Still trying to process what just happened this week, so in the meantime here is an Airvuz clip I stumbled over earlier. It’s not all of Cape Town, obviously, but it’s got a lot of the good bits in it. Hope you enjoy.
It looks like the most disruptive part of that messy business is behind me, so I’m back home and getting back into a productive work routine.
I’ve found knitting has helped me keep calm, especially since I am really really slow at it…. I’ve been trying out different hat patterns so my knitting ladies have samples to work from. (I have another one on board now, and I didn’t even have to look for her, she found me!).
I also fitted in a pair of shark slippers for the girlfriend of a customer’s son, who is having a birthday today and is mad about sharks. Her boyfriend is treating her to a shark cage diving expedition… some people are craaaaazzzy.
Apparently they were all ecstatic about the slippers, but I have to say I wouldn’t make them again in a hurry. Too fiddly for my liking!!! I like more instant gratification.
I have also been sewing, which is fast becoming my preferred activity right now. I have boxes and boxes of leftover bits of fabric from Suzette (who makes cushions) and decided to make them up into patchwork bags. I love mixing different colours and textures, but what I love most is making something useful out of someone else’s discards.
They’ll get a lining and a bit of velcro to close but nothing fancy because I’d like to keep the price as low as possible. They’ll be coming to the Rondebosch Market with me on Saturday, so we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed for another sunny winter’s day.
I was a trader at a big event in Cape Town in February. In advance of the event, I read through the list of stallholders. Two other people would be selling hats, one as a reseller of mass-produced straw hats and fedoras, and one as a crafter selling her own makes.
During setting-up time, I introduced myself to the crafter and said I’d looked for her website or facebook page to view her stuff, but couldn’t find anything. She said she doesn’t advertise at all because she’s already so swamped with orders that she wouldn’t be able to cope if more people saw her products. Knowing the kinds of difficulties that a small hand-made production business faces, as I do, I was amazed and impressed by this. I couldn’t wait to see her hats, and thought perhaps I could even learn something from her.
The event opened, and I beetled off to ‘network’ as soon as I could. As I approached the row of stalls on the other side of the park, I saw a display of animal novelty hats and hoodies that I recognised from a school event last year, which stood out for their uniformity and unmistakable mass-produced nature and low prices. They are also readily available at various pavement stalls around Cape Town and in the Chinese shops. So, no problem – you can buy and sell what you like. Good for you (and you’ll see below, I do it myself sometimes). — but it turns out that this was my fellow crafter! I greeted her and said something along the lines of wow, you’ve got quite a range here – are these the ones you make yourself? And she said Yes. And looked away.
I’m so mad that someone does this. Claiming cheap imports as your own work is – what? fraud? or just a big fat stupid insulting lie? And I don’t understand why someone would do this. There’s nothing illegal in being a reseller of hats, after all. For a big event, working on my own, I’m not able to produce enough stock by my own hand. I buy in about 30% of my stock, and either modify it by adding handmade flowers or a band or a crochet trim, or resell it as it is. If I haven’t made an entire item myself, I don’t put my label on it and pretend to have made it. I don’t not put a label on an item and pretend it’s my own work. I point out which my own handmade items are, and which are not – and, frankly, the difference is very evident !!
I wrote this post a good few weeks ago, and was going through draft posts when I came across it and got all riled up again and decided to publish it. I’m trying to work out why I actually care about this – presumably Imported-Animal-Hat Woman wants people to think she is a creative genius, and what do I care if she is or isn’t? People are still buying my hats and asking for special orders. There’s enough work to go around. Am I so morally above reproach that someone else’s lie rocks and jolts the foundations of my innately faultless nature? Um….no, hardly!! hahaha Is it because she’s just stupid and thinks everyone else is as well? Aha, could be that.
Okay, rant over. F is for fraud, by the way, not the four-letter word beginning with F and ending with K. But that too.
We are helpless in the heat here — the temperature is soaring and many of us are helplessly lethargic in its sick clammy grip.
Tragically, our mountains are in flames as well. They’ve been on fire for over three days, and the firefighters and emergency services are doing incredible work.
Right now, there isn’t much I wouldn’t give for some snow.
I’ve been hoarding the pattern for Simone’s happy granny (here) for a long time and the other day, when I was looking for something else in an insanely disorganised bookmarks folder, I came across it again. After a lot of Ellas and penguins, this looked like a perfect no-fuss quick make.
