Bare Naked Wools
Anne Hanson, of Knitspot, creates beautifully designed knit patterns and luxurious, undyed yarns for her brand, Bare Naked Wools.
Established: 2004 / 2006
Owner: Anne Hanson & David Whitfield
Location: Canton, OH
Distance: 136 miles from Detroit!
Website: www.barenakedwools.com
Tell us who you are, the name of your business, and where you do your work.
My name is Anne Hanson; my husband and business partner is David Whitfield. Our business is Knitspot LLC, which encompasses my design brand, Knitspot, as well as our yarn brand, Bare Naked Wools. We live and operate our business in Canton, OH.
How long have you been an artist/maker/designer and when did you start your current business?
I’ve been an artist all of my life; I began doing a variety of needlework as a 4-year-old child and was drawn into designing in my teen years. I made a career in the fashion industry for many years before starting my own knit design enterprise in 2004 through a local yarn shop. Knitspot was branded as an independent business in 2006.
How did you get your start and how has your business/work evolved?
I started locally, selling patterns through my teaching venues; when the internet became more accessible and blogs were popular with knitters, I saw an opportunity to fulfill a lifelong desire to write about the artistic side of knitting and designing—inspiration, materials, the challenges of creating, etc. People loved my work (designing knits for myself and my family) and reading about the process; soon they were begging me to publish the patterns and so I did! Soon I was asked to teach and then we got the idea to offer yarn clubs, which in turn, led to me designing yarns (I often couldn’t find the kinds of yarns I REALLY wanted to share with others).
Where did you first learn about natural dyes/using local materials? What intrigued you to use them in your work?
Technically, this doesn’t apply to my own work (we make only undyed yarns), but I have personally experimented with natural dyes on my handspun yarns and I love the process of finding materials, making the dye, and then using it on wools with a variety of mordants. I love getting my hands into stuff like that!
What materials do you use to make your work, where are they sourced from, and why have you made these choices?
The yarns that we produce are spun from undyed and untreated fiber—I’m always striving to make yarns that reflect the natural state of the fiber as much as possible. It’s very important to me that the fiber be sourced from farms that are as close to the mills as possible—preferably small-production family farms or partnerships. This way, the millers and the farmers can communicate better and build a relationship. Likewise, we choose to work with smaller, artisan mills, usually run by one family or a small partnership or cooperative. We prefer facilities where the wool can be cleaned, processed, spun, skeined, and washed all in one place, by one team. Placing the responsibility for care of the wool in the hands of one team has ensured that the product we get back is lustrous, bouncy, and retains the liveliness it had when it left the sheep behind.
What are your favorite materials to use, do you have a favorite fiber or natural color?
My favorite fibers are wools, but we do produce a variety of blends by incorporating alpaca, mohair, cotton, hemp, silk, Tencel, etc. I prefer the wools above all—there are SO many breeds to explore with a wide array of characteristics. All the natural colors appeal to me but medium-dark grays and gray-browns are my favorite.
What inspires your work?
In terms of design, inspiration comes from many directions; I love natural forms of all types—plants, rocks, shells, small creatures—just about anything can spark an idea. But I also get a lot of inspiration from the materials themselves; it’s deliciously fun to analyze a fiber, swatch with it to discover its temperament, and then figure out what stitch patterns would do it justice or what type of garment would be smashing made up in it.
What challenges have you faced in creating and/or marketing your work?
I rarely find it challenging to create, but marketing my work, getting it out there for people to see—that’s more difficult for me to enjoy. It’s kind of a constant drain on my creative side, but fortunately we have grown as a company enough to bring in expert help with that. While the internet and social media has opened up many doors, all of those various avenues require tending and increasingly, an expertise in their management. It can be very distracting and time-consuming, leaving little in terms of creative energy. I am truly grateful for the team we have around us, who take care of those disciplines within our business. In terms of making yarn, it’s so exciting to talk to fiber producers and millers, but we have faced challenges here and there along the way when a mill wasn’t the right fit or when a yarn didn’t turn out the way we expected. Fortunately, these challenges are rare and our yarn production has been mostly full of wonderfully successful surprises!
What projects are you working on now?
I am working on a variety of garment and accessory designs, as well as sourcing fiber for and designing new yarns. We run a yarn subscription called Barn Box, that delivers unique, natural fiber selections to members every two months; as much as possible, we strive to create something new for each installment. This might be a fiber I’ve always wanted to work with, or something rare that we have an opportunity to purchase—always tho, it’s something that you normally wouldn’t find in a yarn shop. Sometimes the Barn Box selections become part of our continuing lines and sometimes they are one-off, limited editions. We are really trying to put as many different fiber types as possible into knitter’s hands.
How do you envision your work and your business evolving in the future?
I am SO excited about making yarns for knitters—there are lots of them out there who are thirsty for fiber knowledge; by building a reliable and trusted brand over these last years and making it visible to a wide group, we have hit a point right now where we have a terrific audience for what we are doing. As more knitters and crocheters see the benefits of buying locavore products, investing in our own economy, and using yarns that are responsibly sourced with a lower carbon footprint, we are trying to be there to fill that need. If we can make it a fun adventure as well, it’s even more satisfying. So, more of that for sure! My design brand will continue to produce patterns for handknitting as well; I will always love designing garments.
What are your favorite resources?
I really enjoy going to sheep and wool shows and visiting mills to talk to the people behind the wools and yarns. I have learned so much from discussions with producers that has led me to explore new avenues. I also do a lot of research in books and on the internet to learn about different fiber types, their history and evolution, and how they are used outside of knitting.
What interests you most about Fibershed?
I would like to know more about it; I have to admit that I don’t know very much about the Fibershed movement or how it works. I’ve read about it from various sources, but right now it seems like more of an idea than something with an infrastructure? It’s definitely an interesting concept and one that in my personal life, I could embrace. I think I would need guidance to see how it works from business to business, with our wool industry being so spread out.
How can our Fibershed community support you?
We are always eager to hear about interesting flocks and serious fiber farmers who might be looking for an outlet for their fiber. That said, it can be awkward to deal directly with farmers who haven’t been raising sheep for wool production; we’re not in a position to teach them the husbandry to make their wools better or to work hands on with them over the time it would take. This is why we rely on our mills to guide the sourcing—they are in a far better position to accept or reject wool based on its true properties. In discussions with our mills and farms, we have often heard that they appreciate our willingness to bring their products to market so that they can concentrate on their strengths. So, I guess the best help we could get would be anything that brings customers to us, so that we can keep those farms and mills busy! Truly we are part of a food chain; a portion of every skein sold goes directly back to the people who produced the raw materials and those who made them into yarn.