I was kind of sad when Mollie closed The Gifted Purl even though I knew she was having problems physically and was unable to keep up the shop. I have however started classes at Kathleen's house and in many ways this is a much better situation. Kathleen is truly a master knitter and teaches knitting at a local school through the park district and the Thursday night class at her home is flourishing. Right now I am in the process of learning to make socks, which is vey difficult! The other positive thing is that I can now buy yarn from other sources without feeling guilty! Kathleen was invited to bring her students to a tour of Lorna's Laces, an independant yarn manufacturer in Ravenswood, IL just outside of Chicago by a group from Jean Ann's (sp?) in Barrington, sow we all met up at the Caribou Coffee on Rte. 59 yesterday and went on the tour. It was so much fun! The owner of Lorna's (not Lorna) showed us the different types of yarn they make and then demonstrated how they hand dye the yarn. We did not get to see how it is spun, which was a little disappointing. Afterwards we all purchased some discounted seconds yarn. We then went to lunch at Chicago Pizza just about two blocks away and had a good lunch. Then after lunch we headed over to One Knit Shop and checked out what they had. It is a tiny store and they sell expensive yarns. I bought an Elizabeth Zimmerman book and some needles. At church last night, Pastor Bill Hybels spoke again about the importance of tithing and giving the best you have to God, which reminded me that I have to start working on my budget again. My goal is to get my side business going and 10% of all profit is to go to the church's community center. I have anther order for a scarf and told Karen (from work) that the total cost would be $22, $11 for the yarn and $11 profit, so $1 goes to church. I'm also selling stuff on Ebay of which 10% goes to Willow.
