I knit a sweater. Yup - an entire sweater. OK, so it's kid sized, but still, it's a big kid, not a baby sweater!Not only did I knit it, I designed it (Yes, I'm preening here, what of it?)I had seen this spider chart in my Third Barbara Walker (the yellow one). I have an 8 year old boy. Spiders, snakes, lizards - all good. I knew I wanted to use this spider chart, and when I was cleaning out the yarn storage, I found a sweater's worth of Plymouth Stone Cotton (half cotton, half acrylic - nice and nubbly) in denim blue. I bought a ton of this from Elann a year or so ago - green, rust, lavender, grey and blue. All the other colours were used long ago, and this beautiful blue was put away and forgotten. When I found it, I knew I had my spider sweater yarn. I corralled Son long enough to measure him, and sat down with Sweater Wizard. 5 minutes later, I had a pattern. I wanted a raglan, with hems at the bottom and sleeves, and a split neck. I still sort of winged the hems and neck, and placed the chart where it would (hopefully) look right. I think I succeeded. I like it, Son loves it, and even Hubby is impressed.
The colour here is a little off - it's really a richer, more denim-y blue, with a slight tweedy fleck to it. THe bottom hem is also not as noticeable as it seems here. All in all, I'm quite proud of this, and best of all, Son loves it and wears it! What more could a mom ask for...I made this while still finishing up the other items I found, and even found time to work on some socks. I think the stress of the week worked itself out in my knitting. I have discovered that if you dump a lot of crap on me, I will deal with it while knitting. I have to have the knitting. It keeps me sane. I think Hubby even noticed this - He had a madly busy week of work, with a deadline looming, and felt bad that he was not available to help much with dealing with everything else that was going on. (the wake and funeral were from my side of the family, the health crises are on his side). I think he was surprised that I was as calm (relatively speaking) as I was when he got home. Then he saw the quantity of knitting that was going on. He understood. I 'm sure I can buy more yarn, and he won't say anything. This is a good thing, with the DKC Knitter's Frolic coming up...
Speaking of buying yarn - here's a situation that arose last week. What would you have done?Wednesday, I was out doing errands, and stopped by a new yarn shop that has opened in the area. I had heard about it and wanted to stop by, so when I found myself driving by, I pulled in. Very nice and bright, lots of yummy yarns - a whole section of Fleece Artist / Handmaiden and a section of Koigu. Now, I can't get Koigu easily locally, so this was nice. The two owners were there, and, other than hovering too much and talking too much (Yes, I see the sock yarn. yes, I see the Fleece Artist), it was very nice. I had a couple of skeins of Koigu in hand and was heading to the Handmaiden, when they mention that starting the next day, they were having a sale - 25% off everything, and other specific discounts on certain things. Great, says I, however, I can't come tomorrow or the other two days of the sale, as I have some family issues to deal with and will be out of town for awhile. Now, it's afternoon, just before a sale. No one else in the store. I want to buy yarn, but not when I know it's going to be much cheaper in less than 24 hours. I mention this, saying I'd probably buy more Koigu and some of the Handmaiden Silken if it was on sale.Would you have given me the sale price then? Even though the sale didn't actually start until the next day? They didn't. I walked out empty handed. (I hate paying full price knowing a sale is imminent) Maybe they thought I would come back during the sale (I had told them that was impossible). Oh well. I don't fault them - they are trying to make a go of a business, and giving discounts is not always viable. However, from my point of view, it would have been a nice goodwill gesture, and would have resulted in some extremely positive word of mouth from me. It's a much longer drive to get to this store than either of the other two in my area. I may not make it often. Just sayin'.
