August 2015

Lady Dye Yarns: Reaching Higher Ground!

Click Here to support our Indiegogo Campaign!

It’s been a while since I have had the opportunity to send a newsletter to you about Lady Dye Yarns. We just got back from our second national show since Lady Dye Yarns started and we had great success! Now we are embarking on a new chapter in Lady Dye Yarns and we need your help again to raise funds to expand the company.

Back in 2010, I took an amazing yarn dyeing workshop in Cambridge, MA and fell in love with hand-painted yarns! Back then, I was solely dyeing yarn for myself and I still remember the day I sat down with my local knitting group at Doyle’s Cafe in Jamaica Plain, MA, and started knitting with my own hand-dyed yarn. Then someone suggested I should start selling my hand-painted yarns.

It never crossed my mind before to sell hand-dyed yarn as I was working a full-time job in the non-profit sector. I took that advice and I thought it would be great to make a “little money on the side.” I became a member in a local artisan group and I participated in my first craft-show, SOWA, in the South End. I received great admiration of my yarn and from there, I decided to start my own fiber arts company. I left my full-time job in April of 2011 to focus my attention on finding part-time work in the arts community while spending the other time growing my business.

In 2013, I was one of the finalist selected in the Merrimack Valley Sandbox Accelerator program (now known as Entrepreneurship for All). I received a business mentor, I laid out a business model that would work for my company, and I received many resources and opportunities through EforAll. At the time, we were only in two stores and we were selling our yarn on consignment. I knew this was not good enough for Lady Dye Yarns to just be in two stores and I wanted more for my company. I did my first crowdfunding campaign with Indiegogo to attend our first trade show, The National NeedleArts Association (TNNA), and we raised enough money to go! We had huge success at TNNA! We went from being in two stores in 2014 to our present number of 30 stores nationally and we continue to grow thanks to all of you!

We are entering a new chapter in the company where we are ready to move into space, employ a Business Manager, increase raw material, expand our marketing and branding, and build our working capital. We need your help again to make this happen. We are raising $40,200 to expand the company.

We need your help again to make this happen. We are raising $40,200 to expand the company. Please take the time to go to our Indiegogo Campaign page and make a contribution and please pass this information along. Every penny counts.

Lady Dye Yarns: Reaching Higher Ground! Read More »

Photos from Stitches Midwest

Long time no see!

This week we’ve been out in Schaumburg Illinois (near Chicago), at Stitches Midwest! There’re over a hundred vendors here, and we’ve been having a great time making connections with vendors and buyers alike. Stephen West visited our booth today, which was very exciting! We really like how our booth is set up, and it’s been such a thrill to be in such an energetic environment with all these people who are just as excited about yarn as we are! Here are some photos for those of you watching from home

Before we got to setting up the booth, we drove over to Ikea (both Diane and Anthony’s first time inside of one!) and got some additional items we needed for set up

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After that, it was off to the convention center to set up our booth! It was a lot of work, but it was worth it (despite what Amy and Anthony’s faces might imply). Here’s our booth at about half-way set up

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We had some last-minute labeling to do, but we had a fun time at it!

 

 

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Here’s another shot of our booth- this was on the first day that the floor opened up for sales

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Look at all the people waiting to get in! The MC for the hall was a hoot, and everyone was really excited to get in

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And here we are making sales at our booth

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We’ve been having a great time so far at Stitches Midwest, and hope that the rest of the weekend goes just as well!

A big thank you to everyone who’ve helped us get to where we are today, and we look forward to the adventures that Lady Dye Yarns will go on in the future!

Photos from Stitches Midwest Read More »

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