Festive February

Posted by Ellen Hamilton on February 15, 2024

Yellow Dot at the Torpedo Factory for the Old Town Boutique Warehouse Sale

Welcome to my first newsletter for 2024! You have not heard from me this year, as I have been taking it easy and avoiding outdoor markets.

Thanks to all my wonderful customers and clients, Yellow Dot managed a modest profit in 2023. That went well with my plan for January, which was to put the quiet time to use, and have a break. Customers are exhausted from holiday shopping and generally stay home, so I planned a ski trip! We went to Western Pennsylvania to Seven Springs where I practiced my novice skiing and had a lovely time.

Instead of outdoor markets, I have been indoors working on my new beret sewing pattern, and making fleece berets in bright colors. A few indoor markets did come along, thanks to my new membership in the Old Town Business Association. I took part in the Old Town Boutique Warehouse Sale, where I had a large display inside the Torpedo Factory! It was two whole days, the first weekend in February. My other event was a pop-up market at a retirement home in Alexandria's West End. We had a nice turnout and residents got super deals with items from the past year on clearance.

In March I will be outdoors again, at Old Town North Market. The market has grown, and has several farm stands and new vendors. It's at 901 N. Royal Street in Alexandria's booming Old Town North neighborhood. Many new buildings are going up there including Made in ALX where I sell my items, the MetroStage theater, a new Black History trail along the waterfront, the new MacMillan's Whisky Room, the new Royal Restaurant and so much more. Hope to see you at Old Town North Market on Sundays in March, 10am to 2pm!

Ellen Hamilton, Chief Creative, Publisher, Vendor, Hat maker, Printer

New Items in Shop

Lovely Purses

Believe it or not, it took some doing to get this company to send me purses. But they finally did, and I have a nice collection of 20 purses to choose from!

New purse with pink woven strip plus woven patterns

New purse at Yellow Dot Shop with sapphire sun burst

See the Purses and Handbags

Berets made Here

Why do I keep making hats?! About 36 years ago, I was at Art School in Richmond, Virginia. I was up in Carytown one day, and there was a street vendor with a whole cart full of fun stocking caps that he had made. I don't know if they sold well, but I thought that was so fun. That has been in the back of my mind ever since! So a few years ago I started making my favorite kind of hat. I figured, if I'm going to put time into hats, they had better be hats that people will want. After a trip to Scotland, I came home with a tweed bakerboy cap, and a pile of gorgeous hand woven Scottish tweed. I've been making hats every since.

Ted's New Letters from the Civil War book!

I have a new book on the Civil War by local historian Ted Pulliam! It is "Here's a Letter From Thy Dear Son."

Ted tells this story through personal letters of the American Civil War in the late 1800s. It is the story of a North Georgia farming family of modest means as they seek places in their communities, live the trauma of the Civil War on the battlefield and at home, and for those who survive, strive to regain peace in a changed world and begin life anew. Beginning in 1847, a seventeen-year-old Simeon David leaves home to teach school in a nearby county and continues as he, his younger brothers Tom and Horatio, sister Lona, and their friend Manning Alexander begin their lives. The arrival of the Civil War sweeps them up, transforms the young men into soldiers and transports them to previously little-known places: Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Vicksburg, and the Wilderness. At home, the family women face their own disruptions and hardships. For one, it is more than she can bear.

I also carry Ted's other excellent book, True Tales of Old Alexandria, which just came out last autumn.

Ted's other excellent book, True Tales of Old Alexandria