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The title may communicate that I had a bad day, which I definitely did not have, just to be clear!

This day was just pretty cool. Started the day off working on this blog, writing some texts, taking photos and just letting creativity flow.

The afternoon, in fact, we prepared everything for the photo shooting on Monday. So we met and put all these different garments on for allocating the clothing to the models. It was a funny thing to giggle around and trying on different things, just like sweaters, pullovers, cardigans, hats and shawls. It will be the first time for me to model for something. And it will be a very exciting thing to appear in a magazine.

I am happily looking forward to Monday. Being outside with people, that I consider as friends by now, taking photos and having fun while doing professional work done will just awesome.

I wish I could tell you more about this day, but actually I worked very deeply and long term on the tasks of the day, so there is nothing more I can report about.

We are about to organize a photo shooting on Monday, which is supposed to provide us with pictures for the new Look Book by Skacel. However, work does not get too serious around here, as Katie and I had a lot of fun preparing some of the clothing for the photo shooting.

Afterwards I wrote some description texts about the patterns, that will be part of the Look Book to do some preparatory work. It was kind of interesting writing texts for all these different patterns, even though it has been a real challenge for my creativity to come up with new ideas for each pattern. The more professional and the more fancy the patterns become, the harder it got to find an adequate description that fits the professional terms. But, I think I handled it quite well, after I have already had some experience translating the knitting instruction and describing all these buttons for the catalog.

I am very excited for the photo shooting. Katie asked me if I wanted to take part of it as a model, so this might be a lot of fun! I will keep you updated, when the Look Book is published and you are able to see the photos as well as the finished book.

After this, I helped our graphic-designer, Candice, out and we took some product photos of different yarns. But before taking a picture of a yarn ball, one has to stuff in all these little jutting threads back into the ball of wool. Everything has to be even and appealing. The most appealing aspect might have been the “group picture”, where all of the involved yarns are photographed together. Here, one has to create a kind of symphony of colors to build a harmonic picture with all the different colors, that have been photographed one by one before.

Photography, by the way, is one of my biggest hobbies. I love running around with my camera, catching special moments. Therefor, I prefer taking pictures of architecture, landscapes or flowers. But I have also taken product photos before. I may have not mentioned this yet, but I have worked for the company called Selter, back there in Germany. This company produces the famous addi needles that you might hold in your hands right now! Taking photos of the needles has been a challenge of its own…It has always been difficult to take a good picture of the shiny needle and trying to reduce the radiant on the picture to a minimum. Otherwise the picture would have been too bright and one would not be able to see the needle clearly. Taking a good picture of a product is more work than you probably expect it to be.

But this is it, day 8 is finished as well. I will keep you updated 😉

This, in fact, is my 7th day, 2nd week. Time is passing so fast around here.

This day is all about translation. My first task was to translate a German knitting instruction into English. It has been quite a challenge, as I never followed a knitting instruction in my whole life. Trying to translate it without knowing the terms properly, the dictionary was my closest friend that day. Figuring out all these terms and translating this special know-how in a different language took me so much time. But it gave me a good feeling about being able to help out that day, using the advantage of speaking (and writing) several languages. For all the knitters out there the instruction will be very humorous. For all of you who do not knit, this does not look that weird, right? ;D Let’s just say, translating a knitting instruction as a not-knitter may not be the best option…:

For all of you that are not familiar with the German school system: Children are required to learn a second language. In my case, I have learned English since 3rd grade, as well as one other language for at least 2 years. I have always been better on learning languages than working in sciences. Therefor, additional to my English classes I learned French for 4 years. After that, I have learned Spanish for 3 years.

So there you go: Hola mis amigos!

