The Land of Wool and Honey

Birthday Reading, Eating and Knitting

A long coveted gift--to myself.  (Go.  Buy this book from your nearest independent retailer.  Reading it alone will change your life.  I can only imagine what hiking the PCT would do.)

Shrimp + black beans + quinoa + pomegranate seeds + cilantro = one heck of a superfood salad.  Even grown up girls enjoy birthday sleepovers with friends that include cupcakes, pajamas and a variation on the classic Pin the Tail.  True story.

And of course, I spent a good portion of the weekend knitting my latest project, Ishbel by Ysolda.

Pretty much perfect.

Dotty

In the years before I bought the shop (back when it was Inish Knits), I knit.  A lot.  Hard to believe, I know, but I actually knit more when I worked for someone else--when my livelihood didn't revolve around sticks and string.  The type of work I used to do was fine, even great sometimes.  Listening to Radiohead at truly epic levels while wearing ripped jeans and latte-stained hoodies, roasting 500 pounds of coffee a day isn't a horrible way to carve out a living, especially when you're making $15 an hour.  I was in great shape, the work was easy (albeit mindless) and the coffee flowed like free, caffeinated water.  What's not to like? 

You know that old saying about an English degree gone to waste?  (Okay, so there isn't really an official saying.  But there should be.)  Well, with all that simple task mastering, you spend lots of your time busying your unquiet mind.  Weeks worth of menus are planned months ahead of time, unspoken conversations are staged, your next seventeen knitting projects get planned--you know the thing.  And because you've spent so much time working out all the mathematical/design kinks in your head, when it's time to actually sit down to knit, well.  Those needles are smokin'.   

I used to knit so much, in fact, that I was almost (almost) considered a production knitter.  If you didn't already know this about me (ha), I rather like knitting the same pattern over and over (and over) again. Knitting isn't always about the chase the challenge--I'm big on repetitive motion.  It's probably my favorite part about it.  That the same motion, done ten thousand times over, creates one long, continuous wearable fabric.   How's that for Zen?

One of my signature projects, knit sixty three times if I knit it once, was the ubiquitous clutch purse.  This week, I felt a little nostalgic.  Not only am I headed over to Leelanau Coffee Roasting tomorrow to do a bit of holiday packaging, but I decided it was time to share the pattern.

Pattern: The Dotty Clutch--Week Number Ten's project.  (Ten!)

Started: Thursday, December 1st, 2011

Finished: Friday, December 2nd, 2011

Yarn: Shepherd's Wool worsted weight in Granite (one skein) and oddments of Peace Fleece roving in Antarctic White, Shaba Green, Volsippi Blue, Baltic Blue and Blue Jay.

Needles: US 8 16" circular.

I've knit this clutch for friends, co-workers' wives, sisters, holiday craft shows--I even worked up a variation for each of my seven bridesmaids.  Somehow, no matter how many times I've knit it, I'm supremely pleased with the end result. 

I hope you'll find this little project as satisfying as I do. 

Wordless Wednesday: Double Rainbow Edition

Nautical

 

 

Trying to beat the heat with deep, cool blue and crisp, bright white--knitting imitatating life. 

Here's to the second half of summer!

Today

 

I enjoyed the morning sunlight streaming in on (one of) my favorite summer bouquets.

 

followed by a post-workout swim in the Big Water,

 

then I took out some scraggly stitches on the letter K,

(oh, had I not mentioned my crewelwork sampler?  Um, awesome.)

 

drank three times the daily recommended allowance for fluid intake,

 

and while trying to stay cool today at the shop, I rocked out to a collection of tunes I've been enjoying for several weeks.  I thought you should, too--enjoy!

A Plucky Visit

Primo fingering in Pickwick Club--a super sweet gift from Sarah!

The Saturday before last, just as I was wrapping up things at the shop for the week, I was treated to a surprise visit from a very famous knitter--one that I've been waiting to meet for a long time: Sarah, the Plucky Knitter!

