In February, Vice President Kamala Harris visited fibre space for a planned press event. She wanted to meet with my team and me and discuss the challenges facing women-owned small businesses during the pandemic. We told her about the pressure to change our business practices, our own juggling of childcare and jobs when schools shut down, and Covid’s overall financial burden on small brick and mortar businesses. We also shared the tremendous impact of the federal payroll protection bill and how it had given us options at a critical time and saved jobs in our community. She shared with us the White House’s plan for the next relief bill that would pass in Congress a few days later. 

Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson

The day after the visit, I woke up to messages, videos, and screenshots of a prime-time cable TV host mocking her visit to my shop and joking that a yarn shop would, of course, be owned by a woman. (Maybe I should invite him to our monthly men’s knit and crochet night? Whether he knows it or not, some of his viewers shop our store!). They then went on to mock the VP herself, calling her the new “Crochet Czar” for the United States. While it’s not the first or last time my weird retail business is used as a punch line, it is probably the only time it will happen on national news!

So as any seasoned business owner would do under these circumstances, I took ownership of the term “Crochet Czar” and made it fun. We created this enamel pin to celebrate powerful women and their role in business, politics, and fiber arts throughout history. To make it even more meaningful, we are donating all profits to one of our favorite local non-profit organizations that empowers women to achieve their goals. Proceeds will be donated to our neighbors at Alive! House, the oldest continuously operating shelter for women in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Alive! House provides temporary housing for women and families in emergency and transitional situations. We are really proud to be in their neighborhood and just a few doors away from this organization and the work it is doing. 

So, no matter which cable news channel you watch, I hope you’ll come in and own a piece of fibre space history and grab one of these pins!