Beware, there's a long rant at the end of this

I got very little done this weekend. Saturday the weather was nice and Lilly and I sat on the front porch watching dragonflies and butterflies while Jim washed the cars.



This is the coolest dragonfly I've ever seen. Most of his wings are clear which makes the brown parts stand out and it looks like he's holding little air traffic controller flags. (Hey, I have a 2 1/2 year old, developing an over-active imagination is an involuntary side effect of having children.)

I also made some progress on the Lace-up Cardi.



The back, two front pieces, and one sleeve are finished and the second sleeve I cast on this morning. So hopefully by Friday this will be blocking and I'll be casting on for my Kauni sweater.

I know this subject has been something a lot of people have been discussing on the knit blogs but I can't help but throw my own two cents in. I'm talking about yarn shops and the elitist, cliquish vibes they give off. I feel that if a yarn shop wants me as a patron, and therefor wants me to spend my money in their establishment, then they have a responsibility to create a welcoming, friendly atmosphere. The only 'local' shop I've ever felt welcome in is Sheep Street and it's in Martinsville, which is quite a drive for me.

If I go to a restaurant and I get bad service I don't go back. If the waiter or waitress is having a bad day and their attitude sucks I don't tip them. (And I used to wait on tables myself and completely understand how hard it is. But as a waitress it's your job to make the customers happy. If you don't, you don't make money. It's simple.) I figure if I go out to a nice dinner with my husband and daughter we spend between $40 - $50. I typically spend more money than that whenever I go to a yarn store so I expect they provide service with a smile. If I go in and the owner is snotty, rude, and condescending the whole time I'm there then I'm not likely to go back. If you want my money then you should make me feel welcome. If you don't then you clearly must not want my money.

And when I realize it's not just me getting the 'vibe' from these places I don't feel so bad. Like when I hear that shop owners want to discourage people from just coming in to knit and not spending any money. Saying things like they want to charge people a 'chair fee'. Excuse me? You want me to pay you so I can sit in your shop and knit? How exactly is that a friendly, welcoming environment? You would think shop owners would be a little more inviting, seeing as how there's so much yarn (and therefor so much competition) available on the Internet these days. If I want something all I have to do is hit the little 'pay now' button and I can have it shipped to my door. I come in to a yarn shop to be around other knitters. So we can faun and fuss over each other's knitting. And if someone happens to be knitting something I like and the shop owner carries the yarn (or a good substitution for it) then chances are I'm going to make an impulse purchase. I very rarely enter a yarn shop with the intention of buying yarn. It just always seems to happen that way. But if you only want me to come in when I want to buy yarn? Well then you're going to see a lot less of my money. I'll just keep spending it at Webs and Knitpicks.