Give me a troll box!

If you are subscribed to my newsletter, you will already have gotten the good news: on Friday, I reopened my online shop and released the Icelandic Yarn Club 4.

This year has see me very busy reorganising the business, doing endless administrative work, setting up new systems. It might sound very boring but I do find some pleasure in coming up with creative solutions and face the new challenges induced by the current state of the world.

As you have all been aware of, shipping from Iceland has become insane. Not only have the shipping cost become prohibitive but taxes and duties are now charged to the fullest in Europe. It is not sustainable either. Did you know for example that parcels sent from Iceland to North America first go to Denmark? That parcels sent from Iceland to Denmark transit through Germany (why)? Same with my own yarns (and this has always bothered me): as you know, Love Story, Gilitrutt and Katla are spun in Italy from wool I select from Icelandic farmers and send there, then the skeins come back to Iceland before being dispatched to you. That is so much back and forth. It can´t go on this way.

So, this autumn, after many months of preparation, I moved the core of my stock to Europe (only keeping a small stock of my yarns and books for the Icelandic market) and from now, all parcels will be sent from France by my fulfillment partner there.

For you, the customer, the website and the ordering process stay the same, the only change is that:

• you will be paying far less in shipping costs (or even get free shipping above a certain amount in some countries) not only in Europe but also in the rest of the world, since Europe gets usually better deals for sending overseas than little Iceland
• there will be no more humongous taxes and duties to pay for European customers and, again, better deals for overseas customers
• the shipping will be faster and more reliable with more pick up options

For me, it´s a blast! It means that I´m delegating entirely this side of the business (the day-to day managing of the online shop) and will finally have more time to do what I enjoy most (and what many of you think I do as a knit designer): knitting, designing, researching, knitting more. I´m so happy!

Bye, bye troll boxes!