Tulsa, Oklahoma Yarn Shop: Get Stitchin’
The Kiersten J Yarn Shop Hop
This week I had the opportunity to visit the Tulsa, Oklahoma Yarn Shop Get Stitchin’. Get Stitchin’ is a locally owned shop with inventory to support and inspire makers in a wide range of fiber arts. When I looked at the store website before my visit, I noted an emphasis on spinning and weaving as well as yarn, knitting, and crocheting. Given my personal fascination with all the steps of the yarn manufacturing process, I was excited to see what might be available, and I’m eager to share what I found with you!
First Impressions
When I arrived, there was a group of women talking and working on the couches near the door. They were anticipating the sock knitting club activity starting up soon, something they do twice a month. I was invited to look and touch any and every thing in the store, and immediately noticed the prominent placement of the many items by local makers.
Best Characteristics of Get Stitchin’
Get Stitchin’ does a fabulous job of highlighting and promoting the work of independent makers, and they do it in several different ways.
Display Prominence
The first and most obvious way Get Stitchin’ highlights their independent suppliers is by the way they’ve chosen to display their goods. As you walk through the store, you first (and mostly) see yarns and other items produced by independent makers. You can purchase commercially produced yarns at Get Stitchin’, but they are not the ones featured most obviously or beautifully throughout the store. The highest visibility and most natural flow of traffic on the floor leads customers right to the independent makers Get Stitchin’ has chosen to carry.
Certain parts of the shop feel like a small vendors’ marketplace or collection of trunk shows, with a particular maker’s goods artfully displayed. I almost expected to discover the artist behind those creations sitting nearby to answer questions I might have about their work.
Artist Info/Bios
Each of those displays of items included a printed description (and sometimes a photo) of the dyer, maker, craftsperson, or small business that produced those goods. I loved learning the stories of the people who made the beautiful yarns and tools I was seeing and feeling, and reading about their business journeys and where they lived and worked. Those stories absolutely build connections between makers and they certainly inspired me to want to buy their products and continue the creative process they’d begun with what I held in my hands.
Sales Promotions
My visit to the shop happened to fall during a special promotion that was running to further highlight the local Oklahoma independent yarn dyers. Each purchase from a different dyer generated an entry for a prize drawing to be announced at a Knit in Public event the shop is hosting.
Clearly, supporting independent artists is a priority for the management at Get Stitchin’. I love to see it, and so I was especially excited to see the varied means the folks at the shop are using to help those artists get exposure and get their work into the hands of other makers. I was happy to see, too, that they included independent artists that were from both within and without the immediate area. This kind of collaboration is so good for everyone (shop owners, customers, and small businesses/artists) and does a great deal to build the kind of supportive and empowering community we makers are capable of building.
The quality of the independent artists’ work is top notch. I can’t wait to dig into my purchases (of course I didn’t leave empty-handed!). I’m particularly excited about Scissortail Knits Arbuckle Fingering, Deb Dietz Designs Sock (both local to Oklahoma), and Cestari Sheep & Wool Co.’s 2ply worsted merino wool. The latter is especially interesting to me considering our latest acquisition of the wee merino herd and our plans for their wool. Cestari is several steps ahead of us, and it’s exciting to hold what might be in our future in my hand!
Unique Features
Speaking of sheep, I can’t write a summary of a shop visit to Get Stitchin’ without mentioning the exceptional selection of spinning-related supplies I saw there. Many yarn shops carry fiber and perhaps a spinning wheel or spindle, but the inventory at Get Stitchin’ really impressed me. There were tools to process the wool from shearing on, whether you wanted to card it and spin it or felt it. There were multiple spinning wheels, several drop spindles, bobbins, and all the tools to go with them. Many of them were beautifully hand-crafted. When I spoke with the woman who checked me out, I also learned they’ve got someone associated with the shop who’d be happy to help you learn to use them.
Great Ideas
For Yarn Shop Owners
I can’t emphasize enough how great the impact was of the concerted effort to highlight the small dyers and other artists. From the customer traffic to the visual displays, to the personal biographies and the sales promotions, Get Stitchin’ made me want to participate in the creative endeavors of the artists they promoted. They happened to have a large number of artists they are supporting, but the same ideas would work for just one independent dyer’s line of products. If you invest the effort into making the artists’ work personal, visible, and attractive, your customers will be drawn in to support them, too. Their purchase becomes less about liking a particular skein or thing and more about participating in a greater cooperative creative process, adding their skills and vision to that of the artist who provided the materials or tool they purchase.
I also want to mention the robust-looking educational offerings at Get Stitchin’. Group and individual instruction are both available and can be set up with one of several teachers associated with the shop. These teachers had business cards available and class schedules are available on the shop website. As most yarn shop owners are aware, a vital education program is key to a healthy local yarn shop, so it was good to see a wide variety of classes covering several areas of interest.
For Makers
If you’re local to the Tulsa, Oklahoma area, and looking for a community of fellow makers, I encourage you to check out Get Stitchin’. As I wandered the shop and heard the folks talking in the lounge area, it was clear that the shop operates as a social center for many crafters. Several people spoke of looking forward to regular group knitting gatherings, of being excited about other knitters’ progress in classes, and about future plans in the shop. I definitely got the sense that there are often “regulars” in the shop, and that it would be easy to find someone there to sit with and knit and chat for a while, and that the culture of the shop encourages just that sort of thing. If you’re in need of some crafting friends, I bet you can find them here.
What to Know Before You Go
You can take a quick spin through Get Stitchin’, but you’ll miss a lot if you do. I’d advise you to make a visit when you can take some time to enjoy looking through all the unique offerings that come along with a store that highlights independent artists.
The shop is easy to access, they have a seating area inside the store, and there are some sandwich shops nearby, so it’s convenient to make it a fun rest stop if you’re traveling through the area.
Get Stitchin’ is a great local resource for Tulsa area fiber enthusiasts. I’m glad my travel schedule worked so that I could visit this new-to-me shop, and I hope I get to visit again!
