Reflecting on 2025 and Looking forward

Dear Friends of Scout & Skein,

It's been awhile since I have had a chance to reflect on our blog, and so I thought I would share some reflections on what has been a tremendously incredible, challenging, and heartbreakingly raw year for me. 

I thought I would summarize with some major highlights of the year, along with some lowlights, and finish with some goals I hope to share with you for the coming 2026 and beyond. 

Q1: Humble Beginnings with LOTS of Experimentation and Community Building

Scout & Skein started from humble beginnings in late 2024 with a small office (90 square feet and a dream) and an e-commerce website. In early 2025, we hit the ground running, working to build a new community centered on yarn, friendships, and creative opportunities through a series of in-person meetups. We experimented with pop-up shops, silent stitch parties, late-night Zoom meetings, a Camper Trunk Show, and meaningful partnerships with Hannah (@bookaroundfindout), who designed the Book Snake; Elements Coffee in EaDo (which sadly closed its doors later in the year); and Terri from Fiber Arts Houston for our Naughty Needles meetup. While some ideas stuck like ants on candy, others were experiments that didn’t go as well. As a new business, we knew we needed to play with our model and see what resonated. We’re excited to offer more of what worked in 2026, including silent stitch parties, an updated Book Snake crochet pattern, and trunk shows with local fiber artists.

Image: Stitch & B*tch and Yarn Swap at Brazos Bookstore with Brice from the Men's Textile Collective, a very cool nonprofit you need to check out.

Our highlight of the first quarter had to have been the partnership with Brazos Bookstore. We both were amazed and floored at the turnout each successive Stitch & B*tch meetup and speaks to the incredible testimony or collaborating with local shops and community organizations to celebrate our independent retail shops and makers. We are excited to announce our Stitch & B*tch events at Brazos will have a permanent presence in 2026, every second Tuesday of the month, from 6-8. Details are available on our Events page, no RSVP necessary, just bring any craft you can carry (sometimes I'm the only knitter there!)

We also hosted our first P*ssyHat workshop, an opportunity to learn how to knit while also exploring craftivism, a movement of women who marched on Washington, DC, in 2016 to have their voices heard among a sea of, you guessed it, pink “pussyhats.” We were honored to speak directly with one of the Pussyhat Project founders, Jayna Zweiman, who Zoomed into our packed group class to share the history of the project and talk about her current work, the Welcome Blanket.

Q2: Flexing our Business muscles and expanding our network

Image below: Katie meets up with Bridget, founder and CEO of Cowgirlblues Yarn, a women run and operated fiber company in South Africa, at the annual h&h conference in Chicago, IL

Image Caption: Katie at the annual h&h americas trade show. An annual conference for fiber businesses and content creators in the US.

Spring brought fresh new perspectives and networking opportunities with the Annual fiber arts Trade Show in Chicago, IL, known as h&h americas. Scout & Skein connected with other LYS owners across the country, took business classes to smarten up on retail, finance, and managing a LYS, and even fan-girled on some of our favorite organizations and influencers in this space, starting with the amazing founders of the Loose Ends Project, Maddie from @the_badass_quilter,  and even Kaffe Fassett (just being in his orbit felt great).

We also started our first online (via Instagram) Crochet-a-long group with the Summer Picnic Blanket from Sirdar. We had a fun and lively group who supported each other through the process, and I feel like I've made forever fiber friends here in Houston and across the United States. 

June also brought a new partnership with Beyond the Covers HTX Pride Benefit at Social Beer Garden.  We loved reading this book, and it inspired us to carry our first collection of indie dyed yarns from Holly Dyeworks, who has an amazing collection of Jane Austen inspired yarns we now carry in the shop. 

Q3: Growing our team & taking time with family. 

Scout and Skein took a little summer holiday to be with family in NY and NJ, and had amazing e-commerce support from Tania Andrews, who has joined the Scout & Skein team as our first crochet instructor. I could go on about the amazing human Tania is, but let's just say you need to meet her to understand. She will be offering workshops throughout the year and offers shop support when she isn't managing a full schedule as a therapist and Ph.D student! 

We are so glad we took the time we did, because as life goes, I lost my mom very suddenly in early September. I had just signed the lease on this new space in the Heights and had ambitious goals to soft-open in September, but life had other plans for me. Gratefully, being in between spaces, not officially open, I was allowed the space and time to be with my mom in her last moments and support my father through his terminal diagnosis. Sometimes life has a way of working things out and I'm glad I had the space to be with family when it was absolutely necessary. 

