When I was little, my time could easily be occupied by a craft of any type as one of my favorite things was to create and work with my hands. I would create anything I could from the little kits I was often given: candles, beadwork, painting, jewelry. I became interested in working with yarn when I was a teenager, so I purchased some yarn from a craft store and taught myself to crochet. While I never taught myself anything beyond the basic single crochet stitch or finished any of the few things I started, I enjoyed it. I remained inspired by my grandmother as she was a crafter as much as I was. (Although, at the time, I had no idea to what extent.) When she passed, I inherited three or four large containers of novelty yarns, along with tons of knitting needles and crochet hooks. Those yarns would remain dormant in my mom's basement for many years.
When I attended Saint Mary's College, I decided the best thing to do was to get a Studio Art degree, even though at the time I had no idea what I might have used it for. I took a job in their IT department as I knew that would provide valuable job experience that I could use after college. Because I was technologically inclined, it became an extension of using my hands to create or fix things.
I brought out my grandma's yarn when I learned to knit during a summer class called Sculptural Knitting and Crochet, and continued to knit after the class had concluded. I went on to make friends with the local yarn store down the street from my house, and then eventually worked for them. The owner ultimately closed the shop for personal reasons. I had previously dabbled in dyeing yarn for personal projects, but when the store closed, I found a new want and need to continue dyeing to produce high quality yarns. Thus, a business was born.
The inspiration for my brand is my love of dogs, as I am involved with various forms of volunteering for the dog rescues from which I had adopted my dogs Nutmeg (left) and Dwight (right). The face of my business is Dwight (a French bulldog & chihuahua mix). He is the inspiration for the name Fiber Hound, especially since one of his favorite pastimes is to pre-draft wool from my stash, or to "rearrange" a skein of yarn.