From time to time things change. Seasons, shoe sizes, availability of my favorite brand of potato chip. And what is there to do but change myself, roll with the punches, adapt. There is a life cycle for everything, including business. We live in a world where options and possibilities offer more change that we can sometimes handle, and in order to keep up and not flounder or let our business become stale, we simply must change when the time comes.
In my business, we have to come up with new lines of yarns to meet the demand of our dyers. The knitting world has done a quick catch-up in how it reacts to trends in color and style within the clothing industry, and the immediate interaction afforded by the Internet means that the old laws of supply and demand are constantly running at top speed. The demand is created, in the fiber arts world, by designers who distribute their looks and sell their patterns through Internet outlets. People buy the 'look' of a pattern or sample and try to duplicate it, so a colorway and/or a fiber blend will become popular almost overnight if the original garment is hot enough. It used to be that yarn manufacturers controlled the speed with which trends changed. They brought choices to local yarn shops who picked and chose what they would buy for their shop according to the buying history of their customer base. The Internet has changed this approach and speed of introduction of new choices.
Producing the yarn and getting it to market is not quite as quickly accomplished as the flash of an image around the world. We run three months behind, at a minimum, and six months, to state things realistically. So, we hover at the fringe of top fashion exhibits held in the fashion capitals of Europe to see where designs are headed, and if/where knitting appears on the fashion scene.
Every year we look to the future and plan out how we will produce and bring to market a new yarn or fiber blend or yarn construction. Something new to attract and keep the interest level of our handdyers. And, when a trend hits the knitting world, our dyers want what they want immediately. We scramble and schedule and figure and meet and calculate and do all sorts of things in the background to get the demand met, to balance our lineup of yarns with current trends, tried and true classics, and fading trends.
Achieving balance means that all things cannot be produced at all times, and that we must recognize the time when the lifespan of a yarn is approaching it's end. That is when we make the decision to retire a yarn, and it is a decision not lightly taken. We always know that someone is fully vested in that yarn and that they believe that their market absolutely demands that yarn. Usually, it is with difficulty that we convince those dyers to introduce something new to their own customer base. If they've had success with a yarn going out of production, they sometimes panic and try to convince us that they will fail if we retire a yarn they use.
I firmly believe that all customers at every point along the route will change if change is presented to them -- from our production to the handdyers who turn it into the beautiful finished yarn to the end consumer, the knitter who holds the yarn in their hands and has an idea of how to turn it into a handknit fabric. My customers mostly sell over the Internet, and many are regular vendors at fiber festivals, and some supply their local yarn shops with their handdyed yarns. They often feel that they have a certain expected 'look' which their customers will seek out and which they are comfortable with providing. And, sometimes, they do not want to change what they have to offer possibly because they do not trust that they will achieve current level of sales.
I also firmly believe that the ease of distribution which the Internet offers has made it so easy for anyone to go into business that people jump for the sale without doing their homework. Marketing. It's all about marketing, which is very close to Psychology 101. It is as much about what you have to offer in the moment as it about how you promote your ability to forecast trends, how you keep up with them, how you adapt to change.
About two months ago, in a newsletter to my customers, I announced that we would cease production of five yarns. Oh, my. What an outcry and barrage of eMails with the same message: I cannot change. My customers demand that I stay the same. I must give them what I perceive that they want. So, in an effort to respond to these requests from my own customer base, I decided to produce one more round of most of these yarns, and to bring in one more shipment of each one. My broker, who is one of the top yarn distributors in Europe, offered to supply the fifth yarn to me on a special shipping arrangement. If I could put together enough private orders to fill one box from the folks who had been traumatized by the possibility of losing that one yarn, he would ship them to me with my weekly order of his special yarns, the Bluefaced Leicester British wool. Not once have we been able to fill a box. I've had to take space from my weekly BFL orders to bring in one kilo here and two kilos there, and even that small amount has dwindled down to nothing.
I have one more theory about how the Internet has changed my own business plan, and that is that it is hard to gauge a real demand from a perceived demand. Those customers who say they love that yarn will not be able to find it anywhere else and they may just fall in love with something new that we introduce. I have a tendency to take these complaints seriously, especially when they reach the point of hundreds of eMails. Sometimes I get tired and in my answers I speak too honestly, and sometimes people take offence and write back eMails painting a picture of how my honesty in speaking of the market in general has belittled their sense of individuality. The Internet allows people to say just about anything they want to say to me in an eMail without a single bit of compunction that they may be dramatizing their case.