Image Caption: My mother's Finished and Unfinished projects after her peaceful departure on September 6th. 

Q4: Grand Opening, Major Life Moments, and one AMAZING Community

Image Caption: Hanging out with some friends from our monthly Stitch & B*tch at Brazos Bookstore at Scout & Skein's Grand Opening.

Our grand opening was a huge highlight of this season. The turnout was tremendous, and the enthusiasm for the shop, the location, the yarn selection, and the incredible community already built here was deeply felt, thanks to other shops in town and outside the loop, as well as meetup groups with active memberships, including Yarn & Yap, New Heights Yarn, and the KIND and KANG groups, to name a few.

It was also one of the most difficult periods I’ve experienced so far in my life. I lost my father in late November to a fast-acting, terminal diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. Losing both of my parents within two months while opening this shop has been, simply put, a lot. My father kept an online diary every day, and one of his final posts was about how proud he was of this new venture. My mother taught me to knit, and my father taught me the importance of giving back to our community and spreading light and positivity, even in the darkest moments of life.

So many of you checked in on me, supported me, offered hugs and moments of respite, and shared your own stories of loss and grief. Part of me wonders if the timing of everything was an unexpected gift, being surrounded by such a strong, caring community while losing my primary models of support at the same time. As a person of faith, I believe in my heart that the higher powers that be chose this moment, knowing this season of life for me was just an opening from one season of life to another. 

I cannot thank you enough for your steady presence, patience, and care during this difficult time. The shop became a place to share, to feel joy, and to slow down and reflect, one stitch at a time. My parents would have wanted to know each of you, and by meeting you, I feel I can continue spreading the joy they embodied every day as parents, grandparents, and leaders in their professions and communities.

Looking Ahead: 2026 and beyond.

I have taken the last half year to reset, pivot, and practice self-care in either stepping back physically or mentally at times - which meant I didn't post as much content, I didn't finish as many projects, and some sales periods just could have been a bit better (I'm looking at you Christmas CAL). Looking forward I want you all to know the soft sketch of my plans for the shop, some already set in stone, some just in the wheelhouse of ideas. I will organize these around the three core values of our shop, so you all know these values inform our shop practices and values: 

Community

We are expanding our community partnerships to include Brazos Bookstore monthly meetups every second Tuesday from 6-8 and at Woven Stitchery & Crafts every last Tuesday of the month from 5 -7. We also can't wait to pop in on the Wednesday night meetups hosted by New Heights Yarn at Caffvino from 6 - 9.

We also will be offering more classes, educational events, and virtual meetups as we grow our services throughout the year. We will hope to feature trunk shows with local fiber artists during Winter Street Studio's second Saturday events. Stay tuned for updates there! 

As part of the Winter Street Studios community, we are happy to be a part of a network of talented artists, including Knitting Buddha, run by Maxine Rothman, a hand spinner and weaver whom I hope to make more connections with over the year. One day she will teach me how to spin - I am determined!

Winter Street Studios is part of the larger Sawyer Yards Community, and every Second Saturday, there are open studios which allow for customers at Scout & Skein to be inspired by local artists and get a firsthand access to the creative community we are a part of. My hope is Scout & Skein can be a bridge between those who see fiber arts as "traditional handicraft" and what's relegated to "fine arts" by being a part of this vibrant community space.

Sustainability

Scout & Skein has made it our mission to carry more sustainable yarns by working with companies that are transparent about their fiber sourcing and business practices. Over the course of 2025, we added several brands in support of that mission, including Wooldreamers, Kelbourne Woolens, Pascuali, and BC Garn, to name a few.

What “sustainability” means for a brand, however, goes far beyond carrying a handful of products with sustainable practices. It means more than offering plant-based yarns, which we do. It also means more than simply calling ourselves “sustainable.” Anything less feels disingenuous and veers into greenwashing.

As such, we have spent the past year intentionally reviewing our business practices, the brands we carry, and how we define sustainability. This is a constant work in progress. At h+h americas last year, I attended a lecture on the greenwashing of the term “sustainable” across markets, which reinforced that sometimes a word alone is not enough. That experience introduced me to the concept of a “circular economy,” a more comprehensive framework for environmentally responsible practices that has helped shift our focus away from jargon and toward actionable steps.

