goodbye satchel

Morning all! Sorry I missed posting last Saturday but I raced out of the house at 6am for the studio sale and this poor little blog was forgotten for another week. I am back now and in the shop, as usual, today.
Finders Keepers is on up at the Exhibition Buildings today and the Projection Festival is on during the evenings so Gertrude Street is all abuzz at the moment. We caught Jethro performing for his adoring fans last night, there was an incident with a small dog and he charmed a pack of ladies by running to the door when I arrived home (he heard the car out the back).
In shop news we've decided that after over 3 years of stocking Cambridge Satchels we are going to pop them on sale to make way for new stock. We were the biggest seller of satchels in Australia for quite some time and were always complimented on our sales and serve with them but now is the time to move on. If you buy one it is 25% off, buy two or more and get 35% off (pretty freaking good I say!). Of course no exchanges or refunds on sale stock. We can post. We have lots of colours and sizes but please don't go asking for a red 13" one, the examples are all out on the shelves.
OK. Gotta dash! New pennant stock is appearing this weekend. And other stuff!
I'm here until 5!

time to rumble (in the jumble sale)!

And an icy good morning to you all!
The sun is shining out there but I am having trouble warming the shop up, if it is too bitter I might have the shop door closed today but we are open!
Poor little blog is probably the last to be informed (well not quite, the mailing list is next) that we are having a studio sale.... RUMBLE IN THE JUMBLE! We haven't had a studio sale in ages, there was meant to be one in September (broken wrist), November (broken wrist) and February (broken wrist) and things have finally got so bad=full in studio that I had to chose a date and just go with it. It means I have a week, actually less, to pull this together. The stuff that I am unearthing..... hopefully next Friday I will announce the list of the really special stuff that is going in to the sale, I'll be posting all week over on Instagram (@cottageindustrystore) photos of things that I discover. It's been like a crazed archeological dig in the studio and we haven't even cracked open the boxes of stock....
While I have been going mad up in the studio there has been new stock arriving at the Cottage, 2 out of three boxes of Lisa B socks have landed, third one hopefully will arrive on Monday. Lisa has sent over new northern Winter  2014/2015 styles that have only just come in from the sock mills! We have new rugby stripe and big dot women's socks, new men's and bubba's birdseye design and have restocked on the women's classic dot socks and have 17 colours available at the moment! Let me just say today would be the perfect day to kit your feet out in these beauties and I dyed 6 new colours in gloves at the start of the week so hands and feet will be snuggly warm. OK I still haven't quite got back to the beanie knitting yet....
Time to shoot. The shop counter looks like a bomb has hit it, the floor needs a good clean and I desperately need another bucket of tea.
I'll be here until 5.

giving jip

So yes, the smockage continues.
I seem to have quite a bit of smock suitable fabric stashed in the studio which might explain why I keep inundating you with 'smockbomb' photos. Also they keep selling so of course I keep making them!
This last week has been a bit exhausting with lots of things happening and long days at the sewing machine. Yesterday I had the nerve conductivity tests (checking for carpal tunnel problems etc) on my right wrist, electric shocks to the nerves which is either tickle-y or excruciating but mostly funny when you see your hand twitching about. As usual I had the doctor and scientist taking the tests a tad flummoxed. Apparently there is something wrong with the nerve but they can't pinpoint exactly where, there is a chance it is related to the when the taxi hit me in the shoulder during the Great Bike Accident. Most of all I just really want my surgeon to remove the wire in my wrist that is giving me jip. It is 10 months since the first break at Cradle Mountain and I am a bored with it all.

I've been looking around the shop and thinking it is looking a bit bare. We've had a run on blankets, gloves and socks (yes, it has been a bit nippy) but there is more stock coming including new designs in the Lisa B socks range which is pretty exciting! I think we might be the first store anywhere to get the new styles and as we were Lisa's very first stockist in Australia and love her socks I can't what until the boxes arrive. I need to get a few dyepots on tomorrow and get some more of our glove stock happening too. And last of all, and finally, our lovely Heico cockatoo lights are back in stock.
I had the weirdest conversation yesterday with someone about the fact we don't have a designated website and inferring I should buy larger amounts of stock. It got Elise and I talking about how much we prefer to actually have a conversation with a customer about the product they are buying, whether it is face to face, on the phone, via email or chatting on instagram and how important that dialogue is especially when the product is handmade. I don't believe online shopping is all it is cracked up to be and I also think it is having a huge effect on people when they are out shopping, it appears they are almost developing a fear of being chatted to by a sales assistant.

OK I am off now to do my Saturday duty. It is CosPlay Day up at the Exhibition Buildings with Oz Comic-Con happening so it should be an amusing afternoon on Gertrude Street with the youngsters all dressed up! I'll be here until 5pm as usual....