"Busy"ness as usual

Something about spring, the warm breeze, the splash of green that now covers everything in sight, the migrating birds, the buzz of bees, all brings about a since of excitement and energy after a long winter.  Freshly shorn wool has been arriving almost daily and our wool storage is bursting with this year’s clip. 

Mama Bird (aka a Karen) has left the nest for a well-deserved week of vacation and she is sorely missed.  In a small family run business anyone’s absence leaves a big void and we are anxiously awaiting her return J.  I am also reminded this week as to how blessed we are to have skilled employees working for us.  The tail end of the knitting retreat, tours, scheduling/planning, a myriad of phone calls and emails, and continued negotiations to secure our ability to lease production space in our city/county owned building regularly take me out of the production floor yet everyone else keeps moving product through without missing a beat.  Some small hiccups – a shaft broke on the scouring line, the carder came out of adjustment, but our plant manager had them working again in short order.   Karen’s long-time friend Lynn was called out of semi-retirement to help us get caught up on some skeining and we used the opportunity to do some skein training for two sisters in the family.  Jokingly I say they are being engrossed more and more into the family business whether they want to or not.