I am thankful, as always, that my family has always thought that I could do no wrong, and stood beside me and loved me, no matter what bonehead thing I was about to do, or had just done. I'm thankful for my 'family of friends,' the friends who live nearby who act as my surrogate family and have the added benefit of giving me in-person hugs when I need them. They may not think I can do no wrong, but they are here beside me (well, some of them may be behind me, looking at my butt... you know who you are... and I think you for it!) I'm also thankful that, although it took me three tries to find him, KW is in my life, at my side, together where we belong. Yes, still madly in love. *sigh*
As for the little things that make me happy, take how yarn is displayed in a yarn store. Back when I first learned how to knit, a friend took me to a LYS in a nearby town (names will be changed or not mentioned to protect the silly). I was whacked out by the collection, which was all over the place - messy, disorganized, only the owner seemed to know where anything was. I bought some novelty yarn (mostly because I didn't know any better) and swore I'd never go back there again. Turns out, that was a pretty common assessment among knitters. (BTW, the store has since moved, and I still haven't ventured to their new location. I'm a'feared they brought their organization 'system' with them...)
Even the other LYS known for its randomness, the one I used to work at, treated the yarn with respect, and we tried to keep like things organized with like things, but many people don't like the arrangement, the sense of messiness, the randomness of the hours it's open. The other 'growed up' stores have varying ways of organizing their stash-for-sale, and a quick glance as you walk through the shop is all you need to find what you're looking for or be an informed browser.
So there's one yarn store in the area that stood out from the rest - Madonna Needle Works. It's a lovely store, mostly designed for needleworkers, but with a separate petting zoo (yarn room) for the knitters and crocheters among us. There is just one teensy little bit of weirdness about it - the yarn was arranged by color. She carries good stuff - Cascade and Reynolds and Crystal Palace, among others - but there were multiple bins of blues and multiple bins of greens, and god help you if you were looking for a teal - was it in the green bins? Was it in the blue bins? Most importantly, could you find enough skeins to make a sweater from it? Who knew?
A lot of the regulars who hang out there love the store's personality, but we often found ourselves shopping elsewhere (just not at the other LYS in town - we'd go 20 miles to *not* shop there, but that's anohter blog) - and I even teach knitting classes there. We hated to go somewhere else, but we just couldn't find what we thought we needed or wanted. The idea of arranging yarn by color was pretty cool, but only until we actually wanted to buy something. Then, the novelty of the arrangement became frustrating, since it was really hard to find enough yarn for a multi-skein project.
Well, Teri (the store owner) agreed to change the organization, and it's been converted from being arranged by color to being arranged by brand and type of yarn. I stopped by today for the first time since it was done, and thought I had walked into a new local yarn store. It made such a difference, seeing the yarns arranged by brand and type! Now, I don't have to restrict my thinking to embellishment yarn or one-skein project yarn; the prospect of shopping there for projects and patterns has now opened up. Plus, she just got a boatload of new yarns in - and now you can see them!
See? Little things make me happy, like a sense of organization.
Other little things that make me happy? Taming chenille. That tangled mess hanging on the chair? Well, I did have to cut it - but only once. Now it's in two nicely wound balls, and as soon as I figure out what it wants to be, I'll start knitting. Maybe.
Chenille, before :-( Chenille, after :-)
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