Our love letter and playlist!

There aren't many words that can convey how big this feels, how monumental this entire thing has been, but we'll try (because y'all know that we are anything but demure in our application of words). This is our final Craft Emporium/Knitted Wit newsletter, and that feels both weird and right.

 

When we decided that the goal for the summer was to shut down both Craft Emporium and Knitted Wit, that the summer would be our swan song, and that we'd be closed by the end of August, we grabbed a cute notebook and started building to-do lists. That first week, as we plotted out the entire months of July and August, we filled that notebook with things to do, things to remember, dates and calendars and reminders and bulleted list after bulleted list. We started at our ideal finished-by date and worked backward, trying to see around all of the corners of what we'd need to take care of, who we'd need to contact, how best to tell you all what was happening. 

 

One of the main goals was to close the business down in a way that aligned with our values, centering community and honoring our relationships. So we made sure that we told everyone in a gentle way, and allowed space for folks to process as they needed to. We also had a list of songs we wanted to use in our closing reels on Instagram, and we were tickled every time we created a new reel and found the perfect part of the song to include. We basically have a good-bye playlist: It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday by Boyz II Men; Good Old Days by Macklemore; Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story from Hamilton; One Last Time from Hamilton; Graduation (Friends Forever) by Vitamin C; Friendship Station by Le Tigre; Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) by Green Day; I've Had the Time of My Life by Bill Medley; Closing Time by Semisonic, and I Will Always Love You by Dolly Parton... In fact, Shannon created a playlist, so listen to your heart's content! 

 

Y'all, we achieved all of those goals! Some weeks were very busy and bonkers and we disassociated on our couches in all of our downtime, and some weeks we were able to feel a bit more human in our non-Craft Emporium hours, but everything worked out as we planned it to (except for that whole heat dome thing during the date that we initially planned to be our final Crafternoon, yeeks, Mother Nature!).

 

We did our final walk-through and turned in the keys on Wednesday morning, and then we went to Maggie Mae's (because let's all support small businesses that we love, ok?), and we were talking about how proud we were of ourselves for doing such a good job winding down this lovely, sweet, and colorful 18-year-old business. (Also, did you know that we were a part of each other's lives even back then? Even though Shannon didn't work for or with Lorajean at that time, her old yarn shop carried the first skeins of Knitted Wit that were sold wholesale! This feels like a real full-circle moment)...

 

So, as we finish all of the adminning that will fully close out this business, we are doing so with a smile on our faces and a song in our heart, because we were able to finish this biz the same way Lorajean started it all those years ago: with humor and expansion and hope and, most of all, love. 

 

We thank you, from the bottom of our rainbow-colored hearts, for the support, the love, the friendship, the projects, the community, the inspiration. We are still here, even though the way we are here will be different. We have another blog post with info on how to keep in touch, and even how to support us a bit if you are called to do so. 

 

Big hugs, lots of love, and a very crafty week to you all!
love
Lorajean and Shannon