This month I wanted to share love for the women behind the scenes who make fibre space continue to turn. The team and I lovingly refer to them as the “fibre alumni.” Each of them is a former yarnista who worked on the floor at the shop at some point… and then never really left the job successfully? (Here’s a reel of me talking a little more about the fibre alumni.)
Kel
My first love note is to the most OG of the fibre alumni—Kel. If you’ve been a customer since the day we opened our doors, you’ve likely met Kel many times. She was my first shop manager and the first employee of the business back in 2009. She was an enormous part of the creation of my business plan, my brand, and the shop’s evolution to a nationally known LYS. This post could be a multi-page dissertation on all the ways/stories/times Kel impacted this shop, but I’ll share just a small selection of the moments that stand out most to me.
In 2009 while doing the buildout for the shop, my brother died in an accident, and Kel built our fixtures and set up our systems while I was in Pittsburgh, burying him. I came back to a shop ready to open. She was the kind of employee who would happily pick out a fun bold paint color and then join you in painting the incredibly tiny disgusting old shop bathroom. Kel took “other duties as assigned” to a whole new level. She created so many incredible and creative displays, and is also the reason we no longer allow glitter inside the store…and why I know how to dissolve super glue from human skin.
After helping to launch Brooklyn Tweed yarn in our shop, Jared Flood recruited her to manage the wholesale arm of his new company, and Kel moved across the country to Portland, Oregon. But even from Portland, she continued to be my yarn and fibre expert, writing website content, contributing to our inventory choices, and generally just being there for me as someone with all of the historical memory of this business. Kel provided that soft landing I needed upon returning from Pittsburgh at one of the worst moments in my life. She was right by my side all those months, physically and emotionally building this community space. She may have moved far away but she never really left fibre space. Today Kel is still behind the scenes of much of the content you read in our newsletter or on our website, and I am grateful to still have her in my (our) orbit.
Lesley
This love note is for a fibre alum who has contributed so much to fibre space for the last two decades. Lesley has been around since the Knit-a-Gogo days (my first business). She was a big part of getting this shop opened, providing endless input, opinions, and time, making sure the store would be the best it could possibly be for the community. As a skilled “pancraftual,” she brought her passion and expertise in crochet to the early development of the teaching program at fibre space, and continues to support our efforts to serve knit AND crochet.
When I finally opened the shop in 2009, Lesley was part of the initial team of yarnistas, but then stayed on as an instructor and so much more after leaving that post to focus more on her full-time career. You’ve likely seen her on some of our busiest and most important days of the year, including Plaid Friday, where she was our cheerful bouncer in those first couple of hours. You might not have realized that she likely made her entire outfit.
Since she was part of the initial staff at the shop, Lesley has every single nightly note in her Gmail somewhere. She can find nearly anything in her Gmail. She IS the institutional memory of this company.
But one of the biggest ways that Lesley has contributed to fibre space was the one hour or less she gave us every other Monday. Lesley clocked out of her full-time job and shifted her focus to our payroll, calculating instructor pay, entering other contractors that required payment that week, and then entering our staff hours and pay. How did this come to be? Well, early after opening the business, I found myself in the ER, headed into surgery to have my appendix removed. When I explained to the surgeon that I had to be out of surgery and lucid enough to run payroll by 4 pm the next day, she pleaded, “Can you find anyone else to run your payroll?!” (She probably also rolled her eyes REALLY hard, and I wouldn’t have blamed her one bit). Lesley became that person. Having this biweekly task handled with care and attention for the last …15 years perhaps… has been a game-changer. Thank you so much for being part of this incredible journey with me, Lesley!!
Jillian
Time for another love note to one of our fibre alumni—Jillian! We have a nice training program that our yarnistas go through when starting at the shop. But when I hired Jillian in 2013, I was nearly 8 months pregnant and moving the shop from our first location to our second location. Instead of going through our training program, Jillian spent the first few weeks at fibre space in a two-person packing and moving project led by my MOTHER. If you have met my mother, or know anything about her management of projects in general, you would know why this is still Jillian’s favorite story to share about her time at the shop…working side by side with my amazing but also very particular mother. (Again, I am SO sorry, Jillian). Amazingly she has positive things to say about the experience… and she didn’t quit after the first week of work.
In fact, she never successfully quit (lol). Jillian started here when she was in law school and worked on and off as a yarnista over the years as she built her career in law and as a civil servant, coming back to teach or work on the floor when possible. You will still find her working the floor during our busiest days. She is the last yarnista from our original location to still be working at the shop – a true OG. But most of you know her from our teaching program. Jillian is a phenomenal instructor with many years of experience. She is always learning, always curious, which makes her such an incredible teacher and asset to fibre space.
Without her, I do not know how we would be pulling off our furloughed federal worker program! During government shutdowns, which have become entirely too frequent, she leads our volunteer group of teachers, creates the class program, and keeps her finger on the pulse of what is happening in DC so that we can pivot quickly. As a federal employee herself, she has been able to represent that part of our community within the shop, and we are so proud of the work we have done together for our federal workers!
Thanks for making it through some big, big transitions in this business, Jillian! So grateful for you.
Kim
It’s time to send some big love to another incredible fibre alumn – Kim!
I will be honest: I haven’t seen Kim in person in years (lol)! It is incredible how much impact someone can have on the shop without even being on site.
Kim joined the yarnista team over a decade ago, back when the shop was located on King Street. She immediately offered her expertise in writing and editing/proofreading, providing us with expertise that I hadn’t previously had regular access. After leaving her yarnista position, Kim offered to continue writing and proofing our newsletter, class descriptions, and more. Now, a dozen or so years later, Kim’s eyes are still on nearly every piece of communication the shop sends out.
Beyond technical support for editing, Kim can provide another level of crucial input. By not being in the shop daily, as most of our team are, she can offer us a fresh perspective on our ideas and language. She is seemingly always available to answer any question I might have, whether it’s how to word a particularly difficult message, or whether an event concept makes sense. Kim has given fibre space far more than we can “hire” in the traditional sense, and I am so incredibly grateful. I love hearing from team members about this magical Kim person they love working with, but have yet to meet!
Might I add, Kim also loves rich jewel tones and green as much as I do, and who doesn’t love having a cheerleader for their color choices and obsessions?! Thank you for everything you have done to keep this little ship afloat, Kim!
[Please note: Kim did not proof this content. Please excuse any grammar and syntax errors.]
