Once again we come to the Holiday Season . . .

Business has really jumped this month. With the economy the way it is, people tend to stay home. Instead if spending $3000 for a Christmas cruise, the plan is cancelled, but $300 for a nice purchase of yarn is much more in the budget. So as a treat to sacrificing that big trip or jewelry, crocheters and knitters award themselves with some nice yarn.

With the increase in outgoing shipments, incoming shipments also increase. This week Lorna's Laces and Cascade both arrived on the same day, as well as a case of swifts. Is this a mess or what?? But this is what I want. Who does not want a successful business??

Cascade is introducing 2 new yarns. Eco Alpaca and Alpaca Lace. I will be getting those in, but more on those in another post. Need to get the web page created for them. Alpaca is my favorite yarn! Even more so than Cashmere!

Cascade also has about 20 new colors in Fixation. I have the color cards now up online, and the order scripts on the Fixation page. The new colors will be in stock in approx 10 days.

Janene is working today, a Saturday. Janene pulls all the orders, I check and Janene boxes. She also checks in stock and keeps the store looking neat. She tells me she is ready for me to start checking, so if I want to get your orders out today, I better get going! Have a great weekend!

November Winner of drawing!

Becky is the winner of the name in the hat drawing. Congratulations!!! http://beckygtstyl.blogspot.com/
Becky, I will be emailing you asking what you'd like. You have your choice of 2 hanks of Shepherd Sock, Shepherd Sport, Shepherd Worsted or Shepherd Bulky in any color you like.

Exciting news for this small shop! Last week I was mentioned in the last paragraph of Knitter's Review weekly newsletter as the place to go for lace patterns. As a small business, you can imagine it is a real struggle to do advertising. And advertising is a hit and miss thing. I did a TV commercial a number of years back. It was so expensive for me. Nothing . . . nada. . . . . talk about dissappointed. So I pick and choose ever so carefully these days. The best advertising is word of mouth. So when Yarn Store was mentioned I was thrilled. Sales spiked on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Even today, Monday, is good. That always is a good feeling. Owning your own business is very hard work. Sometimes I envy those who climb into their cars at 5pm leaving the business worries behind! But would I change it? Nope. I feel the work load is worth it. I love my job. It is just a nice feeling when sales are good!

The hot item each fall is the Googleheim's Christmas Stocking kits. I sell hundreds of these each year, mostly in the fall. Normally I have it shipped to me via UPS. It saves me considerable expense. But in the fall, these are shipped to me via Priority Mail. I never know what kit will catch the customers' eyes and often I will be out of stock. To get them into stock and back out to you, I have the designer switch to priority mail. This last shipment made it to me in record time!! This is only a few in the line. We have tons more in the racks!

The weekend was quite busy at the home front. 3 of our 6 children came down. Along with their spouses and friends and unusally beautiful weather we had quite a little party Saturday. Starting with lunch outside at the local restaurant, continuing with opening up the garage and letting the sun shine in while we played pool and BBQ'd, ending with a quiet nice watching movies in the media room. Can't get any nicer then that!

As a final note, the Thanksgiving Holiday closure will be Wednesday through Sunda, (Nov 26-30). We are flying down to my daughter's in Carlsbad. This is the daughter who has the 15yr old knitter I brag about each summer! I'm sooooo excited!!! Web site will be open, of course. Limited email communication. Shipping will commence Monday morning after the holiday!

Talk to you again soon!!

Chocolate, men, coffee - some things are better rich.

Just a quick note before I head out for the day. Meeting this morning of our Fiber Arts Guild and then this afternoon meeting with friends.

But don't forget the drawing is still going on. I will pull a name on November 15th for your choice of 2 hanks of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, Shepherd Sport, Shepherd Worsted or Shepherd Bulky!! Such a deal!! Names put in the jar will be from those readers who send me a comment!

On my needles I am working on these little Santa Pouch Ornaments. The inspiration came from a crochet pattern of a small purse. I looked at the picture and redesigned it to ornament size and knitted. These are fund raiser ornaments for our local guild. Takes about 4-5 hours per ornament, so I only get about 4-5 done!!

Brought in a few more new patterns from Figheadh Yarns. I really like Jennifer's style.

Last weekend hubby and I went to Portland (Oregon) to look at condos. I'd really like to have a small place there. 3.5 of our 6 chidren live in that area. While they do come and visit the coast alot (they love the sand dunes, lake and the beach), there are times I'd like to get out. Found one we loved, loved the area, but the numbers are not making my CPA husband too excited. He says it is a scary risk, and I can certainly see that. So is all of life! But, if the money just does not exist for the monthly payment, well--I understand, but I am sad! This pic is a condo building called The Edge (upper right hand corner). The neighborhood is quite nice, loved the stores and coffee ships. It is right off the 405, but the noise is about the same as if you lived on the beach. I mean, have you really thought about the roar of the ocean 24-7?

The weekend was awesome! It was Cody's birthday. He's 24. Whitney (23) spent all of Saturday looking thru condos with us. Now that was fun! She took lots of pictures.

More later, gotta go!!