For The Labor Day Weekend Show.  Okay – sorry – carried away.  We’re not quite going to San Fran and it’s nowhere near Labor Day but as we work our way through the final punishing weeks of winter here, I can’t help but channel some Jimmy Buffet.  Thanks for indulging me 🙂

Truthfully, we are heading close to San Francisco and we do have a weekend show – Stitches WEST in Santa Clara! I have to admit as I prep to leave tomorrow, I am still a bit in denial that it’s actually here.  I think I’m a bit out of sorts because I should already be there, but “Mommy Duties” trump everything else and as our kids wind down to their version of spring vacation, it’s a jam packed week of performances and such.  I’ll share today’s event at the end – I know you all just want the yarn!

Let’s start from the beginning, which is planning:

Then it’s pick, pack and ship – one gigantic order:

Hmm – what is in those boxes?  I am not being entirely untruthful when I ask the question.  I’m involved in most of the planning, but honestly, Steve & I debate so many of the closeouts back and forth I’m never quite clear what has made the list vs. what hasn’t until we get set-up!  What I do know is this:

Berroco Spring ’09 – the best of the best – the yarns, the garments, NGV4. . . .there’s nothing else to say.  The amazing Miss Andra will be manning her section of the booth.

Noro – how could we leave the lovelies of Noro at home??  Just not possible.  Silk Garden, Kureyon, Silk Garden Chunky (breathe Noro-lovers, breathe)

Valley Yarns – there in full force, including all of the faboo designs from the Spring ’09 catalog AND some early completions for the next catalog!  That’s right – the incredible Kirsten knocked out a couple of new things just for WEST including a crocheted scarf out of Rainbow that you will just love!  C’mon non-crocheters, give it a chance! 

The cream, sprinkles and cherry on the top of the best dessert ever:

Lorna’s Laces – Shephard Worsted & Sock, Helen’s Lace (we don’t even carry it in the shop!) and brand new to market the spectacular Pearl.  Oh.Yeah.

Madeline Tosh – Oh so yummy – worsted weight (just added in the store and on-line) and sock.  (The worsted just came in and has not made it’s way to the site.  Click on the link and refresh tomorrow – it should show up )

Dream.In.Color.Smooshy.Classy. 

Malabrigo including the elusive Sock.  We spent so much time picking colors with Tobias at TNNA based on his availability (not what we normally carry) and what showed up was – well – a ton of yarn in some colorways we carry, some we picked and some who obviously just wanted to come along for the ride.  Show them some love, okay?

Kauni – Many, many colors.

Plus, plus, plus. . . . . .I’m sure there will be some surprises.  That’s what is so great about these shows. 

We are so excited to see all of you – that’s the most fun!  What was interesting as we prepped for this show was the worry/wonder if people would come due to the economy – would you pick classes over marketplace, shopping over classes?  If you are coming or not, I’d love to hear why.  Not trying to pry, just trying to get a gauge (no pun intended) on things.

I will do my best to post from the show.  For the best updates, you all need to be following me on Twitter.  I know, I know, one more thing to check, but I *heart* Twitter and I can zip off an update in 5 seconds.  For those of you on Facebook, my Twitter feeds post there so you can avoid Twitter and find me on Facebook with the same info. 

For those of you not attending the show – have a great next few days and join in the fun via the above options,  here on the blog & our Ready, Set, Knit! Podcast!

Last, but far from least, here is Jonathan’s “Family Story” he presented today – the dedication says it all:

 Daniel is my nephew/Jonathan’s cousin who is all grown-up and pursuing a PhD.  He’s away at school and Jonathan doesn’t get to see him much – this tells us how much those times together mean.  The three page story about Daniel and what Jonathan thinks of him is awesome.

Kathy

As the holidays came and went with the sale taking center stage at the store, there were other happenings going on all around us and not just minor ones.

There was the arrival of SOME of the Kauni yarn. I must emphasize the “SOME” part of that statement. Not everything we ordered initially was ready to ship and what did ship was far from consistent in terms of put-up. We received balls, hanks and cones, all of varying weight. Steve has spent quite a bit of time shaking his head at me.

Even the box arrived looking pretty tattered.

