I have been slowly but surely increasing the minimum number of balls of each color of Spindrift that I keep in stock at Feral Knitter* so I can avoid those distressing "I'm sorry, but I don't have enough of that color to fill your order" messages. A plus for my customers.
However, I was accumulating more stock than would fit into the available space in our home. Plus, I had some ideas about adding another line of Shetland jumperweight yarns to Feral Knitter and I didn't have the room for any more 30-gallon tote boxes. (Do you have any idea how much space 2300 balls and ~800 miniskeins take up???)
After a lot of searching (Side Note: Have you ever browsed the commercial real estate websites for your area? It is fascinating!) I decided to rent space in the ActivSpace building in west Berkeley, a semi-industrial neighborhood with lots of artisan workshops.
Of course, I had grandiose dreams about having a real studio/warehouse combination, with room for me to set up the yarn playpen permanently, perhaps some exposed brick and lots of indirect lighting. Old dress forms, a big table to hold workshops. Eventually a profile in Studios magazine.... Such a romantic vision!
But I know that there is a limit to what beautiful surroundings can do for our work--what's important is that we do the work. My new, compact, sweet little space has room for the things I sell, and want to sell, on Feral Knitter--the "romantic" work, the designing and knitting and writing, will continue to happen in the middle of my busy, multi-tasking, shared-with-other-humans home. Which now seems to have so much more space in it!
And I'm perfectly happy with that.
* Many blog readers aren't aware that I have a business selling Shetland yarn, books, and patterns to support Fair Isle-type knitting. It's called Feral Knitter because, well, what else would I call it? But it is a little confusing.
Love the dream
Posted by: Betty Day | November 16, 2012 at 03:31 PM
That's exciting! Nice vision...but the reality's good too. You'll have your house back!
Posted by: Therese | November 16, 2012 at 03:50 PM
I think that is wonderful! Congratulations on your expansion.
Posted by: Penny | November 16, 2012 at 04:45 PM
Yeah! A GIANT leap of faith is good for the soul. Congratulations!
Posted by: Juliann | November 17, 2012 at 05:50 AM
How exciting! Congratulations!
Posted by: Gretchen | November 17, 2012 at 08:35 AM
Congratulations! My dream for you is that is always looks this tidy at the end of a work period. Breathing space is always a necessity for creativity; this looks as if it will fill that need wonderfully.
Posted by: Deb Tanner | November 19, 2012 at 02:17 PM
Congratulations! and Happy Thanksgiving,
Posted by: Renate | November 20, 2012 at 04:09 PM