Friday, July 28, 2006

Still No Pictures

Cos I didn't get a chance to buy batteries today. I happened to have an appointment in the labyrinth known as Opus II today. It is a big corporate campus where all the streets are one way and if you miss your turn, well you are basically completely screwed. Until you run around in circles a few times and find your way back. It's like one of my son's video games. The one thing that saves the corporate campus is it is where Yarnzilla is located. So of course I stopped.

I wanted to find some special yarn to make my one skein secret pal a gift and Yarnzilla has the most beautiful, amazing hand dyed cashmere. I was fondling it in the basket and told the wonderful, Linda what I was thinking. This is one of the many things I love about shopping at Yarnzilla. Linda told me no.

Me: I'm thinking about knitting fingerless mitts for my One Skein SP out of this beautiful cashmere.

Linda: I don't care if your secret pal is Catherine Zeta Jones, she is a stranger and not worthy of this yarn. Buy it for yourself, but don't buy this for a stranger.

She directed me to the Koigu and I found a really beautiful colorway of Koigu to make mitts out of. They will be cheating because I bought two skeins, but oh well.

When I first started knitting I took a class at a yarn shop near where I worked at the time. Let me tell you the ladies there were mean. Yes, mean. Mean to their customers, mean to students, mean. They liked yarn much more than people. (For those of you who live here you probably know which one I'm talking about. It's by Lunds. On Hwy 7. But I'm not namin' names or anything) Back then, I didn't know there were such things as yarn shops. I thought yarn came from Michaels. As this was my first LYS experience, I thought that yarn shop owners were categorically mean yarn snobs who were out to shame you into buying super expensive yarn even if you were a beginner who had no clue what she was doing. Then I stumbled upon Yarnzilla.

Linda greeted me happily the first time I crept hesitantly through her door. Her mom was there knitting at the table and she was nice too. Linda helped me pick out yarn and introduced me to my beloved Denise interchangeable needles. She was sweet and helpful and didn't treat me like an idiot. I fell in love with Yarnzilla immediately. In the years since, I've found other LYSs that are great and staffed by wonderful people. I don't know if I would have chanced all my yarn shop exploring though if it hadn't been for how sweet Linda was that day.

There were about 8 women there today knitting and chatting. Linda was on the phone with someone from Alabama. While I paid for my purchases we chatted about our blogs. She gets NO COMMENTS. It's a shame. I know that feeling. You are writing and throwing words out into the void. Is anyone reading? Does anyone care? We talked about our favorite blogs and we both love Laurie and her Crazy Aunt Purl blog.

Linda: How many comments do you get on average?

Me: 5 on an average day, 20 on a great day.

Linda: I'd be thrilled with 5.

Me: I'm no CAP or anything with 200 comments a day. Sometimes I don't even bother to comment on hers anymore because it's too much.

Linda: I love Laurie. She is a sweetheart, advertises the shop on her site, sends me wonderful notes but her cat vomits and she gets 175 comments, I've got pictures of Annie Modesitt in my shop and I get zero.

What's with that? Let's all comment on Linda's blog because knit shop owners as cool as Linda deserve all the support they can get.

P.S. I also bought the coolest Noro to felt a purse.

10 comments:

renee said...

I usually won't leave a comment if someone already has more than about 15 or so comments, because it seems pretty pointless. Unless I have something totally brilliant to say - which doesn't happen often.

Sheepish Annie said...

Wow! 20 comments!!! My goal is to break into double digits at some point... Comments seem to be the universal blogging yardstick for success. I will often go out trolling for blogs that don't seem to be getting comments and toss one in. It's been a great way to get to know some very cool people. Thanx for the Yarnzilla link. I've heard so much about them but never investigated! Very cool!!!

Tania A said...

Yummy yarn buys! I'm still working through stash, or trying to. I -will- make it through SoSKAL without breaking down though .. only about a month left!

That cashmere though .. mygod, that sounds and looks yummlicious.

sheep#100 said...

I'll take comments anyday. Left one for Linda just now.

Anonymous said...

You can't make me...I'm pretty sure this is from Gilligan's Island. But your hint gave it up.
R. Clinton

Knittymama said...

I left her one too. There is nothing sadder than a lonely blog. I know how thrilled I was when I started to get regular comments. Makes it so much more fun!

You know, you could always try doing some sport weight socks to try it out. Not as big of a committment that way.

Guinifer said...

I've been into Linda's website a gazillion times - I've never seen the blog part!

Linda also was a sweetie to me!!! (Guess who got Denise's last year for her birthday? Courtesy of Linda at Yarnzilla - she helped mom order them...) No matter how long between visits, she always remembers my face.

Chris said...

I'm a commenting fiend - there are so many great blogs out there that deserve more readers, more commenters! So I try to do my part. But I have to admit that I tend NOT to comment on blogs that are associated with a commercial venture. My little idiosyncracy...

Partly Cloudy Knitter said...

Thank you for commenting on my blog. ;-D I'm glad you liked the warshcloth. I haven't used it yet. I want to show it to a few people at our knit group on Friday. Then I'll give it a try and report back.

Linda @ Yarnzilla said...

Hi, Kate! You're hilarious -- plus you have a photographic memory for conversations! Thanks so much for all your nice comments about Yarnzilla -- I'm thrilled if I in any way encouraged your knitting addiction, er, I mean hobby. ; ))))) Come bring your project(s) and knit with us sometime -- same invite goes out to all MN knitters!!!!