What We Did Saturday

Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while already know that my Mum is a sock-knitting maniac, and maybe you also know that we just love to have a stall at a book sale or similar.
Therefore, I did not have to think twice when my Mum asked whether I wanted to join her for an afternoon of selling her hand-knitted socks.

The jumble sale was held in the courtyard of this impressive building:

It used to be a mill, one of the biggest ones in my part of Germany; wheat was ground to flour at the same spot from the year 1471 until 1996. Of course, it was a very different building back then; this one dates from 1903 with extensive renovations after a fire in 1930, and then once again when in 1996, the vast complex of buildings was turned into spaces for culture, living and several "green" enterprises such as a supermarket for environmentally friendly produce.

Last Saturday, many stalls were set up, most of them selling used toys, children's clothes, old crockery, and other bits and bobs they wanted to get rid of. Ours was the only socks stall, and the only one selling unused stuff - everything else was (at least!) second-hand.

For two hours, nothing happened. We did not sell one single sock. Several people stopped at our stall for a little chat, admiring the beautiful socks; some even said we were offering them too cheap for all the work that had been put into them (not to mention the high quality wool my Mum always uses). Well, their kind comments were nice, but did not empty our table or fill our little money box.
I went and bought myself a cheese sandwich.
I drank water.
I went and bought myself a mug of coffee.
I drank more water.
I went and bought myself a piece of home-made cake (chocolate and cherry... yummm!).
I drank (you guessed it) even more water.
I went and bought myself another coffee.

Finally, someone bought a pair of socks!
We ended up selling several pairs, plus one of the baby hats, getting at least the fee for the stall covered. We were not entirely sure what the problem was, but we think that most visitors went there looking for cheap, second-hand stuff for their kids, and not brand-new, hand-knitted socks that you could almost call artisan work.
Also, it was a lovely, sunny afternoon, not cold enough to induce people to buy woolly things.

Anyway, we had fun, were outdoors in the sun and fresh air, had plenty of time to talk to each other and the other stall owners and visitors, and do not consider it a total waste of time.

Soon, my Mum will re-open her Etsy shop for those socks; I am going to reactivate the link to her shop here on my blog then. And maybe we'll try again at a sale nearer Christmas time.