Tell Me Something Good: Community Supported Yarn

Community Supported Yarn (CSY) sign ups are just about to close. I wanted to chat you up about all the great things that are CSY. Lets review the knitty gritty details first.

• 5 skeins of yarn over 5 months, starting September 15th, ending January 15th. 
• 4 out of 5 yarns have been chosen, want to chime in with your opinion about the 5th? So far there is a worsted, 2 fingering, and one DK. 
• Each skein is either 100 grams or 4 ounces. Essentially five full skein.
• A membership is $100+15 for shipping $20 to ship to Canada, $30 to ship international 
• Each skein retails for $25+ individually, major savings when purchased as a CSY
• There will be one variegated dyed skein, the rest will be semi solid colors. 
• Included in each month's shipment will be pattern suggestions that are available on Ravelry.
• You are welcome to purchase more than one share. If you are head over heals about a specific yarn and want more of it you are welcome to order the quantity you need.
• Colors will be exclusive for 3 months to CSY members.
• Monthly prizes!

So why am I selling memberships to Community Supported Yarn? A lot of reasons! There's two I want to focus on: growing Knitted Wit, and creating community while doing it. 

Business Goals

• Attend winter TNNA, the wholesale trade show for the needle industry in Long Beach, California. I attended the summer show in Ohio and added more wholesale accounts from around the US. Made contacts with magazine editors and designers. Since the show, more shops have contacted me about carrying Knitted Wit. Magazines have asked for yarn to review. Designers have requested yarn for new patterns. This is the best place to make connections with other people around the US and world that have the same passion that I do. 
• I want to improve my productivity by buying more efficient equipment. I currently dye one pot at a time. I plan on buying another burner stand and a larger propane tank to run two cooking pots at a time. Double the yarn being dyed!! That sounds fantastic to me!
• Currently I have an electric winder that I wind yarn on to from cones, and use to rewind skeins. The machine can do 3 skeins at a time, a great improvement over 1 skein at a time. But I would love to upgrade to a winder that can do 6 (!) at a time.

Community Goals

One way to have a Knitted Wit community, if you're not in Portland, is buy into a membership with other knitters. Two women from my knitting group knew they wouldn't be able to knit fast enough so they shared a share. Or maybe schedule a knit night when the new shipment comes, or pick a group project to work on. 

Creating community might be difficult to measure. Community can only grow based on what every individual contributes. I am hoping to use social media spaces like Ravelry, Facebook, and Twitter to get together and have chats. I know there will be members of the CSY that don't chat in the Ravelry group, or don't have a Twitter account. But hopefully we can find a space to have conversations, and not just about yarn! I am so grateful for the variety of conversations I've had with our community. A lot has been related to children and health issues, but that seems to be where our life is right now! I'm hoping that not only will I enjoy this community, but you will too. Again, we get out what we put in! I'd love to hear your ideas on how you'd like to grow and enjoy the Knitted Wit community.

If you have any questions about Community Supported Yarn, please ask away! I'm so excited about this getting started and I can't wait for you to join us!