One of the reasons I started Wheat Wrote What was to express controversial concerns without it being “personal” and putting List owners in awkward positions.

Many “new to the business” designers cannot understand why Retailers are not buying their products.

It is my rather strong opinion that one recent “biz group” discussion clearly shows what is lacking in far too many of the “independent” instructional offerings currently on the market.

Apparently this niche manufacturer plans to produce a speciality product, and include it in some sort of kit.

Sounds great, EXCEPT,

This kit is for a technique in which she may not currently have the knowledge and expertise to properly choose the OEM (other equipment maker) products to be included or prepare the instructions and/or “you will also need” recommendations and listings.

She is frustrated that a Distributor cannot say what to use. I wish it were more surprising to read this unrealistic expectation.

Instead, it is frustrating that she is not accepting responsibility for the product and doing her own research or arranging for expert technical help to properly present HER product.

Technical information should either be as a result of her personal experience, or from technical editorial review or best, from a knowledgeable retailer or even from a technique group on their Internet.

In today’s economy it is completely unrealistic to think that a major distributor’s customer service folks whose primary responsibility is to facilitate order processing and delivery would be knowledgeable about the literally thousands if not tens of thousands of product in their lines.

You, are the producer of the product, kits, whatever should be doing that and then deciding which OEM elements belong in your kit

FWIW, it is not a distributor who should be advising you on product, but rather the Importer or Manufacturer should be your primary resource for product information.

And the smart Importers/Manufacturers KNOW that they need to get technical technique support from people who know how to use their materials & tools.

Distributors are not and should not be Technical Editors or Advisers. That is the responsibility of the Kit maker.

Time, I think to go find the “What Is A Distributor” monologue and share it with you. Right after I finish cleaning up the “results” of a clogged line out to the septic.

Meanwhile, speaking of unrealistic expectations, like this is not personal.

Well another of my friends is fond of saying, if it hurts to hear it, there is good chance that it is someone you really needed to be told.

I wish her great success with her new product. However, I will not be advising my Retailer Clients to stock her kits – only the supply material.

Coffee Break Over,
Back to the Great Cleanup – as always, your public and private comments are welcomed

Wheat

– as always, your public and private comments are welcomed

The Duct Tape Scholarship for high school seniors is often an eye-popping adventure into the creative minds of today’s teens. I can’t help thinking what a great Quilt Art Challenge could come out of this, …

My 2007 vote is going to: Adrienne Beiler of Salisbury, and her date, Zach Cupler You can read a bit more about them (edited to fix link 7/2025) Stuck At The Prom Winners and history

I often comment that you can build a house with not much more than just Duct Tape

But I really love what the Teens keep doing with this stuff – and the idea that they are using Duct tape to help build their own futures thru the scholarship competition, well that is just frosting on the cake.

Enjoy

Wheat

P.S. You can see both the current and past winners at: 

It’s Mother’s Day – I’ll be fixing all her favorite things for mine

But there are always other women who influence our lives, so I thought I tell you about one who just might be responsible for my addiction to string

Crochet is probably the very first fiber art I learned as a child. With two working parents it was a wonderful gift from a neighbor that “got me started” So here is a thank you to the late Shirley Eustis for taking the time to share a craft she loved with the little girl next door. I think she enjoyed teaching me, since she had only boys and in the early 50’s fiber art was not done often by boys. Still, the “cookie lady” had plenty of fans among all the boys & girls in the neighborhood (and many of on into adulthood coveted her baking talents.) When the Eustis family moved to West Nyack, although our families still visited often, so cookie cravings could be assuaged, there was a definite void in my world of string.

Until, what really got me “hooked” on yarn like string, was the generosities of a “Real” yarn shop owner Mrs Phyllis Goldman Even the NY Times thought it newsworthy when Goldman Yarns closed in 2006

This time last year I had the great pleasure to speak with the then about to retire owners of Goldman’s Yarn. They were retiring after SEVENTY YEARS “in the business”

These shop owners NEVER made that child feel that her choices in techniques were inferior.

Mrs Goldman also never made me feel bad when I chose “practical” yarns.

What she did was to instill in me a respect for the craft and a belief that I should always use the best materials I could afford and do the work to the highest standard I was capable of.

She knew, that in order to spend time (cause the Lord knows I did not have very much money) in her store I was giving up another special treat. Twice a month, if there was a show we could agree on, my brother and I were allowed to take the bus to the theater and see a movie – about a block from her store.

My brothers ‘covered’ for me. They went to the movies after escorting me to the store, and came back for me after the show. We never lied, but eventually we did get “caught”. Once we could sit down again, and after my Dad visited the shop, I had permission to continue.

