Displays

I've been spending the past few weeks thinking about nothing but FIBER!  I just started working at a local fiber mill, and all I can think about is how I want to get my stuff processed this summer, and how I wish I had more animals/fiber!!  And on top of all that I attended a fiber marketing seminar put on by the Broome Co. Extension in Binghamton yesterday, which gave me even more ideas for things to do with my fiber.

So first, and update on what I have planned...  As I mentioned before, with my nicer stuff (Ralph, Bluff, and Duque's blankets), I'm going to have it blended with sheep's wool and then made into roving.  Ralph's is going to be blended with either white or black Cormo, and Bluff and Duque's fleeces are going to be blended with a gorgeous BFL fleece that I just bought.  Then I'll try to sell the roving, or spin some and sell the yarn.  I also have two nice alpaca fleeces I bought from my neighbor back in Indiana, and I'll probably have those blended together to make a fawn roving.

Next in the plans is some corespun yarn.  I'm going to use the longer seconds that I have (from Bluff and Ralph), and probably buy 2-3 lbs of alpaca seconds from someone to blend with mine.  I want to get the corespun yarn done in stripes, rather than blending the colors.  And then I'm going to talk my mom into weaving some bags to sell.

My newest idea is getting felted boot insoles made!  For this I'm going to use the really crappy stuff (the short seconds/thirds from Ralph, plus April's fiber, and maybe a fleece or 2 that I will buy), and it will get blended 50:50 with wool at the mill.  I'm also toying with the idea of making dryer balls with the leftovers, but I'll have to see if there is anything left over!

I'm really excited about this coming year...  I just signed up for the second half of the Hamilton, NY farmer's market (August-early November), and I may find a craft fair or two in the fall to do (if needed).

Now that I'm doing the farmer's market, I really need to re-think and re-vamp my display.  Luckily I found out that my parents have a pop-up canopy that I can use in case of rain (fall in NY...definitely going to rain at some point!), but I do need to buy a table.  But that's the easy part...figuring out how to display everything I have is going to be tough!  In the past, I didn't have as much yarn, and I didn't really like my display anyway.  I like using the folding drying rack to display rugs, so that will stay.  I also have a nice wood and metal wire folding display that I can put on the table, and I'm thinking about picking up a few wooden crates somewhere to put things in.  I need to work on getting my display more vertical...I tend to just put things on the table, and that won't work!  I'm also toying with the idea of making a wall of sorts out of wood lattice...cutting the lattice to about 2' wide by 4' tall, and then hinging the pieces together so that they will stay upright.  Then I could hang yarn, bags, or scarves along the top of the lattice, and it would fold up to be easy to transport and store.  But if I'm only hanging things along the top, I'm not sure if it wouldn't be easier to make some sort of stand with a dowel rod across the top, and not bothering with the lattice.  I'll have to keep thinking...

This is one version of my past display.  On the left is a hall-tree for skeins of yarn, but I'll need something else for the future since I have a lot more yarn now!  In the middle is the folding drying rack with scarves and rugs, which will stay.  And on the right is a small table with the folding display.  I'll hopefully get a table that is twice as long, but still use the display.  I'd like to find a better way to display hats though!

A closer shot of how I use the folding display.  Any better suggestions for how to display the hats?

So, how do you display your craft fair items?  Any suggestions for me?