Our 2023 - A Heartfelt Thank You!

Hi lovelies,

I can't believe it's that time of the year again – time to take stock, and reflect a little on what 2023 has brought to Making Stories. Another year (almost) in the books which means we're entering our 8th year in business soon. Which feels absolutely wild, even more so in a year that has seen so many small businesses, especially in the fiber world and in indie publishing, close their doors. (I'm so sad to see Pompom Magazine go!)

I like sitting down with a good cup of coffee at some in December, and think through what the year has meant for us, and what has happened here at Making Stories. There's no particular order here, just how these thoughts came to mind!

We said goodbye to Elsa and welcomed Isabell and Jen.

In summer, our dear Customer Happiness Manager Elsa got a full-time job and moved out of the Making Stories team. Isabell took over from her and has been doing a superb job since then! It's not easy taking over a position like that in a company that's been around for quite some time, with little quirks and particular traits here and there, and Isabell has been absolutely rocking it. I love how proactive they are, and how wonderfully engaged both with the team and you, our lovely customers!

As Jessica, our tech editor and test knitting manager, is preparing to focus more and more on her mill, she suggested hiring a second tech editor and test knitting manager to slowly take over more of her role. We welcomed Jen to the team in the middle of the year, and she's been an absolute rockstar in her first tech editing and test knitting season for the magazine! I love how meticulous she is and how many great suggestions both in terms of process as well as for the documents and templates we're working with she's brought to the table.

We donated most of our back issues and renovated the yarn cave.

Which is now called the studio, and is absolutely glorious! What was a dark, heavy space that pulled me down every time I entered it is now lightfilled, with lots of shelving and neatly labeled yarn boxes and a packing table that looks out over a tree-filled yard.

The back issues went to a local kids sports club who in turn brought them to the recycling center to enter the recycling cycle again. They got a few hundred euros for them which they used to purchase new sports equipment for the kids, yay!

We slowly extended our selection of "evergreen" yarns and notions.

The way I think about what we carry in our shop is in two categories: "Limited" yarns and accessories that we only have for a shop update, and "evergreen" products that we'll always stock. This year, we added De Rerum Natura Bérénice (our first fluffy yarn!) to that selection, as well as Holst Garn Supersoft, Wooldreamers Saona and Schoppelwolle AlbLino.

I adore all four of them - each one of them has their particular strengths, and brings something to the shop we didn't have before. For 2024, I'm excited to bring in one or two more plant-based summer yarns, as well as a few more DK-weight options and a color-shifting yarn.

We launched the German version of the website.

I would have almost forgotten to add this as it happen just at the very beginning of 2023! The second half of 2022 saw us working on a lot of translations, and as of January 1, 2023, the Making Stories website is also available in German. I was delighted to see how many more German customers we were able to welcome! Herzlich willkommen, ich hoffe, ihr fühlt euch wohl!

We settled on a themed shop update approach.

This one is still pretty new! As of this fall, we've started doing monthly "themed" shop updates that usually involve one or two yarns as well as a few notions. Some of them will become "evergreen" yarns whereas others are only available until they sell out. I really love curating these mini-collections and they make story telling so much fun!

All in all, it was a really good year 2023 for us. I am so thankful for every single one of you, for reading our emails, for sending us questions and pattern ideas, for sharing our posts on Instagram, for shopping with us, for being a member of the Collective. Without you, we wouldn't exist, and I wouldn't be able to do this work that I love so, so much. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

Hanna Lisa x