While there still is no news from Amy Singer, and I am getting a little antsy, I must talk about this day nevertheless.
One year ago today, I closed the doors of my yarn shop for the last time.
And yes I am a little choked up and teary eyed about this "anniversary". Funny how that happens...when I was the one wanting and needing to close the shop. It was a successful business, but it wore me out much much more than anybody will ever know. I think I am still recovering from it to this day.
Friends and former customers who I run into these days ask me how I'm doing, and I always say I'm good, I'm designing and getting published --- which I am very glad about, and proud of. It's something that comes easy to me, knitting and writing patterns, but I never had a minute to do any of it while I had the shop.
Yet I sit here and have days where I miss...something. I guess it's something I wasn't ready to have happen. I'm glad I'm able to be home for dinner every night, and even make that dinner for my family. I am glad I can pick my daughter up from school three times a week. I am glad I can do homework with her, I can be there when my son talks about his day AND I AM NOT DOG TIRED 100% of the time. I can go to soccer games on Saturdays, and I will never miss another one of my kids' birthdays again. I don't have to sit and pay bills on my days "off" or place orders. I don't have to think about the next promotion or the class schedule for the next three months. I go off to work part-time, and the other time I am a freelance designer working from home.
But. Believe it or not, I miss being...seen. I miss seeing knitters, talking to knitters, and seeing their projects. (I don't miss people who never entertain the thought of paying me for the lesson they received. I don't miss people who I've helped look for the perfect yarn for three hours and then they ask me if I have the same yarn, only cheaper. I don't miss people that blame me for not having their shade of blue in any yarn at all. I don't miss people who take advantage of me, period. I don't miss people who test me to see if I am a nice yarn shop owner or a bitchy one. I don't miss people who ask me to make photocopies out of knitting books. I don't miss the person who had the gall to buy a pattern on sale for two bucks and then had me help her knit her recycled sweater yarn sweater for a year and a half. I was a nice yarn shop owner, but I am not a saint.)
But I miss Sharon F., and Sharon R., and Noreen and Elise and Cathy and Vicki and Jess and Abi and Iryth and Susan and Kim and Ruth and Laura and Leah. And all the others, you know who you are and I wish we could sit and talk about your projects every once in a while. And life, of course, while we're together.
Otherwise, I'm OK.
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8 comments:
Karin, you know how much Gretchen and I miss you and the shop! You really got me back to the needles and I am sooo thankful. It has also given us something we enjoy together! Having been a working mother for 25 years I certainly understand your feelings about family time! Life is such a balancing act! So, happy anniversary, happy new beginnings!
Beth
Karin - your poste made me cry! I still miss your store. I don't know what you put in your yarn - but it smelled so good. This is corny - I pick up a skein and sniff it to see if I can still smell the scent! I absolutely understand why you needed to close. I miss you more than your store... I am looking forward to spinning. Let me know when! On a happier note - Rhinebeck is coming! Please let me know if I fit into any of your plans!
Sharon F.
I miss you too. I've been through Albany a few times since working with you and I wax poetic each time. I wish our paths had crossed sooner but it was a special thing to be involved in your transition. Things of this nature are always bittersweet.
Come to Bennington! But hopefully I'll see you at Rhinebeck for sure.
~Abi
I can understand how you feel. Before, you were always in the thick of things, seeing and talking to other knitters on a daily basis. You miss the interactions, the sense of being in the center of things. Makes sense to me!
But you're right to count all the positives, because after all, here is where you are, now. Be good to yourself, maybe an extra treat of whatever makes you happy. Anniversaries of some things can be very difficult.
I think No News Is Good News, as far as Knitty goes. Usually, when a publication doesn't want something, they decide quickly. When they do, or are considering it, it takes longer. Hang in there!
KArin: I just got a chance to read this post and aren't you the sweetest? Of course I miss the store, but it is four walls and a roof. What made it special is you and I do still get to see you (ok, maybe not as often). I was always happy to walk in and say hello and always happy to purchase something. In fact, I have a never-ending stash because of you! :-)
All change can be hard, but for every every obstacle, a new path opens up and for every closed door another will open. Look at all that you have accomplished in a year! Will see you in Rhinebeck, if not before. And, I met your friend Pat Bull the other day as her grandson is on my son Elliott's soccer team. Now how is that for a small world!
Elise
I miss you, too!
Good luck with the Knitty submission, I have my fingers crossed for you. :o)
Karin, your store lives on in so many ways and so many projects. I never even got to step foot in the physical entity of it, but I have known ever since I met you online that I had space and place with you.
I did Wanda's purple shawl using the Zephyr you sent me a cone of. I'm about to plunge into a black shawl with the black baby alpaca you sent me. I'm wanting to ask you the name of the farm it came from, if you remember it, so I can pass that on to the recipient I'm going to see back East next week. Your hopes of making a difference did, and continue to, make that difference, and I for one am highly grateful.
Alison- it's Spruce Ridge Farm in Chatham, NY. :)
Thank you for your comment.
I am sad that I won't be able to come meet you in person, after all, and after all these years of talking with you!
But there was no way I was going to manage it.
I hope you have a wildly wonderful time and lots of folks will buy your book.
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