Valerie Williams - Try Handmade

DC's Local Yarn Store

March 13, 2019 by Valerie Williams 4 Comments

Washington DC is the nation’s capitol, the center of government, and headquarters for dozens of international organizations, but it many ways it is really just a small town. So small, in fact, that it only has one yarn store. That haven for local urban knitters is Stitch DC, owned and operated by Marie Connolly on Capitol Hill.

I remember my first visit to Stitch DC, not long after it had opened. I was strolling along 8th Street SE, what the guide books like to call “Barracks Row” (because the Marine Barracks are at the corner of 8th and I streets), while a friend of mine was browsing the bike shop down the street.

Back then, I wasn’t any more of a knitter or crocheter than I am now, but I was nevertheless enthralled with the store. Upon walking in, I was greeted by cheerful and enthusiastic staff and customers, and was immediately surrounded by beautiful fiber in bright colors and enticing textures. When I visited the store just last week, I was happy to find that none of that had changed. If anything, there were even more pretty things to look at. In addition to the lovely variety of yarns for knitting and crocheting, Stitch DC now also carries a small collection of colorful quilting cottons!

As I consider myself a much better sewer than knitter, this was excellent news for me. However, just because I’m not good at knitting doesn’t mean I don’t love to look at beautiful yarn, and pine after all the samples of pretty knitted things. Stitch DC offers a wide range of knitting and crocheting classes for all skill levels, and there are samples from the class projects all over the store. Samples that are so pretty you want to buy them right off the shelf! Since Marie started offering fabric in December in 2009, she’s started to offer sewing classes as well.

The birth of Stitch DC is a story about serendipity. Back in 2004, Marie was inspired to pick up knitting again in order to make her three-year-old daughter a sweater. Although Marie had learned to knit as a little girl, being pregnant and taking care of a newborn didn’t leave much time or energy for crafting. The hiatus ended when Marie saw some knitted baby sweaters at the mall that were cute, but not nearly cute enough for her daughter. Marie knew she could make one that was even better.

At the time, Marie and her husband were real estate brokers, but Marie was ready to try something different. One day, while she was was contemplating the renewal of her love affair with knitting, Marie received a panicky call from the owner of a property on Capitol Hill. Did Marie, by chance, know of anyone in search of retail space? Just in case she needed another sign from the universe to start a yarn store, it also turns out that 2004 was Marie’s seventh wedding anniversary. When a friend pointed out that the traditional gift for a seventh anniversary is wool, well, the deal was sealed.

Stitch DC has been operating on Capitol Hill since June of 2004, offering a wide assortment of yarns in natural fibers, as well as tools, books, patterns, and classes. Marie has a number of free patterns posted on the Stitch DC blog, and is also the author of her own book of knitting patterns for growing families, called The Expectant Knitter. She also writes patterns for various knitting publications, including Interweave Knits, and is working on two more pattern books.

Customers are always welcome to hang out and knit or crochet with the staff. Stitch DC is open seven days a week, and extra late on Wednesdays (731 8th Street, SE Washington, DC 20003).

Herban Lifestyle

March 13, 2019 by Valerie Williams 5 Comments

Mary Kearns grew up in a very environmentally conscious household. Her mother was into organic cooking and being “green” long before it was the latest and the coolest. “I was so embarrassed,” Mary says, recalling her school lunches wrapped in waxed paper, instead of plastic bags like the other kids had. “But now I’m thankful that I was made aware of these issues so early.”

Her mother’s awareness and activism has paid off. Mary Kearns is now the owner and founder of Herban Lifestyle, an all-natural bath and body product line made in Falls Church, Virginia. Herban Lifestyle is certified member of Green America, a signer of the Compact for Safe Cosmetics, and an Environmental Protection Agency Green Power Partner. Herban Lifestyle products are all handcrafted by Mary, using only organic, fair trade and/or ethically wildcrafted herbs and essential oils. Additionally, Herban Lifestyle labels are all printed on recycled paper with vegetable inks, and Mary only uses packing and shipping materials that are recycled, recyclable or biodegradable.

When I met with Mary to talk with her about her business and her inspirations for creating green and sustainable body products, I was thrilled when she offered to show me how one of her most popular products was made. I even got to choose the scent! My love for all things citrus led me to pick the tangerine dreamsicle lip balm.

Using one of her own recipes, Mary led me through the process of making her lip balms. The process was surprisingly simple, but definitely an exercise in patience and precision. After I decided on tangerine, Mary showed me her (extremely well organized) storage room, where we gathered all the necessary ingredients. The first step was melting the beeswax, which comes from Mary’s all-natural supplier in a big, honeycomb-shaped slab.

After the beeswax is melted, the other ingredients are added, including jojoba oil, organic shea butter and organic olive oil, which all play the role of moisturizer. To achieve the delicious tangerine dreamsicle scent, organic tangerine essential oil and organic vanilla extract are added to the mix. Mary uses a ceramic double boiler to melt her ingredients, because certain types of metal react poorly with certain oils. When everything is completely blended, the mixture is ready to be poured into the lip balm containers, which have been cleaned, sterilized and dried.