When I started my business, I wrote a business plan. Every few years I revise that plan to include new ideas, and also to clarify my approach to the dealing with people over the Internet. How I present myself, how much of my personality I reveal, how I use humor, etc. Actually, the use of humor in the written word is a dangerous thing, and something I struggle with. From time to time, I try to diffuse high emotion in my customer by using humor to bring us back to the situation at hand and putting a new focus on dealing with the problem, and it sometimes works. When it does not work, I know that I'm in for yet more of an explanation of how my insensitivity has affected their business. The use of humor is a lesson that is hard to beat out of my personality, because I pretty much see humor in all things. I remember a wonderful Scottish gentleman I met years ago in Texas where we were both working with a school system to set up a bilingual program. He was in his 80's and he travelled around the States writing federal grants for school systems looking for funding. He told story after story of the towns where he had lived for six months here and there, and the bottom line of every single one was this: don't take yourself so seriously!
That's a good lesson. In the context of looking at a line of yarns, it translates, in my mind, as another lesson. Be open to change, look forward and plan, and keep your line fresh. That's what we are doing. I know that some people are slightly dismissive that the world of knitting yarn could actually be fresh, as it still has a reputation of being great-granny's pastime and what is cool about great-granny, after all? I am here to tell you that this is not great-granny's crafty world any longer. The Internet has made shop keepers in the virtual world of the Internt of hundreds of thousands. How they choose to stand out from the rest is up to them. We are the background folk who offer change. It's there for the taking.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Friday, September 30, 2011
Yarn Lessons
I am in the middle of learning new lessons about the importance of matching the right yarn to the right pattern. I don't think I will be spoiling any of my sister's holiday expectations if I talk about their gifts because I don't think any of them know I even have a blog, and one may not know what a blog is. I could be wrong about that, and she might have one of her own that I don't know about.
In early September I decided to begin my holiday knitting with enough time to allow me to change my mind, unravel my work, and generally get sidetracked if that is what it would take for me to actually finish their gifts this year. They are accustomed to getting handcrafted gifts from me, and I do not want to disappoint them. I am not sure that they always appreciate the item or the amount of work which goes into their gifts. One year, for instance, I worked like a demon to produce wrist warmers on my antique circular sock machine. The items themselves were simple; it was the learning process which was time consuming. They only knew of the end result, so they might have been a little underwhelmed when the moment of truth arrived. One even called me up and asked me how to wear them ... well, maybe not expressed in such a blunt manner. After all, we are Southern women and we suggest rather than come out and ask when what we really want to know is 'what on earth are these two tubes of knitting for?' She did, however, suggest to me that they were a little loose and odd to wear, but I just love my own and could not understand what she was talking about.
This year I decided to knit something specifically chosen for each one, and each gift would fall within the same range of difficulty of knitting. I decided to knit three shoulder shawls, all one-skein products. The plan included only yarns from my own line, i.e., Wool2Dye4 yarns. Too, they would be yarns which I hand-dyed myself. These last two qualifications are not difficult as my personal secret stash is impressive. I dye up all of the yarns we sell and they yarns we consider selling.
Two shawls are now complete. I'll post pictures when all three are complete and blocked, but two are knit and bound off the needles. They are a little scrunchy looking now, and this is normal. I know they will grow when the finishing is, well, finished. That is always such an exciting time, the day of blocking, but I really need to be in the right mood to actually get to it. I have a wonderful blocking table set up, all padded and covered with a muslin gridded fabric left over from quilting days. The work area is stocked with blocking wires -- which are the very neatest knitting accessory I have found in years! -- and blunt pins which are sold in the floral arrangement aisle and which are sold in quantities intended for a lifetime supply for at least two persons. So, I'm set up. It is the mood which needs to strike me. The things and stuff are in place. I decided, as I greedily grabbed up wool and pattern for Shawl #2, to finish all three items at one time and to hop on immediately to the next project. I mean, that's the fun part, isn't it? Instant gratification of casting on a new project? Of course it is!
BUT, Shawl #3 turned into a scarf somehow when my eye went to a sport weight superwash merino from years ago, one which I had ordered from a mill as a sample. I had just purchased a pattern online that caught my eye, and I tried to put the pattern and the yarn together into the same project. Those yarn trial samples are not cheap or easy to come by and this fat ball is the last of that lot of yarn, something that made me consider getting a run of this yarn actually made up for the Wool2Dye4 line. The dye job on this yarn is really neat, too, because it is the result of one of those lazy days when your movements are slow and your consideration is long, so the end product is actually deeply layered and interesting. This one started off with two overdyes and ended with eye-dropper applications. Really fun.
