Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Shopping time!

We have posted the amounts of incoming inventory on the site now, and also posted private and pre-orders. So, everything is available for purchase now.

Today the tracking report on the re=stocking order shows that the shipment is physically only a two hour drive away from me as I type. Very exciting, but oh, so far, too! Today it is scheduled to go through Customs where they open random boxes in hopes of finding something illegal. I always laugh to think what the Customs officials think of all that white yarn!

If all goes according to my plans ... and why would I say such a thing! ... then the shipment will arrive at the studio door tomorrow, and we will begin to ship on Friday. If it arrives on Friday, though, we will start shipping on Monday.

Thanks, all, for your patience. The wait is part of the process!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

More stock ...

... at the end of the week! Glad to find that our next shipment will actually arrive by the end of the week. With UPS taking the shipment from the mill to my door, on a couple of continents, we have had a few learning episodes. Long story made short, though, is that while there was one fairly substantial glitch in the process which cost us 8 days of waiting, UPS does learn from their mistakes! They have assigned a person to my orders, and even provided me their name! Now, that is a gutsy move on their part, if you ask me.

This time, we are bringing in much larger numbers than before, and have broken delivery into two parts. In another two weeks there will be more, more, more!

Here is what is expected at the end of this week ... skeins, all, except as noted:
Bamboo Two-Step, Butterfly Lace, Cash Sock, Cash DK, Platinum Sock, Sheila's Gold, Sheila's Sock, Silk Sock 50/50, Silk DK 50/50 Tweed (on cones) and W2D4 Merino DK-SW.

Two of these yarns are coming smaller quantities than half of what I ordered, if this makes sense. Platinum Sock and W2D4 Merino DK-SW are just appearing in minimal numbers this week, but arrive in force in two weeks' time, I am happy to report.

The delays and errors that happen along the way are a part of ordering the manufacture of a product from a foreign country where your influence is minimal, and in the day-to-day operations, non-existent. For the most part, my customers have learned to wait a bit, but there are those who continue to try to exact a committed date which can be held as gospel truth. Such things just don't happen in the international manufacturing, shipping, business. Then, there are those who have looked at the site and have not seen the new stock, and figure that they must have missed the shipment entirely! I do not know why they suddenly think I have stopped communicating, or jumped to the conclusion that they missed the re-stocking shipment. Too, I don't know why they didn't write to me two weeks ago to ask about it instead of jumping to conclusions. And, I've never really understood how radio waves work, so there are the mysteries of business and commerce all wrapped up neatly!

Hold on and stay tuned! More yarn is on the way!

Monday, May 10, 2010

The next shipment has moved ...

... but then stalled, so we are doing a little waiting on this one at the early stages. The reason this is important is that I am trying out a new shipper. Well, 'new' in the sense that they have not yet taken over the entire shipment from South America to Virginia yet. We do have to give them the benefit of the doubt, though. The responsibilities for each segment of the trip lie with a different office, and the reason we look forward to a successful trip this time, is because we hope that communication within one company will lessen the chances of things which could go wrong and will.

We shall see! I am rooting for their success. After all, what can I do about it at this point, but wait?