Last Sunday, 21 May, I had a stall at the Handknitters Guild Market in Coburg which is my favourite yarn event.
Ok, so it could be argued that the Bendigo Sheep Show is the Victorian yarny highlight of the year, but I’m going to vote for the Handknitters Guild Market for four very important reasons.
1 – Easy to get to. From Melbourne, you just need to jump on the Upfield train and get off at Coburg. Then walk 500m East along Bell Street and you’re there!
2 – I don’t die of the cold in Coburg. I’ve never failed to freeze my bum off at Bendigo and a few years ago I ended up incredibly sick with the flu after my Bendigo trip. I grew up in the snowy mountains, we get snow most winters at home and I work in Hobart one week of each month – so I’m not unfamiliar with cold winters. Still, there is an icy, bitter coldness in Bendigo that gets right down to the bone. None of that in Coburg!
3 – The market is in Coburg, which is the name of the little yellow cat that I named my yarn company after (because he came from Coburg). Sadly Cobey is no longer with us, but you can admire him here and here.
4 – I’ve had a stall there for the past two years and I get to meet a lot of my customers and blog readers in person. One of my customers last year called it a yarn mosh-pit, and I mentioned this to the market organisers. It’s become a bit of an ongoing joke and the Guild have started referring the the market as the “Yarn Market Mosh Pit”.
This year’s market was great. There were so many people selling yarn, fibre, buttons, project bags and patterns. I didn’t have a helper with me so I had to kidnap a friend or two to look after my stall while I took a quick break. I didn’t have time to check out other stalls – but that could be a good thing because I’m sure I could have spent all my takings on other dyers’ yarn.
I’ll be doing my post market stocktake this afternoon so I’ll be able to re-open the online shop once I know what’s sold and what’s still in stock.
Your stall looks lovely!
Thanks!