Have I mentioned that I work for the most amazing people??

Well if I haven't mentioned before that I work for the most amazing people then I am mentioning it now, however, I am pretty sure that I have said this once or twice before. We had our annual holiday party on Thursday night and WOW is all I can say! We went to Ichiban Steak House in Harrah's here in Reno and then went to see the Shanghai Acrobatics and Kung Fu show after dinner.

Here we all are wearing sweater samples from the shop, even Greg got in on the fun!

It was a night to remember for sure and this has been a year to put in the books too! We have been busier than ever, Laura & Doug had our littlest bean, Huck and I was paid the most humbling compliment I have ever received in my life by Laura at the party. It makes me blush just mentioning it here, blush, blush. I have thought and thought about actually mentioning it here in a public way and decided that I needed to express myself here for all of you and my JBW family too!

Laura got up in front of all us beans (a lot of new little beans) and told them all that she thought I am the face of Jimmy Beans Wool and well dang I cried like a baby. So I have been thinking about this ever since and trying to put it into perspective for myself and I have come up with this little analogy, so bear (hmm should this be bare with me?) with me while I do my best to express my feelings.

Yes, most of you have met me and you see my face both in the shop and in a lot of our videos, but a face has a body and I am blessed with the most amazing body to help my face smile for all of you!

I am so very lucky to have such a great retail team behind me helping my face be a happy one and that is Terry & Amerique.

Terry has come to us like a gift from the knitting gods and is so generous with her knitting knowledge (she is amazing!) and is always up beat with a kind word and a smile for anyone and everyone. We would be hard pressed to replace her and I hope she stays with us for a very long time!! Here she is to the right, knitting, imagine, ha ha!!

Then there is Amerique who has such a gentle voice and beautiful smile that I keep asking her to quit Grad School and come work all the time, but alas, she seems to have a goal in mind with this school thing, ha ha! Amerique and her fabulous smile are in the picture to the left!




Then a face has a body with a head and brain which runs all the other parts of the body. That head and brain are of course Laura and Doug who of course do so much that I could write about that all day and never get it all down here. Thanks both of you for making JBW a fabulous place to come and play everyday!! (To the left Laura is holding up her cool new bag knit by Sandy and wearing her cool new hat, knit by me. To the right is Doug just smiling away, hmmm, typical Doug :)



Then there is the neck, shoulders and arms and that has to be our new E-commerce manager (congratulations!!!) Amber. She does so much to keep the show running (too much to write here, pretty much everything) and I am so proud to work with her and call her my friend, thanks Amber for keeping my little face smiling so well!! To the right is our own Amber and her date Todd. I am sorry Amber that this is not such a great picture (she is soooo pretty) but I just couldn't get a good one with the chef dancing around there.


Of course there are hands and fingers so the whole body is dexterous and can function in a elegant way and that has to be our own Sandy who is so amazing pulling your orders, organizing the back and keeping us in supplies that our body would just crumple into a heap without her there. Thanks my 'Jo' aka Sandy for all you do to keep me up and running in the front!! Here is Sandy to the left wearing her fabulous gifts from Amerique and knitting, who would have guessed?





You know when I think of hands and fingers I have to also think of Victoria who is our buyer and keeps all of our inventory flowing, so you don't have to wait for your projects. I just don't know how she does it and keeps her kids on the right track, her needles clicking (she is an amazing knitter) and answers all of our requests via email to please order this, order that and always with a smile, thanks Victoria it is such a joy to know you and work with you!!

When I think of hands and fingers I have to add Karla to the list, our fabulous weekend shipper and just all around fabulous bean!! Karla is so good with the customers, shipping, emails and just generally lights up the shop that it wouldn't be the same without her!! Here she is with her sister having a blast!

Now we have grown and have added some new muscles to our body and those run some of the things that you may not ever really think about, but first I need mention Greg who is such a good sport and is a man of many talents, shipping your packages to you, taking out the trash (you are the trash king in my book, thanks) moving refrigerators and just willing to do whatever needs to be done around here, thanks Greg for all you do to keep things rolling along!!

Then there is Shevawn who came back from India in late spring and somehow we lucked out and she started working for us with her fabulous personality and amazing ability to learn; we are truly lucky to have her doing our back orders, checking our shipments of yarn, etc., and so on, and so on!! She hit the ground running and has learned so much about our operation in such a short time that it is quite impressive, thanks Shevawn!! The picture to the left is Shevawn (right) and Leanne clearly having a great time!





Now we do have some really new little beans and I would like to introduce you to Leanne, Ailene and Sarah. They have all just jumped into the fray with a smile and willing hands; none of them seem to flinch when asked to do a job no matter what it is. It is just so cool to work with all of these fabulous beans that maybe I am the face (I am dubious about this title however), but like I said a face needs all the other parts to be able to smile. Sarah was finishing up her secret santa gift right at the table, how cool is that? To the left is Ailene showing off the hat that Sarah finished off at dinner to make sure it fit!


That brings me to the heart of the body, well sure it is all of us, but truly all of you who are our customers and keep coming back to us with your business. We know you can shop elsewhere and we hope you do too, at your LYS, but when you can't get what you need there we are so humbled that you shop with us.

So the body that is Jimmy Beans Wool thanks all of you for making us such a success and we all wish you the best of Holidays with a New Year filled with everything that you deserve.

As always happy knitting! Jeanne