Circular thinking means considering the full life cycle of every object, whether it’s a skein of yarn or a box shipped to a customer in the U.S. We know we still have work to do, particularly in being more open and transparent about our practices, and are continually educating ourselves about how we can be contributing members of a circular economy. While not ready to announce it yet, Scout & Skein will be introducing a new program in 2026 that will address this need to be a contributor to the circular economy. We can't wait to share it with you when it's ready.

Here's some sustainability measures from 2025 we are proud of: 

• Sustainable & Responsible Packaging solutions. Scout & Skein ended its relationship with Uline and is phasing out all remaining Uline supplies. We no longer order materials from this company and have since transitioned to purchasing shipping supplies and paper goods from EcoEnclose and PaperMart.

   

• Reusable Packaging. If you have received a package from Scout & Skein in the past, you may have noticed that we often reuse packaging received from vendors or saved from personal mail. We proudly label these packages as recycled and reused as part of our effort to reduce the carbon impact of our business.

   

• Adding more sustainable, responsible and traceable brands. These leaders in the market include Kelbourne Woolens, Pascuali Yarns, BC Garn, Wooldreamers, and Woolfolk. Each of these brands has sustainability measures embedded in their farming, labor, and production practices. We also were very happy to find an indie dyer who uses traceable, sustainable, non-superwash yarns, with Fiction Fiber. 

   

• Our first Sheep to Skein Brand was added. In January 2026, we added our first sheep-to-skein yarn from Ireland: Eiru Yarns. This brand focuses on revitalizing the Irish wool industry while reducing the carbon footprint associated with the global, interdependent yarn supply chain, which is increasingly impacted by tariffs.

   

• We are vocal. We continually audit our brands’ websites and business practices, regularly asking sales representatives about the sustainability initiatives each company is pursuing and any changes underway. As part of the supply chain, it is important to us that our brands know sustainability matters to us and that we are actively seeking responsible solutions together.

   

• We reduced our usage of AI once we learned of the environmental impacts. While we previously leaned on AI for editing social media content, we are moving away from this approach in favor of more honest, non-generative text. We do not use AI-generated images in our content, with one or two limited exceptions on our website.  Moving forward, we will include disclaimers on any content that does involve AI, as we believe it is important to support writers, artists, and creators rather than replace their work with resource-intensive data systems.

• Which brings us to inclusivity..... 

Inclusivity in a Post-Joann's World. 

The terms “sustainable” and “inclusive” are often at odds with each other. It’s understandable that the more transparent and sustainable a company’s practices are, the higher the price tag tends to be. This created a big head-scratcher for me as a shop owner trying to find balance: carrying yarns that are sustainably sourced, use fair labor practices, are made from organic, mulesing-free materials, or are locally produced, sourced, and milled. The fiber industry in the U.S. is struggling, but it is also growing thanks to the incredible efforts of brands like Mitchell Wool Co. and other local producers.

And we can’t ignore the closure of Joann in 2025. This was a major loss for our community, even while acknowledging its challenges. Joann served as an accessible entry point for discovering new crafts at affordable prices. Once someone found a craft that stuck, they often sought out a local yarn shop with knowledgeable staff, higher-quality materials, and better tools to refine their skills. With that market shift in mind, and in an effort to continue offering affordable options, we made the intentional decision to carry strong acrylic blends, including Sirdar’s Jewelspun Ombre, Berroco Vintage DK, and, most recently, Kelbourne Woolens’ Keystone, which have provided excellent resources for people who are new to this craft, with tighter budgets, or need LOTs of yardage (I'm looking at you crochet friends!)

Inclusivity means more than just sticker price. It means providing a safe and welcoming space for everyone. One customer wrote, “Looking at your stickers and projects, I’m so excited to find a yarn shop that’s also a safe space.” We are committed to continuing that work. Sometimes, inclusivity means being explicit, so marginalized communities know they are welcome. You’ll see that reflected in our visible LGBTQ+ pride, our efforts to represent a range of ethnicities, ages, and income backgrounds in our content, and our choice of an ADA-accessible retail space.

In 2026, we want to do better at auditing our website and social media content for ADA accessibility. Having worked with ADA accessibility in previous roles, I understand how important it is to include people of all abilities. I also know I won’t always get it right, and I genuinely welcome feedback.

Thank you for taking the time to read this long post!  If you have read it, you get a special 10% off -one time- Coupon Code because if you made it this far, I know you care and you are a superstar! 

CODE: BLOG2026