Driving in my car...

First, I want to say that it is very exciting to see that we have at least one person following our blog! Glad you found it and we will be sure to ask you any technical queries that come up! Next, I don't know what we were thinking doing this blog thing…if we don't have time to knit, how do we have time to blog???? But anyway --this past weekend we (Jordana, Jeff, Max & Zoe) went up to Stratton, VT. I was very excited to have four hours of driving time – which in my fantasy world equated to four hours of knitting time. I was all set to start a new blanket for Max, which he requested since his baby blanket that I made him is too small. I picked out some nice navy Tiramisu yarn, http://www.theyarnco.com/brand_display/335, which I planned to double on a #15 needle and garter for 56 inches-- then put a grey and red border on later. Perfect car knitting! Perfect that is if you actually get to knit in the car. We picked Max up from school at around 3pm, right after Zoe's nap. I popped a Dora DVD in and thought we were good to go. Zoe, however, while she loves Dora, hates the car. And she began moaning and crying virtually immediately. Max then began whining that he couldn't hear – and that he didn't want to put headphones on so that he could hear. So, needless to say, peaceful knitting was out of the question. I then climbed into the back and tried to soothe Zoe with some crackers and other snack foods. After about an hour and a half, as she was demanding more crackers and I was looking for them, she decided it would be a good time to vomit. And so the drive went…we then watched a Goodnight Gorilla DVD about a hundred times (which Max was a pretty good sport about) until we finally got to the pizza place in Lebanon NY where we were supposed to meet our friends – who it turned out were still about twenty minutes behind us because the had a yacker in their car too. So, we sat down at the pizza place and ordered. Max then announced that he was not going to eat until his friend Isa got there – to which I very nicely replied that I did not care if he ever ate again. But Isa did come and Max did eat and the rest of the drive up to Stratton was fairly peaceful with two sleeping children. So I knit for maybe 45 minutes. Then, both woke up as soon as we stopped the car when we arrived at Stratton. Max went right back to sleep but Zoe was up until almost one and would not let me take my hand off her all night – much less actually put her in the pack and play. The rest of the weekend was great though– Max went to ski school. He skied down a black diamond (he is 5) – and I knit a bit while Zoe napped and then skied on Sunday. Both children slept almost the entire ride home and transferred successfully. I didn't get much of the blanket done – but I did get a new knitting project to do since Max lost his hat that I just made him. And – I'll probably get to make the hat today as I stand on line for two hours outside his school so I can sign him up for the after-school activities he wants to take! (That is trying to put a positive spin on things).

Since our venture to Secaucus, not too much has happened. We did get a nice new yarn in called Cotanani. It is a blend of pima cotton and merino wool and it comes in beautiful colors. I am also trying to get some knitting done. We have a lot of customers who are perfectionists. If they are knitting a striped garment, all the colors have to coordinate just so. If they start a project that they don't like, they stop. Me, on the other hand, once I start a project, I rarely stop. I am lazy and part of the fun of knitting for me is to finish things, so abandoning a project or restarting one is just too upsetting for me. Well, I began knitting a log cabin blanket for a friend's baby (see picture at bottom) and I really did not like the colors. I was close to telling myself it would be fine in the end, but this time I did not take the lazy approach. I chose new colors and re-started and it looks so much better. I also have to get going on knitting 3 scarves for my daughter's Pre-K teachers. I was too busy at holiday time to knit them gifts so they will get Valentine's Day scarves.

We went to AC Moore in Secaucus this morning to do a Yarn Girls' book signing. Julie and I had never been to a giant craft store like that before. While the signing itself was pretty uneventful - we signed maybe 6 books- going to AC Moore was fun. They have a crazy selection of crafting items. Pans in all shapes for baking cakes, lots of fun ribbon, stickers galore, beads, rug hooking and oh so much more. Their yarn selection was not anything to talk about - but it is a place to send people looking for less expensive acrylic yarns. Before we left we did do a little shopping ---Julie bought a ladybug rug hooking kit and a giant pad of paper for her daughter Olivia and I (Jordana) bought some stuff to make my son Max a Pez dispenser display (I saw it in Cookie magazine). Since we weren't to busy signing books, we did get to sit and do a bit of knitting. I am knitting this adorable ruffle skirt out of Cotton Classic for my daughter Zoe. The pattern is from the book Barefoot Knits by Christine Schwender and Paula Heist. It is a great book with such cute patterns for little girls. I actually made one already that was too small for Zoe - so we'll just use it as a sample in the store. I think the authors of the book did not account for the fact that two-year olds wear diapers and that makes their bottoms pretty big. No worries though, it's always good to have a store sample. Hopefully we'll post it on our website soon. And stay tuned here for a picture of Zoe in it once I finish. I think I will make her a matching halter top also. I must say, although Max is fun to knit for and super appreciative -I love having a little girl to knit for!

Our First Blog

The cold rain scared away our customers yesterday afternoon at our store, The Yarn Company. So, Julie decided to try and figure out how to create a blog. This is something that we have been thinking about for a while now, but had no idea how to do. In fact, just several months ago, Jordana didn't even know what a blog was! However, with a little internet research and minimal technical knowledge, Julie has brought us and our store into this new universe. It is funny, when we bought The Yarn Company ten and a half years ago, we were the youngest yarn store owners in the country. Now, we're just two thirty something women (almost forty – egad!) with two kids a piece, who are just trying to keep up with technology in a business that we once thought was all about tactility. We've come to realize, however, that technology and keeping up with it are important even in the realm of yarn and knitting. Our website (www.theyarnco.com) allows us to reach customers who would never have stepped through our doors, from all over the country and even in different countries. It allows our customers to browse our yarns and designs even when we are home playing with our children or out with our husbands. Other "how to" sites make it possible for panicked knitters to find the answers to their questions even when their local yarn store has shut down for the night. And You Tube lets knitters learn new techniques from the videos of fellow knitters. So now we have a blog. Now we can share our excitement over new yarns and new designs with everybody on a daily basis. Now we can let everybody know what's new with the Yarn Girls and the Yarn Company blow by blow. And maybe somebody can help us figure out the answer to our most pressing question of the moment: How do you run a retail business, take care of two young children and a husband, keep your house clean (or at least not dirty) get the laundry done and still have time to knit??? We look forward to blogging. Julie & Jordana