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A Note From Kit

July 4th, 2020

Hello, friends! Happy 4th of July. We wish you all a safe, thoughtful, and hopeful day.

The first half of 2020 has been a singularly difficult time. The worldwide pause created by the pandemic has allowed many of our deepest wounds to cry out and our structural weaknesses to be beyond denial. Whatever our political leanings, surely we can all agree that things are not OK.

While we haven't gotten everything right (yet), America was founded on the ideals of liberty and justice. It was a bold, if flawed, experiment—a crazy vision at the time. Now, we must call on our own imaginations to carry that longing forward with courage and a new vision that includes all of us.

And that brings us to our own evolving vision for Churchmouse Yarns & Teas!

As you know, small businesses are precarious at the best of times and we entered the COVID-19 crisis with garden-variety financial vulnerabilities. While the lockdown has certainly added stresses, it has afforded us time for soul-searching. We realize that we don't have the resources to rebuild everything as it was before.

So what is next?

Just shy of the 20th anniversary of opening our doors, we have made the difficult decision to not re-open our beloved brick-and-mortar shop. As a much smaller, yet wholehearted team wearing many hats, we'll continue to serve you through churchmouseyarns.com. We'll work to enhance local pickup, increase email contact and phone help, improve our speed of delivery, and regain our ability to bring you wonderful stock and good ideas.

There are things we all loved and will miss terribly about our shop at 118 Madrone Lane: walking through the shiny black doors; touching yarns and smelling teas; trying on knitted samples; discussing project ideas face-to-face; sitting at the table together, sharing skills and solving problems; meeting knitters from around the country (and the world); witnessing each others lives; becoming friends. But many of these things are not possible for the foreseeable future, so it seems to be the right time to create a new way of being Churchmouse.

While we're grieving the loss of a store that we loved for 20 years, we believe that if we can rebuild our strength through our online stop, we'll have a foundation for rethinking 'retail' in a new way, in a new place, in a new year. We are so grateful to be taking this journey with the Churchmouse community.

Stay tuned for upcoming sales and celebrations!

All the best, from Kit, John, and the team.

Churchmouse Yarns & Teas


In every issue of our quarterly printed newsletters you’ll find a note from our founder on the opening page. Here Kit shares her thoughts on the season, on the world of fiber, and on life here on Bainbridge Island. Catch up on her past musings by clicking the the links below. If you’d like to receive future issues delivered right to your mailbox, sign up on our Newsletters page.