You know, the thing, the thing that’s really really wanting to be done.

For me, at the end of 2008, that was getting out of the office-world and more fully into the yarny, business-y, running my own ship-world.

And I did it. And the year was so hard.

But I did it!

And after listening to the call free Q+A call I did earlier this week (you can get it here), I realize so many of you have a thing to do in 2010 and aren’t sure where to start. Or you have lots of questions about how I did it, because you’re not sure it’ll work for you.

And the truth is, I don’t know if it’ll work for you. So there’s no point in giving you a bunch of do-this-and-this advice.

The best I can do is suggest that you ask yourself some questions and you figure out what th the Thing is for you and how best to get there for you.

Maybe your thing isn’t quitting your dayjob, but pretty much whatever your thing is, you need someplace to start. And a resolution to do the thing probably isn’t enough.

With that in mind, I humbly offer a list of questions to ask yourself before you do the Thing.

These are the questions I started asking as I started on the journey to quitting my dayjob.

Let me know if you use the questions and please please pass them on to anyone who has a thing to do in 2010.

Good Asking and Happy New Year!

PS. Download the Questions to Ask pdf by clicking here.

PPS. Wondering how to get more customers, to get more sales, so you actually make what you need to make to quit your dayjob? That, my friend, is Sharing Your Thing & I’m teaching a class about it next week! Read more here.

Confession:
I’m scared. Worried. Unsure.

A lot of the time when it comes to business stuff.

Especially as I prepare for today’s Q+A call.
Especially when I think about the new year and all the new stuff I’m planning to try.
Especially when I think about biggifying (that’s Havi’s word).

Confession:
I don’t know what I’m doing a lot of the time.

I have an idea, I put it into motion.
Whether the Learn to Knit Kit or the Year of Yarn or today’s call.

An idea comes to me and I run with it, while I have the courage.

But often, during that sprint from new idea to finished product, I second-guess, doubt, wonder.

I wanted to share that today, as so many of us are thinking of the new year. You may be plotting to quit your dayjob or trying follow your big dream and I wanted to remind you that these big things often come with fear or doubt.

It’s a step in the process, not a sign you need to turn back.
If anything, it’s a sign you’re on the right path, that you’re really reaching towards awesomeness.

So today, if you’re feeling a bit of overwhelm at the awesomesauce of the coming year, I want to let you know: you’re not alone.

In fact, you’re right on schedule.

Last January, I sat down to think about the upcoming year.

I’m not one for resolutions or promises or big change-your-life sort of goals.
But I do like to figure out what I want out of the next year.

First on my list for 2009 was to quit my day job. But that goal had a lot of mini-goals that I wanted to happen before I quit:

• get some press coverage
• make enough, by selling yarn, to replace my dayjob salary for 3 months in a row
• create new, not-strictly handspun yarn-related products

As I look back on 2009, despite all the other icky stuff this year brought, I’m really proud of myself for accomplishing those goals.

But what about YOU?

But my goal was two-fold: I want to crush it and share it. (I wrote about that here).

And while I’ve shared as much as I could as I was going through the process, I now have the time (and presence of mind) to share even more, with more details.

This year, it’s not a goal or a resolution or anything, but I am commiting to sharing it in 2010.

Since making my own goals public and then sharing the process, I’ve gotten a steady stream of emailed questions. I know there are more people who are NOT asking and I want to share as much as I can!

I have lots of ideas for really in-depth ways to share it (and by “it”, I mean the whole quit-your-dayjob, do-what-you-love, make-a-biz-from-your-craftyness thing) but I wanted to get started right away.

Let’s talk!

Next Monday (12/28), at 2pm EST, let’s take a break from the holiday-craziness and just chat about business stuff.

I’ll give you a toll-free number (and access code) to call and you can call in and ask questions  about anything business-y.  Even if you don’t have questions or you’re shy and don’t like to speak up (that’s me!), call in to hear other people’s answers!

If you can’t make it at that time, I’ll send you the recording (as long as you’ve registered for the call).

To get the phone number & the recording, just sign up here.

I look forward to talking to you!

PS. I’m not selling ANYthing! They’ll be no sales pitch or anything on this call, I just want to answer the questions you have!

You know it’s what you want.

Your family knows it’s what you want.

Yarn.

But if they’re anything like my family…they don’t know how to give it to you.

And I know your family is like my family, because they’ve been emailing me, asking me what they should get you; how much, what color, what it all means.

So I’m making it easy for all of you.

Tell them to get you a BCB gift certificate and then YOU can pick out the skein of yarn you want. No math, no shipping: 1 gift card will get you 1 skein of yarn. Simple, eh?

But maybe you want more than a skein of yarn?
If that’s the case, point your loved ones to the Year of Yarn and you’ll get a skein of yarn EVERY month for a year!

What are you hoping to get for Christmas?

I own a yarn shop.

A real-life, bricks and mortar, come-in-and-have-a-seat yarn store.

I signed the lease just 11 days ago and we’re opening tomorrow. Tomorrow!

I’ve been blogging our day by day progress on the website, you can read it here.

I’ve waited to announce it here, because I was still working out the details. What would the shop be like? What would it’s personality be?
How would it affect Blonde Chicken Boutique?

Now that I know the answer, I’m ready to share it with you.

Blonde Chicken Boutique is going to continue on as it has. It’s my own company, my own line of yarn. I will keep posting new yarns weekly to the Boutique and talking about eco-friendly fiber and pattern ideas here, on the blog. Blonde Chciken Boutique is my creative outlet and it’s not going anywhere.

