On our first blog post, we gave a brief introduction to the Ancient Arts Yarns team; today, we are pleased to welcome a post written by our Sales Manager Caroline Dick, a key member of our group. Enjoy!

Hello! My name is Caroline Dick. I am the “Other” Caroline on the Ancient Arts team, not to be confused with Caroline Sommerfeld, our leader extraordinaire! My main role at Ancient Arts is Wholesale Representative, although I do tend to have my fingers in many pies. For some people the yarn industry is a job. For others, it is a lifestyle. For me, it’s a huge part of my identity.

I was a late bloomer when it came to knitting. As a child my Mother tried to teach me both knitting and crochet, but my left handedness caused me much difficulty in my interpretation of instructions, and so we were not successful in introducing me to the yarn world. About ten years ago I was visiting my parents for a typical sodden West Coast week in December, when I found an old knitting stitchionary from the 1960’s, and at the back of it were included a couple of instructional pages on how-to-knit. I requisitioned some needles and yarn from my Mom and sat down with determination. I quickly discovered that with a little peace, and lacking the scattered mind of a 9 year old, knitting was a soothing and simple task. I messed around a bit, tried out some different stitches and on the way home stopped at a department store and picked up several balls of a sage green acrylic yarn. My first project was a lace afghan that my Mom still has on a chair in her room (including a few safety pins holding dropped stitches). My second project was a black cable knit scarf. I was completely hooked (or is it needled?)!

I never seem to do things by halves when I’m learning. Instead, I jump in feet first and more often than not I metaphorically drown. However, with knitting I bobbed right up to the surface and started swimming comfortably. Knitting and yarn has become a huge part of my life. I knit every day, and I have found that it centres and calms me. I live, breathe, and love yarn (I haven’t figured out how to eat yarn yet…).

I have discovered that one of my favourite things about the yarn industry and fibre arts is the sense of community that it creates. It’s like being a part of a secret club, and our secret handshake is admiring each other’s handmade items. I enjoy travelling somewhere and seeing another knitter. There’s that moment of eye contact and the smile that says “Hey! I know you! You’re a knitter too!”

I absolutely love every aspect of my job with Ancient Arts; it truly is a dream job. I spend my days helping people choose the right yarns for their stores, and I understand the connection a store owner has with their clientele and their business. I don’t bother with high pressure sales tactics, or try to convince a store to purchase a product that isn’t right for them. I know that owning an LYS is a labor of love, and I have respect for that because I love my job too. I love our product, and that makes it easy for me, because I never have to “come up” with a selling feature or a statistic in order to tell a client why I think they should purchase our product. I know what I love about it, and all I have to do is talk to a fellow yarnophile about all the smooshy goodness. It’s kind of like hanging out at Knit Night all the time!

Knitting and yarn is the cornerstone of my life. I am extremely fortunate that one of my favourite things to do is also part of my job. I look forward to every day and every stitch!