done a decent amount of advertising including TV).  It did seem like a good crowd turned out for the show later that evening but the way it was set up the Market was open 12-7 and the show was at 7:30 so we were starting to pack up as the crowds were sitting down to watch the show.  (We all elected to stay open a bit past 7 or we would have been completely torn down before the crowd even got there.  That would have been no good)

Not that I have anything at all against outdoor shows, but I don't think I will be doing anymore outdoor summer shows.  Especially ones I am not familiar with.  It is hard to be cheerful and chatty with customers when you are hot and miserable.  I also got a number of comments from customers about how it was too hot to even look at knitwear, despite all of the cotton items, headbands and ponytail holders I had made specifically for the season.  Oh well, I know that fall and winter are better times for me and perhaps as I really develop my business I should give myself a "summer vacation" where I knit for me and friends and family and set aside the knitting for sale for a couple months every year.  I do know that in July or August I am going to dive back into fall with a vengeance.  I have a ton of ideas for a new fall "line" for this year.  I have plans to do Indie Emporium the last weekend in September and I am very excited about that.  

I do have one more summer show though, and it is one I will never give up.  I will be at Fiber Christmas in July out at the Creek County Fairgrounds the last friday and saturday in July.  It is INDOORS and AIR CONDITIONED and FREE to get in.  So you should come.  I will have my stitch markers and some really exciting things with me that I will tell you all about very soon.  I do not feel I can properly tell about them without tons of pictures.  

I'm going to be MIA off and on, but don't give up on me!  See you all soon.

Comments

Amanda K said…
Ugh. It would be hard to be in the hot sun all day. I love the professional SomerKnits banner on your table, though. =)

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