Mrs Goldman took the time on more than one occasion to show me more advanced stitches, the basics of Knitting, how to read BOTH Knit & Crochet symbol based patterns –

If you are finding my reference charts useful, you can thank Mrs G – she also was quite the believer in swatching

Mrs G is the person most responsible for my determination to be an excellent craftsman in whatever needlearts I choose to pursue – she made it important to know the tools and techniques – to practice them until I got it right -without making it a chore – She taught the joy of accomplishment.

Did I mention my love of Needlepoint started in Goldman’s? (I still have that piece, a bargello done in shades of blues – I remember she was not completely happy with me substituting something for white but she could see it was what I wanted – to this day you will rarely find white in my concoctions other than whip cream.

I could recite a long list of small kindnesses this lady and her staff provided but you get the idea – like helping me find the exact yarn in the sale bin – looking back I even wonder if it really belonged there or was just another example of how a wonderful lady made me her customer for life or at least a hefty portion of the life of her business. I don’t think I have ever purchased a Needlepoint Canvas from anyone else

After 9/11 everyone talked about how they did not know there were nice and caring New Yorkers. But for those of us who lived there, we know that Real NEW YORK Attitude can be found every day in the Millions like Mrs G.

Somehow TNNA will be the poorer without a chance to greet this wonderful couple.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the women who influence our lives

Wheat

A friend sent me a link to a news a story from yesterday because she knows I enjoy it when these sorts of information sources support concepts I have been proposing for months in this case about two year, but ego aside….

Sites like MSNBC include surveys. Taking the surveys can tell you a great deal about the survey taker.

If there was any doubt in my mind about the driving forces behind so called News Stories, this survey relieved that doubt.

How ugly is it that the TWO of the three stories offered for my opinion on their coverage were the Don Imus Firing and the Parentage of Anna Nicole’s baby. Are those really the such important issues?

Exactly when did the News become ENTERTAINMENT,

SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WTF THEY WERE THINKING

To ask If MSNBC Coverage of Virginia Tech was FUN TO READ

I may not have agreed with his Politics, but I sure miss the likes of Walter Cronkite

Thank goodness for the Wall Street Journal

Wheat

I have been thinking about a question asked in a “designer group” over the last day or so while engaged in a number of mindless activities made necessary by caffeine withdrawal (this is worse than when I quit smoking all those years ago.)

What makes someone a “DESIGNER” can be such Hot Topic, I wanted to find my nomex gear and be sure it still fit before responding

Everytime I read something “asking” for an opinion, I always stop and wonder if they really want an answer, or if they want to hear all sugar and spice.

In most Internet groups, I “assume” they want music to their ears.

In a group such as DesignerBiz, you might think that is different, but all to often it is not.

It is both sad and worrisome that so many like to assume hateful intent, assuming that any straight answer is intended to hurt. Well sometimes honesty does hurt – although I find that it hurts least when we are honest with our selves. I cannot help but wonder if they are so devastated by a mentor’s comment whatever are they going to do when they get out in the real world of business and commerce.

In a recent act of personal Internet Idiocy (I was the idiot) I tried to explain why some behavior is not professional and harms the image of “Professionals” in an industry or Craft.

Declaring yourself to be a Professional IS the first step. Writing rambling incoherent letters over some imagined slight is not.

This, of course, got me suspended from a group who felt severely insulted (which probably says the mirror being held up was not one they were prepared to look in)

So, enough of the caveats, IF the context of your CONTEXT is really the BUSINESS of DESIGN

Then here is just a partial answer.

Those who are simply “looking for pin money” or to “support their habit” are NEVER in the opinion of me or the IRS for that matter, are not in the BUSINESS,

They may be WONDERFUL, Talented and highly proficient, but they are hobbyist.

There are many many aspects of Professionalism and being a professional in a particular field of endeavor. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

But I truly believe for far too many business reasons, that the days of being less than Professional, or presenting a product that unfavorably compares with what is offered commercially “by the big guys” ( who in the grand scheme of things are really very tiny) is not longer even remotely acceptable and to do so harms the industry significantly.

You might be a talented, highly proficient and wonderful Hobbyist, truly dedicated to the art of your craft, and you even might be a Designer, but you are NOT a Designer unless you sincerely intend to act a business person with an intent to make a profit.

There is a whole lot more to being a Design Professional – THere are some earlier entries in this series, (athough I seem to be on a Crochet Kick this month.) I think the first entry in that series was titled: Designer Resources

Remember if you will,

I do not just ART, only PRESENTATION – so don’t take it personally

The buying public will decide if you are worth it, not me.

Please feel free to add your thoughts, I publish any comment where the writer is willing to include their name when they register.

Wheat