Although our anniversary sale was the weekend before last, this week is our “true” third anniversary. fibre space™ opened its doors to the public on July 24, 2009. I can hardly believe that it has been three years! A lot has happened to the shop in that time, the largest change being the expansion of our inventory into hand dye and indie companies. Although it was always my intention to focus on smaller vendors, when I first developed the shop’s inventory plan, my focus was primarily on providing great quality yarn at great prices in all of the gauges. Although we certainly strive to do this (and continue to have a wide range of prices at all gauges), our focus has definitely shifted. I quickly realized that the area was just itching for great hand dye selections. We also found that small US companies were incredibly popular with you all. (We always carried Blue Sky Alpacas and Spud and Chloe, but the addition of Imperial Stock Ranch, Brooklyn Tweed and Stonehedge Fiber Mill has helped us broaden our offering of small US companies).

And most of all, the store has just exploded beyond my wildest expectations. With the traffic through the shop expanding so rapidly and the demand for our classes being what it is, we had to expand upward into one of the two apartments above our shop. This allowed us to have more space for yarn downstairs as well as larger private classroom spaces upstairs. And..I got an office!

I can’t even begin to thank you all enough for really making this dream come true and then some. Many of you know how much of a struggle opening this shop really was. It wasn’t easy to get financing for this project in 2009, with the bank crisis as it was. My personal life was also quite crazy. I got engaged in February, married abroad in May and then held a wedding reception in Pittsburgh two weeks later. In late June (when the shop was supposed to be opening its doors), my brother died in a car crash in Washington, PA, leaving behind a three month old son and his wife of just four weeks. Somehow, through the generosity and support of friends and family, I managed to get this shop open in late July that year. We didn’t open with shelves full of yarn, like I had planned. (Hell, I had to use my Banana Republic credit card to pay for the new Spud and Chloe line). We didn’t have the expensive needle brands. We had one amazing hand dyer – Miss Babs. We were no where near what we are now, but you loved us anyway 😉

You all helped distract me from the horrible things going on with my family while welcoming this new little community center into your world with wide open arms. You formed a line outside our door on our preview night. You shopped endlessly all summer as our inventory (and bank loan) slowly arrived. You provided helpful feedback and much needed praises. You pushed me forward. You inspired. I can’t thank you enough for that, and I can’t wait to see what we do together in the future!