Speaking of buying yarn - here's a situation that arose last week. What would you have done?Wednesday, I was out doing errands, and stopped by a new yarn shop that has opened in the area. I had heard about it and wanted to stop by, so when I found myself driving by, I pulled in. Very nice and bright, lots of yummy yarns - a whole section of Fleece Artist / Handmaiden and a section of Koigu. Now, I can't get Koigu easily locally, so this was nice. The two owners were there, and, other than hovering too much and talking too much (Yes, I see the sock yarn. yes, I see the Fleece Artist), it was very nice. I had a couple of skeins of Koigu in hand and was heading to the Handmaiden, when they mention that starting the next day, they were having a sale - 25% off everything, and other specific discounts on certain things. Great, says I, however, I can't come tomorrow or the other two days of the sale, as I have some family issues to deal with and will be out of town for awhile. Now, it's afternoon, just before a sale. No one else in the store. I want to buy yarn, but not when I know it's going to be much cheaper in less than 24 hours. I mention this, saying I'd probably buy more Koigu and some of the Handmaiden Silken if it was on sale.Would you have given me the sale price then? Even though the sale didn't actually start until the next day? They didn't. I walked out empty handed. (I hate paying full price knowing a sale is imminent) Maybe they thought I would come back during the sale (I had told them that was impossible). Oh well. I don't fault them - they are trying to make a go of a business, and giving discounts is not always viable. However, from my point of view, it would have been a nice goodwill gesture, and would have resulted in some extremely positive word of mouth from me. It's a much longer drive to get to this store than either of the other two in my area. I may not make it often. Just sayin'.
9 comments:
Wow! Impressive! Love that spider. Your son is going to get a lot of amazed kids admiring it..and adults.
As for that yarn shop? Would it have killed them to offer it just to you a day early? Are they stupid? You were clearly a customer willing to buy and come back..but they blew it. They could have made a repeat customer out of you. For the sake of maybe, let's guess, $30 or so, they are missing out on many more dollars of potential business.
Some independent business owners are great, and some are so stupid.
For the record, with the Koigu and the Handmaiden, I would have spent more than $100 at the yarn store. I walked out empty handed. They were absolutely not obligated to give me the sale price, but still.
The spider is awesome! I agree they should have made some effort to extend even a partial discount on the soon to be on sale yarns. and excessive hovering keeps the yarn from being able to "speak" which is why I am in any yarn store in the first place rather than buying on line!
Again - awesome spider!
"The two owners were there, and, other than hovering too much and talking too much.."
Oh I know exactly who you're talking about, just based on this comment. They used to work at Knit or Knot (two of the women left there to open this new store), and one of them - swear to God - asked a woman if she could help her find something three times. The woman said, no, she was just browsing, and then started looking at the patterns. Pushy employee then calls over to her and says, "Can I PLEASE help you find something?"
Needless to say, the customer left pretty quickly after that.
I also saw the same woman talk a customer into buying those short Addis for socks, because she claimed it was "impossible" to do fair isle on dpns. Yeah, for her, maybe.
That being said, I really want to check out the new yarn store, even if I don't really like the ladies that opened it.
The sweater is terrific! I'd shudder every time I saw it, with the spider, but it's a great sweater, pattern, yarn and all.
Those shopkeepers are complete idiots!! They just opened, having a start-up sale, and they couldn't understand that they NEEDED to give you the discount to make you a very happy customer? I would have left empty-handed, too. And they're even more stupid to not have called you back when they saw you leaving that way.
Note to J.Layne - yup - you nailed it! that's the store!
I figured as much! My grandmother just went too, and remarked at how expensive things were. Not surprising. I once saw one of them sell an 80-year old woman an angora blend, when all she wanted was a superwash wool.
Turning a buck should NEVER be more important helping out your customers.
What can I say about the sweater... great work, amazing timeline... but spiders FREAK me out! So I have some mixed feelings overall!
And they so totally should have given you the discount. Especially since you said you could not come back. Their loss!
Fabulous sweater. I wonder if my son, the knitted item hater, would wear that?
As for the discount...I would have offered you 10% off...but posted your picture near the till and if you came back during the sale, only give you 15%, LOL. I don't part with my money easily either, and it is hard to set limits--give discount or no sale. You know though what the shopping experts say--It never hurts to ask (out loud) for a discount. Surprises my husband--he just saved $100 on a gas tank by telling the shop that another shop was selling it so much cheaper (even though it meant driving to Kitchener).
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