The Little Things Matter! Seeds of Hope…

The Little Things Matter! Seeds of Hope…

I wanted to take the opportunity to introduce myself or reintroduce myself to some of you. My name is Heather, I own and operate Aberdeen’s Wool Company, an online yarn retailer, and Tangled Poets Yarn, a hand-dyed yarn company, specializing in unique hand-dyed micro skeins (6 grams) and our famous Pickle Jars. We are a small company in the Kawartha Lakes. I'm also a farmer with a flock of 100+ sheep. My life is a woolly wonderland, and I wanted to share with you some of what makes us different, and what adventure we are about to set sail on next.

We finally feel comfortable to say that we can leave the survival phase of the past 3 years and move into the thriving phase.

What makes us different? We love what we do, from dyeing yarn, shipping parcels, helping sheep deliver babies, helping customers choose yarns for projects, and when we had the retail space, helping with projects that crafters got stuck on. We love being stewards of a yarn company that I opened more than 10 years ago, and a chunk of land, that we tend to carefully, and chemically free.

It’s been an amazing adventure thus far. But the adventure is about to get a bit wilder, and we are ready! Okay, so it’s going to take some time, lots of elbow grease, expanding our team, finances and sheer grit and determination (the grit, determination, and elbow grease we have an abundance of).

We are Canadian, and our mission is to close the gap between ordering some supplies from the states, paying duty and taxes, and others from a handful of online retailers in Canada, and being able to offer an all-encompassing woolly experience for Canadian crafters.  So, what’s this grand adventure you ask?  And why are we sharing this now? 

The most important thing we’ve learned throughout the last 3 years, is that we miss our knitting community, and the number of emails, messages, and phone calls I’ve had, we know that having a retail space is important to a lot of you, and having a safe crafting community to belong to, is also incredibly important.  So, as they say “If we build it, they will come”

First, let me tell you the vision. 

Imagine a retail location, filled floor to ceiling with squishy goodness, all for you to explore.  A working dye studio which is visible from the retail space, so you get to see how the magic happens, you’d even be able to join a class in dyeing your own yarn. 

You can take a knitting/crochet retreat, take a knitting class, crochet class, join a stitch and bitch, participate in KAL/CAL’s, listen to guest speakers and other fiber enthusiasts.  Enjoy a wrap-around porch with comfy chairs, and sip sweet tea, while gathering with other crafters, in a tranquil setting, nestled amongst shade trees, where baby lambs visit often, sometimes needing a snack, others just a snuggle. 

(Just like our sweet Mystery...snuggle muffin for sure)

Be nestled in nature, amongst the wool…how amazing does that sound?  If I was reading this, I would want to escape there as often as possible. 

(Imagine this vista, while sitting on a porch knitting away)

It will also provide us with the ability to have a permanent venue for a multitude of events, from craft events, and festivals, to knit-in-public days, and other fiber-related fun.

So why share this dream with the world so early on…well, one of the most important policies I have is living transparently, and I’m willing to build in public, fail or succeed, I’m willing to do that entirely in the public space.  Doing the hard stuff is important, and I will share along the way with newsletters, vlogs, updates on our Youtube channel, and socials. 

Also, it’s going to take time, no dream becomes a reality instantaneously.  So, what do we need to do, to make it happen…the first step is already done!  We have the land. ***WOOT WOOT***

(This is the site of where the building will be...)

Step 2: Permit and excavate the land

Step 3: Build the building.  We’ve been looking for a unicorn of a building to house what we need, so this was the best option, after many long family chats, and planning, this was the best option for us.  

Step 4: Opening the doors to our community, we would love to give a set timeline, but if anything we’ve learned at all from the past 3 years, things can change on a dime, and we don’t want to set false expectations.  

In order to bring this all together, we will need the Canadian crafting community.  If you could spread the word, either share this on your socials or tell your crafting group.  By the way of pickle jar math, it’ll take 10,000 jars to open the doors.  I think we can get there.  I know we can get there.  Let’s create a space that’s full of all of the crafting love, a truly unique space in Canada, where woolly wonderlands can truly exist.

If you've made it this far through my blog post, thank you!  I know this was a long one, but I wanted to share with you all, and where we are headed, and what the future will bring.

With Much Love and Gratitude,

Heather