Our Inspiration

Blue Thistle Fibers bridges two threads of American rural textile heritage. Our story begins at Lake Bonaparte in New York’s North Country, where generations of our family practiced the fiber arts that sustained rural communities – our grandmother’s museum-quality tatted lace, quilts pieced at our family camp, the patient handwork that turned necessity into beauty.

That heritage followed us to West Virginia’s Appalachian heartland, where we discovered similar traditions facing similar challenges. In Gauley Bridge, a coal-impacted community rebuilding its future, we’re creating West Virginia’s only production-level natural dye fiber company. We’re not just making yarn – we’re rebuilding the regional fiber infrastructure that once sustained mountain communities, connecting farmers, processors, and makers in a network of shared prosperity.

Our family’s North Country land now provides dye materials that we harvest sustainably and bring south to our Gauley Bridge mill. Every skein carries both histories – northern forests and southern mountains, inherited knowledge and chosen commitment, two rural American traditions woven into one.

Our Story

At Blue Thistle Fibers, we create hand-dyed, eco-friendly fibers with a deep respect for tradition, nature, and the craft of fiber arts. Founded by a mother-daughter duo, our journey began with the shared love of knitting and sewing, skills passed down through generations. Our roots lie in the Adirondacks, where our family’s story started with remarkable women: our grandmothers, Ora Irene, born in 1906, a true North Country soul, who ran a neighborhood grocery store and passed on the art of creating with your hands to her daughter Connie, who passed it along to me and my daughter Clare.

Drawing from their ingenuity, work ethic, and love for the natural world, we learned the art of crafting beautiful, functional pieces with yarn and fabric. Today, we honor that legacy by producing hand-dyed fibers using all-natural dyes sourced from plants, roots, and other materials from the earth. Each skein of yarn and piece of fabric is carefully created with sustainable practices, and every color tells a story of connection to the land that nourished our craft.

We believe that the beauty of a handmade piece is not just in its creation but in the time and care between our hands and yours. Whether you’re knitting a cozy sweater, stitching a quilt, or crafting a project that speaks to your heart, we’re here to help bring your creative vision to life with colors inspired by nature’s palette.

From our family to yours, thank you for supporting our small business and being part of a story that spans generations.

Welcome to Blue Thistle Fibers.

I learned to knit from my grandmother—knit and pearl, the way most of us start. During Coast Guard patrols, I’d add stitch after stitch. I finished my first sweater while patrolling the Arctic Circle. Trust me, it got used.

Now I’m building something that connects two parts of my story: my family’s North Country textile traditions from Lake Bonaparte, New York, and the Appalachian fiber heritage I’ve claimed here in West Virginia.

We harvest dye materials from our family land in Lewis County and process them in our Gauley Bridge mill. Every skein bridges those worlds—northern forests and southern mountains, inherited craft and chosen home.

This is where I prove Appalachia was never textile-poor. Where I honor the knitters, weavers, and quilters who did much with little. Where grit meets color, and tradition meets what’s next.

Small-batch, naturally dyed, made for whatever you’re making.

I can’t wait to see it.

-Clare

I learned fiber arts from my mother and grandmother—making what we needed with what we had. My grandmother’s museum-quality tatted lace and crochet work, our family’s Lake Bonaparte quilts—that’s the foundation.

Now I’m helping Clare scale it. Blue Thistle Fibers is West Virginia’s only production-level natural dye operation, rebuilding the regional fiber infrastructure that coal-impacted communities need. We harvest dye plants from our family land, in Huntington, WV & Lewis County, New York, and process them in our Gauley Bridge mill—connecting regenerative agriculture and two centuries of textile knowledge.

When I’m not dyeing yarn, I’m processing fleece, weaving, or sewing. I love all things sheep (wish I had room for a flock). We are deep into the spinning rabbit hole, so stay tuned for our handspun line.

-Sara

Want Blue Thistle Yarns in your store? Let’s talk wholesale. sara@bluethistlefibers.com

Blue Thistle Fibers is a small-batch, naturally dyed fiber company based in West Virginia, the heart of Appalachia. All our fibers are naturally dyed by hand in Huntington, West Virginia. Our wool comes from a network of ethical and sustainable fiber producers and mills in the United States and Peru. All wool is mulesing-free, with transparent, ethical sourcing. As we expand, our goal is to source and process all of our wool from United States sources and grow our natural dye plants.