Conversational Threads

A Sunny Sunday

Well, over 15,000 price tags later ----

Things are starting to come together.  Above, you see some of the sock yarns.

Looking from the back of the shop toward the front -

Here's some of the Handmaiden Silk Lace and Camelspin that just arrived this week nestled next to the JKnits Lace-a-Licious -

And we have a good supply of Malabrigo Lace, Sock, Silky Merino and Worsted next to the Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend and Worsted -

We're not completely organized yet, and the upholstered chairs and customer computer are not in the shop yet, but we're getting there.

If you haven't been here yet, here's what it looks like from the outside - 

I still need to fill up that window!

A Great Weekend!

Well, we had a wonderful opening weekend!  I got to meet so many wonderful, interesting and artistic people, and a good deal of fellow Ravelers.  If anyone doesn't know, Ravelry.com is an online community of close to 400,000 knitters and crocheters, and is a great tool for knitter and crocheters alike, providing amazing information and answers for almost any possible questions you could have concerning yarns and patterns and supplies and needles and techniques - you name it!  You need to sign up and then wait for an invitation to join which takes maybe 3 days, and then you can access all kinds of information.  And you can join my Ravelry group - Conversational Threads

Anyway, back to the first three days of the shop being open.  Except for Saturday afternoon when there was a monsoon outside, there was a fairly steady stream of customers through the shop, some buying, some not.  There was also a good deal of visiting with old friends and new friends.  Considering that the shop is obviously not yet up-to-speed (especially on Friday when at first the receipt printer didn't want to print and then the credit card reader stopped reading), all-in-all it was a very satisfying weekend.  I hope all the customers were as satisfied as I was.

I still have a bunch of price tags to make, and even more stuff is arriving this week.  The HiyaHiya needles will be here shortly, and the notions are due to arrive today.  So even more price tags are going to be needed.  There is a ton of paperwork to do, and two tons to be filed.  Tomorrow the computer guy will be in to fix the boo-boo I made trying to back up my work - although I am pretty proud of myself that I managed to get up-and-running this completely computerized inventory and point-of-sale system by myself so far - no outside help, not even a phone call.

Well, it's back to work for me.

Opening Day!!!!!

This is terrifying.

Today is the first day that the shop will be open. 

What if the credit card reader doesn't work?
What if I get flustered and screw up on the computer while trying to make a sale?
What if I already screwed up the computer last night while trying - and failing - to backup my work to a portable hard drive?

OMG.

I need a Xanax.

Nearly There

There has not been much time for blogging lately, unfortunately.  There is very little of my time that has not been spent at the shop getting ready to open or at the computer entering inventory or making price tags.  Take one look at my yard, and you'll know it.  My gardens have never looked this bad.  I keep promising them -"Soon!"

Anyway, we are getting much closer to ready-to-open, or, I should say, ready-enough-to-open. Two weeks ago, the shop looked like this -

But thanks to tons of help from the best friends and relatives a person could have, it is now looking more like this -

You will notice there are no wide-range pictures of the shop included here.  That's so you don't see all the cardboard boxes still setting around.

We will be open by the end of this week, for sure, ready or not.  Not is the most likely scenario, but we will be sufficiently ready that we could do business.  Everyone should just be aware that it will, for some time, still be a work in progress.  Not all things ordered have yet arrived, and I have not gotten down to IKEA yet to to get the TV bookcase, so the sitting area of comfy chairs is not yet set up, but we do have a table and chairs where you can work.

I have also been talking to an very accomplished local knitter/spinner/designer/teacher who is willing to teach classes for me that are beyond my ability to do the basic one-on-one learn-to-knit or help classes.  She is well versed in many techniques, and I think she will be a great asset to the shop.

Well, it's time to get back to work for me!

4000 lbs. of Furniture Arrives Tuesday!!!!

I hope the floor can handle it!

I will finally be assembling my furniture by Wednesday with the help of many good friends - the best friends a person could have.  Then the fun part - stocking the shelves - can commence.  If I manage to figure out installing the cash drawer, credit card reader, and receipt printer in the next week I could possibly actually conduct some business by the week of May 25th - the end of the month, as I'd hoped.  As long as people don't mind shopping in a half-finished store.

