I am completely, utterly outraged!! Outraged, I tell you. To the point where I was almost speechless last night. Many of you dedicated knitter/blogreaders will have heard about this. My first hint of this crime against knitting came at Knit at Night when Sarah revealed the injustice.
What exactly am I talking about?
The brilliant women of Blue Moon Fibers came up with the equally brilliant business concept of a Sock Club. You sign up, send your money, and they send you fabulous sock kits throughout the year. Fun, hun?
We knitters love it. Love it more because it became such a success and we could celebrate for these fiber entrepreneurs.
Success came at a price, however. Their business success meant that they needed to pull in non-knitters (i.e. a bank) to process the credit card orders. These non-knitting, unimaginative souls could not grasp the concept of hundreds of knitters wanting (needing, craving) sock yarn of all things. So, clearly, they concluded, the whole thing must be a scam. THEY SHUT IT DOWN. They stopped accepting cc orders and REFUNDED the money to those who had placed orders.
Can you imagine?
Can you imagine what this did to that business??
Luckily these women, are, in fact, brilliant. They have recovered quickly.
But our collective outrage as knitters has not.
Rather than investigate a bit, or, say, TALK, to the ladies at Blue Moon, the bank concluded it was impossible that this many people would spend this much money on yarn.
I shake my head in sorrow for their fiber-deprived souls.
I had a similar experience when beginning the shop. The first bank I approached about setting up a business account and loan, rejected it on the grounds that “no one knits anymore.” That’s right. Some guy in a central office out in Ohio took one look at my paperwork and snorted at the idea that anyone would knit, much less need to purchase yarn with which to do so.
AGGGHHHHHHH!!!
Why do they dismiss what they don’t understand?
They need to touch some alpaca. Smell some handspun. Be lucky enough to wear hand knit socks.
Wait. They don’t deserve it.
I was extremely fortunate to find a bank, where although they didn’t necessarily knit, they had open, creative minds and were willing to learn about the whole phenomenon that has obsessed us all. They have supported, encouraged, and even leaned to knit.
Lesson?
Not all banks are bad. But, when looking to do business, test them. Be casually knitting as you walk in the door. Check out the response. Mention the word “alpaca.” See if they look at you like you have lost your mind, or if their eyes light up with that special gleam we knitters get.
Ok- enough ranting.
Here is some cuteness to reset the energy to the positive side.
Sean brought in her little man to model the sweater she made for him:
Check out the hood!! So cute.
Now a piece of knitting inspiration. Here is a scarf by a self-described knitting novice ( I disagree with that assessment based on this project).
She invented this cool scarf for her son:
I practically begged her to write down the pattern.
Now.. let us all pull out a sock to knit as we wait for the snow to start falling...