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April 29, 2004

WIP update

I am very frustrated to say that not much knitting has been going on. No excuse.

The poor Italian t-shirt (that is looking gorgeous with 90% of the back panel done) got set aside this week because I discovered EBAY! This is very bad folks. Very bad. Who knew that bidding could be so much fun? There is definitely strategy involved. The really sad thing is that most of the auctions end at 3am my time. This really sucks unbelieveably. So if it is the middle of the day during the middle of the week and you see me online, it is because I had to (yes, HAD TO) get my patoot out of bed to make sure I got the final bid.

So what have I got so far for my hard bidding work?

Some beautiful home grown light gray and dark gray shetland (100% wool) that I am busily knitting into my first booga bag. I wound the two together because it is about worsted weight or slightly less. The combo is coming out like a really nice tweed, I like it. I think it will look so cool after felting. I plan to do the icord in this bright red that I had leftover from something else. It should be a very nice contrast. I am doubling the bag pattern because I wanted a bigger bag. I think I have enough yarn to do this but if I run out, I will use the red for a stripe at the top to make up any difference. The lady that sold it to me was very, very nice. She even sent me a picture of one of her newest lambs.

The other yarn I "won" (how can you call it winning when you are buying it - look honey, I won us some groceries from the store today) is this gorgeous, soft, smells good, yarn that seems to be superwash 100% wool. The texture is very interesting - it is slightly past bulky. I love the colors. And they did the coolest thing - they balled it up for me prior to sending. I have 800 yards. What to do, what to do? I made a swatch because I just couldn't help it and it seems to want to be a slouchy sweatshirt. I am hiding it behind the rest of my stash so it doesn't accidently fall onto some needles or anything. The name of the company is Mystical Creation Yarns - now you can drool on their website too.

One other purchase is a treat I have had a hankering for quite awhile. I have actually put it into my online shopping cart at least twice before sensibility talked me out of it. I bought (or won, you choose) a wooden yarn swift! Woohoo and even got it for a few bucks less than retail. It hasn't arrived yet but you can bet I will have a winding party when it does. Oh and I also ran across a link at TKGA (thanks again to CC) for how to hand wind a center pull ball. Gonna try that too.

Posted by DebC at 10:39 PM | Comments (3)

April 27, 2004

Quest for the gold

I am going to start mixing my yarn shop plans in with my knitting now (hey, that just gives me a ton to blog about hahahahaha). This will be my way of writing down my thoughts, dreams and goals. They say that you are much more likely to achieve your dream if you write your goals down.

I found a fiber arts guild in Southern Illinois, right where I plan to have my shop (Carbondale, IL). One of the members told me that they have to drive well over an hour away to get to any kind of yarn shop. That makes me want to a. dance around and b. retire from the Navy the earliest I can (18 months). I am so torn about when to retire. If I wait and take another duty station that will give me that much more time to save up money. One of the sources I am reading tells me that I should have two years salary in the bank to guard against the rocky new business road. With my retirement pay that actually comes out to less than one year in the bank. On the other hand, if I retire Nov 2005, I will get to start on my goal faster but will probably have to work as a nurse a couple days a week. The problem with that is that limits the hours I can spend at the shop AND will give me exactly zero time to spend with my family. Of course, I could always look for someone to partner with but that gets complicated. Oh, there are so many possibilities. I am the kind of person that hates, hates a long menu at the restaurant when I am hungry. Every decision I have to make is like a chess move, I need to be thinking eight moves ahead to visualize the consequences.

I have also decided to embark on the TKGA master knitter program (wow that sounds impressive doesn't it?). What does it ultimately mean? I don't know. Like someone else said, I don't need someone to tell me that I can knit well but I think that it will strengthen my credibility within my business plan (and ability to get a loan) and with my customers. It will strengthen my technical skills so that I can help my customers and possibly even allow me to teach classes. One thing I am doing now is really paying attention to what folks are saying about their local yarn shops (LYS), their likes, needs and dislikes. What do you want in an LYS? The responses are confusing and conflicting at times. Some folks want to be left alone to pet the yarn, others want technical advice and some want to be handheld. I hear (and think) loud and clear that a warm, comfortable shop is a must. That is from customers. Yarn shop owners on the other hand are saying things such as how they don't want people lingering, how they end up with tangled yarn and unruly kids, rude customers. Blah. It is so overwhelming. From the business sites, it is clear that just because I knit and love all things fiber that does not make me a business woman. The idea of becoming a master knitter is no insurance that my business will prosper (or even survive) if I do not put the customers first. So I plan to immerse myself in knitting blogs, boards and well, knitting, as well as business boards and courses. I am also working towards pulling together a knitting guild here in Sicily (the advertisement starts this weekend).

Here is the blog of a person that is realizing her dream right now: My Threaded Bliss.

