Summer! Nothing but fun, right? Friends, if you're in the yarn business Summer is a time of terror. Fall & Winter are the "Knitting Season" when people want to sock in on those long winter nights and knit and crochet and be cozy and cottagecore and all that sort of thing. They need YARN and they need lots of it and they want it to be warm and fuzzy and wooly.
But then comes summer in the south to strike fear into the hearts of Local Yarn Shop owners everywhere. (Am I using too much capitalization for emphasis? Too quirky? I don't know.) We stock up with linen and cotton and we knit cute little tanks and tees and totes and we . . . hope.
We hope our people will come see us, that they'll knit while they travel on those summer vacations, that they'll sit in the a/c on and knit a throw for Fall, that they'll get a cup of iced coffee and sit on the screen porch in the mornings and work on that perfect Fall sweater so that it's ready for the first chilly day
We hope they'll take classes and learn new techniques and make new friends. We hope they'll come to social events and get excited about something new. We hope they'll come to trunk shows, yarn tastings, and debuts for exciting new yarns.
Summer is scary for yarn shops. It's certainly scary for me, your local yarn shop owner. I'm competing with youth sports, pro sports (GO CHATTANOOGA FC! GO LOOKOUTS!), vacations, child care concerns, camps, drinking on patios, weddings, graduations, and general schedule disruptions.
May I suggest you take your knitting and crochet with you? You'll rarely catch me watching live sports without my project, cars and planes are perfect places for working on small projects to pass the time, and drinking on patios is so much more fun with your needlework handy. Just think of all the exciting mistakes you can make!
Those of you who have read this far may be having a little glimmer of "what did she say up there again?" about special events at the yarn shop -- and friends, THEY ARE COMING!
In late May/Early June I'm expecting delivery of two VERY exciting yarn lines that I am just GIDDY about, and if you know me, you know GIDDY isn't normally one of my speeds.
I've got a yarn tasting scheduled.
I've got TWO trunk shows scheduled already for some things that I KNOW you all like very much.
And I'm finally planning to schedule a regular, monthly, recurring Sit & Stitch in the shop.
I just need you all to keep showing up, working on your projects, buying yarn, taking classes, coming in for help, and generally staying connected to Chattanooga Yarn Co on social media and in real life.
Summer can be really tough in the yarn biz, but I've got a lot of faith in my community to keep being as awesome as you've been so far. It's been a great seven months because of all of you!
