"It's in aid of the Wildlife Network"

we kept saying. All we had on display were two blankets, one designed mostly by yours truly and the other with plainer squares beautifully decorated with flowers by S....  We were charging $2 a ticket for the chance to win one or the other. All the money was going to the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Network. They will use it in their ongoing work to replant the vegetation lost in the catastrophic bushfires three years ago. This is vital to the survival of their bee population - and they are vital to the survival of the world's bee population.

And there we were in a school hall attempting to sell raffle tickets to people who had come to a mostly yarn event. I like yarn events. Mmm... my paw goes out. I like that skein...look at the colours in that ball...feel this...what sort of sheep did that come from...have you seen that wool/silk mix? Oh yes...but I was hoping I would be too busy to notice any of that. I do not need more yarn. 

The organisers had put us in a lovely position. We were just inside the door on the left...it is the way most people in this country will walk quite naturally. They were going to walk right past us - and the brightly coloured blanket I designed along with my good friend L... three years ago was something they were not going to be able to miss...we hoped. I thought it would be a good day if we managed to raise around $300.

We knew there would be a problem because we did not have electronic facilities. We did not have one of those fancy little "square readers". (I had never actually laid my eyes on one until yesterday but regulars at such events tell me they are now common.) Still, there were a surprising number of people who still had "a couple of dollars" on them and were willing to part with them. S... and Middle Cat and I talked to people about the importance of the work the network was doing. We took it in turns to take a five minute break around the hall during the morning. People I knew came past and stopped to chat. 

We handed out some small finger puppets to small people - all of whom were surprisingly well behaved. Almost all of them actually thanked us...and a good half of them without being prompted. Late morning Middle Cat prowled off to investigate the likelihood of hot coffee and reported that business was booming in the bigger hall, the school gymnasium, next door. "Are you going to spend the voucher you won at the Show last year?" she asked me. 

Things quietened down, as they always do, over the lunch period, so I took my turn to prowl off. I found the stall which had supplied the voucher and bought two skeins of yarn. No, I didn't need yarn but the blue is nice and I will make something that can be raffled off somewhere else. Lunchtime or not the hall was crowded and there were too many people for my liking. It was also not safe to let me loose among all that yarn temptation!

Middle Cat and S.... both wandered off to look at the street fair which was laid out on the rest of the venue. I sold more raffle tickets and talked to more people. Someone I had not seen for several years came past and I barely recognised her. She has not been well and had aged dramatically. Another friend sat on the spare chair for a short while. W.... is good at selling things to people and earned her short sit down!

By late afternoon it had all grown quieter. It is always like that at these events. We were not drawing the raffle. That will happen on Easter Sunday. There were other door prizes and raffles and we want to make ours a bit more memorable than that. 

Middle Cat bought me two more balls of yarn - beautiful, expensive Japanese yarn. It will need to be turned into something very special indeed. 

Then suddenly it was 4pm and closing time. We were out of there in less than fifteen minutes...and tired. It was worth it. We have sold more than $300 worth of tickets and S.... has taken the blankets off to see if she can sell still more at two other venues.

It has been a lot of work - but worth it. The event was very well organised and I have just told the organisers that. Thanks again C... and team.