You have to come in and check out this magazine. It’s British.



Or don’t even come in if you can’t, but check it out somewhere.

Anywhere.

Online is a good option.

In addition to carrying around a hard copy, I also usually download one to my iPad.

Of course, digitally you don’t get the cute little giveaway included in every month’s issue.



I actually have no idea what that is.



But I like it.

This is what a meeting with a yarn sales rep looks like in my office.



It’s gone a little more high tech than it was back in the Studio Knit days.

Most everyone types up their orders on their iPads now (or the equivalent) rather than writing all those long lists of color numbers by hand.

But there’s still plenty of pouring over pattern books and fondling yarn and the torture of, once having chosen a yarn, having to pick out colors. (Ugh! I usually throw in the towel and just order them all. Oh well.)

The sales rep sits here (today it was the unbelievably lovely Sherry Massey):



And I sit here:



And we both struggle to get through the avalanche of wool and related paraphernalia with our knees up to our chins and our phones buried somewhere underneath the commotion so that when one of us gets a call, we flutter around madly, messing up the piles that were never that neat to begin with.



But the best part is:

If you’re reeeeeeally good, you may get some samples at the end.

And despite the literally hundreds of boxes of yarn you have in the back room, these little treats will delight you and brighten your whole day.

What’s cuter than this tag?




Well... there’s this one, actually.




And this one.





Oh, and this one!






And, well…. don’t forget these cutie-pies.




So much Valentine’s sweetness.

There’s more, but you’ll have to come in to see the rest…

Dreamed up and fabricated by the amazing Ruth Rosenfield, of course.







p.s. Sorry for all of the Valentine’s posts! I can’t help myself.

Sometimes I’m jealous of other people’s stores.

Particularly the ones where, in my fantasy, boxes of new products come in, items are whisked out of said boxes, a price tag is quickly applied and - poof! - onto the shelves they go.

A process of minutes maybe.

Ahhhhh.

Well, maybe no one’s store works that way, but I know for a fact that ours doesn’t.

We are constantly re-packaging, cutting, labeling, decanting, trimming and generally sprucing up most things that come in before we decide that they are ready for prime time.



Case in point:

Everything we have ever received that is made of paper maché comes covered - and I mean COVERED - with sticky, stubborn, gross-looking price stickers that would never dream of coming off all in one piece.



But my employees are so nice and know me so well that they are willing to painstakingly scrape off the stickers.

(Just one of the many intellectually stimulating jobs here at Once Around, by the way.)

Fingernails, box cutters, scissors are all employed in this endeavor.

No rush jobs, though. Doesn’t work.

In fact, I imagine we spend about 10 minutes per item on sticker removal. Sigh.




It’s worth it, though. Don’t you think?

In case you didn’t receive our newsletter this morning, today we’re launching a whole new class concept.

In a nutshell, it’s all about the OPEN WORKSHOP. Think: free, flexible and low stress.



Read about it (along with some other news)…. here.

Let the Valentine’s Day crafting begin!

OK.


This is hard.


Here goes…



IF you feel like it AND you have time AND you actually agree, then please….

Vote for Once Around.




We’re under the KIDS AND PETS category, where we are up for BEST ART SUPPLIES.



It’s very uncomfortable to self-promote.

At the same time… Is it wrong to admit that we’d really like to have one of those Best of Marin stickers to put on our front door????

We’ve been having some fun with heart-shaped pom pom makers lately.




We have both sizes in stock.



These are pretty cute, don’t you think?

As one employee said, “It’s all about the trimming.”




Just a few more??

I love it when we get in something that was specifically requested by a customer.

It makes me feel as though I’m actually doing my job.



These Pentel pens are a perfect example.

We’ve had the sets of 6 for a long time now, but a customer asked for some of the larger sets.

Now we have sets of 12, 18, 24 and 36 of these wonderful pens!

Sometimes the back room needs a little sprucing up as well. To all of the good-natured(?) haters of my vintage industrial furniture addiction I say… HA! How cool is this?



This old post office cabinet makes a perfect employee “locker” area.

Of course, these employees’ bins are made of bamboo and each owner’s name can be written on in chalk, thanks to newest employee, Sarah Ellison and Hudson Chalkboard Paint.



Pillows courtesy of PB Teen. I couldn’t resist.

There’s been a whole lot of this…



... going on at the store lately.


And this.



And this.



And this.





The holiday rush left our shelves a little bare and I hate that.


It feels good to see a full store again.