That's a fuzzy quick shot of the yarn, and you can see that it has a big bump of unravelled length that will be a mess to knit from, but I am saving this yarn for a future project. Back into Secret Stash it goes, and may possibly emerge as Shawl #3 ... not sure. Actually, I just made that decision as I typed the sentence before this one I'm typing now. I think I won't consign it to an indefinite future, but use it for the third shawl and cast on this afternoon after the orders for the day go out the door. Something wonderful and delicious to look forward to, and Sister #3 gets the Shawl #3. It is decided. This will mean that the rule that all three shawls would be made from W2D4 yarns will be broken, but will it? I bought the trial run and dyed it and it is owned by Wool2Dye4, so I think I will consider it a proprietary yarn, after all.
And, what will I do with the lovely, smooth and luscious Silk Sock 50/50 waiting for become a circular scarf, the same which almost was substituted for Shawl #3? I will make the unique garment for myself ... or make one just for the fun of knitting that pattern and then add the scarf to the Gift Cabinet. This is a good resolution to the problems of the day. My life is simple at this moment.
In early September I decided to begin my holiday knitting with enough time to allow me to change my mind, unravel my work, and generally get sidetracked if that is what it would take for me to actually finish their gifts this year. They are accustomed to getting handcrafted gifts from me, and I do not want to disappoint them. I am not sure that they always appreciate the item or the amount of work which goes into their gifts. One year, for instance, I worked like a demon to produce wrist warmers on my antique circular sock machine. The items themselves were simple; it was the learning process which was time consuming. They only knew of the end result, so they might have been a little underwhelmed when the moment of truth arrived. One even called me up and asked me how to wear them ... well, maybe not expressed in such a blunt manner. After all, we are Southern women and we suggest rather than come out and ask when what we really want to know is 'what on earth are these two tubes of knitting for?' She did, however, suggest to me that they were a little loose and odd to wear, but I just love my own and could not understand what she was talking about.
This year I decided to knit something specifically chosen for each one, and each gift would fall within the same range of difficulty of knitting. I decided to knit three shoulder shawls, all one-skein products. The plan included only yarns from my own line, i.e., Wool2Dye4 yarns. Too, they would be yarns which I hand-dyed myself. These last two qualifications are not difficult as my personal secret stash is impressive. I dye up all of the yarns we sell and they yarns we consider selling.
Two shawls are now complete. I'll post pictures when all three are complete and blocked, but two are knit and bound off the needles. They are a little scrunchy looking now, and this is normal. I know they will grow when the finishing is, well, finished. That is always such an exciting time, the day of blocking, but I really need to be in the right mood to actually get to it. I have a wonderful blocking table set up, all padded and covered with a muslin gridded fabric left over from quilting days. The work area is stocked with blocking wires -- which are the very neatest knitting accessory I have found in years! -- and blunt pins which are sold in the floral arrangement aisle and which are sold in quantities intended for a lifetime supply for at least two persons. So, I'm set up. It is the mood which needs to strike me. The things and stuff are in place. I decided, as I greedily grabbed up wool and pattern for Shawl #2, to finish all three items at one time and to hop on immediately to the next project. I mean, that's the fun part, isn't it? Instant gratification of casting on a new project? Of course it is!
BUT, Shawl #3 turned into a scarf somehow when my eye went to a sport weight superwash merino from years ago, one which I had ordered from a mill as a sample. I had just purchased a pattern online that caught my eye, and I tried to put the pattern and the yarn together into the same project. Those yarn trial samples are not cheap or easy to come by and this fat ball is the last of that lot of yarn, something that made me consider getting a run of this yarn actually made up for the Wool2Dye4 line. The dye job on this yarn is really neat, too, because it is the result of one of those lazy days when your movements are slow and your consideration is long, so the end product is actually deeply layered and interesting. This one started off with two overdyes and ended with eye-dropper applications. Really fun.
And, what will I do with the lovely, smooth and luscious Silk Sock 50/50 waiting for become a circular scarf, the same which almost was substituted for Shawl #3? I will make the unique garment for myself ... or make one just for the fun of knitting that pattern and then add the scarf to the Gift Cabinet. This is a good resolution to the problems of the day. My life is simple at this moment.
