Leah Stickle does not want you to feel guilty about your stash. In fact, she’s here to help you buy even more yarn.
Stickle is the founder of Tinkknit, an online shop that specializes in selling mint condition yarn that knitters and crocheters no longer want. The launch of Tinkknit was full of obstacles, but Stickle is optimistic about the future of this site that filled a hole in the online yarn marketplace.
The Idea
Ten years ago, Stickle and her husband opened The Knitting Garage in the back of A.L. Stickle, their five-and-dime store in Rhinebeck, New York.
As a yarn store owner and a knitter, Stickle already knew customers were sometimes hesitant to buy more yarn. “The first thing any person says when they walk into a yarn store is, ‘If you could see my stash!’ I got to a point where I was like, okay, I get it everyone. You have a yarn stash!” An idea began to form in Stickle’s mind, but it didn’t take shape right away.
Stickle, right, with Kristy Glass.
Photo courtesy of Tinkknit.
Stickle photographs hanks of yarn to post on Tinkknit.
Photo courtesy of Tinkknit.
Several years ago, Stickle began to suffer from chronic health issues and spent a lot of time at home. “Sometimes when you spend a lot of time by yourself at home, your brain starts percolating. I’m always looking at something saying, ‘That would be a great business,'” she says.
Stickle saw ads for Poshmark, a site that helps people sell used name-brand clothes in good condition. She wondered if there was a similar site for people to sell yarn they no longer wanted, but after researching she couldn’t find anything comparable.
“If you want to sell your yarn, you only have eBay, which has a stigma of getting something cheap, or there’s the Ravelry threads. If you are savvy, you can set up an Etsy shop, but it’s so saturated with other items, it’s easy to get lost,” Stickle points out. Tinkknit, an online marketplace specializing in helping people sell yarn from their stash, was born.
The launch
Stickle had a good idea of what she wanted Tinkknit to look like but wasn’t sure how to execute it. She wasn’t ready to make the financial commitment of building a website from scratch, so she chose to launch the site on WordPress. Unfortunately, things quickly began to unravel.
“I kept running into roadblocks – just little things that kept becoming problematic, and I couldn’t solve them,” Stickle says. “One of the biggest complaints was that people wanted to buy yarn, but they couldn’t contact the seller. That feature wasn’t available.”
In addition to technical troubleshooting and fielding emails from customers, Stickle had to complete many tasks manually. Shipping costs, for example, weren’t divided between sellers when a customer purchased from multiple vendors. Stickle had to make sure each seller received the proper shipping fees, ultimately costing Stickle her own money—and a lot of time.
It wasn’t just shipping that caused problems. “I was trying to create a pop-up to join the email list and I could not do it,” she says. “I needed another plugin.” WordPress just wasn’t the best platform to provide the functionality she wanted.
At the same time, Stickle was also preparing for New York Sheep & Wool Festival held in her hometown of Rhinebeck. Tinkknit was partnering with fiber artist and well-known YouTuber Kristy Glass to host the first annual Rhinebeck Yarn Bazaar, but Stickle did not want to advertise Tinkknit with all the tech issues. She started researching again and decided to move to the Shopify platform, where the vendor and seller features were much more user-friendly.
The move to Shopify
Tinkknit has been at its new Shopify home for about two months now. “[The site] is completely what I always dreamed it was going to be,” Stickle says. “I’m really happy, but it meant that three weeks before Sheep & Wool, I was completely rebuilding my website. I learned a lot.”
With Shopify, it was easier for people who were selling, easier for people who were shopping, and easier for Stickle to manage. While customers and vendors overall are much happier with Shopify, many vendors did have to recreate their accounts and listings. But as the dust settles, Stickle thinks everyone will be happier.
In addition to customers listing and selling their stash, Stickle also plans to bring back a consignment option. Customers who don’t want to list their items can send them to Stickle, and for an extra commission she will list the items and take care of shipping. Right now the consignment feature is on hold as she figures out the best way to organize the process.
The logistics
Most vendors sell their yarn at what they paid or just a few dollars less. “We’re not looking for scalpers,” Stickle says. She wouldn’t encourage knitters to buy an exclusive colorway, for example, then resell it for double the price.
In fact, the point is not to make lots of money. “We want everyone to be able to afford to make the stuff that they want to make,” says Stickle. “You can sell your stash, you can knit what you want. There are no barriers. Everyone can come to the party.”
“We are just enabling,” Stickle laughs. “We’re providing a place for people who want to sell their stash, and then if they want they can have money to buy more yarn.”
Tinkknit sells more than just yarn. Vendors can sell knitting needles, crochet hooks, magazines, project bags, and other miscellaneous accessories.
Tinkknit also gives customers access to hard-to-find yarns. “One person emailed me that they’ve never had the opportunity to buy a certain yarn brand,” she says. “They now had access to it. And hearing that they had access to something that they’d wanted for a long time was pretty amazing.”
What’s Next
Soon, The Knitting Garage and the five-and-dime store will be one business. The back of the five-and-dime, where The Knitting Garage is now, will become an office for Tinkknit where Stickle can handle administrative tasks and store merchandise for the consignment side of the business.
