After a week of serious carpentry a bunch of real nice people came over and helped us paint every square inch of the space.  I can't believe how different things look after a couple coats of Mythic eggshell latex paint in Parrafin.  Seriously, it's gorgeous.

The Ikea tables for the sewing machines and small people chairs for our "little stitchers classes" got built and stained. I love the bright colors but also still being able to see the wood grain.  I think it's a lot more fun than a world of pine furniture.  And the cabinets for the bathroom and general "hang out" area were put together - they are having their counter tops installed today while I do important things like blog and order books.

So you know that we're a bunch of theatre and film peeps.  We're roll-up-your-sleeves-and-get-it-done types with DIY pulsing through our veins.  And we're lucky to have worked in a local industry that fosters a strong community so we have lots of people volunteering and providing their services for a song (none of us are great singers so this is a steal!).

On Sunday we unloaded folding chairs, tools, an ironing board and iron, a steamer, ten gallons of Mythic paint and a ton of snacks into the recently emptied space.  I'm a big believer in frequent snack breaks, without a handful of nuts every few hours I get wicked cranky.  Can you believe that only 48 hours earlier the shop had still been filled with antiques, collectibles and fine Thai silk-wares?

This is the seed stitch cowl I whipped up using Cascade's Magnum on size 19 circular needles.  All while watching the NFC final game.  I'm a huge sports fan and I'm from the Midwest so my love for football (NFL and the Big Ten), March Madness, and the Cubs is bottomless.

This used to be a blog post about the 449 pounds of yarn that was delivered to our house.  But for some reason the post disappeared.  Like it's gone.  Sometimes the internet slays me.  

Anyway, 1,700 skeins of yarn weighs a lot.  1,700 skeins of yarn in awkwardly large boxes are a pain to walk up three flights of stairs.  And we have to carry those very same boxes down the stairs.  Along with boxes from Farmhouse Yarns, Cloud 9 Fabrics, Robert Kaufman, Rowan, and so much more.

After years working as a costume designer and crafting all by my lonesome, I started wondering if there was a way to do what I loved (sewing, crafting, fashioning stuff out of vintage finds, etc.) all the time and not do it alone. I read about San Francisco’s Stitch Lounge and while I never got to go there, I was really sad when they closed their doors. I was envious of all the people who had a place to go make something while getting to hang out with other people itching to make something, too.

Years later I noticed that stitch lounges were popping up all over the country. And in Canada. But there wasn’t one in my neck of the woods.