The next task for this day was also about translation: I was supposed to translate a short German article in the newspaper, that was all about a company coming up with some high quality yarn from Tasmania. Atelier Zitron is about to bring this awesome high quality wool into the crafting industry and it will be one of the few companies that guarantee entire transparency about their production, materials and processes. Even I, as a knot-knitting-knitter-intern truly appreciate the companies ambition to enable this complete transparency. People should be even more curious and ambitioned to find out where their products come from and what they include. People really should feel the company’s out to achieve more awareness…But this might lead into thoughts that are too deep.

I hope you still have fun reading this blog!

I can’t believe that this is my second week. Time passes quickly and the work is so much fun, especially with all these awesome people around!

The day started off with some awesome news: The poster I designed (together with Candice) in the last week got published on the website! That is so cool! If you are as curious as I usually am, you can follow this link and see the poster:

https://www.10000newknitters.com/10000-new-knitters-toolkit

After this pretty cool news, I continued working on the buttons. YES, the button thing is still running. I have started working on it Wednesday, so you can imagine the scope amount of buttons that want to be processed. Lucky thing I was able to finish it during the day and now we are trying to find the right size of rings, on which the buttons are supposed to be lined up at the end. I thought about other creative w ays of using buttons. Maybe a ring? This button would make a quite pretty jewelry…And please do remember: Every button and every needle is made with love!

New week – new task, right? 

The day went on with some more browsing on Pinterest, adding some patterns to pin boards, as well as responding to hashtags and comments from all the #skacelknitting fans out there.

To cut a long story short: another smooth Monday that went by, while having a lot of fun with my coworkers. The most funny result of this day is a pretty weird Polaroid picture from an instant camera with Katie:

This morning I arrived at the office with this typical Friday-weekend-mood. The weekend is close and I am already excited to start my Friday night plans with Katie, as we want to visit the mall and go to the cinema afterwards.

I was able to finish the button project today. So every Botton is sorted out, only one of each kind is kept into a box, sorted by their material. Afterwards, the project was supposed to pause as there were some steps that had to be done before continuing. But I will keep you updated how it goes on until the point when we are able to send them to shops that are interested

Just to remind you how many different kinds of buttons we have…Caution: You might get dizzy!

I won’t call this a freaky Friday because it has rather been a calm Friday and the tasks for today were pretty smooth and easy to go on. This day was mostly filled with some learning stuff I did online. I wanted to refresh my knowledge about google analytics, which is a software that allows to analyze the costumers behavior on a website and it provides general statistics and analytic tools that can be used for search engine optimization.

Afterwards I continued writing some new texts for the buttons, which again are supposed to be a description on the makers website. After finishing this, I continued working on the button project. This time, after everything was sorted out, I got to prick out a hole in each of the bags, so that afterwards we will be able to put them on a rings to send them.

Piercing each of the bags will not be my favorite thing to do, but it has to be done. So I put on my headphones, turned on some good music and made my way through this hundreds of buttons while jamming to my favorite songs.

So now, close your eyes and imagine me standing in the conference room with a puncher in the hand, piercing each of the bags. I am lucky none of my coworkers filmed that scene…

I was not able to finish this task today, because there are just so many buttons…I will continue it on Monday and hopefully finish this step by then.

Alrighty, lets start into the weekend then!

Today is my fourth day at Skacel, and what should I say? The button project needs to be finished. I was not able to finish the separation of all buttons, so I had to do this today. It is a very tiring task but it needs to be done and I am happy if I get to help my coworkers, so they have less stuff to work on.

But first things first:

Dear reader, please do not underestimate the amount of buttons!

I mean, there are hundreds of buttons with a huge diversity of designs and materials.

There are acrylic buttons, antler buttons, coconut buttons, corozo buttons and enamel buttons. There are also buttons made out of glass, horn, metal, plastic, shell or wood. They come in all different shapes and sizes.

I have do admit that not every designed seemed appealing to me, but I there is such a huge diversity of buttons, so everyone can find his favorite and pick the perfect button for his craft.

Even I, as a not-knitting-knitters-intern found some very cute buttons, that I can perfectly imagine on colorful patterns. Thus, you do need to know about be that I do not knit, but I used to do some sewing some time ago. So I am not that unused to the needlework industry.

