MORGANTOWN — It was something Mandi Powell wanted to do since her days as a nurse at Carnegie Mellon University Health Services in Pittsburgh.
She had always loved the feel of fibers and had taken up crocheting. But it was after talking to women from her local knitting and crocheting class that Powell knew what she wanted to do.
“The woman said the local yarn store had closed,” said Powell, adding she always wanted to go into business for herself. “That was a light-bulb moment for me.”
With encouragement from her husband Dan – who works for NASA in Fairmont – Powell opened Free Spirit Fibers in October at 179 Fayette St. in downtown Morgantown.
“Yep, I opened in the middle of COVID,” said Powell, 37, who relocated to Morgantown from Pittsburgh because of Dan’s job. “I had planned to open in the spring (2020) but that was not a good time.”
Powell, the mother of Emerson, 5, and Daisy, 3, took the extra months to work with the West Virginia Small Business Development Center to assemble a business plan and vision for what she wanted Free Spirit Fibers to be.
“I had always loved blankets,” she said. “I started to crochet when I was 8, and it became an innate passion of mine.”
Plus, Powell said it is important for her to sell fibers – yarns – that are economically friendly, animal friendly and honor fair trade practices.
“I realized that was what I wanted to do,” she said. “It’s a reflection of me and my personal beliefs. I am a free spirit and wanted to do something creative that embraces the philosophy.”
Her ultimate goal is to be the “home and heart” of the fiber arts community in Morgantown.
“Just expand the breadth of what I do,” she said.
Free Spirit Fibers sells yarn, as well as unspun fibers from a provider in Grafton. She also offers knitting and crocheting classes, usually on Saturdays. The store is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday.
Powell said she deliberately chose to open Free Spirit downtown to take advantage of foot traffic, be around similar businesses and participate in events like the Arts Walk. The first Arts Walk of 2021 is set for 11 a.m.-4 p.m. April 10. Following the April event, Main Street Morgantown plans to continue hosting Arts Walks once a month.
“I’ve always liked the look of downtown,” said Powell. “When I was thinking of opening, I had a vision of downtown and the Arts Walk.”
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