New Yarns, Smoke, Pottery, and Youtube - the last 2 days

Whew - it's been a long week. Oh, it's only wednesday, eh? Well, it's been a long few days.
I haven't been able to sleep for the past 2 night - dreaming and DREAMING about yarn. I wonder why...

I started the week by ordering WAYYYY too much yarn. Maxine, one of my favorite reps, came to my house Monday morning and we spent the next 5 hours (no food, just coffee and water this time) picking out new yarns. So... what did i get? I got: TONS of Misti Alpacas, Southwest Trading Company, Brown Sheep, and ArtYarns. By the time we were done, i was shaking - a mixture of too much caffeine and too much (gasp!) gorgeous yarn. I WANT IT ALL TO SHIP NOW! (Sometimes, i hate having a budget).

Anyway, after Maxine and i wrapped up, doug and i fell into a mad scramble trying to get an already late Ad over to Interweave. As you can probably tell, we're pretty new to advertising - this will be the first year that we've really committed to it. Doug is learning how to do the graphics stuff - and i'm trying to learn what to put in the ads. This time (for Fall Interweave), we decided to showcase one of the new yarns we'll be carrying: Family by Muench Yarns. After touching and feeling it at TNNA - and hearing about how Kirstin Muench took 2 years to perfect it, we decided that it would be perfect for the Fall ad. Plus, how else are we going to get Wiley in an ad?! If you don't mind, would you let me know what you think?

After finishing and sending the ad, I headed to Reno for Pottery Night with the JBW Team. We all got to see Jeanne's cool new haircut - and we spent 2 hours together painting pieces of pottery. (Ok, i know this is supposed to be relaxing, but i have to say that it was rather stressful. I thought it was going to be more of a paint-by-numbers type of thing - not something where i had to come up with my own design! The other girls did a bang-up job and showed tons of talent. I ended up picking out a mug with "I Love Grandpa" indented in it... i painted it yellow and then filled in the letters with blue and rose. Such an artist i am, eh?) Regardless, we had a terrific time - i LOVE spending time with these girls. And I can't believe i didn't take photos!

Yesterday, I am embarrassed to say that I sat at this very desk from the time i woke up until about 8pm - then i worked out downstairs, then finally took a shower (at 8:45). I am gross. Dinner was served nice and hot around 9:45. And i wonder why i can't sleep sometimes. The smoke was so thick outside that we never even made it outside. Seriously, you could barely see 1/4 of a mile in the distance.

But the real reason i couldn't sleep last night was because of ArtYarns. Who do these people think they are, creating all of the to-dye(LOL)-for yarns that make my heart start beating faster? Iris Schreier from Artyarns called me yesterday to discuss the order that i placed with Max (what service!). After chatting for a bit, she emailed me some information about a new kit that they've just released. She wondered if we might like to carry 1 or 2 of the kits (comes in 2 colors). When i opened the file, i was so excited (and exhausted) that i almost burst into tears.
It's absolutely beautiful - and made from Cashmere... I immediately called Sandy (who loves to crochet) and asked if she would start one as soon as the kits arrived. She jumped at the chance! So, as soon as the kits arrive, we're going to do a youtube instructional video (maybe a series?!) and teach people how to make this themselves. And.... Iris volunteered to design a knitted version (modular knitting) if we would do a similar instructional video. Yay!
Speaking of Youtube, we've got 96 videos up so far (as of last week). Most are product reviews, but there are also a few instructional videos - and we'll have more soon. If you haven't checked them out yet, here's the one i did for the Soft Linen (most aren't this long).

You can find the rest on www.youtube.com/jimmybeanswool - and they will soon be organized on this page: www.jimmybeanswool.com/video (Doug is working on that this week).
Ok - gotta run, i'm going to be late for tennis!!

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