Monday, 7 December 2020

'Multi-coloured Monday': a cyber sale of woolly wares (aka Bonkers knits).


Following on from Black Friday, and my custom perfume purchase for my friend during 4160 Tuesdays' Hot Pink Weekend, I decided to invent a new cyber sale colour of my own - or rather, a multi-coloured one, to reflect the nature of the items on offer. And they are not merely multi-coloured on aggregate, but some are individually variegated to boot, Jacob's Technicolour Dreamcoat-style.



I have never really featured my knitted output on Bonkers before, because it is supposed to be a perfume blog after all. That said, the number of readers who come here for the perfume posts is doubtless vanishingly small, as they know what a motley collection of other topics I have been wont to cover. And as it happens, the next two posts I have in mind are about perfume, properly speaking, so that should cheer any hardliners amongst you, hehe. ;)


Ear warmer / headband


What prompted me on this occasion to draw attention to my knitting venture - under the brand name of Runraglan Knits - is the fact that the pandemic has forced my friend Gillie to cancel the traditional craft event she holds at her house around this time, at which I also sell some of my knitting. The money I generated in that weekend was a similar proportion of my overall sales in a year as it would be for those benighted restaurants also in Tier 3, who do the bulk of their trade in the festive season, and can't serve so much as a Scotch egg at the moment. By the same token, I can't even go in Gillie's garden, never mind any potential customers, though had we fallen in a lower tier, we had seriously considered having an al fresco sale there!

'Band tour scarf' from Germany last year!

Thus it is that I am adding a link below to the public Facebook page for my crafty side hustle, in case anyone has not finished their Christmas shopping and is still on the lookout for a gift idea or two. Assuming they aren't a knitter themselves, obviously.

Runraglan Knits

You would need to scroll down quite a bit to the heading 'OTHER POSTS', where I have uploaded collections of items by category. There are five different sub-groups of scarves alone! Prices start at £6 for a pot holder / small dish cloth or a book mark, and go all the way up to £60 for a pure cashmere scarf that may have taken me two series of Happy Valley (and a fair few Panoramas and train journeys) to make. ;) But there are many things in between. Message me (through the page or on my blog email of flittersniffer at gmail dot com) for individual prices where it is not clear. For they do vary quite a bit in categories like scarves, for example, depending on the length, yarn type etc. One or two of these are in fact discounted for being 'rather vivid, veering towards neon', and while I enjoyed making them, their commercial appeal is a mite moot.

I can post anywhere in the world, and will include a quirky novelty with each package, unless explicitly asked not to.



Now I am very mindful that many of my fellow bloggers and friends have already bought - or been given - my woolly wares, so this post is really directed at people I don't know, who may not even be reading. So to say this is a bit of a wild punt on my part is an understatement. But hey, nothing ventured...



Oh, and Undina suggested the other week that I could consider covering fewer topics in one post and generally making posts shorter. Possibly even blogging more often as a result. Well, I don't know about the more frequent blogging, hehe, but I am definitely going to try keeping posts a bit shorter, so as not to overface people, like Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. It recently came to my attention that that book is a whopping 1200 pages long - fancy that! 




10 comments:

Old Herbaceous said...

Beautiful! I've shared on Serenity Now: Scents and Sensibilities. Let the word go out!

Tourmaline said...

Hi Vanessa,

These are all lovely, and useful to boot. I enjoy knitting, although I prefer crochet, as it is faster.

I would never complain about craft appearing on a perfume blog!

Have a great Christmas.

With kind regards,
Tourmaline

Tara said...

Your wrist warmers have been a revelation!
Great idea to spread the word. I'm sure I'll need a new hot water bottle cover before too long.

Vanessa said...

Hi Old Herbaceous,

That is very kind of you to share my post to your own blog - much appreciated!

Vanessa said...

Hi Tourmaline,

Firstly, thank you for dropping by - it is always nice to 'meet' readers. Secondly, may I say what a lovely name you have, whether it is an Internet handle or your actual Christian name. I scurried to the Internet to google the gemstone itself, and found to my surprise that it comes in various colours, and wondered if you had a favourite.

I envy you being able to crochet, which I used to do when I was younger, and have long since forgotten. Must ask my SIL to teach me again - I think I may need several refresher sessions to pick the rudiments up again.

There is a picture of a blanket I crocheted in the 70s in this post - I have to pinch myself sometimes, as I wouldn't know how to make a single granny square now!

https://bonkersaboutperfume.blogspot.com/2012/04/bonkers-in-edinburgh-guerlain-pampleune.html

Vanessa said...

Hi Tara,

Glad you are getting some use from the wrist warmers - they did look fantastic in that photo of you with matching nail polish. ;)

It is getting a lot colder at night now, isn't it? I am a year round hot water bottle user, and it is a must at the moment.

Tourmaline said...

Hi Vanessa,

Thank you for your warm welcome. I comment frequently on Bois de Jasmin but this is my first comment here (as you probably know). Tourmaline is my Internet handle, and a picture of my favourite type of the stone – the watermelon tourmaline – is my internet Gravatar. Here is the photo I used to make my Gravatar - the stone in cross-section.

https://assets.catawiki.nl/assets/2017/4/25/1/f/1/1f1c61fc-29f4-11e7-9392-ef756bf5e5a4.jpg

My late mother taught me to knit and to crochet (and embroider) when I was a child, and while I don’t do crafts often these days, when I do I very much enjoy them. Someday I want to crochet one of those rugs from granny squares that are coloured in the middle and then black around the outside – a multicoloured one!

Hamamelis said...

Hi Vanessa, I didn't find the link to your FB page or the link to other posts but I may be somewhat cross eyed after a long day behind a screen....I would love to have a look!

Vanessa said...

Hi Tourmaline,

Ah yes, Bois de Jasmin is a 'bellwether blog' and I find her a great reference as I seem to like many of the same scents as her.

Thanks for the link to that amazing watermelon tourmaline - imagine that occurring in nature!

I used to embroider as well as crochet, and do tapestry. Where do these skills go? Sounds like you fancy making a rug like the blanket I crocheted 40 years ago!

Vanessa said...

Hi Hamamelis,

Thanks for stopping by, and I can explain the links...on its own, surrounded by white space, is a greyed out 'Runraglan Knits' - a bit below a rolled up blue scarf.

If you click on that and go through to my Facebook page, you then have to scroll through till you hit the many posts comprising different knitted item categories. THe first one you hit has a pink tea cosy on it, just so you know you are in the right territory. ;) The others follow below that.

FYI I also just finished another pair of wristwarmers in variegated shades of maroon and a lighter red, which were too late to add to the post.