A new column with a contest inside

We will beginning a new column. A new column called The Yarnista Answers all Your Questions and Then Some. Isn't that a snappy title? So short, so memorable. Perhaps I should've called it The Yarnista Answers all Your Questions and Then Some to Make Happy Smiling Mouth for You.

Better? Yes?

No?

In order to create this schmancy new column, I need your questions.

And therein lies the contest. Reply to this message with a question that you would like The Yarnista to answer. (Perhaps The Yarnista will start referring to herself in third person. It sounds so...officious. So... deranged.)

The Yarnista will use your questions in future columns. She will attempt to answer the questions. She may not know the correct answer, but she will come up with something.

Because The Yarnista is feeling generous, you can even include more than one question in your response. (But only one response total.)

Examples of good questions The Yarnista will answer:

1. What makes you so fantastic?


2. Why do I like you so much?


3. Why are you so helpful, so kind, so generous?


4. Why did a swallow foretell your birth and a double rainbow appear over the mountaintop where you were born?

Examples of bad questions The Yarnista will not be answering:

1. What is your Social Security number?


2. What is your mother's maiden name?


3. What is your home address and telephone number, including area code?


4. What is wrong with you?

Your questions can be about yarn, dyeing, my site, me, life, or engineering. Engineering is one of those topics where I will not know the answers to your questions, but I will make up an answer that will sound a tiny bit plausible if you don't know anything about engineering.

Have at it!

You have until 8:00pm EST tomorrow. That's Friday.

The Yarnista thanks you in advance and hopes to make happy smiling mouth for you.

WAIT, I almost forgot! The prize!

The prize is a good one!

The winner will be chosen at random, and will win a $20 gift code to our site, Three Irish Girls. You can use it on anything you like. :)

A brush with ridiculousness

Yesterday I waited a very long time in a very long line in the very hot post office. (Occupational hazard of the job.)

Finally, there was only one person in front of me. She approached the counter and said she needed to buy some one cent stamps. The postal worker asked how many she needed, and she said, "How many can I get with twenty-five cents?"

The postal worker stared at her mutely for a second and said, "Twenty five."


She said, "Ohhh, OK. How many can I get for fourteen cents? I have a quarter plus another fourteen cents in my wallet."

The postal worker replied, "Fourteen. You can get fourteen one cent stamps for fourteen cents."

She said, "Wait a minute, you told me a minute ago I could get twenty-five one cent stamps for a quarter, now suddenly the price has gone up?" She was clearly becoming agitated.

The postal worker was trying to hold it together. He said, "No ma'am. Each once cent stamp costs one cent. If you give me twenty five cents, I will give you twenty five stamps. If you give me fourteen cents, I will give you fourteen stamps."

The woman sniffed huffily. "Fine then, I will take twenty one cent stamps."

To which the postal worker replied, "OK, that will be twenty-one cents."

Do you see where this is going? I will spare you the rest of that conversation. Let us jump ahead to after they have finally agreed on a price and a quantity of one cent stamps.

The woman departed from the counter, and I stepped up, holding my large box and my myriad of smaller packages. She immediately turned around and said, "Wait, I have one more question." How many of these one cent stamps will I need to put on a letter?

The postal worker said, "That depends on the value of the other stamps, and how much the letter weighs. Which stamps do you have, the flags, or the Liberty Bells?"

She replied, "The Liberty Bell."

I could see the postal worker desperately wanted to bang his head against the scale.

Those of you in the US who use stamps may be familiar with the Liberty Bell "Forever" stamp. When you purchase them, they will be good for First Class postage forever, no matter how much the price may increase over time. This woman didn't need any one cent stamps after all.

She now wished to return the one cent stamps she just purchased.

I'll give you the condensed version of the rest of the story. To save you time. Because I am looking out for you.


Noma'amwedon'tacceptreturnsonstamps.

ButIjustboughtthesethey'reperfectlygoodIdidn'tevenleavethepostoffice.

I'msorryma'amthat'spostofficepolicy.

Butyoudidn'ttellmeIdidn'tneedtheseIjustwastedmymoneyandIwantmy

moneyback.

I'msorryma'amIcan'thelpyou.

Letmespeaktoyourmanager.

WhatcanIhelpyouwithma'am?

Iwanttoreturnthesestampsthismanjustsoldmehetriedtotakeadvantage

ofmeandsoldmestampsIdon'tneed.

I'msorrythere'snothingwecando.

Iwanttofileacomplaint.

Yesma'amhere'sthenumebryoucancalltocomplainaboutthefactthatthis

evilevilpersonjustsoldyoutwentyone-centstamps.

ThisisridiculousIamnevercominghereagain!!!!

This all happened while I am waiting patiently very impatiently to conduct my transaction. Brushes with ridiculousness. Just part of being a Yarnista. Or at least that's what I'm telling myself today.

Look for a new contest sometime this week…

... it will sneak up on you with no warning and no announcement. And it will be good!

Just sayin'.

Can I just say?

That y'all rock? I think I have the *best* customers and friends anywhere. I cannot even tell you how many nice emails and comments I've received over the past three days, and it makes me want to weep into my coffee. (Except these would be happy tears.) (Unlike the cry in your coffee tears associated with looking at the "before" pictures of our shop.)

Many of you sent me kind messages when returning your club questionnaires, some of you left a sweet note in the comments box at check out when placing an order, one person emailed me to say she visited my site for the first time and she thought it was "brilliant." (And what girl doesn't want to be told that?)

I don't know what started this outpouring of kindness, but I truly appreciate it. Thank you.

Pardon me while I pour a fresh cup of coffee, this one is too salty now. (You know, with all the tears.)

We're just doing what we love, and hope you'll love it too.

Also, if you arrived here from Lime & Violet, a big hello to you as well. Welcome!

All right, all right, I'll stop with the sappiness. You can forgive an occasional dalliance into schmaltz, right?

XOXOXOXO

Some in progress pictures.

These were taken about seven weeks ago, but I wanted to show some progress pictures for the studio. (You can stop emailing me now.)

Here's the front room with the first coat of paint on the wall. The entire room is not this color. I later realized that I should've used primer on this wall. Because of the texture, it sucked up so much paint... I had to go out and buy more twice.



Here's the office.



You can stop gagging now.

Here's the main work room, viewed from the front room.



And here's a shot of the tiny little room with all the foam squares and the giant table.





This room is now painted a yummy color, as are all the other rooms.