May 2025

It's been a busy month. My items did really well at VänCon at the end of April, so I needed to restock for Broloppis and Ulva Vårmarknad at the end of May. My bookmarks sold very well, so focused on making more of them, both flowers and cats. Further, I finally sold a flower coaster set - they were some of the first items I made for markets but never sold - so I felt like making more color variants. My dice bags were also popular, but the upcoming events were not geek markets, so I left those for later.

I have also become obsessed with making bottle holders with various pride flags on them. I made two rainbow ones - one with a white bottom and strap, one with black ones - before VänCon and then made more during the event. The bi pride bottle holder was bought by someone within 20 minutes of me putting it up on display. I have already planned a few other variant and am still in the process of making all of them, so you can see pictures. I even made a custom one for myself, using the agender pride flag on the body and a bi flag as a detail on the strap. You can see me with it in one of the photos below.

Tracking my yarn better

Making more stuff - and remaking it months later - means I also want to keep better track of what yarn I used and how much. I use a couple of yarns that come in many colors, and sometimes it gets really hard to remember, which of the six shades of purple you use for it, even more so if you sold the original item.

So, I started writing up the yarn I used with the manufacturer numbers for the color variants, and added that to a little database. I also started weighing the yarn before and after each item, so I can get a sense how much I use. Ultimately, I'm planning to add this info to my project and pattern pages.

Portfolio time!

With my success at VänCon, I also felt motivated to apply for NärCon Expo in September. Competition to get a spot is tough, so I needed a great portfolio. Luckily, I had just bought a new cloth with a cool space themed print for my table. I still need to hem it for use at a market, but could already use it as a backdrop for the pictures. The results can be found here on my new portfolio page.

Market time!

My first event for the month was the Broloppis (bridge flea market) at Fyrisgården in Uppsala. While people mostly sell used things there, hand-crafted items are also allowed. Like last year, we again got a spot on the bridge. Even though, we had to struggle with the wind a bit, it went amazingly. Somehow, this market attracts the right kind of folks for ours thing. I sold a few bookmarks, keychains and another flower coaster set, in fact the same color variant I sold at VänCon, purple and yellow. It went even better for my partner. They managed to sell for more than what they made at VänCon, and this was only a four-hour event.

The next weekend - a long one here due to Ascension Day - we had a spot at the spring market at Ulva Kvarn, just north of Uppsala. We had bought a 3mx3m marker tent for this, which was essentially on Friday when it wouldn't stop raining. The Saturday was finally a nice spring day at the end of a remarkably cold May. Sales were OK, though sadly not as good as we had hoped. Our spot was also not really suited for us because of its slope. You can see how my table is leaning. We might try selling at the fall market as well but will leave some feedback regarding the spots.

What's next?

I have no events planned for June and currently nothing for July either, but maybe I'll be at QueerCon during the Stockholm pride week at the end of July. So, my plan is to keep restocking, especially dice bags and maybe more keychains, and finally write up my all patterns and project details. If I have time, I might start developing some new patterns.