Knitters are kind.

At the Kingston Knitting Circle's get-together (I could never call such a relaxed forum a "meeting") at Chapters last night, I was struck by the variety of people who call themselves knitters and who like to just spend time together.
Not wanting to be too nosy, but I would judge that 6 decades were represented within the 12 of us who were there. There is always an amazing range of personal backgrounds and knitting abilities but the one consistent link is that everyone is so nice and kind- encouraging the novices, marveling at the next amazing project from the experts of all ages, and laughing together at the "experiences" that lead some of us to start over.
In passing, someone said that they felt that the staff at WOOL-TYME Kingston always treated their customers like they themselves would want to be treated if they were shopping in a knitting store. I was so touched by this thought. There's a lovely song, of which I remember very little except that I really liked it, that says: "May your love bind your work to your play". Well I would say that that is the closest I could come to defining how we all feel about coming to work. You, the customers, really are friends - whether we've met you before or not.

THAT BEING SAID...let me shamelessly plug the CUSTOMER SURVEY that we are conducting until the fall. We need as much feedback as possible from our customers to help guide us in the future in what we will offer in fibres, products, services and classes. All you need to do to have a chance at $100 gift certificate from WOOL-TYME Kingston is to email me at wooltymekingston@gmail.com for your electronic survey, complete it and return it and you're in. Alternately, when you are in the store the next time, ask for a paper copy and drop it in the ballot box. It only takes a few minutes to complete and it really is incredibly valuable information to us.

I believe that I'm actually creating a blog.

Dear friends and customers;

Yesterday I set up a template for the new look of the store's e-newsletter, and buoyed by the success of that venture, (and having read in someone else's newsletter how easy it is to set up a blog) I've jumped in with both feet.

There has been such tremendous feedback from our e-newsletter recipients, and when people so kindly tell me how much they like it, I frequently mention that the newsletter is like my monthly blog. Unfortunately, in the interest of saving space, I've had to pare down what I write in the newsletter and the "Notes From The Counter" segment, where I would share my own observations of the knitting world, was one of the things that got left by the wayside. Well, now I have a legitimate blog where I can babble on and not worry about the cost of printing or the bytes involved.

Often people ask me about things that I wrote about a few months back in the newsletter, and this black hole that I refer to as my brain is vacant of any recollections. By making the newsletters available through the blog, I'm hoping that we can all access tips, tricks, and new bits of information that are in each of the monthly e-newsletters.

I've also long wanted a forum where staff and customers can share what they are doing in their crafting lives, give their own suggestions and observations about the knitting world and the world of WOOL-TYME Kingston in particular.

For you blog-aholics, I don't imagine that this will be a daily posting venue but I do commit to a weekly update and I promise that I'll soon get to learn how to use our digital camera so that we can have some fun with pictures too. We have such a wonderful wealth of humanity that comes through the doors of the WOOL-TYME Kingston store each day, that it's a shame that you all can't come and spend more time with us to get to know the wonderful people (YOU) that we are priveleged to meet each day.
I