Starting and maintaining a business is hard work and so time-consuming it makes it hard to do anything else. You’re developing your product or service, searching for customers or investors and hiring staff, all while attempting to have a home life and hang on to your sense of humor.
The hours are brutal, so free time is precious, but many entrepreneurs find it difficult to power down at the end of the day. Instead of trying (and often failing) to ignore the work to-do list by doing nothing, some entrepreneurs crave a creative outlet. They paint, knit, draw, make jewelry, and more to cope with that tricky work/life balance.
If you’re looking for gifts for an artistic entrepreneur friend, she might appreciate your buying art and craft supplies from women-owned shops. Here are ten shops, both online and physical, from all over the country where you can find knitting needles, pastels, sketchpads, and more to fuel your desire to create.
New England-based craft shops
Katy Westcott, the owner and founder of Katrinkles in Providence, Rhode Island, takes pride in the fact that the store’s wooden knitting tools, stitch markers, bag charms, and mini looms are made in-house by Katrinkles staff, from locally sourced wood. Westcott is a big proponent of local manufacturing and has spoken at the Providence Venture Café and even met with Congress members in Washington, D.C. to speak about manufacturing in Rhode Island.
In 2017, Emily Tirella founded Make and Mend in Somerville, Massachusetts to lower the financial barrier to begin a new craft or art hobby. Now, she runs her in-person and online shop seven days a week, accepting donations of clean, reusable art and craft supplies and selling them at affordable prices.
Revive Art & Craft Supply in Middletown, Connecticut is a new women-owned, LGBTQ+ friendly art supply shop. Owners Kate Slomkowski and Brianna Bergamo opened the store in May 2025 to make supplies like fabric, paper, buttons, yarn and paints accessible to the community, and decrease the amount of art supplies in landfills. They also host classes and have opened a makerspace.
Craft supplies from the Midwest
Felted Sky in Ann Arbor, Michigan supplies needle felters with wool roving, felting needles and mats to felt on, as well as artfully packaged kits to make felted animals, natural scenes, or seasonal ornaments. The roving is sourced from American, Australian, and New Zealand farms then carded and dyed in the U.S. Elizabeth Whitton owns and runs Felted Sky with her husband Joshua Barfelz, designing most of the kits herself and selling online or at large sheep and wool festivals all over.
Anne Weil founded Denver’s Flax and Twine in 2010 after a career in investment banking. She sells wool, rope, raffia, and other fibers for knitting and loom and basket weaving. Along with the materials, she stocks looms, needles, kits, project bags, and a neat little teak notions box for needles and stitch markers. The website is lovely, and Weil, who has written books on knitting and weaving, seems to love what she does.
Janel Avila opened String Theory Yarn Company in Glen Ellyn, Illinois after getting laid off from her corporate job. The next day, her brother perished in the attack on the World Trade Center. To work her way through the grief, she knitted. Soon after, Avila decided to open a yarn store that could make a difference in people’s lives. She stocks yarns made by women in Rwanda, Uruguay, and a family farm in New Hampshire. Her dedication to small, family- and women-owned businesses and charities is Avila’s way of giving back to her community and the world.
Southern art and craft supply stores
Four Purls Yarn Shop is an online and in-person shop out of Winter Haven, Florida. Owners Laura Dobratz and her husband named Four Purls in honor of their four kids. One of those kids has her own yarn brand, Emma’s Yarn, which is featured in Four Purls. Dobratz carries materials and supplies for knitting, weaving, and spinning, including looms, shuttles, hooks and spinning wheels.
Shannon Driscoll and Kayli House, owners of Oil and Cotton in Dallas, Texas, met when they both volunteered for a neighborhood improvement organization. Now, they sell art supplies (in-person and online) and teach art classes, music lessons, hold kids’ camps, and partner with a host of local schools and non-profits to provide art and art history instruction.
Craft suppliers on the West Coast
Lost and Found Crafts in Olympia, Washington, owned by Michelle Isaacson, sells new and lightly used craft supplies. If you’ve ever bought material for a new craft and then decided you’re really not into it, you’ll love this shop. People donate their used knitting needles, unused yarn, fabric, paints, beads, and specialty paper to the shop, so you can try a new craft for less. The prices are low, and the shop is well-organized and chock-full of craftiness.
The non-profit Remainders Creative Reuse in Pasadena, California focuses on sustainability and inclusion. Owner Robin Cox accepts donations of art and craft supplies, which she sells in her shop and uses to run classes in knitting, sewing, dance, printing, drawing, and other pastimes.
The next time your entrepreneur friend tells you how hard it is for her to relax, pick up a kit or some supplies from one of these shops. You might even get a new scarf out of it.
Looking for even more ways to spark creative inspiration? Try one of these gifts under $30.
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