So here is a description of MY dream shop. I want to rent (and eventually own) a two story older house near Southern Illinois University in Carbondale (walking distance would be ideal). Most of the downstairs would be the actual shop, with some of the walls between the rooms taken down to make a more open shop. I will put the yarn in fiber content categories along the walls with a sample skein and swatch hanging by each type. I will have mostly natural fibers (expensive I know) but also a fair selection of blends and probably something like Lion Brand or Patton as well so not everything is super expensive. I will also have a decent selection of needles and notions. Later down the road, I would love to add spinning wheels and weaving looms (or at least the ability to order them through me) and spinning/weaving supplies. I would also like to have a consignment section so people can trade in their stash for new stuff or just sell their unneeded stash/supplies. A children's corner is a must complete with toys and possibly a small tv/vcr so mom/dad can shop in peace. There will be comfy chairs/couch so you can sit a spell and knit or just chat. The kitchen will have a pot of coffee on and give me a place to dye yarn or hold other messy crafts. Upstairs will be rooms for classes or meeting places and the shop office/storage space. Of course, the Southern part of me says that there will be rockers on the front porch for when the weather is too pretty to knit inside. I hope to attract people who will hold their classes at my shop not to mention guild meetings. I have always been involved in my community so I will continue to do that with my shop as well. I will partner up with the nursing homes in the area to donate yarn and time to help with them with knitting. Oh and how about facilitating knitting clubs at the local schools? I know what you are thinking - she is going to need a 5,000 sq ft house and a way to clone herself at least five times (and by the way, didn't she say something about having three young boys?). If there is one thing that will help me pull this off, it is the fact that I am the most stubborn person I know. I have at minimum, eighteen months to get my financial/business act together.

So, what do you think?

Posted by DebC at 08:39 AM | Comments (1)

April 14, 2004

I know what I want to do when I retire.

I want to own a fiber arts shop (that mainly sells wool for spinning and finished yarn/stuff for knitting). It has been a dream for many years now. I am researching small business stuff online - the government actually has a huge website for women in small business. Tons of tutorials. My ex father-in-law (there really ought to be a nicer term for that) is the master of small business so I think I will recruit him as my mentor - he doesn't know this yet hahahahahahaha. I have quite a bit of experience being a *customer* of fiber arts stores but I don't know very much about running a business. I have about two years before I start this scheme so I am going to edu-ma-cate myself as fast as possible.

I have to make up a business plan pretty soon (I am at least two years out on this idea by the way). I think it will be incredibly hard work, but that isn?t foreign to me. They say that if you do what you love, the money will follow. I am going after that philosophy hahahahahaha. I need to do some market research but I think that the shop should be in or just South of Carbondale (Illinois). Carbondale is a great little college town with a fair share of arty folk and people who appreciate the arts. I have looked through the Southern Illinois phonebook that my dad sent me and there is almost nothing listed in the way of yarn shops. I am going for the crowd that appreciates quality material that isn?t afraid to pay more than they would for the yarn from Kmart.

I have a harebrained scheme concocted to start collecting inventory now and put it into storage. That way, when the time comes, I will rent a place and have at least 50% inventory in stock (I will still have to buy the current in-season stuff then). There are several huge sheep farms right there in Anna/Cobden that I can get fleeces from. I would like to have the sort of shop that offers tons of classes on spinning and knitting as well as scrumptious yarn to cuddle. I would love to be known as the neighborhood hangout with a constant pot of coffee. The Carbondale area has lots of cool pseudo old houses that would be perfect. Unless I win the lottery, I will rent for awhile because I want to buy a home for my family first.

Anyway, doing lots of thinking/dreaming/scheming. I am not looking to be rich. I just want to do something I love. I plan to work one or two days a week as an RN until my finances are safe with the new arrangement. They say that it takes two years to start turning a profit and that the first year you can expect to lose money. I think I am in a great position with my retirement pay and RN degree. What do you think? I don't know, maybe I can convince a few of my fiber art friends to sell their stuff at my shop or even come teach (really, Massachusetts isn't THAT far from Illinois LOL)

Posted by DebC at 08:36 AM | Comments (2)

April 01, 2004

A Felting We Will Go

A felting we will go, Hi Ho the Dairy O, A felting we will go.

I felted THE scarf. On purpose, I promise. It looks really neat. I only had to wash it twice to get it the thickness I wanted. I can say though, that making point-of-no-return decisions with articles you sweated blood over is not very much fun. I had no way to know whether I would get a Barbie scarf or not because I didn't do a test swatch (swatch-smatch, bah!). When it came out of the washer, I felt like I needed Paige Davis to help me open my eyes for the reveal.

So now add felting to my list of things I could be addicted to (along with knitting socks and using circulars for all knitting).

I found this book I had from back in the days when I was a craft ho - it is one of those 1970 Reader's Digest-like books on latch hook rugs that has really cool graphs in it. Unfortunately, it appears to be out of print, but, hey, at least *I* have one. One of the rugs in it is a version of the Picasso, Nude Woman in a Red Armchair. I think it is safe to say that Pablo Picasso had issues. But whomever did this latchhook rug version, put the anatomy in the correct place, leaving me with a gorgeous nude.
It is black, ecru, royal blue and red. I am going to make a felted wall hanging. This will also mark my first attempt at intarsia although it is on a large scale, so it shouldn't be hard. I am going to double the graph so that the details show up better. I may use the leftovers to do a felted tote with the same picture.

Anyway, here is the picture in the book:

I ordered the yarn from Patternworks but two of the four are backordered. That is not a problem as I am not exactly in desperate need of starting a new project LOL.

Posted by DebC at 08:40 AM | Comments (1)