The Yarn Underground is the final destination for fiber arts enthusiasts. Whether people knit, crochet, spin, embroider or weave, this shop has all tools and materials needed for creative crafts and projects.
Shelley Stone, co-founder and owner of The Yarn Underground, originally started the store with a former business partner as a way of dealing with the isolation and boredom that accompanies parenthood.
“We started the store as an outlet for our own careers and creativity,” Stone said. “I’ve always wanted it to be a place where community happens and people can meet each other and just have that explosion of creativity and sharing. You get together, and you learn things, and you’re more inspired.”
Originally established in 2010 in a basement location on 3rd Street in downtown Moscow, the shop has offered a wide variety of products, kits, workshops and programs for over a decade. Customers can peruse the visually stunning displays of tools, finished products, kits, workbooks and most impressively, hand-dyed selections of yarn from Stone’s own dye studio, Palouse Yarn Company.
A Yelp reviewer by the account name of JD left a particularly positive opinion.
“This is a lovely shop, with a beautiful selection of yarns and fibers,” JD said. “The staff was super helpful … It has a real community feel, very welcoming, and such gorgeous yarn.”
About one-third of the products within The Yarn Underground are sourced from Stone’s own company, distinguished with a PYC label. Stone dyes seasonally from May to October every year and is making an effort to include a larger portion of original patterns that support the yarn.
The Yarn Underground also includes products and materials from other local artists in Moscow, as well as products sourced on a national and international scale. Customers can find stock from Latah County in Idaho, Montana, New Hampshire, Michigan, England, Peru and beyond.
“You wouldn’t think of yarn as the international traveler, but it kind of is,” Stone said. “It’s one of those things where the supply chain has been globalized… and you can have an international yarn.”
Stone’s products also follow organic, sustainable and cruelty-free guidelines.
“I have quite a few lines in here that will adhere to those standards, and in fact, all of the house brand yarns that I brought in this year, three new lines of organic Moreno extra fine wool, are all certified cruelty-free and sustainably grown,” Stone said. “We’ve got a bunch of new recycled yarns in too.”
The Yarn Underground provided several programs and workshops before COVID-19 related restrictions discontinued large indoor gatherings. However, Stone is still finding ways to connect with customers and advise them through their beginning baby steps.
“I’m taking one-on-one lessons and that’s about the best I can do. I’ll still help people when they come in with a little problem, but I don’t really feel comfortable inviting 20 people in like I used to, and having packed classes,” Stone said. “I’m just trying to encourage people by showing them that there are good resources online to help you learn your new skill and new craft. It’s good to gather what you can and work a little bit, try things, and then come check in with me and I can steer you on the right path.”
Customers of differing levels of experience can also purchase pre-prepared kits with informative books and included tools to have a guide for starting a new creative project. Following Stone’s goal of incorporating more of her own original patterns into her stock, the kits are often unique to Palouse Yarn Company and The Yarn Underground.
“You can buy a kit with a pattern that I wrote with yarn that you can only get here,” Stone said. “This is the pivot that my business has made in the past year. It needs to be available online, and it needs to be special or unique, so it’s good that I’ve already got something that I can work with.”
Customers who regularly shop also have access to a newly-established loyalty program. The program, a component of Stone’s point-of-sale system, is designed as an add-on to align online inventory with in-store inventory, preventing overselling and updating stock availability in real-time.
“You can sign up wherever, either here or online, but it will sync your personal experience coming in the store,” Stone said. “Your points will also be available online. They add up over time to discounts.”
The loyalty program includes a VIP status that, when achieved, allows the customer to begin earning double points or earning points twice as fast as usual with each purchase.
The program is a response from Stone after increasingly isolating and demanding social media algorithms were not allowing her customers to access her products easily.
“My response to social media wanting me to buy ads is (for) me to just pull back and say ‘Well, you should just come to my website and do your things there,’” Stone said.
Stone’s goals for 2021 center around firming up plans for dyeing schedules and making selections available throughout the year with a larger supply of products, especially including her own yarn, which is becoming increasingly popular among customers.
“I’m kind of balancing buying other products, and the ebb and flow of what to feature (to) still come out with my own unique thing.”
The Yarn Underground is located at 409 South Washington Street in Moscow. Winter hours are 12 p.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. For more information and access to the web store, visit yarnunderground.com and Facebook @theyarnundergound or call (208) 882-7700.
Katarina Hockema can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @katarina___h