Meghan here, with a new feature we’re trying out, Life of a Knitting Office. Through these posts, I’ll be sharing with you some of the daily aspects of running Kelbourne Woolens and give you a little insight into exactly what goes on here day-to-day. Enjoy!
As you are well aware, we are a wholesale distributor of yarn. And while we’d almost always prefer to be sitting in our offices knitting, that actually never happens – all sample knitting occurs at home, “after hours.” Most days are a mix of packing orders, answering emails, invoicing, editing patterns, answering more emails, photographing new products or tutorials, designing ads, and stocking yarn. Today is a slightly different day, as we finally received Road to China Light from the mill! Yay Baby Camels!
So now, the task is to unpack it and put it away. The next step is to call everyone who has a backorder, or an order to ship this month, and invoice, pack, and send it to shops who have been patiently waiting. This is usually a team effort and it’s always an exciting, albeit exhausting, day.
As the accounts manager, I do most of the packing. I really like this part of my job as it gives me a real-time view of our inventory and a personal connection to our shops. Its quite easy to tell what lines and colors are most popular, as we receive them in orders often and the names come up time and time again, but this very hands-on approach also allows me to identify the “slow-and-steady” yarns – those whose popularity isn’t so apparent but are never-the-less being re-ordered and shipped out at a regular clip.
It’s always a hugely satisfying feeling to fill our shelves up with yarn again so that we can readily grab it when it’s ordered. One of the many ways yarn can make us happy!
If you are a shop who is awaiting Road To China Light, hold tight! I’ll probably be calling you very soon! If you are making something with RTCL, show us by tagging it with #kelbournewoolens and #madewiththefibreco!
Happy Knitting! – MK
I love the behind the scenes stuff- thanks for sharing!