When looking for inspired creatives who epitomize the ethical eco-friendly movement, I didn’t have to go far. Call it serendipity, synchronicity or the Universe conspiring to lend me a hand starting this blog. I stumbled upon Tara Swiger of Blonde Chicken Boutique while reading Gary Vaynerchuk‘s new book, Crush It! I didn’t rush to the computer to look up every featured blogger highlighted in Gary’s book, but when you come across a name like Blonde Chicken Boutique doesn’t that compel you to find out what on earth they might be up to?
Wel,l Tara is up to her eyeballs in yarn. And she does a lot more than just sell the most beautiful, mouth watering skeins of puffiness I’ve ever had the pleasure of drooling over – and that’s just the pictures on her site. I haven’t had a chance yet to order any, but with names like Chocolate-Covered Cherries, Candy Apple, Thin Mint, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip what is a mere mortal to do but start scrounging for more discretionary income. Universe, are You listening??
Tara does all the yarn dyeing, spinning, photographing and writing while her husband, Jay serves as the shipping and design department.
Tara started Blonde Chicken Boutique in 2006 when she discovered a lack of beautiful, colorful, eco-friendly yarns. Tara’s passion is to
provide all fiber artists with yarn that will make them feel good, knowing their creative endeavors are sustaining a healthier, gentler world.
Over at Blonde Chicken Boutique you can learn so much more about how Tara works with local farmers in the Tennessee area, getting to know the characteristics of each individual sheep (or is that lamb) and carrying those characteristics through the spinning process for the fiber artists to be connected to. Tara explains it much better:
I want to connect with farmers, share their passion for their animals with fiber artists who are equally passionate about their yarn. Building a community of fiber growers and fiber users is my main goal in everything I do here at Blonde Chicken Boutique. I’m ever-reaching towards that goal by offering the LocalSpun Club, talking about the farmers on the blog and selling their fiber in the Boutique.
Tara makes all her yarn at home, in Johnson City, TN. As she describes:
in the very tippy tip of TN, where it pokes between VA and NC.
She dyes in big pots in her kitchen while listening to NPR and crafty podcasts like Stash & Burn, Cast-On, CraftyPod, CraftSanity. She spins in the living room, usually snuggled in with Beau the pup. Tara playfully cautions
Spinning requires long hours of sitting and while it’s great for quiet meditation, a girl (and her patient husband) can only take so much quiet. For that reason, we watch copious amounts of TV and movies, most recently Buffy (yeah, we’re late to the game), Battlestar Gallactica, How I Met Your Mother, The Office & Lost.
So take a peak at Blonde Chicken Boutique for a sensory-overloaded journey of home spun yarn from farm to fiber, and learn how an ethical eco-friendly business should and can be run. Enjoy!
