First Person
Thank You All
Dear everyone,
It comes and goes in a fever dream, doesn’t it? Beginning on Tuesday, we had an annual migration of family from every corner of the country to Nashville. I’m sitting here now, Sunday afternoon, having just said farewell to our final boarders, bound for LA, “back where it’s warm, jeez.”
On Thanksgiving morning, our nieces went out in the yard with their cousin from New York to find leaves and berries and sticks for our table decorations.
It took a while, frankly. Much discussion of whether to wash the leaves, whether bird poo was dangerous, whether a stick needed debugging. Latex gloves were requested by one hunter-gatherer. It all worked out, and we had damp, extremely clean leaves and sticks for the table.
It felt right to look close to home for these decorations. It was great.
Thoughts on Shopkeeping
I had the new experience of keeping an eye on our online shop here at MDK during the post-Thanksgiving weekend. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to order something from us. It means the world to Kay and me to have your trust and support, and it makes me want to work even harder to find cool things that you’ll like. I really, really hope you enjoy what is on the way to you.
On Saturday, there was a family junket down to MDK World Headquarters, where I wanted to introduce everybody to Liz Masterson, our manager of all things having to do with the shop.
As the nieces were busy affixing MDK stickers to their bodies, my family all poked around our little warehouse, being kind about it all.
I have to say, Liz arrived at our space August 1, a barren room with two chairs, one folding table, and—well, that was all. Since then, she has created systems and order from the ground up. If you haven’t already had a chance to hear from her, I hope you do soon, because she’s smart and funny and on it.
It was a good visit. Back at home, my poor sister-in-law Tiff sat down at the table to do some work and ended up a hand model. No peace for her!
It struck me, as we followed our long-running Thanksgiving rituals, how much can change in a year.
Thank you all for bringing such life to this place. To meet so many longtime MDK commenters in more depth in The Lounge is so much fun. When I see a hat in the Giftalong ready to meet its destiny as a present for a beloved head, I dunno—it just seems like we can all muddle through almost anything if we hang in there, stay close to each other, and keep the hats flowing.
Here’s to finding joy in the day.
Love,
Ann
I’d iike to thank you and Kay for providing this wonderful place!
Nice drawing Molly! Keep at it!
What a year indeed! Hope you had a great holiday, Ann. I truly loved checking out Nashville over mine, especially the nooks and crannies. Also, if you haven’t had the meatloaf at the Franklin Puckett’s, make it a point to soon! I’m still thinking about it.
Love it all!
Beautiful!
Your writing at Thanksgiving is very uplifting, even to a Canadian. Thanks for your thoughts and all your creative ideas.
This space has been a gift for all of us as well! I am enjoying relaxing in the lounge!
Thanks for the entertaining daily posts and for all of the inspiration! Looking forward to more!
Molly’s drawing is quite interesting. I would hang that on my wall, She has a lot going on there and I look forward to seeing further work. (Now removing my former-art-teacher hat)
Having loved your old blog I was unsure about a new format, but you’ve done a great job and I really love checking out the articles each day and hanging out in the lounge. Thanks for all your hard work!!
My euroflax kit was so beautifully wrapped that I cringed a bit when I tore the MDK sticker even though I was being careful.Love the burnt orange tissue and ribbon and SUPERFAST shipping! Thank you!
Thank you! I fell fast and hard for the euroflax mini skeins & when you posted that shawl pattern last week I fell even harder! Thank goodness for mail-order! I’ve just added another project to my holiday queue but since I started knitting early this year (Nov 20 instead of Dec 10) I’m good!!!!!!
I love Molly’s drawing! I’d buy a print if you sold them in your shop.
Me too!
Oh, Ann and Kay! I could not be more thrilled that this place is here. You have been making me happy for more than a decade, but never happier than this fall.
Love the illustration! Dolly Parton fans are the best.
Lovely group shot – is that a view from the Cereal Station?
I am so happy the Ann and Kay Vision for Better Living Through Yarn is getting off to such a sweet, swell, happymaking start. Very thankful for both of you!
I love the new site. Can Olive be guest editor soon?
IZ U KIDDEEN? I’S RUNNING THE SHOW HERE.
LUVE N SNARLZ FROM OLIVE I AM FORCD TO UZE KAY’S ACCONT SORREE PLS GET ME ACKANT ASAP THANKEE
What everybody else said! (Well, except for the meatloaf at Franklin Puckett’s. I can’t vouch for that.) Thank you all for everything!
SUCH a wonderful family tradition!! And now to look at your Shop….
xoxoxo !
As I said to Kay at Rhinebeck–your refreshed take on MDK has made the knitting internetz fun again for me. I love this sweet online spot so, so much! Thank you for creating it! xxx
Great post. Backatcha! You’ve no idea how bummed I am that HQ is in TN because that means I can never work there.
Love the new format and options, one minor wish for some overseas shipping. Have enjoyed my first thanksgiving here in Australia (courtesy of a friend from Maine) and loved the cornbread
Also clearly all y’all nieces are very talented
I used to read New York Times first thing in the morning. But since the election, the news causes my anxiety to spike. Not a good way to start the day. So I’ve switched to MDK, which begins my day with creativity, witty, insightful writing, and generous and clever people in the Lounge. Thank you, Ann and Kay, for the gazillion hours of work you’ve done to make MDK a beautiful oasis.
The drawing of the sunflowers is beautiful. It needs to be a painting!!
I’m envisioning a lovely muslin tote bag with Molly’s artwork. Maybe proceeds to a feed the kids program?
What a fabulous idea.
Thank you both for all that MDK contributes to community