Jana and The Yarn Room origin story
People are often curious about origin stories. I too, think they are so intriguing.
In a previous blog post, I promised I will tell y’all how I got to own The Yarn Room. Here then follows my Yarn Room origin story, and for that I need to go back to 2022, or should it be earlier?
I am the eldest of 5 children, all very close together. While there were a lot of pros and cons, one fact was Christmas could get VERY complicated and expensive if we were to buy everyone a Christmas gift. My mother decided that we would all, by the luck of the draw, buy one gift for the person whose name you drew, and therefore receive one gift. It was always fun to see how the cards fell that year. The tradition carried over from my childhood into adulthood, with one exception. We rotated the yearly Christmas hosting in a cycle linked to birth order.
So, in 2022, Christmas was scheduled in Stellenbosch where a sister stays. My hubby and I were planning to fly there and back and spend just a few days there. Not many bags mean very little space for a, perhaps, bulky present, creating some challenge with the hints for Christmas gifts.
At the time, I was really interested in the craft of crochet, and I thought the idea of yarn sounds interesting. But I wanted to be able to choose. Obviously, a gift card sounded like the perfect option. The challenge now was to find a perfect store.
After some extensive research, my choice fell on The Yarn Room.
I got the gift card!
I spent one fine morning in January 2023 debating with myself what yarn I should get. It was clear that the choice was difficult as there were so many different options, all equally beautiful. I fell in love with Urth Uneek Cotton. There was a sample of a knitted boatneck top that didn’t look too difficult, so I bought all the yarn and a ChiaoGoo cable and tips to set me on my way to knit my first top. (Spoiler alert, it is still on the cable – need to finish!)
Being in Jennifer’s shop and meeting her and Josephina, was a very lovely experience. I loved the magic of the yarn so much that I was very happy to be included in the newsletter.
It was the newsletter in December 2023 that changed everything!
That was the newsletter Jennifer sent out to announce that she would like to sell The Yarn Room because of her family’s new opportunity in Canada.
I read with some excitement, then didn’t think it was possible. I read it again, thinking "What if?" Then playing it down in my head. Then reading it again, thinking "But why not?" That newsletter bugged me for two days. I decided that I will pitch this hairbrained idea to my husband and see what he says. The chances of the idea getting further than idea stage is slim to none, so let me just do it, just like Nike. I nearly fell over when Frik was supportive of me finding out what the asking price was and all the other preliminary questions one would ask.
I was scared to ask. Just now I must really go through with this. What do I know? What makes me so special? How will I ever be on a level where I feel I know enough? The only thought that kept me pushing through my own insecurities was, "How will I know if I never try?" So, I decided to walk the path as far as it goes. I was okay if it didn’t go any place near where I thought it could.
Not to bore you with the detail, and also because we can’t fit a typical movie montage in here, I will just tell you that I announced to Jennifer that I am really serious about the store on 3 January 2024, when we signed a memo of intent to purchase. We signed the contract less than 2 weeks later. We moved the store to its current location on 29 – 31 January. I took full responsibility 1 February; we had our grand opening on 10 February; and Jennifer got on the airplane on 14 February. That was also the day that Josephina announced that she needed to take care of her own dream. That was the day I was now totally on my own, and responsible for this new adventure.
And an adventure it is!