A Business Update from Crochet Aweigh

Hi friends! This post is to give you an update on how Crochet Aweigh is going!

If you have been following me on Instagram, you are probably aware that for the last several months I have been running a mobile yarn shop at different events throughout Central FL.

Why? As someone who is extremely passionate about yarn and teaching others to learn the art of crochet it was devastating to me that my area of Central FL did not have a yarn shop . We do have a few, but there was nothing within an hour’s drive of my part of Central FL. The different local groups that I’ve attended long for our own local yarn shop. I live near a little town called Mount Dora. It is an extremely artsy area, constantly hosting different festivals, art shows, and events of all kinds. This is where the stitch group that I most often go to are based. We frequently talk about how much our area needs its own yarn shop, but rent directly in Mount Dora is sky high and real estate is hard to come by.

At the time I was working 40 hours a week at my day job with an hour commute each way, so basically 50 hours a week at the day job. I am one of the rare people who actually enjoys what I do. I work at a custom cabinet shop as their interior designer and head of sales. This is a fun job that is always a little different, and I get to help people enjoy and get more use out of their home.

With that being said, I wanted to contribute to my community by providing specialty yarns, without quitting my day job and opening an actual yarn shop. Think of all the things that come with that: rent, employees, an accountant, the list goes on and on. So I came up with the idea of having a mobile shop! I thought by setting up at different events in different cities across central FL that I could add to the fiber community, and provide them with a source for specialty and hand dyed yarns. I’ve noticed that many people are not willing to travel outside of their community to shop, so they never made it to the nicer yarn shops that are within 1-4 hours of driving.

I began by contacting Florida-based yarn dyers. Most of them were intrigued by the business idea and allowed me to open accounts with them. During that time I opened accounts with the following yarn dyers: Beach Bunny Yarns, Dizzy Blonde Studios, Bad Sheep, Indigo Child Dye Studio, Copper Corgi, Queen Bee Yarns, Eternity Ranch Knits, She Sells Yarn, Olive and Two Ewe, Southern Skeins, KittyBea, and more. I also reached out to different Etsy sellers to get some fun yarn T shirts, candles, and other yarn-themed merchandise. I was attempting to have what a regular yarn shop would carry, but on a smaller scale.

Between the end of July 2024 and the beginning of November I did 14 different events with my mobile shop. It may not sound like a lot over a few months, but for someone working 50 hours a week it sure felt like a lot!

In that same time period I teamed up with Alexandra of Yarn Crafts & Coffee to open a double booth at America’s Antique Mall in Melbourne. We have a 10 x 20 booth selling a wide variety of yarns. Alexandra focuses on larger name brands such as Berroco, Lion Brand, Knitting Fever, and more, and I focus on hand dyed yarns for the booth.

We have recently started doing stitch circles there as well! You can find us there on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of every month. If you are near the Melbourne area we would love to have you! If you go to the Yarn Crafts & Coffee Facebook Page you can find all the info about the events.

I learned so much by doing these mobile events, but ultimately I realized that I wasn’t accomplishing my original goal. My goal was to be a good resource for the fiber friends in the area who didn’t have a local yarn shop. I was hoping to create a stronger fiber community, but there wasn’t enough consistency. By moving all over the place I wasn’t building up that community. I’m also very passionate about passing the love of crochet onto others. The mobile shop was so time consuming that I had no time to teach lessons anymore. I love crochet so much I can’t let it turn into another extinct art form. I’m so excited about helping others find their love of crochet too. I realized that if I wanted to be a good asset and resource to the fiber community then I would need to be in one spot consistently. Helen from She Sells Yarn suggested that to me fairly early on in my mobile shop journey, but I had to figure it out for myself. I should have listened to her, she really knows her stuff!

Now I’m very excited to announce that Yarn Crafts & Coffee and I have partnered up again for a new venture…a yarn shop in Central FL! I put away the fears of the risks of opening a shop because it felt like the right thing to do to move forward. We found a little spot in downtown Tavares. The Mount Dora-Eustis-Tavares area has lots of stitchers and no shop yet so this is the perfect spot! The shop is only about 300 square feet, but there is room for expansion and sure does fit a lot of yarn already! It is also next to the cutest coffee shop called the Deli Llama. Our soft opening is on Saturday, December 14th, and grand opening is on January 4th! The soft opening will be much more casual, but the grand opening will be filled with all sorts of fun like giveaways, food, and other surprises! Stay tuned for more exciting updates and I can’t wait to see you at Crochet Aweigh soon!

Enjoy these sneak peek photos of our work in progress!