» knitorious » knitter à la carte
» shop hop » in stitches » knit this |
Then I picked up the second skein of hand-dyed lace-weight yarn to make it into a ball. I wound up a very small ball and came to an end. Huh, I thought, I must have broken the yarn somehow. So I set it aside and started again. To my horror, another end appeared. I kept winding and setting little balls of hand-dyed purple yarn aside. I ended up with 17 little balls of purple yarn and about 10 little coils of yarn between one and four yards long. How could this happen? And how could I ever finish my half-done, beautiful, complicated shawl? It’s impossible to weave ends into lace without it showing, and I could never dye the yarn again to match.
Did I mention to you that about the same time I had dyed the yarn, we had also acquired two enormously cute and energetic kittens? When I noticed one of them hugging a skein of yarn and furiously kicking with her striped little feet, I realized that I must have left that purple skein out just long enough for her to get at it.
I did finish my shawl despite the many little purple balls of love: I took the opportunity to learn the magic of the spit join! The second half of my purple shawl must have at least 20 spit joins holding it together, and it looks absolutely beautiful. You can see the finished shawl displayed in Unique One, where I sell the kits, and the picture of it is the purple lace shawl displayed on the top of my blog, www.yarndemon.com.
What's the most popular class you offer?
I don't really offer any formal classes on a regular basis, but one that I have taught a few times, that people tend to really enjoy, is a class I call All About Yarn. It's more of a lecture class than a hands-on how-to class, but I think people like it because they learn answers to so many questions they have always wanted to know. In the class, I go over the mysteries of yarn weights and how they work (as in, what is "DK" yarn? what is "worsted", What does it mean if yarn is 3/8 weight?); different fibers used in yarn, their properties and uses; yarn construction (ply and its various meanings, how yarn is made); how to read all the mysterious stuff on a yarn ball label, and how to get the most out of it. Pretty much, all there is to know about yarn. However, How to Fix Mistakes in Your Knitting and Finishing Techniques are the two most requested topics I get asked for classes.
What influences your decision to carry a certain yarn or product?
In order of how much it influences me: 1) How much I like it; 2) How much Victoria (my yarn shop manager) likes it; 3) How much I need it in the shop line-up — do I need another sport weight wool? Have people been asking for this kind of yarn?; 4) Wow factor; 5) Price; and 6) Where are we gonna put it?
Can you share a hint or tip that is a favorite with your customers?
Some of my customers would say that my favorite answer to a problem is "just cut it!" ... due to my propensity to cut knitting and then redo the offensive part and possibly graft it together if necessary. But cutting your knitting can be either traumatic or very freeing, so it is not advice given lightly. Therefore my REAL favorite tip (not necessarily my customers' favorite tip) is "knit your dang gauge swatch!!" Also, know what size you truly honestly actually really want the knitted garment to be. Measure yourself or the person... and measure something that you or they like the fit of, too. Don't base your $100 yarn investment for a many many hours long sweater project on your guess that you are probably a medium. (Editor's note: AMEN!)
Do you offer mail order or have an online store?
You can shop online at www.uniqueone.com.
What's your favorite Knit One, Crochet Too yarn that you carry in your shop?
I would say that Douceur et Soie is my favorite. I love to knit lace with it. It is soft and light and beautiful and a joy to knit with.
Note: The hat pictured above is this month's free pattern.
|
This Maine sweater and yarn shop
is a Unique One.
Name: Beth Collins
Age: 48
Location: Camden, Maine
Real Job: yarn shop owner
Website: www.uniqueone.com
How Long Knitting: about 40 years
When and why did you first open/purchase your shop?
I came to own Unique One in, appropriately, a very unique way. I had been working at Unique One, a sweater and yarn shop, since 1985, just summers, since I was at that time a junior high teacher. In 1995, I decided I had had it with teaching and left the world of education to go work at Unique One full time, planning to be there until a "real job" came along. But soon I became the yarn shop manager, and found that I already had a real job. Then one very sad day in March 2004, the owner, Brenda Laukka, died suddenly. Brenda was my hero. She was the person I always wished I could be: cute, funny, smart, creative, hard working, generous, honest and brave. It was a terrible blow.
However, someone had to keep the store going. I'd been with the shop the longest and knew how it was all run more than anyone else, so I stepped in until Brenda's family could recover from the shock and decide what to do with the store. As it turned out, they asked me if I would be interested in buying the business, and I said yes. Unique One has been in business since 1976, and I am happy to be able to keep it going.
What's most rewarding about owning a yarn shop?
I love to help people solve problems, and I love to teach. I love being creative and helping people indulge in their own creativity. The most rewarding thing about my job is that I get to make people smile!
What's most challenging?
Juggling all the parts that make up Unique One is my biggest challenge. Unique One is not only a yarn shop, we also make and sell our own brand of cotton and wool sweaters. I have several knitters who work at home on knitting machines to create my designs. Therefore, I am not only a typical business owner who manages inventory, bills, employees, advertising, janitorial services, tax and insurance issues and whatnot, I am a manufacturer who is an employer of independent contractors, raw material purchaser, sweater designer and order fulfillment manager as well. I really should be about 3 people. Luckily I have fantastic folks who work for me (including part-time employee Alison Walsh, pictured above standing left of me).
What's your favorite type of project and what's on the needles now?
My favorite type of project is whatever happens to be at hand at any given moment. About the only type of knitting I really don't like is anything intarsia, and felted items. Right now I have approximately 47 projects "started" but I have recently put myself on a stringent one-project-at-a-time program and I am working on one thing: a lovely, long and totally brainless scarf knit in brown fingering weight washable wool in an easy knit 2, purl 2 rib.
What technique or project do you want to learn next?
I think the next thing I would like to do for fun, something I have never done before, is to knit two socks at once, one inside the other. I've read a lot about it but never actually tried it; maybe this will be the year I actually do it.
(check out Knitting Circles Around Socks and Two-at-a-Time Socks)
Any "laugh-out-loud" knitting anecdote you'd like to share?
That would be my Purple Balls of Love story. I decided to knit the Blackberry Ridge lace shawl kit, "Legends of the Shetland Seas." It's a beautiful lace shawl, but the only color the kit came in was off-white. I couldn't bear the thought of knitting that much lace weight yarn in off-white (a color I later came to really appreciate), so I hand-dyed both of the skeins of yarn a pretty purple. I succeeded in keeping the color quite variegated, so there are parts that were darker and parts that are quite light. I happily balled up the first skein and set the other skein aside and knit the first half of the complicated shawl.
|
|
