Finally!

After taking the grand tour of upper Indiana, my business debit card finally arrived at the bank yesterday. It seems the postal carrier wouldn't deliver it to the shop address for reasons known only to him, so it was sent back to the bank in Warsaw. When I realized it was rather late in appearing I went to the local bank branch and they discovered it was in Warsaw, and promised me it would arrive last week by courier. It did not arrive. This was problematic, as I need to place a lot of orders for a variety of things, and need the card to do so. They promised me it would be there this past Monday. It did not arrive. I was less than pleased, but they finally got it yesterday, and I placed orders for displays, notions, an entry mat, went to OfficeMax, and paid for a yarn order that was in a state of limbo pending a credit card number.

Now I have to wait for my sales tax certificate to place orders with a few other yarn distributors, such as Mountain Colors. If any of you have never knit with Mountain Colors yarns, you are in for a real treat. Not only are the colors simply gorgeous, but the way this stuff feels is amazing. It is like butter, without the slipperiness and calories.

The bathroom is painted! I need to get new switch plates for it, and need to get CLR to clean out the sink, but it looks pretty damned good. The landlord stopped by yesterday and said he would get the flooring installed soon, too. It is currently just sub-floor, which did make painting less trouble as I didn't have to worry about drips or splatter.

Yesterday I put primer on the office walls - they, too, were that nasty, dark, cheap paneling. I am going to paint that with a key lime green paint I have on hand. It's prettier than it sounds, believe me - my living room is painted in it.

Yesterday I also attended my first River Park Merchants Association meeting - what a bunch of helpful, nice people! I don't think I could have picked a better location for this shop.

Today I will finish painting the office, then this afternoon I have a sign company coming out to give me an estimate. I think I am going to go with a nicely painted wooden sign, which I will illuminate with solar powered floods to save on electricity. I like the whole idea of solar power.

Speaking of reduce, re-use, recycle, I am going to start out with using plastic shopping bags from my personal "stash". I must have a couple hundred Meijer bags, and even though Meijer will recycle them, it only makes sense for me to use them instead of purchasing more plastic.

I am also working on my first shop model. It is made of Malabrigo worsted from my stash, in two colors - Purple Mystery and Cuarzo (a kettle-dyed lilac). I am making the Off-set Tabard from Elise Duvekot's book "Knit One Below". It is looking fabulous! This is the best way to achieve knitted vertical stripes. I altered the bottom edging slightly by using the check stitch pattern in another part of the book for the first two inches, and I am knitting it in one piece instead of two. If you haven't used this technique - which Elizabeth accurately points out is just a brioche stitch - you really should try it. The fabric it produces is lovely, and it lends itself to some fantastic colorwork. After I finish that I am going to make the Brown Sheep beaded lace blouse, which is done in Cotton Fleece. I love knitting with beads. Hopefully I will get it done in time for the opening.

I must now hie me off to the showers - it is amazing how with hair less than 3/4 of an inch long I can still wake up looking like I should be hanging from a keychain. Till next time. If you have any yarn, knit it now. :-)