Yarn Shop Weaves Into Community's Fabric

The success of Mosaic Yarn Studio may seem like fate has smiled on its owner.  To start, it's not in the ideal location being nestled in a downtown strip mall near the Metra tracks.

"When you tell Realtors you want to open a yarn shop, they look at you like you're crazy. It was actually kind of discriminatory," said Darlene Joyce, who recalled having her pediatrician husband accompany her on the searches.

"Getting the location and getting Realtors to buy into the fact that this is a legitimate business where you can make it for 13 years, that was the hardest part," she added.

But that minor obstacle at the start hasn't stopped Darlene Joyce from sharing her passion for the textile craft and contributing to life in Des Plaines. She notes it has been an uphill education that has since enabled business longevity and community outreach.

"I'd never owned a business before," said the former novice. "But I [had] a lot of teaching experience so that part came naturally. The design work--helping people with their own designs--also came naturally.

"The harder part was the business plan. So I went to the Women's [Business] Development Center in downtown Chicago and took classes to help women to go into business, develop cash flow, develop business statements," Joyce added.

With an undergraduate degree in fashion design and a graduate degree in home economics education, Joyce has used her skills, which include adult education experience,  wisely to build her business and ties to the community.

Since she had a strong background in education, her marketing plan revolved around bringing people into Mosaic Yarn Studio by offering classes. She is assisted by a staff of six who range from the self-taught to an art teacher.

Knitting or crochet classes are available--except when the shop is closed on Mondays--at various levels and have brought in repeat students over the years. Mosaic Yarn Studio, 1585 Ellinwood St., also offers several technique and project classes each month as well as a knitting club that meets weekly.

Another branch of her outreach and customer base has been The Charity Knitters, whose club members use the shop as their home in meeting twice a month.

The organization has contributed to the Red Scarf Project, which sends care packages to college freshmen who spent their childhood in foster care. Its other efforts have included making mittens for women's shelters, clothes to distribute at a South Dakota Indian Reservation, helmet liners for U.S. soldiers and chemo caps for cancer patients.

"We've always supported charity," said June Sorensen, an organizer for the club. "It's a really nice group that keeps coming back and bringing friends."

The Charity Knitters will participate in the Friendship Park Conservatory's Fall Craft Show on Oct. 16 in Mount Prospect to raise money for Doctors Without Borders.  

"We decided on Doctors Without Borders after [the quake in] Haiti," said Sorensen. "We wanted to help."

Joyce feels fortunate that she can help out and be around people who share her passion for the knitting art.

"We have a large classroom in the back and that's one thing we do really well, the classes and instruction," she said.