The jojoba oil and shea butter give the mixture it’s soft golden color, not the tangerine essential oil. While the lip balms cooled, a dreamy and sweet citrus-y scent filled the entire room. It was easy for me to understand why Mary finds making her delightful goodies so relaxing!

An interest in aromatherapy is what first prompted Mary to make her own body products. Back in the late ’90s, she subscribed to a body product of-the-month club, and soon became interested in experimenting beyond the simple recipes that were sent to her. She also became intrigued by the therapeutic and healing properties of essential oils and herbs, and how to combine them to achieve the greatest result.

Life eventually led her away from her initial endeavor to make and sell natural body products, but her interest in herbalism and making skin care products had not diminished. When she found herself living in the DC area and beginning formal herbalism studies, she knew the time was right.

Mary opened her Herban Lifestyle Etsy shop in May of 2008, and now has nearly thirty different products, all made from the highest quality natural and organic ingredients. Her favorite items to make are the body balms, and her favorite scent to use is lavender, although her line includes a variety of mild essential oils.

One of her most popular items is her Fuzzy Soap, which is handmade, organic soap wrapped up in vegetable-dyed, hand-carded wool. The wool is wet-felted to cling to the bar of soap, creating a built-in holder that is exfoliating as well as naturally anti-bacterial. The day I visited Mary, she had several that were nearly ready for packaging, after laying out to dry for several days.

Mary’s product line also includes natural and organic products for men. The Herban Lifestyle MAN grooming kit was featured in Etsy’s Valentine’s Day gift guide for LXTV in New York, and continues to be a popular item with new and returning customers.

Although green business practices and using all-natural and organic ingredients are major priorities for Mary, she has found that not all her customers are drawn to Herban Lifestyle for those reasons. “Some people just like quality body products that smell nice.” She certainly has that market cornered.

You can find Herban Lifestyle products at a handful of DC area stores and at several online locations, including the Herban Lifestyle web site, the Etsy shop, and the World of Good web site.

The Sugar Cube

February 14, 2019 by Valerie Williams Leave a Comment

The DC area is blessed with scores of artists and designers who make beautiful things for your home and your wardrobe, but this week I wanted to focus on food craft. I wanted to find a source for fine, handcrafted edible goodies, and I hit the jackpot not fifteen minutes from where I live: a sweet shop called The Sugar Cube run by sisters Kim and Alyssa Theodore.

Growing up, Kim worked at her hometown chocolate shop, and fell in love with sweets at the tender age of thirteen. It was a love that would never diminish, even as she grew up and pursued a career in academics. Meanwhile, her sister Alyssa enjoyed a successful career in publishing, but had always nurtured a passion for gourmet foods and treats. After she felt she had enjoyed everything a non-foodie career could offer, she thought about turning that weekend fascination for food into something full time.

Both sisters knew that somehow, one day the two of them would turn their love of sweets into some kind of delicious joint venture. The Sugar Cube was born after a combination of strategic planning and serendipitous happenings came together, and the store opened in early 2007 in Old Town, Alexandria.

Right from the beginning, Kim and Alyssa knew they wanted to focus on independent producers of quality sweets. The Sugar Cube is all about chocolates, sweets, and fine confections that are well-made and beautifully presented. Classical approaches to candy making, innovative twists, and unique flavors are all welcome at The Sugar Cube.

Truffles are the most popular chocolate item in the store. The Sugar Cube’s artisan truffles, and all the gourmet confections, come from chocolatiers and candy makers from all over the country, using both traditional and innovative techniques. About twenty-five percent of the chocolate and candy vendors at the Sugar Cube are local, and both Alyssa and Kim are always looking for new talent.

There’s so much more to tempt any sweets-loving customer who wanders into The Sugar Cube. I was immediately drawn to the giant jars housing their custom-colored chocolate milkies. If you bought them at the supermarket, they’d be called M&Ms and would only come in six colors. At this little shop in Old Town, they are made by hand and come in twenty-five colors!

The collection also includes caramel based candies that are made in the store, familiar favorites like Jelly Belly jelly beans, nostalgic sweets like Moon Pies and Necco Wafers, and more than three dozen types of panned chocolates. Nearly anything you might want covered in chocolate is available at the Sugar Cube: almonds, raisins, toffees, gummy bears, and of course, the classic malt ball.

If you time your visit properly, you can take part in the store’s tasting series, which happens every Saturday afternoon. The sessions are free and rarely require reservations, and are used to introduce new products, flavors, or confectioners to customers. Additionally, there’s always a different sweet available for sample every day. When I visited, I had a taste of a white chocolate passion-panna cotta truffle. White chocolate ganache, buttermilk, and passion fruit-vanilla jam: I’m no food critic, but I can tell you that it was absolutely amazing and I’ve never had anything like it!

