We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cadence Kidwell. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cadence below.

Alright, Cadence thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

I really love being a business owner. I did leave a “regular job” to open my shop. There are times when I do think; “oh my, what did I do?” It often happens when I wish I had better health insurance. I am grateful that there is the Affordable Care Act, and that I can get affordable health insurance. I do work on my shop all the time, every evening and the days that the shop is closed. There is nothing else I would rather be doing each day. It’s so incredible to be building a world for myself, my incredible team and our customers. I still, 10 years in, walk in and think, “Wow, I get to do this today!”

Just this last week though we had a hurricane warning, and that is when I truly feel the weight of being the business owner – wondering if the storm would hit our town, then deciding if to close, what is safest for our team, the storm prep for our home and the shop, then sheltering or evacuating our families during the storm, and then taking down all the storm prep. If I had a “regular job” there would still be responsibilities, but not the weight of other people’s safety and livelihood. But that is a rare event and even this close to the storm event I still do not regret having the shop.

Cadence, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Before I opened the shop I was at Florida State University – I really like school myself and also helping people learn new things that delight them. I went back to school when my three children were little and after a decade in the mental health field. While earning a Ph.D. in Creative Writing I experienced the power of creativity in the midst of chaos. My literature focus was Latina Literature and African-American Women’s Folklore. I designed a certificate program for students to develop cultural competencies. University life also instills a strong core of service to people seeking to improve their lives. One of my favorite pieces in the shop is our battered SERVICE sign over the counter, announcing we are here to serve. I often say that I was happy at my job at FSU before dreaming of my own little shop and being a part of the Main Street life in Downtown Thomasville. I decided that I could either steady-on into my last decade of university life or I could join the makers’ life – make a business from a rough-worn building and fill it with beautiful yarns made by strong women. We’re truly an independent business with over 90% of our merchandise created by other independent women makers.

I wanted to knit around me the community that I fancied being a part of, putting these yarns into hands that love them as much as I do and all of us growing together as southern makers. Our location in Downtown Thomasville also provides us the ability to slow down, wander & find unexpected pleasures in the Creative South.

Something I learned at FSU was the value of conversation among those that see the world differently than me – something that used to happen at, say, bowling leagues, and is disappearing in our lives. I believe that knitting, and our shop, creates that space where conversation across generations and life experiences is valued and sought after. That 3rd space that isn’t work or home but enriches you. It has delighted me to find a way to bring my service background to doing good in our community and to set our mission to promote diversity, inclusion, equity and anti-racism.

Two of the projects I am most proud of is 1) working with small makers to design just what our Fuzzy Fans need, and in turn enriching that maker’s life with needed income, (our new The Billie Bag is a great example), 2) creating opportunities in the South to highlight LGBTQ makers and our Fuzzy Fans to support them (our Y’All Means All Box has been a great hit!).

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I really had to settle into my decision when less than a year into deciding to quit my job and open the shop, my husband’s job was made redundant, without any new prospects. At that time I had to decide to choose the shop or go find a job to pay for the mortgage of our beloved home. I chose the shop. We bought a small fixer-upper near the shop and made lemonade out of lemons. And even though we don’t have room to spread out at Thanksgiving, we still have a big enough table and each of my adult children have fabulous partners they met through the shop.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

We carry some pretty fabulous bags already so knew when we were making our own bag, that it had to be very special. We worked with Tallahasseean, Jenny Bickley, owner of Honey Bee Fabrications, over six months, to get the right features. I can’t count how many prototypes Jenny brought us as we sorted it out. When I say, Girl-Made Bags, we really mean it! Then Jenny guided us to a local-ish fabric printer. Chris and Eric in Panama City, Florida sent us a booklet of fabric options so that we could feel, squish, and hold the outside and the lining together, until we had just what we wanted. We chose a linen cotton blend for the outside and cotton for the inside. Then, right when we were hoping for a holiday delivery, their machine needed repair. But what I tell all our makers, “it will be fine, we will love them when they arrive, we want our items filled with joy and not stress.” After all, these are small makers who are counting on our small orders to make it through their year, we want them to be around!

Our bag also boasts a very small carbon footprint, having traveled only 125 miles so far in printing the fabric and sewing the design. Ilona, our illustrator is in Europe, all of that work was done digitally

I have so much respect for the designers who make ALL the products we carry. This project was the highlight of my year and had SO many steps, I learned A LOT!

We decided to name it The Billie! There is the amazing queen goat in the center of our fabric (the best billy goat ever!) plus we’re big fans of Billie Jean King

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.fuzzygoatyarns.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fuzzy_goat/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FuzzyGoatYarns
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@fuzzy_goat

Image Credits

Madelyn Zorn