• The shop still has lots of yarn.  Unfortunately I can’t seem to sell any of it.
• I’m still worried about the bills and paying employees, so nothing new there.  However, now I am “divorcing” (in the state of it’s-not-final-on-paper-but-IS-everywhere-else) and have to pay myself too.
• We have a shop cat!  She’s a great big, full of herself baby and we all adore her.  People come in to bring her treats–even those who don’t knit!
• My oldest son is this close to graduating high school and starting college at GA State.  My younger one is “graduating” elementary school and will be starting Middle School next fall.  (Lord, may I please survive the next 6 years, thank you.)
• I have moved house, but not shop thanks to the leasing company negotiating rent with me.  It’s still not easy to meet the bills, but it’s slightly better.

I think perhaps I have grown more cynical in the last year.  I have definitely grown fatter.  I continue to be grateful for the good things:  folks at the shop, my kitties, my boys, an ex-husband who is much easier to get along with now that we don’t live together.  And hockey–can’t forget that.

Tuesday 11am to 8+pm (we stay late for Knit Nite, but also for shopping)

Wednesday thru Saturday 11am to 6pm

Sunday 12noon to 5pm

Would it be better to open earlier?  Stay later?  Everyday?  On weekends?  Let me know what you think:

View This Poll

If you stop by the shop this week, please forgive me if I’m not my usual cheery (ha ha) self.  Today I couldn’t even come in–I couldn’t stand facing customers and being nice.  I’m too distracted.  Same with yesterday’s “Tuesday Late Night”–just couldn’t do it.  I don’t want to talk to yarn companies, I don’t want to figure out how to pay the bills, what I really want is to just curl up and sleep for about a year.  Not much hope of that happening though.

I think I summed it up with this:  teenagers are the reason murder is illegal, otherwise none would ever make it to adulthood.

How about I just add some pictures this time?  I think I can do that.  Let’s start with some “before” shots:

This was the shop in August 2008.  Susan had already closed and was beginning to pack up all the needlepoint and cross-stitch.

These are of our “Grand Opening” night in September 2008.  We were so worried that day that our needles wouldn’t arrive!  They did.  But this was all the yarn we had!  And this was after boxes and boxes had been unpacked!

Let’s fast forward to March 2009:

We’ve come a long way, baby.

All goes well at the shop.  I need to order about a zillion more things (including needles, again) and I’m trying desperately to fill special orders.  There is just not enough money in the bank to do all I want to, and the landlord has raised rent!  By a lot!  How much would it suck to have to close the shop because I cannot afford the rent?  I’m thinking about checking out my options–looking for other available spaces around town, doing some research, etc.  I think a meeting with the management company is definitely in order, and I want to go into it prepared.  I wish I could hire someone to take care of all the tedious things–I just want to play with yarn!

At 3:30am my 9-year-old woke me up–there he was, standing by the side of my bed telling me he “can’t sleep.”  It had something to do with the nightmare he had the night before–he won’t tell me what it was about.  So instead of him climbing into my bed (like the night before) I went to sleep in his.  Two people in a double is still somehow better than three in a queen.  I woke up this morning with a head full of hammers.  Frak, but my head hurt!  Two cups of coffee and 3 ibuprofen and one PB&J later it still hurts. 

I’m sure I pissed off my husband when I wouldn’t get out of bed at 7:30am.  I heard some comment about how my waking up and walking Xi to school “didn’t last long.”  If I could have given him some of the hammers I would have.  He wasn’t at the shop till 9pm…

Now that I have wrestled with the computer to print new labels and have sort of balanced the check book I suppose it is time to get going.  Perhaps my mood will change like the current weather:  hailing one minute, sunny the next.  If I’m not my usual “perky” self today, give me a break.

A pattern is often just a Starting Point.  Maybe it gives you an idea, maybe you love the shape or pattern stitch BUT, and this is a big BUT, chances are it’s not going to fit you exactly as written.  We are all different shapes and heights and weights.  Some patterns appear to only have been written for young waifs with no hips or breasts (though that does seem to be getting better).  That DOES NOT mean that you cannot wear it!  Can you increase?  Decrease?  Then you can knit it for you!  Gauge a problem?  You can fix that with simple math.  Bless those patterns that have diagrams along with the written instructions!  That makes our lives so much easier.  But even if there are no lovely drawings, you can STILL do it!

