The Farmers Market Meets the For You Page
It’s been a hot minute since I last blogged, but you know what, that just means I’ve been busy living the colorful chaos of building a yarn brand from scratch. Between dye baths, chasing my toddler around, and trying to remember which skeins are going into which collection, the days slip by faster than a dropped stitch. And lately, one of the biggest lessons I’ve been soaking in is the power of showing up, both in person and online, because building a brand isn’t just about making pretty yarn, it’s about connection.
There is something about the farmers market that you simply can’t recreate behind a screen. Standing behind a table of hand dyed skeins feels like standing in the middle of a rainbow explosion. People stroll by, their eyes snag on a colorway, and then it happens, the stop in their tracks moment. They reach out. Yarn is tactile. It begs to be squeezed, squished, and held up to the light. I encourage all the yarn squishing. To fall in love with something it has to reach all the senses, and nothing beats watching someone’s face light up when they find their colorway, the one that speaks directly to them. In those moments the brand grows not just through sales, but through connection. You get to meet me, listen to me blather on about the different types of dyes, why some wools feel softer than others, and my little silent mission to make hand dyed 100 percent natural fiber yarn as affordable as I can. Sure, you leave with yarn, but you also leave with a memory, and that is what brings people back again and again.
But here’s the truth, as magical as face to face is, I would be nowhere without social media. Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, even YouTube, they are the modern day town square. Through a short clip of me sprinkling dye powder across a skein or a silly voiceover about stash guilt, I can reach knitters in New York, crocheters in California, and weavers in Wisconsin. I can build relationships with people who may never walk past my booth but who find me while scrolling in the quiet hours of their day. Social media is its own kind of market, one that never closes, where your booth is open twenty four seven and your audience is potentially endless. So if you haven’t been able to see me in person, I like to think that maybe I’ve snuck onto your for you page at least once, waving a skein of neon yarn around like a maniac.
The thing about running a business in 2025 is that you really have to do both. You have to be scrappy, creative, and willing to try every trick in the book. That’s where guerrilla marketing comes in. It’s old school hustle meeting new school algorithm. It’s chalkboard signs that make people laugh, quirky stickers tucked into shopping bags, and handwritten thank you notes. It’s also trending sounds on TikTok, behind the scenes dye alongs, and reels that capture the wild mess of a dye day. It’s the human handshake paired with the viral share. It’s the understanding that people want to feel seen, entertained, inspired, and included, whether they are standing in front of you holding yarn or double tapping from halfway across the country.
That, to me, feels like the magic formula for growing an indie brand right now. Face to face connection plus digital reach equals community and growth. It’s not about one or the other, it’s about weaving them together so that the threads hold strong. So whether it’s a Saturday morning at the market when I’m explaining how superwash works to a curious knitter, or a Tuesday night reel that unexpectedly blows up while I’m folding laundry, I’m learning to embrace both sides of the hustle. Because at the end of the day, it’s all about getting yarn into the hands of people who will love it, who will turn it into something beautiful, and who will hopefully come back for more colorful chaos next time.