Trimmed and Tidy

red scarf ready for tagging; blue scarf to be trimmed and then tagged

Doug has been manning the booth to let me come home and work on fringe twisting some of the last rayon chenille scarves that needed to be finished.

It's a good idea to fringe twist rayon chenille because if you don't the loose threads can disintegrate.  When I first started making rayon chenille scarves, I really didn't like the way the wispy bits hung on to the end of the fringe below the knots so I started trimming those off.

It's personal preference, but I feel that trimming that bit of fluff off the ends make the scarves look tidier.  The colours of these scarves are pretty dark so you might not be able to see them clearly....

Of course you don't have to protect the fringes in any way at all but leaving an unprotected fringe on a rayon textile will allow the yarn to gradually melt away.

I also don't like loose fringe because the individual threads tend to tangle and look messy - not an attractive look for an expensive scarf, imho....

Studio Fair is a higher end fair than the one at the University, at which there was a certain amount of sticker shock (shock at my prices, I mean).  There may be the same level of shock at this show, but fewer people voice their dismay.  :)  What I am hearing though, is that people are only buying consumables - they have enough 'stuff' and don't want to add to it.  Buying food or personal care products they can justify.  Of course lots of people here already have one or more of my scarves, placemats, etc - market saturation at work.

On Friday I had both the flu and the pneumonia jabs - with my being out of town/busy for the next 3 weeks, there wasn't time to space them out.  The pneumonia jab is actually giving me more trouble than the flu shot - my arm is aching something fierce (they put one jab in each arm).  I tried weaving a bit and it just wasn't comfortable - but I did get one more sample ready for the designer to see next week.  I'm still out by 1/4 of an inch in terms of the targeted width, but that will be easy to fix.

Tomorrow is the last day of Studio Fair so we'll tear down and eat dinner out (we've been cleaning out the fridge and there's almost nothing left!) then come home to pack, ready to hit the highway Monday morning as soon as we possibly can get ourselves into the van.  And hope for good driving conditions.  Historically it rains/snows the week following this craft fair.