I doubt that I'll have a sign on the building by then.  The sign guy and I are going back and forth about the design so we get it right.  And the light box the sign goes into must be painted so it doesn't leak rust all over my very expensive sign.  I had no idea a sign would cost so much - it's like a month's rent!  It won't be too complicated a sign, because each thing you add to it costs. Just the name of the shop and a few wingdings.

The only thing I have ordered since the last post is some gorgeous Handmaiden Fine Yarns stuff - Camelspin, Mini Maiden, Lace Silk, Casbah, and Sea Silk - 3 skeins of each in 9 different colorways.

I have some progress photos from the store for you -

Above is the store taken from the area where the checkout counter will be.

This is taken from the office area looking out towards the (very bright) front window.  The door to the right is the door to the stairs which take you to the basement and the bathrooms down there.

This is the view from the front door of the currently-being-revamped Emmaus Triangle.  It will look much better in the near future, I am sure.  In the Triangle directly above the little wooden sign in the picture (the sign says "Customer Parking Only" on the other side) just across the street from my front door will be the new fountain.  I am really looking forward to seeing that!

Speaking of which, this is my front door -
I

It still needs painting and weatherstripping and a new window, but I love the Art Deco-y handle!

Catching Up

So, here's what has been going on for the last week or so -

The shop has been painted - including the floor, but not quite all the trim that I must do is done yet.  And the front door and the area around it hasn't been touched yet.

The basement bathrooms haven't been started being revamped yet, but that's OK because Dale the Contractor (who is awesome!!) who works for the Landlord has been occupied elsewhere and I told him I just need it done before we open, hopefully by the end of the month.

The ceiling fans have been hung and work wonderfully - I NEED air circulation and I think they will cut done considerably on heating and cooling bills.  I love them.

The proofs from the sign company for the big light-up outdoor sign on the building should arrive in the mail today.  I am thinking about having them do a vinyl cling sign for the inside of the window as well, but we'll see how expensive all this signage is.

The phone/internet/cable has been installed, and I know the phone and internet work because I've used them, but I don't have the TV yet, so I just have to assume the cable works.

I applied and paid for my occupancy permit and fire inspection.

There has been more ordering -

Frog Tree Yarns have some very nice, very reasonably priced fair trade and eco-friendly products -

Frog Tree Alpaca Fingering - 15 colors
Frog Tree Alpaca Sport - 25 colors
Frog Tree Alpaca Melange - 15 colors
Frog Tree Alpaca Chunky - 10 colors
Frog Tree Meriboo - 10 colors
Frog Tree Meriboo Roving - 10 colors

Then, from Sheep Shop, one box of which is currently lost somewhere in the FedEx system but hopefully will show up today -

Sheep Shop Roving - 5 colors
Sheep 2 Solids - 8 colors
Sheep 2 Variegated - 9 colors
Sheep 3 Solids - 10 colors
Sheep 3 Variegated  - 8 colors

From Plymouth Yarns -

Baby Bunny - 12 colors
Boku - 10 colors
Fantasy Linen - 6 colors
Happy Feet - 12 colors
Happy Feet DK - 9 colors
Royal Llama Silk - 6 colors
Oceanside Organic Cotton - 4 colors
Mainland - 5 colors
Royal Bamboo - 8 colors

And from Bristol Yarns, Plymouth's partner -

Buckingham - 5 colors
King George - 5 colors

I have also ordered 80 more colors of Cascade 220 and 20 more colors of Cascade 220 Superwash, as well as a lovely heavier fall multicolor wool/bamboo blend from them which won't show up for a while, so I'll tell more about it later.  Most exciting of all (to me, at least!) is the Great American Afghan model that came with the 220 order, and which I have already received!  It is gorgeous and I have determined it will hang just inside the front door of the shop.

Delay

It's the story of my life.

I got the keys to the store on Friday.  All was well and good. 