Simone’s hat is for a baby, but I wanted to go big. I used a chunky Elle Timber and a 5.00mm hook, so ended up with a hat that fits Carol loosely. I was going to follow the pattern exactly and have the same sort of beanie look but by the time I’d done the two brown rows, I realised that the wearer would have to have an unusually large noggin. (Rob has quite a big head, actually, but I know he doesn’t like raspberry pink).
So I just winged it after that – did 2 rows of grannies with some decreasing, then one row of dcs. That’s given it a kind of puffy beret look instead.
We’ve had a really sharp and sudden icy spell in Cape Town- it’s much much colder than it usually gets in winter, and it’s started a lot sooner. There’s even been SNOW on the mountains – we say that here with such genuine amazement as to suggest that the snow, surely, has picked the wrong country?
Back soon x
Winter’s a-coming here in Cape Town and it’s getting chilly, so I’m sitting at my desk right now with A BIG FAT BRIGHT GREEN BONBON on my head! Nice and warm, and helps to keep the energy flowing (hopefully).
Just a brief update on the crochet lessons – my first lesson last Thursday went really really well, no whiskey required. I have the loveliest ladies in the world and we all got off to a good start. Tomorrow is Lesson #2, and I should be seeing some completed or almost-completed scarves, which will get jazzed up with a crocheted flower brooch. We’ll move on to the half treble and treble stitches, and get started on the fingerless mitts. Homework will be granny squares. (Yes, I give homework.) We had tea and Oreos – I didn’t have time to bake my own cookies. Who am I kidding, like that’s ever going to happen!
I had a lot of requests from people who want to learn crochet but can’t make a lesson during the working week, so I’m starting a new group on Saturday 7 June. Already fully booked! (I don’t want more than 5 learners, it’s nice to be able to give individual attention).
And in other news, I made my first delivery to A Real Shop yesterday, of penguin beanies and Ellas. I’m really hoping they do as well there as the owner seems to think. The shop is called This Shop Rox, by the way, and it’s in the Hout Bay harbour area.
I’ve also been snowed under making hats – Mindys, Ellas, newsboys, men’s hats and caps, BonBons and stinky fish. Yip, a LOT of stinky fish. Here’s darling Kate in her new rainbow stinky, and the larger one pictured below on Carol is a special order from Kate’s mom as a birthday gift for a friend.
It’s overcast and a bit drizzly here, so Carol kept yelling at me to hurry up with the pics because I insisted on taking them outside. Consequently, some of them are rather poor. I think she forgets who pays the rent around here!!!
Back soon x
Busy weekend over here. On Saturday Rob and I traded at the Trenchtown market in Obs, which is a fantastic venue with a super cool vibe, but I have to say the Jam Tarts stuff didn’t make a great impression on the majority of the patrons. To be expected, I think. Crocheted newsboys and floral infinity scarves probably aren’t the items of choice for a younger, more – shall we say? – tattooed crowd. We were the only two people there who hadn’t gone for the inked and/or studded look, and we felt rather naked in comparison. And, not to say, quite old and fuddy duddy, too!
[[Market Trading 101 – make sure your products appeal to the sector that patronises the market. By all means give a new market a try but, if you’re a huge flop, don’t try and flog a dead horse.]]
Sunday was Kirstenbosch, being the last Sunday of the month. It was, as ever, GREAT. Here are some pics of people who make it feel like family:
Janet, my nextdoor neighbour, with stunning vintage clothes bargains to be had
The lovely jewellery lady, Sarah, on the other side of us, with a darling puppy from the Animal Rescue guys.
Steven Belknap of Whimsical Woodworks, who made my hat stands for me.
Renee Dorrington, the lady with the magic hands, offering reflexology and massage
Debbie and Rob, probably our two oldest market friends, from way back at the Porter Estate market in Tokai. They always have broad smiles and lekker food.
Yesterday, Monday 27th, was a day off for us ! Yay! (No sewing, no admin, no markets). We visited the Decorex exhibition (Decorex Cape Town) at the Cape Town International Conference Centre, courtesy of free tickets from Inspired Living SA (thanks so much, Fiona, we loved it!) — I think this was the best ever exhibition since it started.
I was particularly pleased to see that the Cape Craft and Design Institute had selected products by Baillie and Kovar Design. Malcolm and Michelle are a crafty couple who manage to incorporate a very ‘now’ look with functional value, from recycled materials. This is their kind of style, which speaks volumes about South African design and talent.
And then it was lunchtime…. my friend Shona, whom I’ve known for nearly 30 years, hosted a lunch at the Forresters Arms in Newlands. Gotta love a pub lunch, and I’m happy to say the Irish coffees are just as good as they ever were….
Back soon x