The Sugar Cube is located in Old Town, Alexandria at 210 North Lee Street. Drop by from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm Tuesdays through Fridays, or 11:00 am to 6:00 pm on Saturdays and Sundays. You’ll have to refrain from handmade sweets on Mondays, I’m afraid. Check their calendar of events to participate in the tasting series.

The Devil Made Me Do It Clothing

February 5, 2019 by Valerie Williams 3 Comments

Tamara Embrey has been making up-cycled, recycled, and refashioned clothing since she was a teenager, long before it was the latest and the coolest to do so. At sixteen, she would create her own interesting and unique items to wear, having been inspired by both a trip to Goodwill and the latest issue of Vogue.

Tamara was not interested in anything that could be found at the mall, and was happy to apply her sewing skills (courtesy of her mother and her aunt) to update and personalize her thrift store finds.

She loved making clothes so much, she even contemplated attending fashion school. The male-dominated industry and the emphasis on boundless consumerism did not appeal to her, however. Still, all throughout her schooling she never gave up making things, and never stopped making new, fantastic clothes out of old, forgotten ones.

Tamara’s creativity has never been just about making clothes – she is also a writer and a painter, but she never put down her sewing, even while pursuing advanced degrees in other subjects. Upon finishing her MFA in writing, a friend of hers encouraged her to sell her upcycled clothing at a local market in the small town where she attended graduate school.

With a ten dollar table fee, it was hard to say no…and The Devil Made Me Do It clothing was born!

She found she really enjoyed both the creative and business side of making and selling her clothes, and the thrill of seeing her creations on other stylish people never got old. By the time Tamara moved to the DC area in 2008 and planned to apply to the Torpedo Factory as a resident artist, The Devil Made Me Do It was well established and already enjoying success!

All of Tamara’s clothes are made from high quality, upcycled wool and cashmere sweaters. Her creative process begins by looking through her considerable stash of thrifted sweaters for inspiration. An unusual color or pattern might catch her eye, and call out to her to be made into a ruffle hem or a collar detail, and soon a garment is under construction in her head.

She uses her own sense of style, her “jagged-edge sensibilities,” and her considerable skill with a serger (gained from a little instruction plus years of experience) to piece together sweater remnants into new, fabulous clothes.

Each item in the Devil Made Me Do It collection is therefore one-of-a-kind. Although Tamara will sometimes repeat a certain style, the nature of her found-object materials means that no two garments will ever be exactly alike, even those that started life as parts of the same sweater!

You can find The Devil Made Me Do It clothing in Tamara’s Etsy shop, and in the Fiberworks Studio at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, VA, as well as at the occasional local arts and crafts market. Tamara is always looking for gorgeous sweaters to cut up, so if you have any that need a new life, let her know!

The Legendary Eastern Market

January 19, 2019 by Valerie Williams 2 Comments

If you love handmade goods, locally grown produce, and supporting independent businesses, Washington DC’s Eastern Market is more than just a shopping destination, it’s heaven on Earth.

A unique combination of crafts market, farmer’s market, Victorian-era food stall, and community arts center, Eastern Market is also the unofficial heart of the Capitol Hill neighborhood. It’s also a major tourist attraction with it’s own Metro stop, and a source of pride for the entire city.

The history of Eastern Market goes all the way back to the original plans for Washington, DC drafted by Pierre L’Enfant, and an initiative from the Jefferson Administration to create and maintain a series of markets throughout the city. While its cousins in other parts of the city have long since been swallowed up by development, Eastern Market has prevailed. Numerous events have challenged the Market’s survival, not the least of which was a devastating fire in 2007, which wiped out the Market’s historic South Hall.

The fire completely destroyed more than a dozen independent bakeries, butchers, and food stalls that were housed in the 134-year-old South Hall. However, ninety percent of the art and craft vendors were unaffected, and the market was open as usual the following weekend. Temporary stalls for the displaced food vendors were in place within six months, and the market has flourished ever since.

The renovated South Hall re-opened in June of 2009 with all of its original vendors, including the legendary Market Lunch. Ask any Capitol Hill resident or Eastern Market regular, and they will give you an earful about the culinary bliss that is Market Lunch, especially the crab cake sandwiches and the blueberry pancakes.

Today the Market features more than 120 exhibitors, selling a huge variety of handcrafted goods, antiques, fine art and crafts, locally grown produce, and fresh flowers. Visitors love Eastern Market because it truly is one-stop shopping, but not in a soulless, strip-mall kind of a way. Where else can you pick up handcrafted goods like soap, ceramics and clothing, fresh cut flowers, original artwork, and locally-grown, organic fruit all at the same time?

The Eastern Market complex also includes the North Hall, a community arts center that houses permanent installations from local artists, musical performances and other neighborhood events.

Eastern Market is located at 7th Street and North Carolina Avenue SE, one block from the Eastern Market Metro. The South Hall is open Tuesdays through Sundays, and the Arts & Crafts Market, Flea Market, and Farmers’ Market are open Saturdays and Sundays.