Oh and I got this pretty cool thermo mug by Skacel. As I do not drink coffee, it is my closest friend in the mornings, serving me with some hot earl grey black tee to to get at least a little bit caffein in the morning. I am not a morning person, so this helps a lot to trundle in the morning. I will definitely take this super cute mug with me, back to Germany!
So the Thursday went by and I needed a short break of sorting out all these buttons, so I went to Candice and asked if she needs any help. This lead my to my next task: Writing search engine optimized descriptions for buttons, that are supposed to be published on the Makers’ Mercantile website below each button. That way, each button is supposed to get an individual description, always in the context of search engine optimization (short: SEO)

I have worked withe SEO before, so I know the importance of search engine optimized texts on a website.

For all of you, that do not know about SEO, here are some short facts:

• SEO describes the process of improving the online visibility of a website
• If you type something in your search engine, it will trawl through the web to suggest the results that most likely fit to your 
• Search engine optimized texts can be found easier and faster by the search engine, so that you are able to find the makers mercantile website on the first page, in the first rankings of your search results

The next time when the Makers’ website pops up in your search results, think of us putting a lot of effort in our texts, so you are able to find us quickly.

Feet up, this one is coming flat….

It is poster time! Did not expect this super cool task when I went into office this morning. Katie asked me if a would be interested in designing a poster, together with our graphic-genius Candice. The poster is supposed to support the #10000NewKnitters project. And what should I say? I had so much fun working creatively on this poster. And if you ask me, I think it turned out great! What do you think about it?

I enjoy it so much being able to work in a creative flow with creative people. Really recognized missing that working in Germany.

I also, again, worked on social media by replying questions or reaction on posts that were published by fans and all of those faithful knitters out there. So do not resist to contact @Skacelknitting instagram or on any other platform and make, lucky me, I get to answer your comment or your question 🙂

BUT THEN IT HAPPENED. I did not see It coming but suddenly I found myself in a conference room, filled with buckets full of buttons. At this point, the button project became a thing. It is supposed to be a traveling trunk show: I sorted out one button of each kind, which then is supposed to be send to clients, together with all the other buttons and our catalog, so they are able to actually see the product they maybe want to buy afterwards. This project is supposed to increase the sales and it will take me several days do sort out each button.

Because…                             Wow, there are SO MANY BUTTONS

I can barely remember the most already by now but I think I have already figured out some of my favorite buttons: I really like the wood buttons, because thy feel really tender holding them in the hand. But my highlight have definitely been the dog buttons. They made me laugh harder than they probably should, but they are just to cute!

It is just so much work to go trough all these boxes and pick out only one button of each kind, because there are just so many different buttons.

Hopefully I do not dream about buttons tonight and if I do, little Hankie might comfort me. Hank is the dog of my boss, Karin Skacel, who is my host at the same time. Thankfully Hank, who sometimes functions as an office dog, appreciates our little cuddles in the morning as much as I do.

Yes, you read correctly. No, I am not trying to improve my English spelling. It is just that I was not able to find any title catchier than this. So, catch it!

I also found out that my name is a part of the famous chocolate bar called Larabar. I might have trolled my friends telling them that I own my own chocolate company now, as they know how obsessed I am with chocolate.

Tuesday, my second day at Skacel. And I have got to say: I like these guys. Sitting in an office with Katie and Rob is just one of the funniest things to experience in a office.

I if anyone from the company reads that, are you guys used hearing these strange noises out of the office?

I think I will get used to them doing strange noises. I already got used to their awesome kind of humor! So, keep on doing these things guys!

On my second day of shift I started with writing some text for several social media platforms. This task was supported by the #10000newKnitters project, so I wrote some texts for this project to be published on Facebook and Instagram. Therefor, maybe some of the next posts that will be published have written be me.

No autographs, though!