Friday, September 16, 2011
New Spam
There is a new form of spam hitting my mailbox lately, and it hits right where it is the scariest, my bank account. This one looks absolutely legit with a message that a recent ACH (automatic clearing house) transaction was denied on my business account. Scary because this is how I pay and receive payment in my business checking account.
The first time I received the message I forwarded it to my bank, who had not yet seen this type of spam before so we were both thinking something was wrong with my account. They searched for like transaction numbers and dates and amounts and found nothing, and came back to me with the spam diagnosis. I deleted the eMail, after first forwarding it to the government agency which purportedly overlooks the spam industry.
Then, for a while, I didn't get a single spam message at all, until this week when the same ACH failure notice has come daily. Today my security program scanned it and alerted me that this eMail has a Downloader function attached to it.
So, here is my message, loud and clear: if you use ACH services and receive an eMail like this, do not open it. Forward the eMail to your bank manager or service rep and tell them to look out for other spam messages like this. Then forward the eMail to: SPAM@uce.gov.
The first time I received the message I forwarded it to my bank, who had not yet seen this type of spam before so we were both thinking something was wrong with my account. They searched for like transaction numbers and dates and amounts and found nothing, and came back to me with the spam diagnosis. I deleted the eMail, after first forwarding it to the government agency which purportedly overlooks the spam industry.
Then, for a while, I didn't get a single spam message at all, until this week when the same ACH failure notice has come daily. Today my security program scanned it and alerted me that this eMail has a Downloader function attached to it.
So, here is my message, loud and clear: if you use ACH services and receive an eMail like this, do not open it. Forward the eMail to your bank manager or service rep and tell them to look out for other spam messages like this. Then forward the eMail to: SPAM@uce.gov.
Wednesday, September 07, 2011
September welcomes back Sheila's Sock ... lots and lots
Instead of our usual multi-yarn monthly stocking, September is a transitional month for us. We have now completed six months' worth of orders which were placed in the springtime, and are about to embark on a new system of re-stocking Wool2Dye4 website inventory. This means that we will begin to hold consistently higher levels of stock, and this begins in early October.
September will be a month to catch up on orders for Sheila's Sock, and to introduce a new yarn ... Sparkle in DK weight with a bit of silk added to it (priced as Sparkle Select lace, as it is the same blend). Too, we welcome to the line a yarn which we introduced in limited quantity a month ago, Single & Fabulous!
We have a major shipment of our most popular yarn, Sheila's Sock, due at the end of the week, and are only waiting on notice from Customs that the shipment has passed through Customs and will be delivered on Thursday or Friday. When we hear, we will send out the newsletter to registered customers and post the new inventory of Sheila's Sock for sale. There will be no private orders taken for Sheila's Sock since there should be nice stock for the next few weeks. In October, even more Sheila's Sock will arrive. So, lots and lots of Sheila's Sock and enough to go around.
September will be a month to catch up on orders for Sheila's Sock, and to introduce a new yarn ... Sparkle in DK weight with a bit of silk added to it (priced as Sparkle Select lace, as it is the same blend). Too, we welcome to the line a yarn which we introduced in limited quantity a month ago, Single & Fabulous!
We have a major shipment of our most popular yarn, Sheila's Sock, due at the end of the week, and are only waiting on notice from Customs that the shipment has passed through Customs and will be delivered on Thursday or Friday. When we hear, we will send out the newsletter to registered customers and post the new inventory of Sheila's Sock for sale. There will be no private orders taken for Sheila's Sock since there should be nice stock for the next few weeks. In October, even more Sheila's Sock will arrive. So, lots and lots of Sheila's Sock and enough to go around.
Tuesday, September 06, 2011
Restocking: October and November 2011
Here are two lists of incoming stocking orders, skeins unless otherwise noted. You will notice that some of the yarns which we have announced as discontinued yarns are coming in one last time. They are marked with an asterisk.
