History
.... continued from our bios :-)
About
the same time Jamie was buying his angora goats....Matt was buying a
loom ....and what ended up as 83 wool fleeces. How did they meet?
how else could such a strange meeting take place....the internet!
A comment was made in a chat room about the tedious job of husking corn,
then there was a quip about snapping string beans was worse. This
struck me as odd coming from a person who lived in Fort Wayne ( city of
some size) After some time it came out about the goats and the
loom and wool. Let’s face it folks...guys into the fiber things?
A guy just doesn’t meet up with another guy and say ‘Hi, I’m Matt.
I’m into fiber’ that sounds like something you might hear in
group therapy. From there the stone started rolling......Actually
more like thundering down the mountain’s side.
Because I was now working in Indiana, it just worked out well if I moved
in with Jamie in his big farm house. Because of all the fiber laying
around....he bought a drum carder, I bought a spinning wheel. We
did a short lived stint of hand carding and spinning. Then one
day......after a long and stressful day at work.....I was driving home
and thinking about weaving my Navajo style rugs. I was so
impatient to get started weaving but I had several months of carding and
spinning to even have enough for a small rug. I thought of sending
wool out to be processed, but THAT was not in my budget! I just
thought, ‘Man, it would be so nice to have my own wool mill’
It hit me!!!!! It was a solution to everything for me.
I’d be my own boss. I wouldn’t have to jump to orders that made no
sense. I could wear shorts, make my own hours. drink a beer at
lunch if I wanted to. It all sounded perfect! but plausible?
........nah.
That
night after chores and such, I happen to mention to Jamie about my
strange, insane idea. It hit him like a flower pot from a balcony!!!
“My Gosh!!! that’s the best dam idea you’ve had yet” (
Mind you I have a lot of these. So, for this to be the best one
yet, really says something.) It was a solution to everything for him.
The nursing pool field was a dying beast. His career was coming to
an agonizing death. He could be his own boss. Make his own decisions, whether good or bad. he could wear
shorts, make his own
hours, have a drink at lunch. It all sounded perfect! was it
plausible....nah.
That night we did a web search. That weekend met with the manufacturer.
In 2 weeks the equipment was financed and on order. Six weeks, the
paper work was finalized with local, state and federal governments.
the accountants and lawyers were hired. this all sounds like it
was easy, but let me let you in on a secret....it was hell for Jamie.
He spent literally hours on the phone everyday researching the field and
it’s options. If it wasn’t for Jamie’s efforts, the Wooly
Knob Fiber Mill would not be the entity it is today. He might not
have done a very long stint in college, but all his years with a great
business role model ( Donna Fergusen, yes Donna you!) taught him
well.
So now where do I fit into this picture.....I run the machines...LOL.
I like to think I bring the artistic side and skill to the table.
My childhood years of trying to live the Indian life and make Indian tools and things, was a great training ground for the skills I need
today at the mill. With my years in the factory dealing with
production rates and measurements to insure quality. My knack at
thinking through processes and forms. The skills I was taught by
artistic parents, have all given me the skills, knowledge, and
experience needed to run the physical side of a fiber mill.
We, here at the mill, are a group of crazy off beat people who have come
together out of our love of working with fiber. We’ve tried to create an
utopian work place. No stress, no furied frenzy, no pressure! A job
we can enjoy. An atmosphere where we can take the time to produce the quality
we, ourselves, desire as fiber artists. After all that’s what we all want
when we spend our hard earned money for fiber processing.
With our partnership in the Wooly Knob Fiber Mill.......we’re a force to be reckoned with! All this aside, we’re just pretty darn nice people..........and good looking too. LOL!