8/15
I know I said the last was going to be the finale, but I wanted to end this on a more positive note. While it seemed that with everyone’s support it recovery from the trailer theft would be quick and relatively easy, that was wildly optimistic! As I write this thought we are rebuilding the display racks, the new trailer has been ordered, we have beautiful new samples, and there is yarn ready to go out to our next show (Hello STITCHES SLC and Vermont Sheep & Wool!) We are so much better off that we could have been. I will never forget this experience and how amazing the fiber community has been. Thank you with all my heart. <3
7/24
Hopefully this is the final chapter in this saga. The trailer was found and it was not good. Sadly the thieves seemed to have rolled it down an embankment and it ended up looking like this…
4/19
I’m finally going to share what I know about the second donation.
The thieves, when they donated our yarn at Habitat for Humanity mentioned that they planned to donated the rest somewhere else. We didn’t know if this was true or not, but a couple of fiber vendor friends who had an extra day to kill in Dallas decided to check at other donation stops nearby. At one Goodwill they got an affirmative response, “Yeah, we got a bunch of totes full of yarn the other day.” Unfortunately, that batch of donations had already been taken to the central distribution warehouse.
Our friends went to the Dallas Goodwill distribution center and were told that once the donations were at the warehouse it was impossible to find anything, despite the fact that the vendor friends saw items that appeared to be from the stolen trailer on the warehouse floor. We got the police to call and finally got promises that Goodwill would start looking immediately. The next day Goodwill said they were going to start looking very soon. We called for updates and were told all sorts of conflicting stories. Then Goodwill complained to the police that our once a day phone calls were harassing them. And finally a few more emails with stalling tactics and unlikely promises.
Then… nothing. Total radio silence.
The last we heard, Goodwill claim (once again) that they are searching the warehouse, but haven’t found anything.
While we are hopeful, at this point we aren’t expecting to get any of the yarn, samples, display or the rest back.
#nogoodwillatgoodwill
4/16
Someone pointed out that I have not actually posted about how to help.
We have been so astounded by the outpouring of support and offers of help that I haven’t thought to ask. Here are the options if you want to do something:
– We are still looking for a few sample knitters. Email yarns@ahundredravens.com.
– Buy a skein of yarn to add to Amy’s Club (a monthly box of yarn to AHR’s heroine
Amy who found and returned our yarn from Habitat for Humanity). To do this you
can purchase through the website at:
https://ahundredravens.com/product/amysclub/
– There are 2 GoFundMe campaigns:
https://www.gofundme.com/a-hundred-ravens-trailer-was-stolen-fully-loaded
https://www.gofundme.com/a-hundred-ravens
– Support one of these amazing businesses who helped us so much:
Bead Biz
Sweater Sisters
White Birch Fiber Arts
Habitat for Humanity
Flying Needles Yarn Shop
Windmill Crest
Yarn Carnival
Twist in Time
Raven Knits Design
Craftyflutterby Designs
RedFish DyeWork
The Fiberists
Black Cat Fiber Arts
And thank you again. We are so very, very grateful for everything.
4/15
Back home finally.
Great show in Allentown! It was lovely getting another dose of love and support from our wonderful fiber community.
We are finally able to start dying for orders that came in after the theft (especially all those skeins and skeins of “Big & Bright!”
Still waiting on word about the second donation. I want to be sure of the situation before I say anything publicly.
Speaking of yarn donations, Amy from Habitat for Humanity was such a hero, we’ve been thinking of a way to thank her. We finally had a perfect idea. AHR is restarting our monthly yarn club… but only for Amy. For the next year we are gifting Amy with a box of yarn (ours and other hand-dyers) every month.
4/12
Hitting the road for Allentown. We’ve had some new information about the possible donation of the rest of the yarn. More news as we get it…
4/10
Absolutely overwhelmed with the outpouring of love and support.
We spend our days in the studio creating, more days on the road taking our yarn to all the corners of the US, and a couple weekends a month putting it in the hands of crafters at shows… It seems like a simple business transaction.
