As I sit here in my living room in Oakland on this fine fall evening - I pondered what should I write about for this special A Lil More About MADfibers blog post. I often feel like my writing style is very ~basic~ and I was never into creative writing because I often struggled putting my vivid ideas into such sophisticated big words. So I threw this idea about my writing style out the window (bye bitch!) and I'm free-writing from a place of love and too much matcha boba. Aren't all good things caffeine induced?
Well, where should we begin? Was there a big bang moment? Did Madeline always love yarn? Did dinosaurs really roam the earth?
I can only attest to what I know and that is: Yes - yarn has always been in my life!
Let's start from the beginning - I was, as they say, OBSESSED from the very start. My mother taught me how to knit when I was around 7 or 8 years old. I would spend hours knitting washcloths, purses for my stuffed animals, long rectangular scarves, hats for the homeless, and eventually berets! I loved experimenting with different fibers/materials and going through all the free Raverly patterns online. I was a small but mighty entrepreneur, with her Panda business cards (kids, amirite?) and always ready to make you something handmade. Yarn shopping was my favorite past time. This will become the root cause behind many of my stockpiling problems that came later in life.
As I grew older, like most teens, I felt detached from knitting and thought it was no longer "cool" so I stopped picking up my needles as much. I began exploring other creative outlets, but always knew that I loved hands-on projects and creating handmade things. I experimented with oil paint, clay, beading, film and digital photography, theater set design, etc.
So when it came to college, I chose to go with a Visual Communications major because it had so many career options and I hate making any concrete decisions! (hello fellow air signs!) Surprisingly enough, I didn't even think about studying textiles or art history. I knew I wanted to be an artist in some aspect, but I was also very concerned about how I could become "young, successful, and rich" so I decided to go to a school that still felt creative, but I would learn valuable life skills to build a career and make that money, honey!
I spent 5 years in the fashion industry bopping around from sales staff, visual merchandising, management, copy writing, etc before I realized that I hated it, with like a burning passion. Why, you ask? Oh, just because the fast fashion industry is so toxic for our environment! So I scooped up as much knowledge and skills as I could in the industry before leaving in 2018, so that I could go forth and pursue my own adventure.
Before I left the fashion industry, I was commuting about 3-4hrs everyday from South Bay to San Francisco and I picked up ye old knitting needles once again and started a blog called The Knitting Commuter where I documented my daily knitting progress from my commute. I got a lot of interest on and offline when I was knitting in a public setting. I often let these strangers know that I would be open to knitting them something. They were always super open and receptive, but it never went anywhere. I became a better knitter, even though I was slow, and made a new friend with an older gentleman on the train - we ended up trading enamel pins and he gave me a Christmas card that year - s'cute! Eventually, I got tired of posting the progress of my slow-knits and ditched the idea.
That same holiday season in 2017, I asked my aunt for a weaving kit and might I say, that's when the flood gates opened. I had never played with a loom like this before - only those plastic kiddie looms that you'd use to make the "rubber band" washcloths. Although, I hate my first weaving from that loom - truly chaotic and just a big ol' experiment with different weaving styles. The joy I got from playing with fiber in that format could not be replicated.
Sorry knitting, weaving has entered the chat, I g2g.
Fast forward to 2018, I had come with the name MADfibers - which truly is just a variation of my nickname Mads (but I also love the duality of the word - Mad as in "crazy") and my favorite material - Fiber! Genius! I thought the name would be open enough so that I could experiment with all the various fiber crafts that are available at our fingertips nowadays. Read: Don't put me in box! It's "MAD" to think about how nothing seemed to stick like the way I loved playing with fiber. At this point, I was treating MADfibers as a creative side hustle and still working a full time job.
I officially launched MADfibers in October 2019 with the idea of just selling handmade accessories, some wall hangings and curated second-hand clothing. I really thought the beret would be the staple item in my collection and be MADfibers claim to fame. However, handknitting and felting berets is very time consuming and I thought, there's no way I could even make a substantial supply of berets for a market. So I ended up making these cute succulent candles for the holiday season, and those seemed to be a bigger hit than my handmade accessories, so that introduced a-whole-nother layer of "what should I do?" I felt a bit lost and unsure about my work - ah the artist dilemma! - so I took a break after the holiday season of 2019 (plot twist: it ended up being an 8-month hiatus)
Then 2020 happened. It was a cheery 2 months and then inside-only ever again. This past year has been so revealing. It has given us more opportunities for self-reflection and development, prioritizing care for ourselves and our communities, and maybe too much binge watching? Anyways, if it were not for 2020, I would not have relaunched MADfibers and got my shiz together for pursuing this passion. MADfibers is no longer on the back burner! That feels so good to type! Fear often tries to put a box around us. It wants us to stay uncomfortable, afraid and small. And unfortunately for Fear, I'm now bigger than that old 2019 fear box. 2020 officially broke the mold.
Ya know, I never know where future may take me, but I hope you'll be here to see my progress and growth and we can chuckle when we re-read this post in a year from now.
As always, thank you for reading.
With love,
Madeline