Sometimes, growing a business is about more than just increasing revenue—it’s also a chance to grow your community. At Ewe and You Fiber Arts the move from the quaint but tiny original location in Windsor to a new, more spacious store in East Windsor was a chance to diversify their offerings and provide more spaces for the community of knitters and crocheters that owner Rachel Schuster has built over the years.
“We’re a community space fronted by a yarn shop,” says Schuster of Ewe and You. So, when Ewe and You started looking for a new home, bigger was definitely better.
Schuster says that at the old location she was frequently moving shelves and reorganizing the shop to at least give the appearance of more space. In the new location, she has room for a dye studio, a dedicated space for people to sit in comfortable chairs and chat while knitting, crocheting, needle felting, spinning, embroidering, and even weaving. There’s even a space in the basement known as the “Ewe”vent Center that will give Ewe and You the opportunity to host larger classes and vendor events.
Spinning wheel classes, and even movie nights are also on the agenda for the “Ewe”vent Center. Need a place to have a birthday party? They can handle that, too. But getting to this point has taken a lot of hard work, and a little help from Connecticut Small Business Development Center (CTSBDC) Advisor MaryKay Della Camera.
The beginning of Ewe and You
Schuster’s husband Michael is a Veteran, and for many years their family moved frequently for the military. While living in Kansas City, Schuster linked up with a local yarn store, and when they moved back to Massachusetts and then Connecticut, she started thinking about owning her own store. The timing was not quite right, so she went to work for a large, corporate fiber arts retailer. Working in customer service, Schuster often received requests that she could not fulfill. People wanted heirloom items made—like baby blankets— but she could not help them. So, when she left there, she began working on her business plan, and in 2018 she began working with CTSBDC.
“We were looking for a box with a bathroom,” Schuster says of her first search for a storefront. She found it in a town-owned building in Windsor. Della Camera helped the Schuster prepare a business plan and financial projections to apply for the funding to turn her dream into reality. With a modest personal investment of $5,000 and a $45,000 SBA loan, the Schusters were able to secure the space and turn their “white box with a bathroom” into a haven for fiber arts enthusiasts. Even during COVID-19, Ewe and You used an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) to put up an awning on the building so their community could still come together to craft outdoors. Unfortunately, the space could not grow with the business.
From retail store to creative hub
Over the years, the Schusters and Della Camera stayed in touch and CTSBDC helped consolidate old loans into one $45,000 Boost Loan. Then, in 2025 Schuster began looking for a commercial space to buy. As she put it, “Rent goes up but mortgages stay the same.” When an offer on a building the Schusters were interested in buying fell through, they reached back out to CTSBDC.
Della Camera suggested opening a separate LLC to be the holding company for the property. In February of 2026, Alargent Holdings secured an SBA Loan for $134,100 and a construction loan for $167,500.
At the same time, Ewe and You secured another $67,000 SBA Loan and a $20,000 line of credit. Paired with more than $64,000 in owner financing, Ewe and You were able to buy a condo in a mixed-use space in East Windsor and start renovating. They have expanded their stock, and plan on buying a circular sock knitting machine to help with crank-ins and to let Schuster offer her own line of socks. Della Camera also suggested Ewe and You apply for a grant from the Women’s Business Development Council (WBDC). They received the grant and in addition to buying chairs for the community space, that money will purchase a dying oven to complete the studio and classroom.
From a “box with a bathroom” to a vibrant, multi-purpose creative hub, Ewe and You Fiber Arts is a testament to what can happen when passion meets persistence. Now, with more room to create, connect, and grow, the business is entering its next chapter with momentum.
