Knitty Surprise?

I know I’m scaring all of you with two posts in one day. The horror! But it looks like the Knitty surprise is up. And I thought I would give up my opinion. Rare, I know.

So first, check out the lone surprise pattern.

I don’t care. Done. There’s my review.

Okay, let me add to that. I’m not a sock knitter. I haven’t really been interested and have no plans to start. I should rephrase that. Right now I have no interest but the Husband wants me to make him camping/hiking socks so I may start making socks. Someday. And when I do make them, I may actually enjoy knitting socks. Who knows? It’s possible. Humans did learn to fly after all. So I may care about the pattern someday and not just because the Husband has gigantic man feet, but because it really is useful. It’s a great idea to have a generic sock pattern where I can plug in my gauge and measurements and *poof* there’s my pattern. But I don’t knit socks right now, so I’m a tad disappointed that an issue filled mostly with socks, couldn’t include a surprise that wasn’t sock related.

Another one bites the dust.

I don’t like to talk about my location. Some of it is a fear that I have a stalker and he/she will figure out where I am and kill me, some of it is comfort in anonymity, and some is protection from some designer whose pattern I snarked coming to hunt me down and open up a can of whoopass. As a side note, did you know you could buy a Whoop Ass energy drink? If you click the link, scroll to the bottom of that page, I’ll wait. So because I protect my identity, I’m going to be vague about the location of the yarn shop. Sorry. But if you really want to know details related to this entry, email me at chazari42@yahoo.com (or my regular email address for those who know me live and in person) and tell me why you are not going to kill me and why I should give you details. That way, at least you have to put forth an effort.

There is a yarn store south of where I live. For today’s purpose, I’ll call it the “Cerulean Llama.” Anyway, the store is closing after 3 1/2 years of being. It’s not my favorite store in the area, but it is a very good store. In her email, the owner said all three of her staff members are leaving due to life changes (not because of the store, she swears!) and it made her think about her life. Her love of knitting is not enough to offset working 50-60 hours a week with minimal pay. Therefore, her reassement of life does not include running a store anymore.

This announcement makes me think. I would love to own a yarn store some day, or some other business like a bakery or something, but being a small business owner is excruciatingly hard work with really little reward. Is owning a store something that I still want to do? When I dream, it’s of a successful yarn store where I can knit on and off all day and people just come and buy yarn and love me and worship the ground on which I walk. Of course on all levels that are not run by my inner toddler, I know that it’s not that easy, that running a yarn store is hard because there is not much money to be made and online sales are a huge competitor. Plus there is the general upkeep to consider and so many other things. But, hearing the Cerulean Llama closing not because of a lack of business (supposedly) but because of exhaustion, really, it makes the whole idea of a yarn store (or any store) a bad one in my mind. And I find that sad.

On the upside, they will be selling discount yarn starting August 15. Oh, and anyone interested, shelving and other such accoutremants will be up for sale.