Shop History

The concept for Black Squirrel Yarns (originally called The Black Squirrel) started in August of 2014. Chase Clark, the original owner of the shop, had always wanted to open a retail space to inspire creativity in her local community with beautiful and unique yarns, fabrics, and craft supplies. The plan had taken various forms over many years, but really came together during her time in the South Bay where black squirrels played on the fence outside her studio window. The squirrels were a perfect personification of crafters who always stash supplies for a rainy day, and who regard their skills as something to rely on in tough times. 

In October of 2015 Chase as The Black Squirrel launched an Indiegogo campaign, raising enough money to open the first online version of the shop in March of 2016 with a select few indie dyers and unique tools and gifts. In August of 2016 she partnered with PopupHood, a small business fostering program, which helped her find our original and current space. On November 4th, 2016, The Black Squirrel opened its doors in Berkeley, California and expanded the products with an emphasis on indie-dyed yarn and fantastic notions.

Chase's mission was to create a welcoming and supportive environment for all crafters. The core values of the shop include carrying products from great US-based and Woman-, BIPOC-, or Queer-owned businesses, buying products with sustainable manufacturing processes, reducing plastic waste, providing free help, making community resources easily accessible, hosting affordable workshops, and fostering an inclusive, safe, and welcoming environment for all.

In January 2023, Maia Discoe, a long time employee and store manager, became the new owner of the shop. As manager for a couple of years, working toward becoming the new owner, Maia had started bringing in new yarns and expanding the offerings in the shop. In addition to indie-dyers, Maia has added a large selection of handwash (aka non-superwash), luxury, and budget-friendly yarns with the goal of having sweater quantities of yarn throughout the store.

Maia rebranded the shop as Black Squirrel Yarns to better reflect our concentration on yarn based crafts.

In many ways the store hasn't changed. We remain committed to finding beautiful, high quality yarns, notions, and tools. We actively work at representing our community through the products we carry and the mostly micro to small businesses we support. We do this, in part, by actively seeking out products made by BIPoC, Queer, and women owned businesses. We are so fortunate to be in a time when there are so many small businesses making wonderful things. That is who we want to celebrate and share with our community.

In some ways the store is changing quite a bit. The yarn selection has never been bigger or more diverse. We carry more notions and tools. We have sweater quantities; so many sweater quantities! We love to knit sweaters in all kinds of yarns from lace weight to super bulky, superwash and handwash, budget to luxury, we have you covered in cotton, wool, alpaca, and more.