(Go!  Check out her site, her Flickr set, join the Rav group...I'll wait!)

One of the reasons I've been so looking forward to meeting Sarah isn't the fact that she's a Michigan fiber artist, nor that she's a rockstar in the knitting world, nor the fact that she is so.  Dang.  Cute.  (Of course, she is all of those things, too.)

No, I've been extra excited to chat with Sarah, because we needed to start fleshing out the details of a Plucky Trunk Show at Wool & Honey on Saturday, May 28th from 5-9 p.m.

It's okay.  Take a second to let it sink in.

A Plucky Trunk Show.  At Wool & Honey.  May 28th from 5-9 p.m.  (More details to come.)

For realz. 

Mark your calendar now, people--this is a night you just cannot miss.  It will truly be worth a road trip.  (Kim, I'm talking to you!  And you, Lori!  And you, Liesl!  And....)

Orange You Glad

Spent the bulk of today taking photos of yarn (in the sun! yay!) for the new website.  I'm really starting to feel comfortable with the new software, and dare I say it?  I'm making serious progress.

Just a few of the local lovelies that help to make the shop so unique--soon to be shared with the world:

 

(Elizabeth's Designs.  Traverse City, MI.)

 

(Animal Tracks Farm.  Maple City, MI.)

 

(Frivolity Fibers by Nel.  Cedar, MI.)

Soon, friends!  Soon!

Going Special

Owning a yarn shop is (surprise, surprise!) one of the most delightful jobs a person can have.  While sure, there's a lot to it, (no, I don't knit all day!) there's also a fair bit of magic around every corner.  Probably the most enjoyable part of my job is hand-selecting--from over six hundred amazing yarn companies--which yarns to carry and which might not make the cut.

One of the hardest parts of the job is explaining to customers how you make your choices.  (And gently bringing them down from the ledge when you have to tell them that even though their favorite yarn of all time--the one that's purple and gold and sparkles all over--just might not sell very well in downtown Cedar.)

Over the years, tastes change.  Ideas and trends do, too. 

The hot color for fall 2009 was mustard yellow, turquoise was 2010's signature shade and as we're just starting in on 2011, they say a beautiful shade of pink--honeysuckle, to be exact--is the one to watch.  And even if pink's not really my signature color, you bet I'll have a few shades of it on the shelves.  You sell what's popular, right?    

My ideas and tastes have changed a lot over the past five years and so have my goals.  Buying an established business a month after your 25th birthday is sort of an odd thing.  You think you know what you're doing, what's going to happen, but just like with everything else in life, you don't.  And if hindsight were 20/20.....Holy.  Mother. 

Ahem.  Anyhoo.

In 2008, the best-selling yarn at the shop was the Debbie Bliss brand.  Bar none.  And for a variety of reasons.  These yarns were new and fresh--Wool & Honey (or, Inish Knits at the time,) had never stocked her yarns before.  We had so much to choose from--almost every one of her yarns, in fact--I doubt any one yarn shop in Michigan was stocking quite so much DB.  The color palette is gorgeous, the fibers are soft and luxurious, almost every yarn is machine washable...et cetera, et cetera. 

So, two and a half years later, why discontinue a yarn company that had been so popular?  Why mess with a good thing?

Debbie Bliss, along with the other "staple" yarn brands at almost every Local Yarn Shop across the U.S., is, well, available at almost every other yarn shop across the U.S.  And everywhere you look online.  I don't mind having a little crossover product, either with the slew of yarn shops in Northern Michigan or with the interwebs.  I mean, it's bound to happen.  If you know something is popular, why wouldn't you want to stock it?  Popular products almost sell themselves.  Stick Debbie Bliss on the shelf and you're almost guaranteed a sale--because of brand recognition alone.  (Why do you think you can now find Burt's Bees on the shelves of every RiteAid, Meijer and Target nationwide?  Because it sells.  Everybody knows Burt's Bees.  And also because Clorox bought the company in 2007.  Whoops.)

