Thursday
Feb182010
Who is this man, and why is he wearing a toupee on his face?
Thursday, February 18, 2010 at 7:53PM 
His name is Charles Dickerman. This picture was taken in the late 19th century. He was probably wearing a wool suit. He was definitely growing something on his face.
I would like to take a moment to thank Charles Dickerman, wealthy businessman, entrepreneur, and (obvious) wool wearer. Thank you, Charles E. Dickerman, for building this building in 1901:
Thank you, Charles E. Dickerman, for building this building that in 1901 served as a women's millinery shop, a furrier, a clothing store, and on the second floor, a dance hall.
Thank you.
Thank you for building the future home of Three Irish Girls.
How do you think Charles Dickerman would feel about his building being used for ballet?
And now, for yarn?
When Charles Dickerman built this building, he intended for there to be three retail stores on the main level and a larger dance and meeting space on the second floor. Over the course of more than 100 years, you can imagine that the building saw some challenges. At least seven fires occurred here. I'm going to do my best to make sure there aren't eight. Disrepair. But the bones were good, and no amount of new construction can create a history like this one. I love knowing that I'll be working where women used to make and sell fancy hats.
The building was purchased and fixed up several years ago, and three loft-style condos replaced the dance hall.
We're moving at the beginning of March to our brand new, bigger, more awesome, absolutely fantastic home. (Yes, that's only a couple of weeks away!) We're packing everything we own, bidding our windowless but colorful studio in the suburbs of Washington, DC adieu, and moving across the country to Duluth, Minnesota.
Our new studio has twice the space of our current studio. And it has windows, which is an unimaginable luxury to the likes of us. We'll be occupying two of these spaces on the main level, the space in the middle and the space on the left.
The space in the middle and the space on the left will give us more then 3,000 square feet of dyeing, drying, and storage space -- space that is sorely needed. It will also give us the ability to work better, smarter, and faster, as we're able to set up the most efficient work area possible.
Having lived with the limitations of my current setup for more than two years, I have often dreamed of what I would do if I ever had the opportunity to build a dream studio. And you're looking at it, kid: Yarnista's dream studio.
We've taken these two spaces and made them adjoining on the inside with a French door. It's already happened. It happened while I was here in DC answering your emails and dyeing your yarn and shipping your packages. It's like magic.
Moving home to Minnesota means that I can be close to my mama and daddy and sisters and nieces and nephew. Moving home to Minnesota means that my kids can play with cousins and spend the night at Grandma's and go sledding anytime they want, practically all year long.
The plumbers are more than 80% done with the work on the new studio. They've installed the water lines for the sinks and the washing machines. They've put in the mother of all hot water heaters. The electrician is putting in lots of ambient lighting, and is installing modern pendant lighting for the color mixing and dyeing stations. The painters are painting, the carpenters are carpenting, and I'm marveling.
Years ago, in this very city, a twelve year old girl tried to knit a blue cotton dishcloth. And now she's coming home to nest here:
I can't even believe it. Over the next few days, I'll give you some studio updates, including the colors I picked out for the walls while on my secret mission.
I feel so grateful that my years of early mornings, late nights, sore backs, burned arms, and delighted eyes have created something to be proud of. Thank you for coming along on this journey with us.
Things are going to get even better from here.
XOXO
-- Yarnista
P.S.
Reader Comments (58)
Duluth is a beautiful place and you get to come home--back to the midwest, yea. I go through Duluth on the way to Ely in the summer. Will you have any tours or a shop--what about all those little orphan skeins that became a color not even you had imagined? Will you have an adoption center for them? Love the building and I would love to have a condo upstairs.
It's wonderful that you'll be near your family. Congratulations and best wishes. I grew up in Iowa and we would spend two weeks in the summer at Woman's Lake at a family resort. It's almost halfway between Duluth and Fargo and was a great place to vacation. My dad would take me out in the boat and I would read while he caught wall-eyed pike and another fish whose name I forget. We'll miss having you in Maryland.
I was scanning through my blog reader and the word "dyeabolical" caught my eye, so I had to comment. :) Congratulations on such wonderful success!
Congratulations!! You've been so amazing to watch since I, and apparently thousands of others, discovered you in Dye For Glory. I'm thrilled you're now halfway to OR. Best of Luck to you all in the exciting, and likely terrifying, new adventure!
Wow! Exciting. I work in Duluth, live in Cloquet. Where are you located exactly, it looks like it must be right downtown...I'm going to have to walk over when you are open for business.
My name is Piter Jankovich. oOnly want to tell, that your blog is really cool
And want to ask you: is this blog your hobby?
P.S. Sorry for my bad english
First off, congrats on the big move! I'm also interested to find out where exactly the new spot is, as I work in downtown Duluth as well! Will you have a retail shop?? I'd love to walk over on a lunch break if possible...
You seem very knowledgable about this subject matter and it shows. Cheers!