The End of Summer

I can't believe summer is just about over. This is Labor Day Weekend!! I'm still knitting those baseball hats but I've done several baby sets, too. I decided to do a craft show in Ilion on Oct 6th. (It seemed like a very good idea when sales were down for July, now, with August sales brisk, I'm not so sure.) I'm trying to build up an inventory but I have to keep the shelves full in Cooperstown, too! I hope I haven't gotten in over my head. I suppose if I sell all I take to the show it won't be a bad thing. I'm going to make my sweater sets (baseball, blacksheep, train, apple tree and autumn tree) only in size 9 months, but I don't know if I want to take orders for larger sizes. Oh, well, knitting usually keeps me out of trouble!

Summer Knitting and Other Things

The weather in Speculator had been great last weekend and I was able to combine 2 of my favorite past times...knitting and boating. We spent a couple of hours cruising the lake on Saturday afternoon and again on Sunday. Everyone was going to head home early on Sunday but that ol'shinning sun changed all our minds and we went on the lake instead! (I took a 'baseball' hat to work on (straight st st) and actually did 5".) Saturday I had gone to a birthday party on the beach before we headed to the lake. Saturday evening we went to a concert at Camp of the Woods. They're very good and free! We've gone to several this summer and hope to make the last 3. We have a favorite singer (Chavelier Lovett) who's a sophomore at Hartt College in Conn. We all think he will be famous one day. He's a baritone with great stage presence. The other singers are good, too, but we all like him the best.

This week we're heading back to Speculator a day early. There is a very good craft show on Thursday that I haven't been abe to go to in several year that I'm going to this year. I like to see what's new in the craft market.

July sales in Cooperstown had been very slow but August started out strong (I equaled our July sales in the 1st 5 days of August!!!) so I'll have to try to do a baby set or two this weekend. Not to mention those damn baseball hats!! My mother says we look like gypsies with our knitting bags and the extra bags of yarn. It's hard to decide on Wednesday what you want to work on over the weekend but if I don't bring the yarn with me there is no place to get anything but Redheart up there!

Cooperstown

Well, this was the big weekend in Cooperstown as the Baseball Hall of Fame held induction ceremonies. There were over 70,000 people in town, few free parking places and a lot of famous people walking around. Most of them were Hall-of-Famers who had autiograph booths on Main St. One customer to the shop answered my 'have you seen anyone famous?' with 'I think so, he had a large handlebar moustache but I don't know his name.' (I think she saw Rollie Fingers.) Another customer answered "John Travolta'. Now that got the attention of almost everyone in the store at that moment! Seems John is good friends with Cal Ripken, Jr who was one of the inductees and John & his wife flew in for the weekend. Half of Baltimore also seemed to be in town this weekend, too. I've got to say they were all very nice people and I love the accent! The only downside was that I didn't sell a lot. (Only 1 sweater set-a navy v-neck cardigan with white baseball buttons with a white hat stitched in red to look like a baseball , 3 of those baseball hats, and a blacksheep sweater.) I can make those baseball hats in my sleep...and do! The blacksheep sweater is an old design with 3 white sheep in a field on the front and a single blacksheep on the back. I get tired of making them but the keep selling. Shouldn't complain now, should I? My next big day in Cooperstown will be Aug 25 when I get to do a knitting demo at the Otsega Hotel. I wonder if anyone famous will be around then?