About MollyGirl

This is far and away the hardest page to write - MollyGirl is such a big dream of mine, and has been for so long, that it's very difficult to put "in a nutshell"... but here goes anyway.


I learned to knit when I was 15 years old, to crochet by 17, and by the time I had graduated from high school I had amassed an enormous stack of scarves, hats, and other warm things. This was the height of the funfur craze and so there was a whole lot of fluffy happening. My mother, ever eager to get rid of "clutter", signed me up for a craft show at my old middle school that winter. I didn't sell that much, but I was absolutely hooked. For the next six years it was an obsession. I churned out hats, scarves, cowls, fingerless mittens, and other non-yarn craftables like it was my job. I doubt I made a cent in real profit, but I was sure having fun. One of the very first things Boyfriend & I did when we began dating was work a craft show. It was a huge part of my life and I wanted to make sure he was game for it.


In about the winter of 2011 I had become both frustrated and bored and I needed to branch out. My inability to compete with tables of garter-stitch scarves knit from Red Heart Super Saver on sale for $5 baffled me. I had studied music business in college, and that had entailed a lot of "small business" classes. There was no way I could ever become successful (and live out my dream of actually being able to call yarn my full-time occupation) the way I was doing things. So, for fun, I bought some dyes and some naked yarn and a whole lot of vinegar and before I knew it I was standardizing colorways and naming bases and generally having the time of my life. 


My old business name, Yarn Monkey Productions, was something I came up with when I was in high school, and in 2013 I decided I had definitely outgrown both the name and the style. I spent a few months percolating and eventually MollyGirl Yarn was born. I launched my rebrand in May of 2013 - MollyGirl Yarn, a music themed yarn company that strives to make rockin' colorways on sweet, sweet bases and stick in your head like a catchy pop tune. Our bases are all musically-named and every colorway we do is inspired by a song. Named after Molly, a shih tzu who had been my bestie for 12 years, the company was (and still is) a cumulative compilation of everything I learned in college and my self-taught fiber arts mojo. 


I've never taken a class or a lesson on dyeing (or anything yarn related, for that matter) so my techniques are unique. That is to say, I made them up. I love to experiment and try new things. Since no one ever told me how to do it right, nothing I try is wrong. There are definitely colors that don't come out like I hope, bases that don't pan out the way I want them to, and sales techniques that aren't as successful as I hope, but there are quite a lot of those things that do work out and it's always a fun ride to see what happens. MollyGirl embodies the spirit of small, independent business - something that was very important to me when I began and which remains an important priority. One day I hope MollyGirl will become a common staple at local yarn shops around the county (and maybe outside it too!) but I will always strive to keep that indie feel in all we do. One day I'd love to have a real studio and a brick-and-mortar shop (and maybe some employees or an intern or two); we'll have live music events and awesome tea and it'll be amazing.


So that's it. That's MollyGirl. I'll probably come back and edit this later, but it's a fair statement about everything is company is and strives to be. There is love in everything I make and I hope it brings my customers joy.

 

---Angela Cronin, Crafty Mastermind