Mongrel Socks Christmas

Time flies........team Mongrel Socks have been busy little beavers getting all those Xmas orders out. I felt like Santa dragging our jags of parcels in to the post office today, then a lot like a sheep when I saw the queue out the door. Ah well.
It's been a big few weeks for Mongrel Socks and we have the photo's to prove it.
The Oprah roadshow hit Australia last week, with her best friend Gayle King (with two film crews) and the Tasmanian contingent visiting the Mongrel Socks Factory outlet at Hobart's Salamanca Market, much to our surprise and delight. Most exciting was that Gayle arrived already wearing our humble pure wool socks, and then went on to purchase (driving a hard bargin too) some of our Mongrel Tasmanis Arm/Leg Warmers. Yee Ha! Typically, I fumbled around and giggled like a teenager, doing a great impersonation of a scared bunny caught in the headlights.

I probably should have thought about the mannequin leg placement before I took the photo, oops! Sorry Gayle!

Must remember to hold the camera still, although pretty all the same.

The Saddle, Mullumbimby.

I'm sure he was smiling at me?

Gayle King and the lovely Mongrel Socks' Sharon Stegeman - Ms King was so kind to allow us a photo with her,  she is absolutely gorgeous inside and so clearly out!
Miscellaneous images from the a

 

The weather was wild at the Brunswick Heads river mouth - it would have been a hairy ride for these sailors over the bar.

Mongrel Socks out of hibernation!

Leonard Cohen on stage at his Hobart concert. He's 75 years old and still putting on a fantastic show. We are so lucky.

Dinner at Don Camillo was excellent

The Mongrel Socks garden looks a treat, especially with the Nerine Scott sculpture we we're so lucky to be given. Wrapped around the old log, it looks like it was made for it.

One of the many wicked sweets Don Camillo whipped up for us.

At the home of Mongrel Socks we tend to have our head down and bums up working through winter - our busiest time. Then, I guess like most Tasmanians, when the good weather hits it's time to have some long awaited fun. For the last couple of weeks we've been flat out, lots of social stuff, catching up with friends etc. I thought I'd post a few pictures of........nothing and everything, you'll get the idea - lifes for living.

It's been so long!

It's been so long since I sat down to update this blog. Here at the house of the Mongrel Socks - we've had our heads down, busy socking it. Winter is nearly upon us. A busy time coming up. Plenty of distractions too - Last night I left my comfort zone. I had to address the Hobart City Council Aldermen. Public speaking is so not my thing. I was quite frankly "packing it". I'm very passionate about our Salamanca Market, so I did know what I wanted say, but goodness me, I really wasn't prepared for the quite physical indicators of my nervousness. Lucky I was able to remain seated while I spoke, otherwise my leg tremors could have caused me some grief. Anyway 5 minutes and it was all over. I was very happy and  surprised by the Aldermen's response. I thought for a moment I had entered an alternate reality. What planet was I on and who were these people? After much debate, I was left with a feeling of hope for the future of Salamanca Market - that the people in power will take care to get the new changes proposed for the Market right. Hope I'm not disappointed.
On another note I have got to say how much I'm missing my offsider, who has the week off to get her house ready for sale. Friddy, is a very much valued Mongrel Socks team member, I'm been missing her this week - and really hate the thought of her ever leaving for good. She will eventually I'm sure and I'm thinking separation anxiety will kick in then. Best we look after her. Thanks Frid!

Who needs fireworks

Hobart saw in the new year in spectacular style. Mother Nature has out done the fireworks us mere humans have offered up, without the outrageous cost both $$$ and on the environment. Here's a photo I grabbed off the local news. Bloody brilliant!

Day and night

Every Saturday finds us plying our socks at Hobarts Salamanca Market. We work quietly from our home based workshop every other day, so when Saturday comes around we are well and truely ready to get out amongst it. Saturdays are manic, up at before dawn and do nothing but talk all day. Long before the Market go'ers have arrived we've had a few cups of coffee, caught up with some of our favourite fellow market stall operators, had a few laughs, all the while unpacking and setting up the stall. Then our market day really begins. Most days seems to fly by. By 4.30pm we're heading home, tired, but happy. Last week we stayed late to check out a fantastic mid winter annual event - The Festival of Voices. It gets better and better every year. I've linked here through to some photos of the night, there nothing quite like singing in a crowd around a roaring bonfire. Hard to imagine that only a couple of hours earlier it was a bustling market place, as if by magic it is tranformed in something else again. If you love to sing (and you don't have to be good at it) or listen to live music come on down and join us next year.
http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2009/07/12/84001_todays-news.html

Australia Day

It's the end of January already and while we might be back in to the swing of things after our go-slow post xmas, we're looking forward to having our first two day week-end in ages. Most weekends find us plying our socks at Hobart's Salamanca Market every Saturday, where we've been for the last 12 years-ish. Working at our home based workshop 5 days a week, with one full on Market day, doesn't leave us with much free time. No complaints here, because we love or work/life style, but Yay! Australia Day gives us a long weekend, well worth celebrating. So even if Mongrel Socks are our life, we're excitedly looking forward to the 26th which will see us sipping a good Aussie drop of wine, in a vineyard in South Australia, listening to Paul Kelly prepare us for the music legend, Leonard Cohen! We're slipping off for a couple of days of self indulgence. I never thought in this lifetime I would get to see Leonard Cohen perform live, it really is something special, and having the true blue Paul Kelly as his back up, what more can I say. I guess the cherry on the cake, it we are going with a few friends, and catching up with some in S.A. too. It just doesn't get any better. Thinking about it-if I get home to a screen full of online orders, and our teenager hasn't trashed the house, then that would be great too. Better go-got some packing to do..

The Salamanca Market Community.

Working at home is great, and has some really good points eg going to work in your PJs (if you feel like it), commuting time of 30 seconds, going home for lunch and a load of washing. All good. One of the only downsides to our wool sock making endeavours is the fact that we don’t get out and about (yin/yang) and it’s very easy to go days with out seeing anyone in the flesh except us. That’s why we love the hustle of Hobart's Salamanca Market. Not only is it business, it is also a social thing. Over the years we’ve made many a good friend of the fellow regular (and not so regular) stall holders. At times we see these folk more regularly than family. The feeling of community is a constant for me. I have met some amazing people. Some are like family. Watching children grow up, and friends grow old. Just recently I have benefited from this community spirit, in small but never the less, tangible ways. The other weekend when I had a few teething problems (in the pouring rain) with a new Market Canopy (“Mongrel Sock Kennel”) help came out of the woodwork. My fellow stall holders went out of their way to assist. Same thing again when our car sprang a leak, by the time we got to the market was spewing water every which way. No problem, help was at hand, containers of water given to get us home ok. One even followed us home to see we weren’t caught short. I know these are only small things but having broken down on city streets, with no help offered, people too busy to even notice your difficulty, I appreciate the time/help given to us. I like to think that we do the same, and try to lend a hand/ear when needed, to friends or strangers. I think karma kicks in so you get what you give. Good turns given will come back. One of the things I find myself regularly doing is referring email requests that come to us on the off chance we (being in the Market place) can put buyers in touch with elusive stallholders, who don’t have a web presence. That maybe, we know who it is that makes a certain thingumabob purchased at the Market once upon a time. We do try to put the two together and funnily enough we usually do know the people/product requested. Hopefully what comes around goes around. So……. if your after some thing you purchased at Salamanca Market (especially if it’s warm socks), last week or last year, lost their contact details, feel free to put out feelers, as I said, we’re happy help if we can.