Help keep our small family business open!

Hello my dearest crafters!

My name is Kayleigh Searle, and I am the owner and operator of Stitches and Skeins, one of Kamloops’ local yarn store and more, located at #2-665 Tranquille Road on the North Shore of Kamloops. I am writing this to ask for a plee of help to keep my little family-owned business open. The official opening of my store was mid October of 2024. I opened this business for my deep passion for the knitting and crochet hobby, as well as having something for my kids, whether they wish to take on the business when they’re older or at the very least having the experience for their own desired careers. I wanted to have a job and business I and our family was proud of, and to contribute to the community in a meaningful way.

Know that if the goal is not reached in the allotted time, all funds will be returned to their respective donators!

There is a deep passion for many within the hobby, the joys of being able to create something out of a simple ball of yarn, something unique and not something you’d ever find on the shelf of your standard store. The feeling of confidence and accomplishment of being able to create something of your own, whether it be something you wear or something you can keep on your shelf. This hobby is so versatile, and has been around for hundreds of thousands of years, passed down from generation to generation, and with today’s technologies it has grown to such a point where the creations are limitless.

My plee for help comes from a setback that started before I was even open. Two big back to back emergency bills stripped my leftover working capital and inventory money I had to work to fill the shelves with. I was only able to bring in barely enough to open, and while I have done a few small orders here and there, hoping it would be just enough to squeak by, unfortunately overhead expenses are catching up too quickly. For some that may be thinking “well if you haven’t made it far now, how are you expecting to continue in the future?”, and the answer to this is because I wasn’t given a chance to get far to begin with.

For transparency the emergency bills included a big veterinary bill and car mechanical issues that couldn’t be left. The veterinary costs were for our loving orange tabby cat, named Orange Boy (original right?), who was diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure and Diabetes. Our pets are as important to us as our kids are and we wanted to do everything to keep him comfortable while we navigated his health issues. The costs for this easily equalled $2000 with the multiple tests and continued medications. Unfortunately, due to the severity of his heart disease, he made it until January 6th before his heart could no longer continue and he passed.

The car mechanical repairs (it’s a 2017 Honda Pilot) started when the electronics started going completely out of whack, which turned out to be a combination of a battery replacement (it was the original), a Smart Control Module replacement (the cause of the electronics going whacky), and diagnostics test prior to the control module replacement.

A recent turn of events as well as of the end of February 2025, on top of everything else on a personal level, to add the topping to the cake so to speak, we have to move from our current place as our landlord has sold the house we rent from and we are being evicted as the new owners want to move in. So now we are having to pay that bit more for rent as we were living at our previous place for 11 years and of course rent there was a little less ($1405.00 currently) than the current market rate (which we are now having to pay $2400).

What I am hoping to be able to accomplish with funds raised is to be able to fully fill the shelves with inventory to keep our customers happy with many unique yarns not found at Kamloop’s local competitions (specifically Michaels and Walmart). Being able to do this will also allow me to expand into building a website and offering online sales, offering workshops and classes to give new people opportunities to learn the hobby without relying on just online videos, and expanding to other crafts such as embroidery, cross stitch, macrame, felting, and any others that are related. I have had a lot of people asking for these additional crafts as there is nothing offered within the city and not everyone likes to just rely on online. There is currently a very successful group drop-in called the Stitch and Sip that I host at the shop that allows for any crochet or knitter (other crafters are welcome too!) to come down on Tuesdays and Saturdays to sit and do their crochet and knitting, socialize with those are them, share their stories and their skills. The people at these groups have been absolutely amazing and I have really come to enjoy those days the most.

I would also love to finally be able to give back to the community and reaching out to local charities such as ones for children, seniors, and animal rescues. Hosting fund raising events and awareness for the charities is a big portion of my goals for the business as we grow. Kamloops and the surrounding communities are a passionate bunch, we care for our neighbourhoods and our businesses that mean the most to the community, and I want very much to be apart of it.

I would deeply appreciate any help we can get to keep us open. I know that once we can accomplish our goal, and with continued commitment and hard work this business will flourish and we can be a unique business addition to the North Shore of Kamloops. The nearest store that sells yarn and supplies, and other crafts, is up in Sahali and Aberdeen area of Kamloops and many people on the North Shore may not be able to get up there unless they take public transportation which isn’t always an option, or it’s very long trip due to the many stops and exchange stations.

Again, if we do not reach our goal of $10,000 anyone that has donated will have their contributions returned to them in full. I am always happy to answer any questions you may have.