Hey Fibery Fans!
So economy wise everything went to hell back in 2008-ish but this is the first year I’m actually feeling it. When things crashed people cut back and shopped locally and vacationed locally so my business actually picked up. Last year I felt a bit of a dip but this year has been an out right drought!
Usually for craft shows I’ll stock up on all the usual alpaca goodies like hats, mittens, gloves, scarfs, socks etc and will be practically sold out by now. This year I haven’t even made 1 reorder of any of the staples and can’t even sell the left overs from last year. The shows that I’ve gone to that usually put me in the black have ended up costing me because I couldn’t sell enough to cover the cost of the booth, travel, inventory etc. My hubby keeps telling me we’ll pull out of this funk in 2012 so I’m not going to totally freak out just yet.
Since I’ve been sick like a dog this week I really don’t have much to share fiber arts wise. Sniffling, sneezing, coughing and crocheting really doesn’t mix well. I prefer not to germ up anything I will potentially sell to a customer. Which means the only fiber project I currently have been tending to is an alpaca hide I’m drying. The weather has been so darn wet and crappy this month that the thing just won’t dry. Usually I salt them out in the barn but the salt has been sucking up all the humidity from the air and bringing it to the hide instead of taking it away. So, at the moment the salted hide is drying in my basement next to a dehumidifier. In another week it should be dry and ready to send off to Sivko Furs for tanning and to be made into a blanket. For more information on how to preserve an alpaca hide read this post.