October 2011 arrivals
Bamboo TwoStep* skeins & cones
Cash Sock MCN skeins & cones
Platinum Sock skeins & cones
Sheila's Glitter (goldtoned Stellina)
Sheila's Gold
Sheila's Sock
Sheila's Sparkle (silvertoned Stellina)
Silk Sock 50/50
Cash Aran MCN
Tweed Aran* skeins & cones
Cash DK MCN
Silk DK 50/50
W2D4 Merino DK-SW skeins & cones
W2D4 Merino Worsted-SW skeins & cones
Angel Lace*
Boo Select (a unique purchase of bamboo/merino select weight lace)
Butterfly Select lace
Ultra Select lace
November Incoming Shipment
Cash Sock MCN skeins & Cones
Platinum Sock
Sheila's Gold
Sheila's Sock
Silk Sock 50/50
Sheila's Aran*
Cash DK MCN
W2D4 Merino Worsted
Ultra Select lace
* = last shipment and then will be discontinued
October 2011 arrivals
Bamboo TwoStep* skeins & cones
Cash Sock MCN skeins & cones
Platinum Sock skeins & cones
Sheila's Glitter (goldtoned Stellina)
Sheila's Gold
Sheila's Sock
Sheila's Sparkle (silvertoned Stellina)
Silk Sock 50/50
Cash Aran MCN
Tweed Aran* skeins & cones
Cash DK MCN
Silk DK 50/50
W2D4 Merino DK-SW skeins & cones
W2D4 Merino Worsted-SW skeins & cones
Angel Lace*
Boo Select (a unique purchase of bamboo/merino select weight lace)
Butterfly Select lace
Ultra Select lace
November Incoming Shipment
Cash Sock MCN skeins & Cones
Platinum Sock
Sheila's Gold
Sheila's Sock
Silk Sock 50/50
Sheila's Aran*
Cash DK MCN
W2D4 Merino Worsted
Ultra Select lace
* = last shipment and then will be discontinued
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Step away from the programming language ...
Step away from the programming language ...
I simply should have a padlock on the part of my computer which allows me to tinker with the behind-the-scenes programming features. Every once in a while I get a mad and uncontrollable rush that cannot be stemmed or guided, and nothing will do until I have had my way with the website's background. Simply stated, I think I know more than I actually do about my program.
This time came on one of the busiest days we have had lately. We were preparing for a really big incoming stock shipment, and putting up all available stock on the shelves. Too, we had to prepare at least a hundred receipt packages so they would be ready for order filling on Thursday and Friday. Then, we got in a shipment of a new yarn (which is a secret for now and will be sold in September), and of course, there was the off and on search for any earthquake damage from yesterday. So, all in all, a busy day.
Today appeared to me, for some strange reason, to be the perfect day to rearrange the payment methods that a customer would see on the Wool2Dye4 website. I do these things because I am incapable of learning from experience in certain areas of my work life, and maybe in life in general, come to think of it. So, off I headed to the very serious list of modules which control the important aspects of the website such as payment and shipping, and I decided to start accepting checks. This, in total disregard for previous bad check experiences, but never mind. Today I decided, for about two hours, to accept checks. Then, I noticed that the order that the payment choices were appearing on the website seemed not to be very pretty, and here at Wool2Dye4 we like to make everything pretty. So I rearranged the order of checks/credit cards/PayPal to a pleasing array on the payment page, clicked 'Save and Update' and went back to work with the packers.
About two hours later, in checking my eMail, I got a shock of seeing letter after letter with one common word in the subject line and that was, 'problem.' Nothing, absolutely nothing is less welcome on a busy day than an eMail with the word 'problem' in the header, and this was not one but many eMails screaming about a problem. Oh, No. Quickly, I read various descriptions of the same issue: the website was frozen in place and was accepting no orders at all.
There could only be one reason. I'd been fiddling around in the secret depths of the program and caused this mess myself. But how to fix it? I thought that undoing my changes and restoring the original choices would do the trick, so I undid the choice to accept checks and reordered the payments to the original lists, I thought, ... but, no. So, I tried it again with the same results; however, this time I knew how to take a screen shot (because of my new online class in Adobe Acrobat, no less! See? I am trying to learn how to fix my problems). Quickly I fired off two screen shots to WebGuy with a short and sweet confession of my errors. Then, I called the credit card processor.
The young man at the other end of the line was insistent that there were only three errors which could yield the Error Message Number 13. It had to be thirteen, right? Numbers one and two were not applicable, he said, but I just couldn't believe that choice number 3 was right! That one was that I had changed the log-in name. I had not, or so I thought. I continued to try to bring his attention back to reasons one and two. Eventually, he made a deal with me that if I would just try to reset the log in, and if it didn't work, he would take care of setting everything back to normal by himself. But I had to give his way a try ... and long story made short, of course his suggestion worked. In practice, I had not reset the log-in, but in reality I had inadvertently done just that. That is to say that the program had an automatic reset to the default login of the program, not the card processor's coded login, and that was how the error message came to show on the website.
