“They keep taking the yarn. Better make more.”
Some people start a business with the intent of going into business. A Hundred Ravens started with a product everyone wanted, and it’s been that way ever since.
Back in 2009 Kel dyed some yarn for the first time. They dyed colors they wanted — rich, saturated, vibrant — on a high quality base. Friends and coworkers took it all, and left none for Kel. So they dyed more. Those went, too. “We’ll pay for it,” people said, and meanwhile could they buy two more skeins for a friend of theirs, and then those friends wanted more and… well it all spun wildly out of control and ten years later here we are. Still making beautiful colors on high quality bases, with an ever-growing community of enthusiastic fans who can’t get enough of it.
We’ve gone from a few bins of yarn at the Wayland Farmer’s Market to attending fiber shows all over the country, but along the way our focus has been the same as it was in the beginning. Yarn we love, colors we love, and every skein dyed by hand with the exact same care and attention to quality on our hundred thousandth skein as we took on our tenth. We’ve found new bases, gotten into dyeing gradients, but the focus has always remained on uncompromising beauty and quality, no matter what fun new tricks we’re up to.
Our customers are a community, and even though that community is now global, we still think of them as “friends and family.” And they keep taking our yarn, gosh darn it.