Then I called the borough hall to see what I needed to do to get my business license.  The first question I was asked was "Where is the bathroom located in the store?"

The answer - "In the basement."

Not good enough.  It seems there is a misunderstanding about handicapped regulations and grandfather clauses that exists between the landlord and the borough officers which was unable to be worked out by the end of the day Friday, so things are on a temporary hold for the bathroom work that was to be done. And I'm sure it will be worked out quickly.  But you just knew there would be a glitch, and that it would be on a Friday so that nothing could be done about it until Monday.

This should not be a surprise to me.  It is part of God's plan to teach me patience that has been a major theme of my life.

So, in the meantime, it's not like I don't have about a million things I can be doing otherwise.  And I am.  Yesterday I took the measurements that I had made at the shop and laid everything out on graph paper, trying to plan where things might go and how much I will need to buy from IKEA (a lot!).  Today I will hit Home Depot hard, so the paint will be ready for the contractor whenever he needs it, and the ceiling fans will be available for installation.  Tomorrow I will be at the shop all day, meeting with a yarn company rep., waiting for the UPS guy to deliver some yarn, waiting for the insurance guy to bring the papers for me to sign, and doing a little paint work myself on the basement door and the ledge that lines the front display window.  

It all will be good.

Just wait until all the IKEA stuff shows up.  Aiiiyeee!!

An Ordering Update

Some more new orders -

First, from South West Trading Company, some of their cool, unusual fiber content yarns -

SWTC A-Maizing  - 15 colors

SWTC Oasis - 10 colors

SWTC Tofutsies - 9 colors

SWTC Terra - 17 colors

SWTC Therapi - 6 colors

SWTC XIE - 38 colors (just 2 cones each color)

SWTC Yin - 8 colors

SWTC Yang - 8 colors

Then, from Ecobutterfly, their awesome color-grown cotton products - ooooh, so soft! -

Organic Cotton Pakucho Worsted - 8 colors

Organic Cotton Pakucho Lace Weight - 6 colors (I wasn't going to order this - cotton lace? would it block? - until I saw the knitted lace sample - gorgeous!)

Organic Cotton Pakucho Sport - 6 colors

Organic Cotton Pakucho Flamme Worsted - 5 colors

Organic Cotton Pakucho Fine Flamme Sport - 4 colors

Sliver (Organic Cotton Roving) - 8 colors

Next, some good stuff especially for baby knitting from Dale of Norway (which, by the way, the rep. pronounces like it was Roy Rogers' wife, but I happen to know from a past vacation to Norway is pronounced "Dah-leh") -

Dale of Norway Baby Ull (Baby Wool) - 10 colors

Dale of Norway Stork - 12 colors

Dale of Norway Svale - 10 colors

And finally, another organic, wool this time, from Vermont -

O-Wool Classic - 12 colors

O-Wool Classic 2-Ply - 10 colors

O-Wool Classic Balance - 14 colors

O-Wool Legacy DK - 12 colors

The rep. that was here yesterday - a thoroughly wonderful lady who works for Skacel, Frog Tree, and Sheep Shop, among others - told me that a little bit of novelty yarn is making a comeback.  New types of novelty yarns, but novelty yarns nonetheless.  I found that surprising.  Not that I doubted her in the least, and I know that here, where I live, we are about 2 years behind the newest trends (and as a lifelong Valley resident I say that in the kindest but most realistic way) so we won't see it here for a while yet.  And I'm not sure that it would be true to the spirit of my shop to carry novelty yarns.  We'll see what the future holds.

It makes food for thought.

Dream In Color and J. Knits

Here's some more to put on the ordered list -

Dream In Color Classy (worsted) - 20 colors

Dream In Color Smooshy (sock) - 25 colors

Dream In Color Baby (lace) - 20 colors

J.Knits Superwash Me Sock - 10 colors

J.Knits Stunning - 10 colors

J.Knits Lace-a-licious - 10 colors

J.Knits Our Best Roving - 10 colors

The Manos del Uruguay order arrived yesterday.  I love their Wool Clasica, but the Silk Blend!  Oh my!!  It's gonna be hard to let those suckers go! The colors are just gorgeous!

