No not a Cobblers Paradise as one of my American friends once assumed, but what is known outside the UK as, amongst other things, a flea market, a trunk sale or similar. A matter of 500 yards from where I live is a playing field that every Sunday morning from April to October is used as a Boot Sale venue. And this is what I found there this week.
Who amongst my lady friends doesn’t remember this little doll?? I had one, my sisters both had one, all my cousins and friends had one and we would all sit for hours making long thin sausages of wool which were later stitched together to make different things. Thinking about it, all my cardigans were stripy cardigans, made from left over bits of wool collected up by my Nanna and knitted together. When the cardigans were finished, the left over, left over bits were given to me to make these little sausages. These little wooden dolls were the elite models, the common ones were made from mothers old thread bobbins and a couple of nails. Both of my grandchildren were mildly curious but when they saw what was in the box they didn’t have the faintest idea what it was for. My stiff old fingers did manage to make a couple of sausages from wool, yes I did remember how to do it, but I don’t think the children were that impressed. Personally, I love it, I think I really bought it for me not them, AND…….it only cost me 50p, what a bargain.
A couple of tables later I found this. What a gem. A small, soft covered unassuming book packed with just about anything and every thing you would ever need to know about growing vegetables. All written in plain English and illustrated.
This book devotes two double pages to growing tomatoes. At least I think I know where I went wrong this year. Seems in this climate Tomatoes really don’t survive outside, they need green houses, more feeding, more water and more soil than I gave them. No wonder mine didn’t do very well. Never mind, I will try again next year.
In fact this little book has two pages on green house tomatoes and two pages on inj door tomatoes and what the difference is and which method you should chose
Another 50p bargain !!
A morning well spent I think and all for only £1.00... what value.
oh, i just love those sales! LOVE your page, BTW....a celebration of high summer. ; D
ReplyDeletestill have a spool to make the sausages lol
ReplyDeleteand I have that vege book it is great isn't it--
love boot sales even if you don't buy anything they are really interesting
I have most of the ''expert'' books, some think them dated now but they are packed full of really useful info... I blend that info with more organic methods and books and have a hive of knowledge :))
ReplyDeleteThose knitting dolls should be given to every child with an X box or mobile phone!!! ;)
Glad you found some bargains. I'm sure you could make yourself a greenhouse of sorts.
ReplyDeleteloving your idea Emma................lol
ReplyDeleteOOOooOOOh I HAVE that book!
ReplyDeleteAnd when I was six years old, my Grandma bought me one doll like that, it was an English guard with the tall black hat. ROFL I remember also, my Grandma used the gimmick a lot, maybe more than me; so it must be a Grannies' thing.
What a fun activity! I love going to these sort of things. Never know what kind of treasures you might find.
ReplyDeleteMy 'little doll' was a wooden thread spool with some tiny nails on one end. lol A few years ago, my granddaughter and I found one for her. It actually had a little hand crank on one end, which I didn't think was very sporting. lol But she loved it and made lots of yarn tubes for herself that she used for ribbon.I don't think I ever saw one of the high end dolls. lol Very cute...........
Flea markets are popular weekend events here. Also called garage or yard sales.
ReplyDeleteWe don't call them boot (or car trunk) sales. Selling out of the boot is sort of a specialty of those selling 'hot' or 'contraband' goods. LOL.
We all had the those spools as children. My daughter had one, because they had a renewed popularity. My granddaughter had something similar that used long and thin plastic strips to 'knit' bands for keys and also bracelets. So they have never really gone out of popularity.
Boot sales on Sunday morning are quite popular in Australia as well.
not so very different here Frank...lol... Car boot sales used to be for ordinary people who packed as much as they could into the car 'boot' and sold it. Now more and more often dealers turn up with large vans packed full of good........the source of these goods?? no one asks :-)
ReplyDeletethey sure are. Garage sales are good as well and I've got lots of good stuff whilst sailing.
ReplyDeleteThose dolls are called "Knitting Nancys" in Australia. I have not seen one of those for many a long year. The dolls in your picture don't look antique; are they reproductions?
yep they are made by a company called reto toys, they are exact copies of the original including the box and packaging, glad you like them.
ReplyDeleteyep they are made by a company called reto toys, they are exact copies of the original including the box and packaging, glad you like them.
ReplyDelete