Oh yeah, now I remember!

Wednesday I was treated to lunch with long-time Ravelry friend, Melanie (on the left), and her friend  Sue (in the middle).  They were on a journey from Mississippi to northern Texas, and stopped in town because Sue’s kinfolk live near here and Melanie wanted to look me up.  How cool is that!

We lingered over lunch a good long while, then came back here to chat and fondle yarns.  As they were preparing to hit the the road, they realized the keys were still in the ignition  (OOPS!), so we go to visit another hour or so waiting for AAA to come and unlock the door.

It was a good and fun visit, and I’m so glad to finally meet Melanie and to make a new friend with Sue.

It was a great afternoon and I really enjoyed meeting Melanie after so many years chatting on Rav and FB.

Last night I dyed some, and I have more to dye tonight, with assorted cycles of washings, dryings, and reskeinings happening over the weekend.

There will be a box of assorted fibers showing up in the next few days — several different types of fibers for me to dye up and post for sale for all the spinners who like playing with assorted fibers.

I’m also creating a special page to help identify what I need in tangible terms.  Everybody knows I’m broke and struggling to climb back up to “zero”, and many people have helped in so many ways.  What I need most, however, is just to have the in-house inventory built to a level I can fill orders within a week, and be able to simply replenish as it is used before new orders come in, instead of scrambling to buy the yarns when orders come in.  Inevitably the monthly bills come in and suck out money before I have enough to get a cone of this or that.  My current supplier charges by the pound, but sells on 3+ pound cones, and they don’t break it into 4-ounce hanks.

I can turn out 40-50 skeins a week on the BRS model and those generally fly out of here faster than pushing specific colorways or begging for orders.  Doing 40-50 consistently will cover the bills AND replenish stock regularly, and cover personal/medical needs as well.  It’s do-able.  It’s also easier to expand exposure when people know there is an ever-changing assortment to choose from as one-of-a-kind yarns.  But it starts with ready-to-move in-house inventory, and that’s what I have to build.

So, for those who want to help in specific ways, I am making a special page where you can pay for a cone of this or that as a donation (specific options will be indicated), and in turn for each cone that you contribute to my stock-replenishing, you get to have 2 skeins from the top of that cone when it arrives, to be dyed in whatever color selection you request.

Since my yarn supplier’s ‘shopping cart’ uses PayPal, it is an almost instant transfer — someone buys a cone, I can go directly to the supplier and order the cone and the money is gone to the supplier before it can go to the electric company.    And when the yarn arrives, I can make BRS (or fill other orders) to pay my other bills, as well as repay other loans.

I realize some people may not like this idea and most won’t want to or can’t afford to help out in this way, but that’s fine. Many of us are in a crappy economy, and I ran out of regular lines of credit several years ago.  It is easier on my conscience to ask for cones of yarn that can be turned into money, than receiving undesignated donations or gifts (which I appreciate but it adds to my sense of guilt-and-failure), it goes for a specific thing, and it automatically includes a designated “thank you” in return.  And, I’m not aiming for “X” thousands of dollars, as with some of the microloan or grant sites (like indiegogo or kickstarter), plus (unlike those other sites, which also take a cut along the way) it is an immediate process, rather than waiting a month or two to see if a dollar amount goal is reached.

So anyway, I’m going to be putting that page up tomorrow.   It will include, to start with, the cost of getting cones for Phydlbitz Sock and Primo Lace, plus a new-to-me line (Knitterman’s House Yarn) of 100% Merino Lace which will be less expensive than the merino-silk blend.

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