Five years ago, I bumped into a carousel of Fleece Artist yarns at a LYS. It was breathtaking and I was awestruck. I scampered home and when I was able to write, I contacted the Fleece Artist herself, Kathryn Thomas and begged her to let me represent her work. It took months, but she finally caved. After three years of madly increasing popularity, Kathryn and her daughter Jana decided to split the workload by establishing Handmaiden. Jana moved to British Columbia and began shipping her luxe line from Vancouver. This had the opposite effect than the intended one; both companies are growing like mad and busier than ever.

Visit their site at www.fleeceartist.com.