The Land of Many Fibers

 The last half of the year has been a whirlwind. But:

The Shop is OPEN!

We had our grand opening on December 15, 2023. The online shop is up (and mostly functional).  We are STILL waiting for fabric, but more of that trickles in every week.  I spend at least some time everyday working on the listings, but I haven't even gotten to the weaving stuff yet. Honestly a quilt shop with weaving and knitting is probably not that weird (based on some of the questions we've gotten from advertising groups) but it's a LOT of work.  

Louët looms are still my favorite, and the company has been wonderful to deal with, very patient with all my questions.  We have a David III on the floor for display and it's a dream to weave on.  We still don't have weaving threads in stock. That probably won't happen before next year, but we can order from the supplier for a customer. We plan to stock Venne and have an account set up with their North American supplier. I have quite a bit of it in my stash and I have a loom (the David, of course) warped with it so I know how nice it is to weave and soon we'll have samples washed and available for that ever important touch and see test. 

We also have (don't ask, but be careful who you complain to about not being able to find their products) Skacel items in our store.  I am currently working hard to master the addiExpress Kingsize so I can help people learn to use it. The machines will be available to buy or rent.  Which brings me to my irritation of the day - videos. Ugh. I understand that many people love them for learning new things. I find them horrible, too much talking, and it takes FOREVER to get to the parts I need to see and then again when I need to re-see them. This is an old complaint of long-standing, but my ADHD remains unchanged. The only things I can find for circular knitting techniques are videos. I've ordered some books, and I hope they will be helpful to me.  But right now, I am frustrated and stymied in my attempts to try ribbing on the addiExpress. 

So, dear reader, I hope you will drop by the shop, check it out, and let me know if you have any suggestions. 

Happy Holidays and all that.  I am looking forward to 2024. 

And I will try to post some pictures and words about the addiExpress as I learn to use it, for those few, rare, individuals,  who, like me, have an attention span ill-suited to video how-tos. 

When things just fall into place

 December and January holidays ate those two months. February was short and quiet, mostly.

The MIL was feeling restless and decided that the Sweetie and I should go with her to look at a storefront that was for sale about an hour away. Sounds like a fun trip, so we went. It's an old funeral home. Half of the store front is set up as a chapel - large open space. The other half is smaller, more intimate with a HUGE front window.  Nice building, nice apartment in the back, good location in a nice small town that seems to be doing well. But out of our budget. MIL says - go ahead make an offer. 

After much thought we did. A low-ball offer, an unreasonable offer. We knew they'd say no and then we could just move on. And they did say no. About a week later they came back and asked if we'd offer a little bit more, say an amount equal to our prior bid and the due/past due taxes. 

We had to ask - what is wrong with this building!? We called our favorite building inspector, paid a fair chunk of change for an inspection. Nothing wrong with the building. Very sound for it's age, new heating and AC, newish roof (needs a patch or two, nothing serious) Wiring and plumbing are in good shape. Needs some new windows and more insulation. Nothing major. Huh. 

Well, we have to sell our current place and we know we can't get financing to cover the time gap. 'Well, yes you can.' says the bank and there goes that stumbling block.

At this point your heroine is terrified. 

So in April we closed and then began planning the moving.  The moving was going to result in my living in the old place with minimal stuff while it was on the market and the Sweetie in the new place settling in and unpacking.  We are deeply concerned how long it will take to sell the old place and how long we'll have to make payments on both properties. It's going to be tight.  

The Sweetie puts a note out to friends that we are having a house-colding party - one last hurrah at the old place, which has hosted many parties over the years. 'Wait' says friend, 'are you going to sell your house? Can I buy it?'  Hit the escalation button on the packing and getting stuff out of the old place, because now we have someone wanting to move in and rent while they sell their place.

May ends in a mountain of boxes and exhaustion.  

Now we just have to worry about how long it will take to sell their house. What if it doesn't sell? What if they decide our lovely old house isn't really for them? But no, they get an offer on their house almost as quickly as we got their offer on ours. They love our old house, even with all the quirks. 

The closings happen next week. I am amused that we closed on the new building on 4/11 and close on the old house on 7/11. It is no wonder I am exhausted.  Three months at a dead run. About 3/4 of our stuff is unpacked. We have to do some work on the new building before the remaining 1/4 can be put away. We need the funds from the closing to make that happen. 

Then I am going to try my hand at being a business owner. We are opening a quilting/weaving/book store in our huge building (with apartment in the back). The commute to work every day will be brutal. 

I feel like I should aim for a 10/11 opening date for the store. It has a sort of rhythm with the rest of this adventure.