As talented as Alex and Lori-Lynn might have been, there was something they collectively lacked: a really, really good knowledge of knitting. Sure, Alex had become a serial scarf knitter, but he wasn't going to be able to help anyone save a screwed-up sweater or attempt a new stitch they saw in a Twisted Sisters Pattern. (We love the Twisteds. Alex especially. He buys new clothes whenever he has a date with them.)
To help knitters by telephone would have been an impossible challenge -- even if Alex did have a clue what to say. So, if we were going to provide the level of customer service we thought was essential, Yarnmarket needed a professional knitter.
We thought about calling Aunt Wilma, but Pickerington, Ohio is a long commute from Calgary, Alberta. And she seemed to be so happy about her retirement and how she and Uncle Murray spent their time doing volunteer work and traveling the planet. So we placed an ad in the local paper, and the resumes started coming in.
There are a lot of knitters out here in Ohio!
And all of them looked wonderful on paper. But one resume really caught our attention. It was from a lady named Jan. Jan had retired from a local business college. She taught writing courses to corporate staff on a consultancy basis. And she really knew her knitting. We knew we were meant for each other...even if she hadn't met us yet!
The interview must have gone well because the next thing I knew, Alex announced that Jan was coming on board. He was elated that Jan was an expert on yarn and knitting. And I was thrilled that she was one heck of a writer. I'd written the first issue of our newsletter and was delighted that Jan would take over. (At this time, I was still at my "real" job in corporate America, but was helping Alex as much as I could.)
Jan celebrated her third anniversary with us not long ago. In that time, she's become immersed in selecting the yarns we sell, the colors and patterns we promote, and she singlehandedly writes the newsletters to our customers to let them know all about the wonderful products sell.
Best of all, Jan can read my blogs, and point out every single grammatical and punctuation error I make!
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