Hartford Yarn Works hosts grand opening event | Washington Co. Business News

HARTFORD — Christine Mejia held the grand opening for Hartford Yarn Works, 131 N. Main St., her new small business and studio space, on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mejia was overjoyed by the amount of support she received over the weekend.

“Of course you want the business itself to be successful, but I think just as much having customers who have come in and brought flowers, people I’ve seen at other shows, customers I’ve had relationships I’ve built with over the last few months or years, them coming in and being just so excited with me has been my favorite part of this,” Mejia said.

Most of the products for sale at Hartford Yarn Works are handcrafted by Mejia, with just a few items being outsourced. The name of the business itself comes from Mejia’s love of her community.

“Long before I had a shop, I named the business Hartford Yarn Works because this community is really important to me,” Mejia said. “I moved here six years ago with my kids and just immediately fell in love with this community.”

Mejia’s passion for yarn-based crafts started during the pandemic, as a personal coping mechanism. She began dying yarn, which caught the attention of many, so she thought, “Why not open an online shop?”

In 2023, Mejia officially opened Hartford Yarn Works as an online Etsy shop, which she operated from her own home.

As her business continued to grow, it quickly began to consume her entire house.

What once could be confined to the kitchen began to take over Mejia’s living room and hallways, leading to her constantly having to rearrange her home just to keep up with the demand.

“It was fine in my home for a while, but at a certain point my business outgrew its ability to stay in my home,” Mejia said. “Being in this space where I have a designated dying space and a designated space for everything that I need to do to run my business effectively has been a dream come true in and of itself.”

Hartford Yarn Works is not a traditional type of yarn store; rather, it is more of a studio space that happens to have a shop, according to Mejia. The space is more of a place to build community among crafters in the fiber arts, one of the things Mejia is looking forward to the most.

“It’s wonderful to send a skein in the mail to a customer across the country,” Mejia said. “That’s a beautiful thing, but having people come together and just sit and chat and knit or spin or crochet, like having them in my space and feeling comfortable, creating a safe space for everyone, that’s something I’m just really passionate about and so when I think about this space and having a shop like that is the thing I’m definitely the most excited about.”

The shop is complete with a circle of chairs that were handpicked by Mejia to cultivate a cozy space. This space will be where Mejia hosts open-stitch nights.

Open-stitch nights will be one of the priorities of the shop, according to Mejia. Additionally, she will continue to take part in local vendor fairs, along with, for the first time ever, attending YarnCon in Chicago this April.

“I’ve always dreamed of opening a store someday, but I thought that was years away, so I just feel very privileged to be in the position that I’m in,” Mejia said.

The store will be open as much as possible; however, there won’t be consistent hours.