We’ve shipped what we could so far and have a fair amount of winding and combining to do, plus we are still waiting for several other colors from both our initial order to arrive and from the second order we placed. Please have patience – we’ll get everything out, just know this has not been the easiest undertaking.

Over the past few months we’ve been working on two projects. The first of which has achieved a few milestones that I’d like to share.

For those of you who are local, you know that the building we are in used to house 3 separate businesses. As each one moved on, we acquired the space until the entire building was all us. The amount of space was great, but the layout of it was nothing short of a mess. We had our “Hallway of Death” which connected warehouse 2 and warehouse 3, was icky and had flickering lights. We used the space in these warehouses terribly inefficiently to boot. Plus, the back of the house operations (shipping, receiving, customer service, admin and our offices) were becoming a bit crowded. The shipping dept had a staff of 2 when Steve and I started. Today we have 8 plus a manager – all squeezed into the same space. Again – not very efficient. Starting to see a trend? In early 2007, Steve and I decided something had to change. Was it time to move? Separate the retail store operations from the on-line operations? Renovate? Well, renovate was the final decision after months of analysis, sleepless nights and dart throwing.

Warehouse 2 and 3 are now connected into one beautiful space (as warehouses go) and are fully racked the way a warehouse should be. We have created a brand new space for shipping that not only will fit our current staff but has room for growth. Customer Service has a beautiful new space:

What I missed photographing was the moving of the cubicles, piece by piece, through the store, during the sale. Literally, I’m not sure anyone even gave it a second thought given the circus environment that was already happening.

Renovations will continue. Here is where Customer Service used to be:

Through the doorway is our office. The wall will come down and Steve and I will have a much larger space with two major improvements. (1) The outer walls will be insulated so I won’t freeze to death anymore and (2) we’re getting our office carpeted. Now I know that doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, but it is to me.

What this all means to you is that we will be better, faster and more efficient when picking, packing and shipping your orders. We’re pretty good now and we truly appreciate all of the lovely emails we receive each day, but there’s always room for improvement.

Oh, and the Hallway of Death? G.O.N.E. We built a connecting hallway between shipping, the warehouses and the new knitting yarn stockroom that we have aptly named the Hallway of Life.

Getting back to yarn and such, I was walking through the store during the holidays and this lovely sample popped out of nowhere:

It’s the Henley Perfected from Interweave Knits Winter ’07 issue. Knit in Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca Silk, it is simply yummy. Even Jackson commented on it, saying how soft the yarn was and how perfect it would be for a charity scarf project we are working on. The boy has good taste.

For those of you who listen to the podcast or I guess especially for those of you who don’t, our next KAL will be starting in two weeks. This time, we’ve selected Brooklyn Tweed’s Hemlock Ring Throw. There has been a ton of buzz about this project and it fullfills two different goals for the year – lace knitting and “current/hot” projects”. Now there is no arguing that this is not lace knitting in it’s purest form, but it’s a first step for those who have yet to jump into the pool. Secondly, no worries that every project we tackle will have to fit into the “current favorite”.

Other things Pixie and I plan to tackle are colorwork, mittens, another Elizabeth Zimmermann project, crochet, just to name a few. If you have suggestions, please email me at readysetknit@yarn.com. That’s how we decided on the Hemlock Ring!

Oh and remember just yesterday how I said I’d be trying to work on one new and one old project and that I had both already queued up for my trip to California? Well, my yarn-ADD kicked in as I innocently waited to use the ladies room today. There, sitting on the shelf where it’s probably been for awhile, one I’ve probably seen numerous times, was a yarn. Today my friends, the yarn spoke to me.

It’s a Gedifra closeout called Tiago, 50% silk/50% viscose. It supposedly knits at 3.75 stitches on a #10 or #10.5, but I’m skeptical. Each 50gm ball has 93ish yards and it has a lovely, natural look to it thanks to the way the silk dyes and the colors are softed and muted.

As I returned to my office, I passed by Steve and said “this Gedifra closeout is REALLY nice”. He just smiled that “well I don’t intentionally buy UGLY closeouts” and then said “yes, it is a really nice yarn”. One bag of color 6867 is sitting here just waiting for me to stop typing! I’m thinking crochet rather than knit, but we’ll see.

It’s going to be a long yarn-filled year I think.

Kathy