“Friends don’t let friends craft with insipid yarns.” That’s the motto of Lisa Bass’s web-based business, White Birch Fiber Arts.
About a year ago, Bass posted pictures of a few skeins of her hand dyed self-striping sock yarn on the fiber site, Ravelry. Then, at the urging of an online acquaintance, she began selling them on Etsy, the crafters site; and they sold out quickly. Since early this year, Bass has sold more than 2000 skeins online, doubling her business every month. She now produces about 200 skeins in a two week cycle, assisted by her son.
Bass buys machine-washable, “super-wash” wool from a wholesaler in Virginia, re-skeins it in 24 yard and 16 yard lengths, and dyes it to form stripes when it’s knitted. Then she winds it back into standard knitting skeins of about 1 ½ yards. Most of her skeins have about twelve colors. Some are subtle; others are anything but.
The process is very labor-intensive, and Bass is one of a relatively few hand dyers producing self-striping yarn. So being able to sell directly to customers on the Internet - instead of wholesaling - makes her business feasible. She couldn’t make a living if she had to discount her yarn to wholesale levels.
Bass would love to source her yarn in Vermont, but there are no mills in the state that sell machine washable yarn, an absolute must for sock knitters. Wool has tiny barbs in it that shrink and compress it into felt when washed in hot water. The superwash process removes those barbs, rendering the yarn ready for regular laundering. (Knitting a pair of socks, only to have them transform into smallish Christmas ornaments is deeply discouraging; you really need washable wool.)
Bass isn’t sure if local sourcing of yarn would be financially feasible, given cheap Chinese labor costs, but she says she’d rather buy Vermont wool treated in Vermont mills. And she’s encouraged by the small mills that have popped up in the state. “It would be fantastic if one of them could come up with an environmentally friendly method of treating the wool that’s also economically feasible,” she says.
High speed inernet service became available to Bass in 2012. Now she boasts that going to the post office is the only work related commute she has. She even uses a virtual bookkeeper and accountant. Bass says the Vermont community is very hospitable to crafters – and understands the value of handcraft. “But,” she says, “It’s a small state. We have to be able to reach the world wide audience that values quality artisanal products and can pay for them.”
Many of Bass’s customers don’t care about the Vermont Brand - a few have never even heard of Vermont. They simply want exceptional yarn – and the Internet makes it possible for them to search the world to find it.