But. 

I never set out to create a cookie-cutter yarn shop.  I don't want to carry what everyone else does and guess what? I've found that after doing this for almost five years (!), customers don't, either.  They want choices.  Most of the shop's customers are pretty familiar with what's going on in the knitting world, or at least the rest of the Midwest, because they don't live here all the time.  They have a home (or favorite cottage rental) in Northern Michigan--they might even live here half of the year--but they call somewhere else, typically someplace a lot more metro--Detroit, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Chicago, Grand Rapids--home.  They already have an LYS (Local Yarn Shop) at home and chances are, not only is it a good one, but they probably stock Debbie Bliss, too (as well as Noro, Louisa Harding, Mirasol, Araucania, Sublime and Sirdar, among many others.)     

When these customers come to their second home (or their yearly/monthly vacation spot), they like to see what's new here.  Different yarns.  Local yarns.  Unique gifts and accoutrements.  Things they can't find anywhere else, or at least things they can't find at home.   They know that they can buy Baby Cashmerino at their other LYS, but they're here, they want something special.  Something with a story. 

However.  Special does not have to mean 80-dollar-a-skein handpainted cashmere.  (Although it totally could!)  Special does not equal outrageous prices.  Special might just mean a skein of alpaca with a picture of Max, the little critter that grew the yarn, on the tag.  Special means wools that are sourced mostly from the United States, from farmers that actually get paid for their products.  Special means companies consisting solely of a homemaking mother, a kitchen sink and lots of late nights after the baby goes to bed.

The goal here isn't to try to Change The World with special yarns that have a special story.  Let's be real here.  It's just one person's vision.  I'm not even saying it's the right vision.  It's just mine. 

But if I'm going to do something with my time, my money--my life--and I've only just got this one, I figure it had better be pretty special.

The Little Things

I'm spending the month of December doing two things that I've been trying (for months!) to carve out a bit more time for.  You know what they say.  The time has come.  The time is now. 

1.  Blog.   Several times a week.

Day one--check.

2.  Stop paperwork/cleaning/taskmastering at 4 p.m.  Knit. 

This is particularly difficult for me.  Here I am--while there's a mountain of recycling at the back door, a stack of stained teacups in the sink, a pile of papers to file--knitting.  But it's a part of my job and if I don't start making an effort to knit more samples, they'll never get done.  And there are so many to make!  Hundreds, even!

I'm a little behind today, but I'm trying:

Daphne & Delilah, one of the newest patterns in the shop!  Squee!  It just arrived today, along with Penelope and Frances (Rav link--sorry!).  After about an hour of laboring over color choices, I finally decided on Malabrigo Worsted (natch) in 37 Lettuce and 62 Marine--Papa and Baby Monster.  

Here's to a month of celebrating the little things--a cup of hot tea, a Rachmaninoff sonata on the local radio station and a tiny knitted monster that fits in another monster's pocket.

Ten on Tuesday

10 Things to Do Before the End of Summer

1.  Get spinning.  

 

I've got two and a half months before a major trunk show at the shop and I've got a mere seven skeins spun.  Somehow, I didn't squeeze nearly the wheel time in that I needed to in August.

2.  Take a bottle of wine down to Good Harbor.  Just three miles away, our favorite Lake Michigan beach spot is also our favorite date spot.

3.  Hang my sheets out on the line a few more times. 

4.  Paint my toenails a really harlot-y red.

5.  Tidy up the construction site. 

 

A new-ish porch, new windows and after this weekend, starting in on new siding.  Related news coming soon. 

6.  Take a jump in the Big Water one last time.

7.  Finish up a few shop samples that have been lingering on the needles a little longer than necessary.  (Let's be honest--it's fall, people!)

8.  Make a few more gallons of sun tea, my constant summertime companion.

9.  Pick up one more sixer of Oberon, my other summertime sidekick.

10.  Hand wash all my wool sweaters, because baby, it's go time.

Thanks again, Carole!