Open for business!
In 2009 I opened a new little Etsy shop at the urging of some friends. I’d been spinning yarn… and more yarn…. and MORE yarn… and knitting mittens… and more mittens… and MORE mittens. When someone told me about Etsy, I opened for business as ‘Spinning Wheel Studio’ and sold my first pair of handspun yarn knit mittens within the day. A few more pairs of those mittens sold that week, but what REALLY changed my life happened a few weeks later. Someone sent me a ‘convo’ on that old Etsy site asking if I would ever consider selling my handspun yarn.
SERIOUSLY?!?! I thought to myself. I love to knit as much as the next person, but spinning is my true love. I can’t explain why, but, to me, YARN is the finished product. I get that it is a supply from which to create a finished something for knitters, crocheters, and weavers, but, to me, it is the yarn itself that makes my heart sing. When it’s off my wheel and the twist is set, to me, it is complete. At various times, visitors to my house will find a basket on a coffee table full of little decorative yarn balls. My sweet, unbelievably supportive husband is used to my bringing him the latest skein off my wheel so he can oooh and aaah over it (and he does!). SO, that stranger who sent me that convo in 2009 changed my life. It didn’t occur to me that anyone would want HANDSPUN YARN. They did! I listed a skein on Etsy that very day AND SOMEONE BOUGHT IT! And my dream business began to take form…
Over the years life happened. I continued to sell my yarns on Etsy with a passion, fitting it in as I was able. I dreamt of color combinations, textures, spinning styles, projects. I woke up in the morning excited to get fiber in the dye kettles or on the drum carder. But I was raising and homeschooling a couple of (amazing) kids , then working as a social worker full time to get them through college. But. Now the kids are married and employed (and happy and living NEAR me so I see them all the time!) and I have had more time on my hands to nurture this dream of mine… and I have taken the plunge. I quit the day job on December 15, 2022. I became a Schacht dealer the same week. Over the past three months I’ve filled a notebook with ideas and plans, met other fiber arts aficionados in my vicinity, learned new brain stretching skills (like website design and blogging!), spun, dyed and carded with zeal — and TADA! I am, indeed, OPEN FOR BUSINESS bigger and better than before!
Before the end of 2023, I hope to expand my Etsy offerings to include the same handspun yarns as ever but MORE of them in the colors, textures and spinning styles I know you love to work with (and I love to spin!) along with some Schacht Spindle Company equipment (the Zoom Loom 4”x4” pin loom is already available in the Etsy shop!) and the same fibers I use to spin my own yarns - both as hand dyed tops and as hand carded art batts. This week I’ve begun to add some fibers and am excited to add even more in the coming days and weeks. I am also excited to share my passion and my studio with people who are already smitten by the fiber bug and with people who want to learn and create with fiber. I am currently offering ‘Make and Take’ sessions to give spinners and felters the opportunity to dye or card fiber themselves here at Spinning Wheel Studio and look forward to offering a variety of in studio workshops later in the year.
It’s been 14 years since Spinning Wheel Studio opened for business, but the launch of this website and blog and all my exciting plans still feels like a new beginning. And I STILL fall asleep dreaming about the next color and texture combination, spinning style and project and wake up excited to get to it, so I think things are heading in the right direction.