Vintage Knits Update

December 1, 2007

Stuck in Customs – Oh No!

Filed under: Vintage Meanderings — sadie @ 9:46 pm

What could this title be referring to? Well, we finally reordered the lovely Poetry in Stitches kits. Here are pictures of book and kits. Click the picture for a larger view.

Poetry in Stitches kit 136 poetry-kit-166_lrg.jpg kit 142

First, before getting into where the package is, we have some bad news for you. The book Poetry in Stitches is out of print. I thought something was going on when my customers started buying this book like it was on fire. Well, the book was not on fire. It was just out of print. Unfortunately, we never receive information from our U.S. distributors when books go out of print. I found out when I tried to reorder it, and was told that it’s gone. Likewise, when people started buying the kits, I just thought business was good.

Anyway, I called the manufacturer in Norway, to see if they had any more books. Sadly, the books are sold out in Norway also. But, the kits are still available. Before, the kits were sold separately, and you had to buy the book to get the pattern. Now, the manufacturer is selling the kits with the single pattern included in the kit.

In early October, we ordered more than $3,200.00 (retail) in Poetry in Stitches kits. They are also sending us patterns for the current kits that we have in stock. We restocked all of our sold out Poetry in Stitches kits, and added about 4-5 new kits. It has been so long that I really do not remember exactly what I ordered. The order was delayed awaiting printing of one of the patterns.

About two weeks ago, I noticed that my credit card had been charged, and that the package had been shipped. This past Monday, I received a telephone call from the delivery company in the U.S., and I was told that my package was “stuck in customs,” and was sitting in a customs warehouse in Los Angeles. This order goes through at least three delivery companies before I get it. It is normally a very smooth process of getting here from overseas. Anyway, I gave the delivery company all requested info, and they hoped to get it released from customs, and delivered to me by Friday. Well, Friday has come and gone, and I have no idea when this shipment will get to me. For some reason, the customs officials had questions about what a “knitting kit” was. Now I am remembering all of the horror stories that I have heard from distributors about packages sitting in customs warehouses for months. I hope that my shipment does not have that fate. I will keep you posted on the status of the shipment. These kits are incredible, and I cannot wait for them to finally arrive . . . that is if U.S. customs ever releases the shipment.

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