About The Fold

When I bought my first sheep 34 years ago, little did I guess where it would lead me! At the time I was milking two goats and had more milk than the goats' kids and my own family could drink, so I found two bummer lambs to raise, and that's where the odyssey began. Those two lambs were shorn in due season, and since I didn't want to waste the wool, I learned to spin.

The yarn, itself, was my end product for several years, but when the stockpiles of yarn began to outgrow my closet space, I knew the time had come for me to use it for something, so I learned to weave. As the years passed, I enjoyed weaving very much but always wanted to add knitting so that I could make the best use of yarn spun from fine wools. I learned the basics of Knitting from Priscilla Harper in 2004 and have been knitting socks like a fiend, since.

But the unspun fibers, themselves, have always been the most fascinating part of this venture for me, the latent potential of each lock of wool, each length of roving and sliver, each perfect silk cocoon. So when I opened the shop here at The Fold in 1993, the fibers were the focus, and they still are. The hardware - the wheels, drop spindles, niddy-noddies, books, knitting needles and all the rest - are just the backdrop for the wonderful fibers spinners have available to them today. When you walk into my shop, here on the Web or at home in Illinois, I hope you'll feel as excited as a kid on Christmas morning. I hope you'll find something you've dreamed of finding but never thought you would! If you can tell me what changes we've made to this patter, I'll give you a gift certificate to the fold.