The Good Chair

Here is a picture of my office chair. Now you may think it is odd that I would do a blog post about my chair, but there is a story behind it.

Before we started Old Mill Knitting I worked for my dad's construction company. While I enjoyed working for my dad, I found that I spent a lot of my time fixing problems, collecting money and trying to keep everyone on schedule and on track. This involved a lot of grumpiness and a little bit of meanness. The other day the BS was talking to the lady who took over my job and she was in the same mood that I was always in and the BS commented that "it must be the chair".

Thankfully I didn't bring that chair with me to the new company. This good chair helps me to be happy, co-operative and full of love and patience. (except to those people who are trying to make dinner reservations at the Old Mill Restaurant and get nasty that I can't help them).

Welcome to Woollys!

On Wednesday, the Ontario Super Sales Rep. and I went on a road trip together to Shelburne to visit Woollys Yarns. I had previously only spoken to Maxine and Leanne on the phone and wanted to meet them in person and see the store. Although I have no idea how we got there (I am directionally challenged and the OSSR took every back road imaginable) it was a beautiful drive and we arrived in no time at all.

The store was great! Lots and lots of wonderful yarn (a lot of Classic Elite, as well as Naturally and Filatura) - even some from Maxine's own Angora goats - and lots of samples. Leanne # 2 was also there and so I was able to meet the whole crew.

I must say that it is a little unfair that Maxine is keeping the two Leannes for just one store. She should loan them out or bottle up their knowledge and enthusiasm and share it with others. If you don't know what I mean by that, just visit Woollys and you will totally get it.

Definitely worth the drive and make sure you go to Jelly's for a sandwich and a piece of cake!

But is She a Good Blobber?

Our NZ Super Rep emails her posts to the BS and then we post them. This last one she sent came with the caption "New Blob Post" and included pictures of the big sales conference that were mostly empty chairs and half bodies. Honestly I thought I was going to have an accident we were laughing so hard! The Super Reps posts are already fantastic, but when you add in some unintentional humour they just can't be topped.

Here are some good pictures from the sales meeting. If you look very closely you can see some of the new garments for Fall 2010. We received our first copies of the pictures yesterday and are extremely impressed with the new designs. The Design Guru along with Fiona Ellis and Robin Melanson have done some of their best work and I have to say it is going to be very difficult to wait 6 months to show them off!

NZ Super Sales Rep

Here we are in October and it has been a very busy month so far in New Zealand. The Rockstar arrived from Canada and has been making everything very exciting. I went to her apartment with our Designer Guru and had a photo shoot for all the new patterns that we will be releasing for next season. It was great fun and I was very lucky to be able to see all the new designs before anyone else.

Also this month I was taken by the Rockstar and Mr Toad (my boss) to Sydney Australia, unfortunately it was not a shopping spree we were going for it was a Sales Conference. It was all very exciting though, we met up with the Australian Rep's and our NZ South Island Rep who is based in Christchurch. I have attached some photos for you, this is all the Australian Reps and Mr Bogle who is the Australian Manager. Sadly my camera skills leave a lot to be desired and the photo of our Christchurch Rep got deleted as did the ones of Mr Toad and Rockstar. I have taken a photo of the plane in which we flew. I took photos also of the Sydney Opera House which is world famous, some of the Sydney Harbour boats and everyone at the evening dinner, again sadly I must have pushed the wrong buttons and they all vanished. I would never make a great paparazzi.

This month I am also very busy out driving all over the country in my fast red car as it is what we call indent time, all the stores get to see what is new and exciting for next season and place their orders. I love this time of year it is very busy and there is a buzz in the air. Between you and me there are some great things for next season, I am already planning my first project and I haven't finished the other projects, but that is the life of a knitter.

Well take care everybody until I send another update I hope you all have your needles click clacking away!

Very, Very Tired

Work has been very busy lately - we even had visitors to the warehouse today, which we looove. Ro and I find that by this time of day, we can't do any more. Our favourite place to sleep is under mom's desk - very cozy!

An Awesome Way to Start the Day

As I have mentioned on a couple of occasions, we have this club called The Empire Club where you can sign up at your local Empire Club store to receive our monthly email that includes news and coupons for great patterns or savings. You are also entered into our monthly prize draw.

I received this awesome email the other morning from one of last month's winners:

Good Morning! I was delighted to be the recipient of the prize you offered through Yarn Indulgences. I have started the scarf and love the feel of the yarn.. just beautiful. Thank you so much. I have also completed the Zarina baby sweater and hat with great results. The baby it is intended for is arriving this month. "Yarn Indulgences" is a real gem of a shop and a unique experience for all knitters. I thoroughly look forward to my trips to Kitchener just to spend a little while with Jennifer.. wonderful yarns and good conversation.

As you can expect - that made my day!!



I am not sure what pattern she used for her Zarina baby sweater, but here is a picture of mine. I didn't actually knit this myself, but I did pick out the buttons and they look darn cute!

The Passionate Knitter

It is a wonderful thing in life when people get to combine their business with their passion. (Wow, when you read that sentence by itself, you could think of all types of interesting jobs!)

But what I am talking about are the yarn store owners whose love of knitting has led them to take the plunge and open their own business. They want to share their excitement and knowledge with all who come into their store and for most they still feel the same thrill as you do when they buy new yarn.

The one thing that sometimes suffers, though, is the shop owners' own personal knitting time. The many big and little things that come with running a shop mean that the day can fly by with no time to pick up their work.

Many combat this by knitting while watching T.V., riding in the car or bus or even at the movie theater. The best knitting place I heard of came from Karen who is the owner of Shall We Knit in New Hamburg. This is her on the back of her husband's motorcycle and look at what she is doing! Awesome! If any of you can top this, please send me a picture and we will put it up on the blog.