I also worked on designing a template for the 10.000 New Knitters Newsletter. That was a lot of fun, especially because normally I am not able to work on the creative parts of a marketing project, except organization and writing texts, so this was really something I did enjoy. Moreover, I got to try out a little bit on photoshop and adobe illustrator what I enjoyed a lot as well, because I was the first time I got to work with it at all. So trying around and doing stuff with these programs really expanded my skills. This internship is such an awesome possibility to try out new things in general, because I always get asked if there is something new that I want to learn or if I want to deepen my knowledge on any of my tasks, which is just great. I also have the possibility to do some online courses and video classes to collect some theoretical knowledge, what I usually write down and print out afterwards, so that I have something consisting for my knowledge when I go back to Germany. I really think that this internships and all the possibilities, as well as the patience everybody has to give me the time I want to, if I feel like depending something I want to learn, brings me forward in my career but also in my personal skills.

So, this was my second day at this company. I am really curious to see, how it goes on. Are you curious as well? Then continue following this blog!

Wow, what an exiting thing. Working for a company in Germany for over one year now, I’m am not used to be the new one anymore.

But well, what should I say? Except the jet-leg, I had a pretty good start in the office. At least I think so, actually never asked my coworkers about what they thought.

My first day started off very smoothly. Karin Skacel, this awesome and strong woman that owns the company, introduced me to everybody and lead me through the whole office to show me everything. Then I met Katie, who actually is the person with the goofiest jokes in the whole office, and she is supposed to be my kickback.

So:

Dear Katie,

If I do something wrong, please don’t stop bringing me cookies and other sweet tidbits!

And if you do something wrong, don’t pin it on the intern! 😉

Katie was (and still she is) very kind and gave me the possibility to simply sniff around in their social media campaigns and their web just to get an impression of their corporate image and their corporate identity. To cut a long story short: I got a first impression of the whole company and its digital appearance.

Afterwards I started working on their Ravelry and their Pinterest account by myself as I was supposed to compliment their inboards with things and patterns, that I think would look good. They really appreciate the “international view” on things and are curious to get to see the European impression on all this patterns and craftwork. All in all a smooth start into the week, an awesome start into the business of Skacel.

It was a good day to start, or rather to continue this adventure of a lifetime.

AND I had my first American burrito for lunch. What a day!

Skacel and Makers Mercantile® recently welcomed a German intern by the name of Lara Ross to their team. An enthusiastic, happy go lucky gal with excellent English and a fabulous sense of humor, Lara is an excellent fit for our company.  But,  Lara is not a knitter.  Nor does she crochet, weave or spin. She actually isn’t that crafty at all.  We found that very interesting, as her perspective on our world is so much different than our own.  What Lara IS, is a  is a media science student, and so we came to the conclusion that she should be writing a daily blog of her experiences here at skacel and Makers’ Mercantile®. Sort of an outside perspective of the all the interesting and sometimes whacky and weird things we do in our industry to make things happen – both on the wholesale and the retail level.

And so it begins….

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Ready for takeoff? 3…2…1…- wait! I forgot to take my pretzels with me!

This is me, Lara – the German intern at Skacel. And I do not want to disappoint anyone, but I usually do not bring pretzels for lunch. I am 21 years old, native in a small town close to Frankfurt. What brought me here? Well, actually it was a very distinctive curiosity to go out and see the world, connected to an ambition of working internationally. And so, I arrived in the US, for the first time of my life.

Therefor, working in the US is a totally new experience for me, as well as for my coworkers, that are not quite used to having an intern. But there we go! Quickly ran into some awesome people in the office that welcomed me in such a heartwarming way. They have a great sense of humor and are always up for a good joke…Or something good to eat, that could be an important aspect as well. So, we will all see how it goes and how long they can bear this “awesome” German accent.

Right now I am just surrounded by this awesome people, that are always friendly and helpful, just enjoying this whole experience as an intern at Skacel and Makers Mercantile®

I will keep you updated!