This all began like many things do, inconspicuously and in a most unexpected way. I was minding my own business when all of a sudden my friend, who spins, (weirdo, I mean, who even does that anymore?) invited me to go with her to a fiber festival. I said "Sure, why not?" because I really didn't have anything else going on and maybe I could score some yarn. I mean, I did at least knit and crochet, I'm not without some sort of hobby. How dangerous could it be?

The answer to that is, really, very, seriously dangerous. I might have come home with a spinning wheel...and some wool...and a spindle...and a new hobby. Maybe Mr. Yarn Geek is justified by blaming my friend for all this. She did have to leave early, so I was unsupervised, all alone, by myself in a strange new place populated by weavers, spinsters and fluffy animals all afternoon. It was only a coincidence someone in the bunny barn was selling her old wheel for $100 and that is exactly how much money I had left. Do you have any idea how hard it was to put that thing into a 1991 Corolla? I must have soaked up a bit of determination there as well.

It turns out, 8 ounces of wool is not enough to keep a girl busy for very long. I had to turn to outside sources for fiber. Soon I found Etsy and joined a Fiber Of The Month club. Then I discovered Ravelry where I met other spinners, one who casually mentioned she dyed her own wool. This sparked my curiosity about where one would get wool to dye. This lead me to a lady who sells mill ends. I went to her website and found out she sells them by the half pound, but if I bought in bulk the price went down. So...I bought 50 pounds. That's right, 50 pounds on the first order! This was turning into something bigger and I had not even started dyeing yet. I have since moved on from mill ends, but they still have a special place in my heart.

I turned to the same friend who got me into this mess for help. She invited me over to teach me the basics and we had a great time. I had so much fun, I did more when I got home. Those turned out so well, I did more. For the first time in my life, I had more fiber than I could spin on my own. It was pretty, and people liked it. They even wanted to buy it, which I was happy about because Mr. Yarn Geek was starting to get concerned about my well-being and my budget. "You have to sell some of this" he said. What he actually meant was, "Our house isn't big enough for this."

I was hesitant and unsure of myself and my skills, so it took some prodding and cajoling from Mr. Yarn Geek to finally work up the confidence to start the shop. The online portion was easy, but doing shows, well that was harder. Putting in applications made my stomach tie itself into knots, but after the first acceptance email, I was ecstatic! We did our first show in April, 2011 at Fiberpalooza in Winterset, IA and it was fantastic. After that, I couldn't apply to new shows fast enough to suit me. Mr. Yarn Geek was with me the whole time, cheering me on.

That's how we got to where we are now. I'm still working towards being able to do this full time, but it may happen in 2013. I love this life of having my fiber, but being able to spin it too.