On Monday 6th December I was part of a Christmas event held at St Helen's Evangelical Church, Bishopsgate, London. My friend who was part of the congregation (she has since gone back to China) invited me to take part in their virtual Christmas market last year, and this year the event was held in person.
The link above will take you to a short video I took during the event, just before a talk about a chapter from the book of Luke commenced. The event was very well-organised, there was plenty of space in between tables for people to browse, volunteers came round with trays serving food and drink and the talk was sandwiched between shopping times. It was very well attended and the decorations and Christmas songs added to the festive feel. Interestingly (in my opinion anyway) the attendees and stallholders must've been 98% women.
I was also very pleased to have my mum come along and help me at this event! She was able to tell people about the items she tatted and in a couple of cases she gave very brief demonstrations of how the shuttle and thread works. I reckon she loved the whole experience 😊 a few days later she showed me the basic knot of tatting. I was pretty rubbish and I had to watch several YouTube videos before I could do a single knot correctly! I will practice more over Christmas. I can tell you now that it takes ages to make any kind of pattern! It's currently taking me 20 mins to do a few knots before I mess it up haha.
Photo above, mum and me at our table in St Helen's. Photo below, my attempts at tatting (with large yarn so I can see what the heck it is I'm doing!)
I was also meant to take part in a Christmas street market held by residents of Brisbane Road, Ilford but this was unfortunately cancelled due to people catching Covid and concern over rising cases. Hopefully this event will take place in the future.
It is not too late for you to place orders for anything on the website but I can't guarantee they'll reach you before Christmas. I'm keen for everything in the "artwork & seasonal" section to go, so please do keep this in mind should you feel like treating yourself or a loved one to a gift in the new year. The prices won't be reduced.
These last few days I've been unwell with a cold (not Covid according to the lateral flow tests I've done) and have crocheted only a few more of these flowers:
I want to make another canvas artwork with them, on a larger scale.
I've also - finally! - reacquainted myself with a load of social media and SEO guides in a bid to help this little business of mine gain a bit more publicity. In reality this means reading guides from marketing experts, taking notes and seeing how I can apply their tips and advice to this website and social media accounts. This will take me some time, I'm not a fast worker and I believe it's not a one-time thing, it needs constant monitoring and updating, but if I can at least get into some kind of regular habit with it all I'll be happy.
I'm taking a blog break over Christmas, and I shall be back in the new year. Have a fantastic Christmas and I wish you all the best for 2022.
Thank you so much for reading this & supporting me, it makes a huge difference 💜, thank you
Love Lingling xx