Rowan Order & Needle Exchange
Feast your eyes on what showed up at my house this past Friday. This is our Rowan, Nashua, Bryson, and book order. I couldn't even get all of the boxes in the picture because they go around the corner! It took me from about noon until 9:30 pm to inventory it all. That is even with my sweet friend Jennifer coming over to help for several hours.
One of the things we are doing for the shop is knitting swatches of all of our yarn. I think it will give our customers a better idea of what things look like knit up. They can also sit down and knit a little with the ball that we used for the swatch. Looks like I had better get busy. This picture was taken after I had already sent at least twelve balls of yarn home with Sheryl and Jennifer.
My good friend Catherine is hosting a needle exchange. This is a fun, quick, and less expensive alternative to doing the Secret Pal. Just one package required. Who doesn't love to get stuff in the mail?
1. What do you like to knit or crochet? (socks, sweaters, etc.) I'm mainly a knitter, and have just picked up a little crochet. I enjoy knitting everything, except maybe afghans.
2. What fibers do you like? Natural
3. What type of needles do you use most often? Addis, Lantern Moons
4. Do you like to knit in the round? Yes
5. Do you use a magic loop method or any other we should know about? Are you interested in learning a new method? I'm interested in trying the Magic Loop method.
6. Do you have a favorite place that you shop online? (knitpicks.com, knitpixie.com, jimmybeanswool.com....)? I own my own yarn shop, so that would be traitorous!
7. Do you want to be surprised? Then erase all your answers above and write surprise me!!! A girl always loves surprises.
posted by amylovie @ Monday, February 20, 2006
25 Comments:
I cannot imagine how you ever get anything done with all of that temptation sitting around your house!
If you need swatching help, I'm available!
Are you still a prisoner in your own house waiting for orders to arrive or are you free to move about the world?
Another good piece of advice is what we do at our store. Ever yarn has a big index card tacked to the shelf that looks kind of like this:
Debbi Bliss Cotton Glace'
100% cotton
5sts inch us 5's
102 yds/ 25gms
$5.95
something like that
then everything is organized by weight in the shop and it's easy to read the cards and know what it's all about. Hope that makes sense!
First of all, a giant HOORAY for yarn stores that knit up swatches. It is so incredibly helpful. Second of all, a giant GULP to the prospect of having to actually knit all those swatches! Talk about a daunting task. Good luck!
i gotta say i loved going to your house to finger the yarn! LOVED IT!!!! i am so excited for you and sheryl :) i have been looking online all marning to get something for my needle pal! i might have to be a copycat and get my pal those mango moon needles too!
Oh. My. Word. What a bounty of riches! Wonderful idea swatching up the yarn. I always find that most helpful.
I'm available for swatching. My address is...
I need to get over there soon!!!
I think the swatch idea is brilliant! My LYS has a few yarns swatched,and I LOVE that, seeing it actually knit up, but for the shoppers to be able to sit and actually knit with something and see if they can get gauge, etc.... brilliant!!
Let me know if you want some help with your swatches - I'll be happy to help you!!
Wow, your shop is going to have everything! I love the idea of having swatches. I bet your girls love being surrounded by all that yarn :)
Wow that's alot of boxes...I envy you and don't envy you all at once...I'm so confused... ;o)
I can't even imagine the excitement of having all that yarny goodness in your house! So lovely! Then again, I'm sure it's a LOT of work to inventory everything. I love your swatch idea!! I wish they did that at my LYS; it would be so helpful to know how the yarn actually knit up. I also like your idea of letting customers knit with the leftovers to get a feel for the yarn and hand. So excited for you and Sheryl! (and Catherine! :-) Take care, Amy!
You have such great self-control. I'd be rolling in all the yarn if those boxes showed up at my house!
I think that is such a great idea to knit up swatches of the yarn that you will carry. You're going the extra mile by allowing customers to knit with the leftover yarn.
I'm so excited for you and Sheryl!
Wow! So much temptation! Good luck with all that swatching. It will definitely be helpful to your customers.
I can't believe the amount of drool that came from my mouth when I saw the boxes of yarn in the photo! If you need help making CROCHET SWATCHES I would love to help!!
Hi all...for those who don't know me..I'm a crocheter not really a knitter. But I stumbled across Amy's blog..and I've added most of you to my favorite list. I need to keep up with crochet and knit bloggers!! Because like Amy...I'm planning on opening a yarn store in NJ!!
Oh. My. Gosh. You are in yarny heaven, my dear! We just had a LYS open near us recently, and the owner was telling me how her dining room was wall to wall, floor to ceiling yarn. And it wasn't as great as you'd think it would be, because she couldn't even walk through it! I guess there is such a thing as too much of a good thing...
I'd be happy to help you with knitting those swatches--I can't imagine what would be more fun than playing with all that different yarn! Anyway, I live in Austin, but I'm visiting family in Houston on Sunday and Monday, so let me know if you need the assistance!
oooooh, I am so excited for you!! I'd love to open a knit cafe!!
Are you going to be selling online, too?
How exciting! Our LYS does the little swatch thing. They also have a table with chairs, and on the table are these big blown glass goblets with a smallish ball of a bunch of different yarns with appropriate needles in them...the needles look like cute little swizzle sticks! Customers are welcome to sit and play with the yarns and needles, and it's all very "cocktail party"! Very fun, and clever!
I'm sure you'll have your own fun and clever stuff, but I wanted to share that idea with you!
Wow, that's a lot of boxes. It must be exciting and overwhelming at the same time I am sure. Best wishes to you on your opening. Sure wished I lived close by!
That's a great idea about being able to knit a bit with the some of the swatch yarn! I would never have thought of that!
Smartness! =)``
Wow, that's a lot of yarn! I love the swatch idea!
Hey Amy! I e-mailed Sheryl to see what she thought about joining forces with the Richmond Knitters to do a Local SP. I could organize it and maybe try to start it around the openning of the shop so that we could buy our supplies then...what do you think?
I feel like the woman in the Mervyn's commercials ... *OPEN OPEN OPEN* When will you be opening? Maybe we should do a store opening Podcast on Pointy Sticks? I'm ready to start planning my road trip - I wish your store would be closer to me!
*OPEN OPEN OPEN*
I think it is a VERY GOOD idea to swatch the yarns ... really, knitters would have better idea what they are buying by looking at the swatches. I just hope my LYSs would do the same. But at the same time, I understand that once the business is started, with new yarns keep coming in and all other aspects of the shop to take care of, it seems almost impossible to swatch yarns, except of course if you have a specific person solely responsible for that. But anyway, I wish you and Sheryl all the best with your business venture.
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