Stickle is planning to turn Tinkknit into much more than just a marketplace. She wants it to be a community where people can share stories and interact. “If you stop growing, you’re done,” she says. “We’re always going to be changing.”
She also plans to eventually extend the merchandise into fabric so that sewers can join in on the destashing. “I’m trying to grow a little empire for all of us,” Stickle says. “To see this dream of mine really come to life – it’s pretty magical.”
Ashley Little
contributor
Ashley Little is a craft writer and editor living in Asheville, North Carolina. She has given up on reducing her yarn stash and refuses to feel guilty about it. You can see more of her work at thefeistyredhead.com.
Wonderful article. I admire Leah for her determination to make the best out of each challenge and to work harder than anyone I know.
Thank you for spotlighting this most energetic and loving woman.
Carol D
Great idea you have. I have tons of yarn. I donated to the Senior Citizens group in my neighborhood. Also I’m keeping some for myself so I will learn how to crochet in the future. Have tons more. What is the procedure of selling the yarn?
It WAS a great idea – but the execution is not so good. If she is still in business, which I doubt, she would have had to clean up her act. The website is down, her phone number doesn’t work. She ripped me off and several others.
What a great idea.good luck &hope you are feeling better!
This was a GR8 interview- Thank you 😊
Brilliant!
I love this concept! It’s definitely extendable to fabric.
I have a ton of yarn AND fabric I’d love to resell!! This is brilliant!
I love this! I’ve been attempting to sell off my yarn stash via etsy, and I’ve sold a few things. But not a lot. I don’t knit as much as I used to, so I want to downsize the collecting significantly. I will definitely try this out! I have a container full of the next batch of yarn waiting to be photographed.
How do you start selling your yarn??? I am not an avid knitter or crocheted. The inspiration comes in spirts. I have I know I will never use. When my mother died we split the yarn , I just know I won’t use it.
I have a stash to sell.
Fabulous!! As one mentioned, I will now have the opportunity to crochet and knit with yarns I never thought I would be able to, let alone able to afford.
Thank you so much for taking the time to interview such an amazing woman with a life changing idea.
God Bless and Good luck!
While this is a good idea, be careful about consigning to Leah. I sent her tons of stuff in Sept including an unused w tags $200 Twig and Horn cross body bag, barely used knitters backpack, full set of Cubics and Carbonz interchangeable needles, plus lots of terrific indie dyed yarn from people like Hedgehog, black elephant, lolo and Hue Loco. She acknowledged receiving it and that it was great stuff. It was never listed, I can’t reach her by email, she won’t return my calls and at one point said she’d return my stuff but it never came and she wouldn’t give me a tracking number. She then said my stuff was sub par! I trusted her good name in the knitting community but she ripped me off for about $1K.
I have listed items on TinkKnit and just sold 2 lots of yarn. I am having trouble using the TinkKnit website – lots of the links are broken and the e-mail came back as unavailable. No one responds to questions – so . . . I’ve sent the yarn to the customer, and Leah has my money as well as her commission. And, I can’t reach anyone.
I am trying to find a Mainstays brand yarn 4 ply worsted, pale blue, net WT 80z, 100% Acrylic. Can you help. Thank you
Thank you great idea
I don’t want to sell my yarn because I crochet things and I put it in a homeless shelter box to help the homeless stay warm in the winter I always make things and give away to other people that need and I’m always looking for yarn so that’s what I thought this was something that would help me get yarn to help the needy people with keep warm in the winter
I’m always looking for cheap yarn because I like it crocheted things and donate to the needy sometimes I make things for the hospitals for the newborn that are born and make like baby blankets and stuff and donate it to the General Hospital maternity ward
I look forward to hearing more about this cool idea for unloading extra yarn. I have ten bins full of wool skeins. All of my wool is from a friends farm in Vermont, which she sends out west somewhere to get spun). She has a big annual weekend sale. Hoping the kinks for this platform get worked out soonish. AND does the wool need a label, as none of mine have that.
Hi Jen- Think long and hard before consigning to TinkKnits. Yes, it’s a great idea but the execution of it is more than a little bad. As you’ll see on my comment above, Leah took at least $1K of my stuff , gave me a lot of song and dance, never listed it, it disappeared (I suspect into her shop or into her stash) and it was only after I complained about her publicly on Instagram that she even bothered to answer me. She reimbursed me for about $500. Since she probably got more than $1K worth of stuff that was a pretty good haul for her. If I had four words of advice for you it would be DON’T DO IT!
Hi Jen- Yes, it’s a great idea but the execution of it is more than a little bad. As you’ll see on my comment above, Leah took at least $1K of my stuff , gave me a lot of song and dance, never listed it, it disappeared (I suspect into her shop or into her stash) and it was only after I complained about her publicly on Instagram that she even bothered to answer me. She reimbursed me for about $500. Since she probably got more than $1K worth of stuff that was a pretty good haul for her. If I had four words of advice for you it would be DON’T DO IT!
I am interested in the consignment process once you put something together.
I emailed some time ago. Never got a response.
I would like to sell some of my stash.
I emailed some time ago never got response