It really feels like the end of the summer/start of autumn now - which is quite strange as in some ways it feels like we never had a 'proper summer' this year -- looking back, I remember more days at work where I was kitted out in my wellies and waterproofs and there were only a couple of days where it was warm enough to wear a t-shirt there.

Things are starting to get quieter at work now and I don't know how many people have said a tearful ''see you next year'' as they return to their normal lives.

At the moment I'm still working away at trying to rebuild my 'stock' of wrist warmers - but then I got a surprise order for eight hats! My friend Rosie has been thinking ahead and asked me if I would make them for her - she already has one herself, and then bought five more (for her family) and now is thinking about Christmas presents! I love custom orders like this :)

When I went to order the wool online though I discovered that it has been discontinued! Why oh why do wool companies do this??!!! After a bit of frantic searching I was able to find someone on Ebay who still has quite a few of the different shades in stock - phew! I ordered it from her straight away and got an email this morning to say that it has been posted yesterday. I can't wait for it to arrive so that I can get started - one of the hats is for a friend of Rosie's who is leaving the island soon so I shall do that one first and then crack on with the others in due course -- from 1st Sept the ferry finishes at 8.30 in the evening (instead of 10 during July & August!) so that will help my energy levels and crochet time :)

I'm in two minds about going to the market in Portmagee tomorrow - Peter is working all this week and I'm working 3-10 on the ferry myself, so it's kind of a squeeze to get everything done and have lunch and then go to work -- I think I'll see how I feel in the morning.

Last week at the market was a first for me - someone asked to buy the pair of wrist warmers that I was still making! I had just finished the first one and started on the second one but I got them finished before they left Valentia (on their holidays) to go back home. :)

 I've had a few custom orders lately - a man in Scotland asked me to make two shower-puffs - one in silver grey and the other in black. I love how they turned out (especially the grey one) - I hope he will like them too.

And then I had a message in my Etsy shop from a lady in Cyprus about my sea shells- she wanted to order 1kg of the little orange/yellow flat periwinkles and another kilo of the lighter white/yellow version that I sometimes find!

I scoured our local beaches and was only able to find approx 275g of them! - but she was happy with that amount too and purchased them.

August!

Wow, it's already the 20th August and this is the first time I've sat down to update my blog so far this month - work is still very busy (we'd nearly 400 cars by the time I finished my shift this afternoon) but it's starting to feel like we have turned the corner on the busiest of the busy season and I'm starting to feel like I can breathe a little again.

My days off work are still incredibly precious and I try to make the most of them, taking photos so that I remember these moments of calm rather than the whirlwind that is my day-job right now.

 The peak of the ferry season is the August bank holiday weekend - and it was memorable this year, but for all the wrong reasons. It was blowing an absolute gale and the sea was so rough that the ferry had to stop, not only on the Sunday but also the Monday of the long weekend. It was devastating really, as they should have been our busiest days of the season, but to be honest I was very grateful that we had stopped (it isn't a decision that they take lightly, and safety has to be the most important thing at all time).

Since my new head mannequin arrived I've been busy re-photographing all of my hats from my Etsy shop - all twenty five of them! It took a couple of days to get them all done but things will be easier from now on. I'm so happy with her - I think she looks much more professional and more photogenic than my poor other one.

I've been to the Portmagee market twice this month and have done really well both times - maybe my Ondine is helping? - but I sold three hats yesterday there! Yesterday was a great day there for me, I sold a total of seven pairs of crocodile stitch wrist warmers, thirteen cards and one of the shower mitts!

My 'stock levels' are severely depleted thanks to my success at the Portmagee market - at this time of year I don't get to crochet so much thanks to being so tired from work, but I will have time to rebuild my levels back up from now on, and hopefully will have a good selection again, ready for the Christmas markets :)

Talking about re-building stock...I recently ordered all of these from Deramores (in the UK) - lovely shades of King Cole's 'riot dk' which I am using for crocodile st. wrist warmers.

I had already made one pair of wrist warmers from this yarn before the last craft fair and sold them that day, and then I was in the middle of making another pair (in the gorgeous purple and green shade at the bottom left) yesterday at the fair and someone wanted to buy them straight away! - the colours in this yarn are so eye-catching; they are always popular as wrist warmers :)