When you are tired…

What do you do when you are tired and sick? I think it is sod’s law that when your child is sick – you will either get sick or will be just recovering from something… for me – I think both applies. Poorly Lewis again! It has been a particularly stressful week this week… lots been going on. I think that has made me sickly.

The weekend is already coming to an end. I was hoping that I can have more weekend time to catch up and contemplate…

Strangely for me – when I am tired and stress – I like picking up my needles to do some random knitting. No big projects – just random knitting! Look at this scarf I made today for Lewis… not yet complete, but a lot of progress… using a stitch called “Divided Boxes”:

I will ask Master Lewis to model it once he is better… Off to bed now before he wakes up again…

Yarn Box Update

First of all a HUGE “thank you” for all the messages of support and comments about Yarn Box and us going up for sale. We had a huge amount of interest and I met lovely potential shopkeepers. We have however had a change in personal circumstances and Yarn Box will no longer be on sale.

You will still have to put up with me!

But I must say a huge thank you to everyone over the pass two weeks and a special mention of Abby for her best wishes and support!

Following the Manos exodus (which was a great success) I will be thinking of other great offers to put together and mail out. Not least the Japanese Amigurumi books which have yet been shown!

Debbie Bliss Magazine Update: The magazines have finally arrived and all have been posted out this morning! It was quite a task over 200 magazines to the post-office. But the lovely lady there (with whom I spent an hour with) did not complain. My little helper (Lewis) was also there helping stick on the stamps – so if your one comes through with the wonky stamps you will know why…

Estimated delivery times: UK (you should have it by Saturday 27 Sept – otherwise any times from there on – it did go first class); Europe (you should expect to see it appear in your letter box from about Tuesday 30 September onwards); Rest of the World (US, Canada, Aussie – the end of next week is a reasonable estimate). Drop me a line when they all get there so I know they have arrived safely!

Once again thanks to everybody and all the lovely messages over the past two weeks!! Jo x

Yarn Box is up for sale

I write this post with some sadness, after a lot of thought – I have decided to sell Yarn Box. It has been something that my sister and I started from stratch from the name to the planning of the logo – to looking through shade cards to buying label printers.

I have to admit it is too tough to balance work, Lewis and Yarn Box. It really deserves more and I am sure it can get very far in the right hands – someone (or a team of people) who can give it the time and dedication it merits.

I am now looking for suitors – so if you know of anyone who is interested in starting up a new business or a few ladies looking to come together to run something – please ask them to get in touch. (info@yarnbox.co.uk)

Until the new owner is found – we will be business as usual – all orders (especially the magazine) will be honoured (as soon as the stock comes in).

Amigurumi 39

It is 11.15pm – my eye are close to shutting – but for a few weeks – my to do list has been a total failure… one thing I vowed to do this weekend was to have one of the Japanese goodies – Amigurumi 39 on the site. As the space at the shop is limited here is a more indepth look at the book with illustrations to share:

We are selling this for £5.75 – which is a real bargain for what it has – here is a small taster for you:

In the 50 coloured pages of this book – it takes someone from begining to end through step by step pictures of how to make these adorable knits…

This book will be a fantastc gift to a knitter – or a real nice treat to yourself!  Enjoy xx

What have we been up to?

The newsletter went out at the begining of the week and featured the great discounts on Mirasol and Baby Cash; as well as the 20% discount. The response has been fantastic. The office is now sorted out with all the furniture additions. Filing still needs to be done. I also met Jaqueline one evening – and it is lovely to put a face to a name. Then – Lewis had his first day at school and had a temperature the same night…

What plans do I have coming up… the first is to photograph and feature the Japanese books which have now all arrived. That is my top priority for this week…

Debbie Bliss Magazine Review

Debbie Bliss Magazine.

It’s here – it has arrived… once again a reminder that we have been given batch releases with our full allocation coming next week. So please bear with us and we will get everything dispatched as quickly as possible. For those who are waiting for a quick preview and review – here it is:

Wonderfully printed – glossy pages. Print quality is superb. Advertising has been limited to about less than 10% of the106 pages.

There are features from Debbie’s personal life – her favourite products and recipes. What is on her book shelf. An interview with designer/author Melody Griffiths. Rosy Tucker answers the technical questions.

Then there is a wonderful patterns and her wonderful designs. Casual clothes, pretty cardigans and shrugs inn luxurious silk. Sweaters for him. Tweedy designs. Decorative items around a home. Cozy treats for kids and swaddles for the baby.

Debbie Bliss has got it all covered in her magazine. It is all set at a RRP of £3.75 – excellent value for money. For a limited period of time (until our full stock arrives next week) we are offering the Debbie Bliss Magazine at a pre-order rate of £3.00. Click here to place your pre-order.

Debbie Bliss Magazine Update

We have been promised to get 10 copies of the Debbie Bliss Magazine by the weekend – yes I am sitting by the window looking out for the delivery van.

The rest of the order (we ordered over 100 copies) will be here by the end of next week – currently it is going through custom’s clearance. Once I have more news I will update everyone. The Debbie Bliss Magazines will be dispatched in the order we received your order – so those who have been waiting since the 11th August will get them by early next week, and the rest will follow later on in the week. I will do everything possible to get them sent out as soon as possible. We have already prepared the mailer envelopes and addresses – so once the Debbie Bliss Magazine is here – envelopes will be stuffed and magazines sent out!

In the mean while I will keep the PRE-ORDER price of £3.00 available until the full stock arrives. So order now to benefit from the discount. And remember if your total order is over £35 – postage will be free on the entire order.

Where am I?

Last week was a super busy week which then evolved into a super busy weekend. And we are now back to a super busy week. We have had an office re-vamp – which new furniture moved in, computers re-located, laptops re-set-up. Everything seems to be dysfuntional.

Yesterday evening was the first day I actually got round to accessing the office to a little tidy up and then realising that all the filing was misplaced and then spent the rest of the evening looking for things causing more mess.

My back had swollen up to twice its normal size (yes a back can swell up). I was careful not to do any lifting – but perhaps of the very little I did do – it turned out to be too much! That has left me in agony for the past two evenings and then again leading to even less productivity.

I look forward to when it is all done. It will be a nice working environment.

Update on all things Yarn Box (YB) related. In the midst of my relocation – I have “forgotten” (yes – please forgive me!) about the launch date of the Debbie Bliss magazine until I received about 5 emails this morning asking for more information. Then it clicked “expected launch date 2nd September”. DY was the first port of call. I have been advised a limited number of the magazines will be dispatched to me by the end of the week. And a promise to all – it will be sent out by me as soon as I have it here! Watch this space.