Your friendly folks at your LYS can help you, but first you must Let Go of Your Fear.  Sounds scary, right?  But you’ve got to do it.  What’s the worst thing that can happen?  You have to rip out some rows?  You can handle that!  You make the whole thing and it’s too big?  Felt it!  Too small?  Block it into shape!  Worst case scenario:  give it to someone it fits!  They’ll love it or else! 

Quit being afraid of what you CAN’T do.  Just do it!  (Nike said it best.)  Don’t tell us it’s too hard, don’t tell us you’re not good enough.  Tell yourself that you suck enough times and you’ll start to believe it.  Anyone who is doing something with their hands, who is trying to make art, does NOT suck.  No one, not even us goddesses at the shop, are perfect.  Learning any craft takes time.  I still learn something new on an almost daily basis.  Life’s over if you stop learning. 

So this year sit back and take a deep breath.  Go to your stash and take out a project that intimidates you.  Go to your LYS and start a project that scares you silly.  Read the pattern, but remember it is not gospel.  Get out your calculator and do a little math.  Keep breathing.  Pick up your needles, or hook, or spindle, or shuttle.  Start slowly.  When you run into a problem, come see us.  Our JOB is to help you.  We want you to increase your mad skillz!  If we don’t know the answer, we’ll put on our thinking caps and figure it out.  Anything is possible.

And you TOTALLY don’t suck, even if you aren’t an anarchist.

Hockey Hall of Fame

I have a few ideas for 2009.  I’m not going to call them Resolutions, because that’s too formal. 

• Shop local–it REALLY is important to support other small businesses.  It’s a group effort.
• Pay cash whenever I can–folks like cash, and there are no fees associated with it!
• Try to learn the metric equivalent of most US needle sizes
• Get out and walk more.  I hate most kinds of exercise, but I like walking, especially if there is a purpose like getting to school or going to the bank.

So, yeah, just a few small things.  Things I can usually  do without much effort.  I’m all about as little effort as possible!  (It’s so ironic that I’m so lazy and yet, when I am busy is when I am the most happy!) 

Last for the year, but not least, I’d like to thank all the folks that support my store.  It means so much to me to have such loyal customers and friends.  I think of all of us at the store as a big family.  I can honestly say that I am never unhappy to have to go to my job, and that really is all you can ask for. 

Here’s to 2009!

Okay, so what has this taught me?  PLAN AHEAD!  Set aside some extra money for last minute items that there is a run on.  Order BEFORE you run out.  Anticipate shipping to take forever.  Do your damnedest to assure you DO get that last minute MUST HAVE SKEIN no matter what.  Prey you have wonderful, understanding, patient customers.  (I do.)  Then realize how lucky you are to even be in the position to run out of items–it means people are shopping at your store and that they like what you stock.  Take a moment to be thankful.

Lesson learned.

• I’ve been a crafter for as long as I can remember, a knitter for about 5 years
• I worked at a LYS for the last 4+ years before I became the store’s owner
• I am probably the least talented of my staff!
• It was never my dream to own a yarn store, it just kind of happened
• I am extremely sensitive to criticism about my store–it’s like my 3rd child
• I’m working on taking said criticism less personally!
• I can spin, knit, crochet, weave (a bit), sew and also rewire a house
• I love rotary telephones
• I have a husband who doesn’t always agree with me, but always supports me
• He also does my books!
• I’ve taught both my boys (ages 9 and 16) to knit, and am a firm believer in guys doing crafts
• I never thought I’d make a lot of money owning a yarn shop–my ultimate goal is to earn enough to pay a house cleaner

That’s all the insight into me for now–Oh! I also am crazy about cats and hockey!  I’ll probably post some about those things too.  I’m headed off to work this morning with low expectations (it’s a Monday) but with the hope that I’ll be pleasantly surprised.