While I was at the crucial point of understanding what all of this actually meant in plain English, my call waiting feature started to buzz and buzz and buzz. So, we quickly got off the phone, and there was WebGuy to the rescue, hoping he was not too late and that I had not reset the basic code. Luckily, I had not, but it was an opportunity for me to ask him when the new program would be ready.
The new programs are a lot easier to handle for a natural born fiddler like me. There are checkmarks where the changes are immediately shown in example format. I am guessing that some smart programmer came up with that idea to stop people like me from ruining the delicate programming features they work hard to create. At any rate, when I turned eMail on again, there were zip/zip/zip several orders posting one after the other. Two, of course, were my own from the testing, but I didn't care. Orders again. Ahhhh.... that lovely sound of the soft little ping when the order notices come in.
I'll admit to a moment of panic, OK, yes. But, I must say that I had a moment of pride, as well. When I realized that I had a hand in fixing the problem, I was really proud of my day's work.
I simply should have a padlock on the part of my computer which allows me to tinker with the behind-the-scenes programming features. Every once in a while I get a mad and uncontrollable rush that cannot be stemmed or guided, and nothing will do until I have had my way with the website's background. Simply stated, I think I know more than I actually do about my program.
This time came on one of the busiest days we have had lately. We were preparing for a really big incoming stock shipment, and putting up all available stock on the shelves. Too, we had to prepare at least a hundred receipt packages so they would be ready for order filling on Thursday and Friday. Then, we got in a shipment of a new yarn (which is a secret for now and will be sold in September), and of course, there was the off and on search for any earthquake damage from yesterday. So, all in all, a busy day.
Today appeared to me, for some strange reason, to be the perfect day to rearrange the payment methods that a customer would see on the Wool2Dye4 website. I do these things because I am incapable of learning from experience in certain areas of my work life, and maybe in life in general, come to think of it. So, off I headed to the very serious list of modules which control the important aspects of the website such as payment and shipping, and I decided to start accepting checks. This, in total disregard for previous bad check experiences, but never mind. Today I decided, for about two hours, to accept checks. Then, I noticed that the order that the payment choices were appearing on the website seemed not to be very pretty, and here at Wool2Dye4 we like to make everything pretty. So I rearranged the order of checks/credit cards/PayPal to a pleasing array on the payment page, clicked 'Save and Update' and went back to work with the packers.
About two hours later, in checking my eMail, I got a shock of seeing letter after letter with one common word in the subject line and that was, 'problem.' Nothing, absolutely nothing is less welcome on a busy day than an eMail with the word 'problem' in the header, and this was not one but many eMails screaming about a problem. Oh, No. Quickly, I read various descriptions of the same issue: the website was frozen in place and was accepting no orders at all.
There could only be one reason. I'd been fiddling around in the secret depths of the program and caused this mess myself. But how to fix it? I thought that undoing my changes and restoring the original choices would do the trick, so I undid the choice to accept checks and reordered the payments to the original lists, I thought, ... but, no. So, I tried it again with the same results; however, this time I knew how to take a screen shot (because of my new online class in Adobe Acrobat, no less! See? I am trying to learn how to fix my problems). Quickly I fired off two screen shots to WebGuy with a short and sweet confession of my errors. Then, I called the credit card processor.
The young man at the other end of the line was insistent that there were only three errors which could yield the Error Message Number 13. It had to be thirteen, right? Numbers one and two were not applicable, he said, but I just couldn't believe that choice number 3 was right! That one was that I had changed the log-in name. I had not, or so I thought. I continued to try to bring his attention back to reasons one and two. Eventually, he made a deal with me that if I would just try to reset the log in, and if it didn't work, he would take care of setting everything back to normal by himself. But I had to give his way a try ... and long story made short, of course his suggestion worked. In practice, I had not reset the log-in, but in reality I had inadvertently done just that. That is to say that the program had an automatic reset to the default login of the program, not the card processor's coded login, and that was how the error message came to show on the website.
While I was at the crucial point of understanding what all of this actually meant in plain English, my call waiting feature started to buzz and buzz and buzz. So, we quickly got off the phone, and there was WebGuy to the rescue, hoping he was not too late and that I had not reset the basic code. Luckily, I had not, but it was an opportunity for me to ask him when the new program would be ready.
