Another Open House

About three times a year, our store has an open house where we showcase our craft classes. The instructors meet and greet customers as they come in and, hopefully, answer any questions they might have about our classes and/or sign them up for classes. It's fun and frustrating at the same time.

Fun, because when we get to talk about our crafts, we really enjoy it. We are all instructors because we want to share the craft, after all. We love when people are interested for themselves or for others. "I have tried to learn from a book, but I think I need hands-on." or "My grandma used to crochet blankets for us when we were kids. Now that she's in a nursing home, I'd like to crochet one for her." or "My daughter-in-law has always wanted to do that. I think I'll surprise her with lessons." 

It's also frustrating because many of the people we see are not that interested. It is, after all, a craft store, and people are shopping there for craft supplies. So chances are great that they already know how to do some crafts. So they give us the "no thanks" wave and move quickly on.

I even added several intermediate classes to my roster this quarter, to appeal to those who might want to go beyond scarves, hats, and dishcloths. It was exciting to me to learn short rows and cables and such. I thought there would be more interest.

But at any rate, it is nice to sit and knit at the table. The knitting always draws people over to ask about it. This time, I was working on a basic garter stitch scarf (the one for M) using Cakes. That got a lot of attention, mainly for the way it was color blocking, I think.