I didn’t realize before this that it is so much more.
I’ve learned this week that all the mini skeins handed out to kids, all the help matching colors, finding patterns, marveling at your finished objects, talking, laughing, commiserating… becoming friends and family.
4/8
Becca’s Birthday present was a GIANT check from the beautiful people of the DFW Fiber Fest — the proceeds of the raffle held to help out after the loss of the trailer.
Today we head home to New Hampshire to dye, dye, dye so we have enough yarn for next weekend’s show in Allentown, PA
4/7
— From Kel —
The outpouring of support, help, love and concern has not only helped AHR recover around a third of our stolen stock, but turned a theft that might well have ended our business into something we can absolutely manage.
People have bought huge amounts of yarn. Insane amounts. I mean, not that fiber people need an excuse to buy ridiculous amounts of yarn, but still.
They’ve spread the word — remember, an internet search brought that weirdly donated yarn back to us yesterday; if news of the theft hadn’t been all over the internet the H4H person never would have known.
They’ve started GoFundMes; already enough has been donated that we’ll be able to replace the trailer. Let that sink in.
Folx have stepped up and offered to replace our samples. Those of you who knit and crochet know that of the losses, the dozens of samples represent thousands of hours of work and that samples are critical to sell yarn.
A friend and neighbor who helped with the original racks has offered to help design and build all the new ones, which was going to be a massively daunting task. Tons of people have offered to help.
Fiber vendors have banded around Becca and Kayla in Dallas to pick up the found yarn, get gridwall and other booth structures, and built and stocked a booth. There was no way we’d have been able to do this show, even if we had the recovered third of stock. But fiber folx made it happen. Looking at these pictures I can’t even believe it.
People have sent love and hugs and commiserations, they’ve offered to posse up and go find the thieves (I seriously love you people), they’ve taken the one sharp blow of misfortune and turned it into a tidal wave of support and kindness.
Two days ago our entire show trailer with all our stock was stolen. Today we have a booth with yarn in it to sell and that is ONLY because of all of you.
A couple of bad people did a rotten thing. (And even then, apparently they felt moved to donate some of the yarn to a charity rather than just trash it.) But one bad thing, for a couple of bad people out there, we see that there are hundreds and hundreds of good, kind, wonderful people.
Folx, there is so much more good in the world than bad. So, so much good.
4/6
So… we were headed out of town yesterday to make the long drive home, just about to stop for a bite, when we got a call. “Are you A Hundred Ravens? I have 1120 skeins of your yarn that were donated to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Dallas. Do you think this is you stolen yarn?”
Short report is, thanks to the curiosity of a WONDERFUL person (and crocheter) who worked there and knew that this motherload was suspicious, we got about 1/3 the yarn back, but nothing else. The other AMAZING vendors at DFW Fiber Festival cobbled a booth together for us out of their leftover grid and such and we decided to stay and do the last.2 days of the show.
We are so touched and blessed to have so many astoundingly generous people around us. Thank you all.
4/5
Update. No trailer still but in it’s place I have something so much more valuable… a deeper understanding of the very real goodness of people. One person was awful, but many hundreds of you have reached out to offer support, or buy yarn, or ask how you can help. THANK YOU ALL!
Anyone lacking faith in humanity is welcome to to look through my email and see how wonderful people can be.
I am driving home today (and tomorrow) but at the same time we are putting together a list of ways you can help us out.
List has been delayed due to new events. More as we have a minute to breathe.
4/4
Bad news my friends. AHR’s trailer was stolen this morning from the parking lot of our hotel in Irving, TX. In it was almost all our inventory, all our samples, display gear, flooring, register… everything. So we will be missing DFW Fiberfest this weekend. We are heading home to try and recoup and dye enough to make it to our next show. We’ll miss all our Texas friends. Visit us at www.ahundredravens.com, where I will be posting the show colorway for sale.