The new programs are a lot easier to handle for a natural born fiddler like me. There are checkmarks where the changes are immediately shown in example format. I am guessing that some smart programmer came up with that idea to stop people like me from ruining the delicate programming features they work hard to create. At any rate, when I turned eMail on again, there were zip/zip/zip several orders posting one after the other. Two, of course, were my own from the testing, but I didn't care. Orders again. Ahhhh.... that lovely sound of the soft little ping when the order notices come in.
I'll admit to a moment of panic, OK, yes. But, I must say that I had a moment of pride, as well. When I realized that I had a hand in fixing the problem, I was really proud of my day's work.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Honeysuckle Patterns
We took the samples of the patterns developed for The Honeysuckle Project to Sock Summit 2011,and we had so many wonderful and positive comments. These ten patterns will be sold on HoneysuckleProject.com and the site will be up and active in the next week, by August 17th. Please check back and after a week or so to see when the site opens up for sale of yarn, patterns, and kits.
Tuesday, August 02, 2011
The Honeysuckle Project at Sock Summit 2011
What a wonderful reception for The Honeysuckle Project, our breast cancer awareness campaign, at Sock Summit! Caught a couple of new designers who want to be added to the project, a major magazine is going to mention THP in the magazine's next editorial. So many breast cancer survivors came by the booth to thank us for getting knitters involved at any level, and I gave skeins of Honeysuckle pink to each one. I heard stories and shared tears and laughter. It was wonderful and moving and made me so very proud.
Pictures from Sock Summit
Our booth 
A closeup of the yarn display ... 
Sharon G and Barb B burst into song! 
Our booth stood out on the marketplace floor! 
Monday, July 25, 2011
Single & Fabulous fabric
Luxury yarns are just that ... made of delicate fibers and requiring extra care. They are not the workhorses of our knitting bag, but are of rare fibers with unique properties. Alpaca, silk, cashmere --- these are three fibers which we are lucky enough to be offering in our current lineup of yarns and they number among some of the most expensive fibers on earth.
Here is the Single & Fabulous yarn after being dyed and dried, and in the process of being knit into a fabric. In this case, a hat which will be lined with the same fiber in a different color before it is finished.
Here is the Single & Fabulous yarn after being dyed and dried, and in the process of being knit into a fabric. In this case, a hat which will be lined with the same fiber in a different color before it is finished.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Single and Fabulous
On Ravelry.com a question was asked about how Single & Fabulous holds up. It is a single, not plied, yarn and many of them on the market are pilling as they wear. I dyed up a skein this morning in a steely light blue, using two of ProChem's acid dyes, Periwinkle Blue and Chocolate Brown, in a watered down pot of warm water. Then I dunked the skein in a clear warm bath and the green from both dyes separated out, leaving a nice toned down blue. Very sky-like on a hot day, which is appropriate for our Virginia summer heat wave.
Alpaca is a slippery fiber, but at only 40% of the blend, the merino (40%) and silk (20%) should hold it in place. The twist of Single & Fabulous is not loose and almost like spinning fiber but has enough to make for a definitely knittable yarn. Here is the skein out of the pot.
Alpaca is a slippery fiber, but at only 40% of the blend, the merino (40%) and silk (20%) should hold it in place. The twist of Single & Fabulous is not loose and almost like spinning fiber but has enough to make for a definitely knittable yarn. Here is the skein out of the pot.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
July Stocking by end of this week
One of my favorite things to do is to announce the estimated arrival of a new shipment; however, since my move in April, the shipping schedule has been sketchy at best. I have gone to war with the importer, and they have checked down the line with every person responsible for any delay along the way from the mountains of South America to the mountains of Virginia. People have been added in offices along the way to watch the progress of the shipment, and a couple of people have been called into someone's private office for a chat about professionalism, it is rumored.
So, now, it is with a little trepidation and a lot of anticipation that I announce the contents of the incoming shipment. If all goes well --and why should it not with so many additional eyes watching over things? -- the shipment is expected to arrive by the end of the week.
I will send copies of private reservations by eMail when we hear that the shipment has passed through Customs, and release the newsletter to registered customers at the same time. Please note that the entire quantity of Sheila's Sock has been exhausted from this shipment; however, a triple amount is coming in about 3 weeks' time. Sheila's Sparkle will be in that next shipment, too. Now, for the list, as promised (skeins, all) ...
