The Ice Storm
12-11-07 5:00 pm
I can think of few things more exciting than driving into work on a day when the radio alarm was full of school closings. I kind of wanted to be 7 again and sit around the house watching mind-numbing day-time tv or playing on the computer. But, I’m not 7, and I carpooled with Mom into the shop.
We’ve seen maybe 4 people today. I’ve been using the downtime to set up this blog *finally* and catch up on some paperwork. It’s also afforded us some time to catch up on the direction of the store. We’ve been working on some cool structural changes to our classes- its probably not even something a student would notice, but it should make things easier for our instructors.
On Saturday, Veronica Van from Dream in Color Yarn was in the shop talking about her journey from art teacher to running a pretty cool yarn dying business. She uses Australian merino superwash and applies the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup method of creating colors. Picture tossing a whole bunch of dye and fixers in a vat, cooking it, and pulling it out to find the most amazing color you’d ever seen. Then imagine spending the next month trying to figure out what the heck you did in that sublime moment. That was how the company got its legs, and according to Veronica how some of her favorite colors were invented.
I wish I would have taken a picture of the marquee this weekend. We had “Do You Dream In Color? Meet Veronica Van of Dream in Color Yarn” out in front of Edgebrook for all the people to see. I know we’re a little po-dunk lifestyle mall (it’s so much nicer than saying “strip mall,” and I must thank the trendy wordsmiths who created the term), but I’m still bemused by seeing anything we offer put up in lights. I’ll probably get the same feeling when I see our commercial on Martha Stewart this week. I would think since I already paid for it I’d know it’s coming and the bloom would be off the rose, but still I do a little happy dance and clap my hands. That’s creating value - making someone pay for something and still surprising them with it. Kudos to the Land of Advertising!
dr john, yarn boy