A Novel Yarn is in partnership with my mom. We’re trying to create an open studio for fiber arts and a gallery for handmade yarn.

But what’s that mean?

Open studio: I’ll be spinning at the shop during business hours. I’ll also have my carder, so you can see the process from fiber to yarn. I’ll also have one-on-one lessons for knitting and spinning. We’ll be teaching classes on a all sorts of knitterly endevours from learning to knit to knitting with handspun to using Ravelry.

Gallery for handmade yarn: Our shelves with be overflowing with handmade yarn from myself and a host of my spinny friends. Anyting relating to fiber that is handdyed, handspun or otherwise handmade  is welcome! We’ll have handpainted needles, Learn to Knit Kits, books by indie publishers and (eventually) patterns by indie designers.

It has been a whirlwind to get open but so so satisfying to just begin to promote so many fabulous fiber artists.

Tomorrow is our first day and December 19th is our Grand Opening. If you’re in Jonesborough, TN, come say hi!

And if you can’t come in to the yarn shop, you can always find your favorite Blonde Chicken Boutique yarn right here in the shop.

Since there’s just one week left to get the Learn to Knit Kit in time for Christmas (12/17 is the last day!), I want to help you finish your gift-shopping as easily as possible.

In that spirit, the Learn to Knit Kit will have FREE SHIPPING for the next week!

To sweeten the gift, the Kit will include (for the next week ONLY) $10 off your next Blonde Chicken Boutique purchase.

 The kit will have a physical gift certificate in it, so when you give it as a gift, you can sneak it out for yourself (shame!) or leave it in for the recipient!

Wondering if the Kit is right for you? Read Diane’s review here!

Although I’ve taught plenty of people to knit in person, I’ve been wondering how my Learn to Knit Kit would fare on a true non-knitter.

Diane from CraftyPod has answered the question thoroughly! In her review she shares some screen shots from the videos and what do you know, she learns to knit! Read her glowing review here and then get your own copy (for a non-knitting cousin!) here.

And just a friendly warning – December 17th is the last day to buy the kit for Christmas delivery!

I’ll confess, I am not a pattern-follower. And thus, I very rarely buy patterns.

But occaisionally there are patterns so suited to a specific person, so unique, unlike anything I could design on my own and so beautifully photographed that I know purchasing the pattern is the only way to make the great item.

The following patterns meet those standards and would be just the thing to shock your not-knitting gift recipients.
(all of these links are to the Ravelry page, if you’re not on Ravelry, sign up, already! It’s free and fabulous!)

French Press Felted Slippers – I NEED these! Need!

Yarn Harlot’s Pretty Thing – such a pretty lacey cowl.

Smith - Squee! A tiny stuffed hedgehog. Adorableness!

Felted Clogs – Everyone in the world wants warm feet in winter. These clogs are the squooshiest!

What’s your favorite pattern to knit into gifts?

The holiday season has too many “shoulds”.

And, as knitters, we’re often overwhelmed with the “shoulds”:
We should knit a gift.
We should have handknit stockings.
We should knit ornaments for the tree.

But I like to let go of the shoulds and focus on the wants.

What do I want out of the holiday season?
Lots of time with my family.
Knitting by the tree.
Giving handmade gifts to the people who really appreciate and cherish them.
Teaching young cousins to knit (with this kit).

In that spirit, I’ll be sharing some great ideas for patterns to knit for gifts, IF you want to knit gifts this year. If you don’t, then I bet you’ll enjoy making them for yourself!

To start with, I’ll share what my family really loved the past few years:

Handspun, handdyed crocheted mitts for my little brothers.

Pattern: Basic Fingerless Mitts
Similar yarn: any of this handdyed handspun yarn

Boring Manly scarf for Jay

Patern: 1×1 rib.
Yarn: Jo Sharp Silk Tweed, purchased at Churchmouse Yarns.

Every year I make my mom a scarf from my handdyed, handspun yarn, but I can’t seem to find ANY pictures of her wearing them! Hmm…
The scarf that was the most popular was probably the Multi-directional Scarf (especially cool in a self-striping yarn, like Neon Rainbow)

What have been your successful knitted gifts?

I usually love dyeing.
(Note: that’s dyEing, not dying)
Most mornings I get up, have a cup of tea and then put on a pot of dye. I add fiber or yarn, let it simmer, turn it off, let it cool, rinse it and then hang it out to dry on the porch.

But then the cold, wet weather came.
And the porch wasn’t get the yarn dry fast enough.

And I wanted to get all the Organic Cotton dry for the Learn to Knit Kit.
So I turned to my trusty washing machine.
I’ve done this many times: Spin cycle for 2 minutes, take out the fiber, hang it out. It gets the drippy wetness out and it dries so much faster!

But…I stepped away.

And it got ugly. Agitation-cycle ugly.
Here’s the proof:
(avert your eyes, faint of heart!)

That’s 6 skeins of yarn, not just tangled, but tangled TOGETHER!

I can only write about it now because it’s all untangled and hand-balled into sweet little balls of yarn.

Best yet, I’ve knit with the yarn since the ordeal and I’ve forgiven it utterly. It is so soft, I just couldn’t stay mad.

And after all that, my mom is smitten with the cowl I knit with it and wants one in every color.

Back to the dyepots!

Remember: Today’s the last day to get *free* videos and a pretty bound booklet when you buy the Learn to Knit Kit!