Cash Sock MCN
Crazy Eight
Platinum Sock
Sheila's Glitter
Sheila's Gold
Silk DK 50/50
Silk Sock 50/50
Tweed Sock
Ultra Select Laceweight
So, now, it is with a little trepidation and a lot of anticipation that I announce the contents of the incoming shipment. If all goes well --and why should it not with so many additional eyes watching over things? -- the shipment is expected to arrive by the end of the week.
I will send copies of private reservations by eMail when we hear that the shipment has passed through Customs, and release the newsletter to registered customers at the same time. Please note that the entire quantity of Sheila's Sock has been exhausted from this shipment; however, a triple amount is coming in about 3 weeks' time. Sheila's Sparkle will be in that next shipment, too. Now, for the list, as promised (skeins, all) ...
Cash Sock MCN
Crazy Eight
Platinum Sock
Sheila's Glitter
Sheila's Gold
Silk DK 50/50
Silk Sock 50/50
Tweed Sock
Ultra Select Laceweight
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Wool2Dye4 is a Sock Summit sponsor!
Come and meet me in Portland OR at the end of July at Sock Summit 2011!
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Canadian Post is back!
Even though our US Postal Service was more than a week late in instituting the freeze on shipping by any method other than Express, the notice that all services would be restored today, June 28th, was good information. And, somehow, we got many packages sent by International Priority during the Canadian strike. I am in the 'don't ask, don't tell' mode on this one. Today our local postman will be happy again. Seems his idea of a good time is staggering out the door, bumping into the gate, with a running patter the entire time about how we overwork him. He's a lot of fun when he's got a pile of orders to carry, and we like nothing better than to make him very happy.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Canadian Postal Strike causes Problems with US shippers
On Friday, we tried in vain to ship packages to our Canadian customers by US Postal Service (USPS), and were only able to access the Express International service. Today, in response, to my inquiry I have received this slightly intelligible reply:
Following 12 days of increasingly costly and damaging rotating strikes being carried out by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), Canada Post has suspended operations across the country. The accelerating decline in volumes and revenue combined with the inability to deliver mail on a timely and safe basis has left the company with no choice but to make this decision.
Following 12 days of increasingly costly and damaging rotating strikes being carried out by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), Canada Post has suspended operations across the country. The accelerating decline in volumes and revenue combined with the inability to deliver mail on a timely and safe basis has left the company with no choice but to make this decision.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
We have a mystery!
The status of the shipment has changed in the past few moments. The info now tells me that there was an 'airline error' and the shipment is not in Virginia, after all; however, the delivery date still shows it is scheduled to reach Wool2Dye4 by noon tomorrow, Thursday. We will have to wait and see... a mystery! and the Government is involved. Quick, grab a pen and write this down. We could write a book about it!
One Day's Delay ... Not so Bad
Now, the delivery date has been moved to Thursday, June 16th. The shipment has been released by Customs and has arrived in Virginia, so I am fairly confident that we will see it tomorrow by noon.
We have helping hands to get the counting and incoming process done with and will begin to ship a few orders in the afternoon, and lots more all day Friday. I thank my customers for their patience!
Sheila / Wool2Dye4
We have helping hands to get the counting and incoming process done with and will begin to ship a few orders in the afternoon, and lots more all day Friday. I thank my customers for their patience!
Sheila / Wool2Dye4
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
June Re-Stocking Update
I have a tracking link to the incoming shipments and see that our June shipment is still in Customs in Miami. Lately, Customs has been taking much more time than it used to, and we notice that in each shipment more boxes are opened and the contents sifted through. While I appreciate the fact that so much yarn going to one address might be suspicious in the mind of a non-knitting, non-dyeing agent, I do not appreciate it when the bags are broken open and luxurious fibers are pawed through and left looking like a rat's nest. What recourse is there, though? Those skeins are unusable and it is money lost.
But, back to the idea of giving my customers more info on this shipment: The delivery schedule is still showing that we are to receive the shipment here in Virginia on Wednesday. Tomorrow. I am going to guess that this will not happen, and that we will see the shipment on Thursday, or even Friday.
I will post more info as it becomes available.
But, back to the idea of giving my customers more info on this shipment: The delivery schedule is still showing that we are to receive the shipment here in Virginia on Wednesday. Tomorrow. I am going to guess that this will not happen, and that we will see the shipment on Thursday, or even Friday.
I will post more info as it becomes available.
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