Sunday, April 18, 2010

Sunday Monring Knit Wit ~ Slight Diversion from Schedule

I'm a bit off schedule this week so the featured stitch will be available next week.  The story behind the delay is one of Murphy's Law (you know it - what can go wrong, will go wrong) but I must say that even with all the hurdles, goodness did come out of it!

Let me start at the beginning.....

I was approached to make 12 matching felted vase covers in yellow and grey for a cocktail party to be held at Lincoln Center.  I was THRILLED!  This was one of my most exciting orders and to know my work would be at the Rubenstein Atrium in the Linclon Center (even for just a few hours) is so incredibly exciting.  Check out the room in which the party will be ... that wall is a real garden!


And this wall is felted wool!
I went to my usual yarn shop on a Tuesday (knowing that when I order yarn it usually takes 2 weeks and she gets much quicker delivery time as she is a distributor) , bought the few skeins she had and placed an order which she assured me would arrive on Friday.  That would work... I could pick up the yarn on my way home from work Friday evening and spend the weekend making them and then an entire week to dry and get ready to ship. I went home and started the project singing happy songs.

Friday came and no yarn delivery with a new expected day of the following Tuesday. Plan B: Pick up the yarn on Tuesday and take Wednesday off from work and pump them out in one day.  Meanwhile, I spent the day Saturday calling all around Central NY to yarn shops I didn't even know existed!

Who knew?!  A yarn shop 20 miles from my home!  Even though she indicated on the phone she didn't have the color I was looking for, she did carry that brand.  Well, after no one in a 50 mile radius had the color I needed, I decided to stop into her shop, just to check it out. 

Chris from Woolhaven Yarn Shop in Remsen NY is a kindred spirit. We chatted for over an hour and her shop is gorgeous.  She invited me to join their knitting group on Thursday evenings (which I went and boy, was that fun!) and the best and most exciting thing - she will teach me to spin.  Something I've been wanting to do for over a year. 

Anyway, back to my story...

You guessed it.  The yarn did not come in on Tuesday.  I was heartbroken. She promised it would be in on Wednesday and provided me with a tracking # of the delivery for UPS.  I had already contacted my customer to let her know there may be some challege getting the yellow yarn and she was so incredibly understanding, letting me know we could go with mostly grey.  And that just made me more determined to get her what she wanted.  Plan C: Pick up the yarn early Wednesday morning and spend the afternoon and into the night working on them.  I was even entertaining the idea of driving down to the City to deliver them myself if it came to that extreme.

Wednesday morning I checked the tracking number and they were still in Syracuse.  So close at this point but not yet in my hands.  When I called the shop, still not there.  Well, I decided I would make them in grey with bits of yellow circles on them to add the color.  I really wanted to make them exactly how my customer ordered them, but I was getting defeated and would resort to that.  So I headed out to her shop to get more grey.

By the time I got to the yarn shop, the yarn had been delivered!  There it was.. sitting in the box waiting for me.  I was singing happy songs again!  I rushed home, spent the day crocheting and watching TCM and totally enjoying myself.  The vases were shipped on Friday and all is well.



I guess that goes to show that things work out in the end and I found a great new yarn shop and hopefully many new knitting friends!

So, next week - back to the stitch of the week.  I'm 3/4 done with the baby blanket that includes the featured stitch and I think you'll like this one.  It's different, fun and EASY! 

Till next week.. keep your knitting needles clicking ♥

5 comments:

woolies said...

Your vases are wonderful! I hope you do learn to spin - I have friends that spin and they just love it. I tried drop spindling, and did enjoy it, but ... maybe one day.
PS thanks for stopping by my blog. Yes, I'm a 'certain age' as well. Very challenging!
:)

Nicole's Homemade Treats...The Blog said...

How AWESOME!!!! I am glad you were able to fulfill the order as requested!! Are they going to send you pictures of them in "Action?"

Anonymous said...

I never saw a wool vases before, yours are awesome! What a time you had! I was actually nervous reading your post!

Alessandra@ Tribal Times said...

Those vases are great! Love the yellow!!

Rebecca - iceblueberries said...

That's so cool that you got an order from Lincoln Center! Congratulations! After all the ups and downs, the vase covers you made come out beautifully. I love the progression of color from vase to vase. Congrats, again!