There's a rep visiting on Tues. who represents Frog Tree, Skacel, Sheep Shop, Colinette, DellaQ and Noni, all in which I am interested.  Plymouth is sending me their sample book and letting me order on my own, which is just fine with me.  I'm still waiting to hear from Rowan.  They were to contact me to get the info. to send me their sample book.  they've had my application for weeks already.  I don't know what is the hold-up, I've even contacted the rep. again to have her look into it.  I'm waiting to hear from the Brown Sheep rep.  I spoke to JCA yesterday, mostly about Reynolds although I think they distribute some other stuff I might want.  Louet is supposed to have a rep. contact me.  And so on, and so on, and so on.

I wrote up the consignment agreement for the local artisans who will be supplying me with local yarn, roving, bags, needle holders, and other handmade goodies.  I've sent it out to a friend who will review it for me and see what she thinks.

Blue Sky Alpacas wanted a picture of the shop for their files before they consider my application complete.  I explained to them that I'm not in the shop yet, it's not mine until May 1st, but they said that's OK, they just need a picture.  So I thought I'd show you here the pictures I took - from the outside, of course, because I can't get in yet, so the pictures of the interior are not very clear because they were taken through the front plate glass window.  And the front looks kinda crappy because there's that big ugly black place above the window and door where the sign will go.  But I love the tile below the window and on the doorstep -

 

 

 

You can see the previous tenant still has some stuff in there to get out.  But with a bit of paint, inside and out - especially on the door, sheesh, what a color! - I think it will be just great.  I think.  Too late now, anyway, I signed the lease.  It will be fine.  I think. 

Manos and Malabrigo

Ordering had been put aside temporarily while I checked the goodly-sized orders that I have already received from Cascade and Classic Elite, and while I started setting up the store's computer system, which I am determined to do on my own.  I figure if I set it up myself, and load all the software myself, and add each peripheral myself, that I should be able to understand it.  In theory. We'll see how long that lasts before I get myself into deep trouble.  I still have the receipt printer and the credit card reader to go.  Plenty of time left to screw it up.

Anyway, I have nearly completed checking the Cascade and Classic Elite orders, and have entered them into the inventory system on the Point-of-Sale software I bought.  So far, so good.  I set up the thermal label printer and designed and printed price tags with bar codes for each skein/hank/ball.  Again, so far, so good.  The bar code reader was added to the system and, lo and behold, it can read the bar codes I have on the labels.  Yay!!  So, to this point, I have something in the neighborhood of 2000 skeins/hanks/balls of yarn completely ready to go on the shelves.

Now, if I only had shelves.  Or a store.  But that is coming up quickly.  Next Friday is May 1, the day I get the space and start to turn it into a store. 

The Blue Sky Alpacas order has been confirmed and will be sent directly to the store after May 1.  The Blue Heron order I have not heard about since I ordered it and got the confirming e-mail, but it's a small hand-dye company and I'm sure it will be here sooner or later.  ETA - I just checked and Blue Heron has charged my credit card, so I guess the order will be here soon.

So - time to order more yarn!  And I did!  I ordered Manos del Uruguay and Malabrigo, as follows -

Manos Wool Clasica in 12 semi-solid colors

Manos Silk Blend in 11 semi-solid colors

Manos Silk Blend in 9 space-dyed colors

Malabrigo Worsted in 20 colorways

Malabrigo Lace in 10 colorways

Malabrigo Silky Merino in 12 colorways

Malabrigo Sock in 15 colorways

While I love all the above yarns beyond belief, the Manos Silk Blend and the Malabrigo Silky Merino are to die for!!!  Gorgeous colors in gorgeous yarns!  The yarn rep. for Manos left me a skein of Silk Blend and I crocheted a simple ripple neckwarmer from   it -

 

The picture really doesn't do it justice.  The pattern will be available for free in the shop.

Time to go pay my credit card bill so I can get back to ordering!