the cost of running classes from the LYS perspective

A few points were brought up in the comments for the last post, and Kit, who owns Churchmouse Yarns & Teas [I love the name too!] wanted to share her perspective. I think it's really good for us regular folk [those of us who don't own a LYS] to understand how things work, so I'm posting this here on her behalf. Take it away, Kit!

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Kit Hutchin here, owner of Churchmouse Yarns & Teas on Bainbridge Island. There are just two spots left in each of the Tuscany Shawl classes, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings and a few seats in the No Sheep For You talk (a bigger group) on Tuesday evening.

While I know these workshops seem expensive, please understand that they're not big money makers for a yarn shop, especially when we bring a celebrity teacher from a long way away. You might be surprised at all the expenses involved in hosting, staffing and promoting an event such as this. I feel strongly about paying teachers fairly for their professional expertise and I also see this as an opportunity to support an author through book sales.

When you sign up for a class, we offer a 10% discount for supplies and we can also offer suggestions for appropriate yarns that are less expensive than hand-painted silk. If you want to tackle the Tuscany Shawl but can't swing Amy's class, we always offer help from "non-celeb" teachers, who are also wonderful!

I wish we could have had Amy long enough to schedule a meet-and-greet but please consider coming to the No Sheep For You class on Wednesday night. It's less expensive than the Tuscany Shawl class, no materials or book required, and it's a chance to spend 2-1/2 hours with Amy and get a lot of great information and inspiration. Plus you'll get a 10% discount card that you can use should you choose to buy the book.

Hope this helps. We can't wait to meet Amy!