The Yarn Queen’s mission and values define the heart and soul of our company. We believe that fibre arts are important, and our mission and values are designed to support that belief. We want to be open with you, our customers, and tell you what we believe in and what we want to achieve.

Our Mission

Our mission is why we exist and what we aim to do.

  • We believe in inclusivity, kindness and accessibility.
  • We welcome and want to encourage people from as many walks of life as possible to the fibre community: Māori and other people of colour, migrants, people with English as a second language, all sexualities and genders, people of all sizes, people with physical, social or learning disabilities, people who are neurodiverse, people who have mental health challenges, old and young. You are welcome here and we will treat you with respect and kindness. We want you to know that this is a place that you are safe, seen, and valued, where your rights will be protected and fought for, and where you will not have to defend your humanity or prove your value.
  • We want to tear down structures that entrench elitism in the fibre community and welcome new fibre artists just starting out. There is no such thing as a stupid question, and we will help anyone who is trying to learn.
  • We will do our best to amplify and raise up the voices of people that may otherwise struggle to be heard, such as designers and dyers who are Māori or other people of colour, LGBT, and we will continue to try to find these people and support them.

Our Values

Our values explain what we prioritise, what matters to us, and how we conduct ourselves. These are the principles that support our mission and guide our decision-making. We have made them concrete and explicit in order to be clear about what we believe in.

Social

  • We do our best to use language and choose products that are based on our values, and to avoid using language that may hurt. As examples:
    • We won’t use the phrase “fibre addict” because we don’t think that using descriptions of people’s medical or psychological conditions as a joke is acceptable.
    • We won’t use the phrase “fibre snob” because for some people, fibre snobbery easily becomes people snobbery, and everyone is welcome here.
    • We won’t say “better than your grandma’s knitting” or other phrases that reinforce stereotypes about knitting, women, femininity or ageism.
  • We actively seek out artisanal tools and accessories to support small makers and artists.
  • We won’t stock angora yarn unless we are very very certain that it is from a source that does not abuse their rabbits in any way, including when harvesting their fur.
  • We won’t offer animal fur pom-poms unless they are pest fur, specifically New Zealand rabbit or possum. In New Zealand, rabbits and possums are invasive species causing environmental degradation. We do not support fur farming.

Accessibility

  • We are working to make our website as accessible as possible for people who use screen readers or other accessibility aids
  • We don’t believe that anyone is incapable of learning to create with yarn: we may need to adapt our teaching style or your working style to your physical or learning disabilities or preferences. We are working on developing teaching resources that you can use in a range of formats.

Environmental

  • We won’t stock fully synthetic yarns such as acrylic or polyester, and we keep synthetic blends to a minimum. You may find nylon or elastane in some of our yarns, where it adds functionality to the yarn. We don’t believe in fibre snobbery, so if you need to use these fibres for price or durability reasons, please do and know that there are many other places where you can find them. We are always happy to help and suggest alternatives!
  • We are doing our best to identify as much information about the source of our yarns as possible, and providing this to you so that you can factor it into your decision making in accordance with your preferences.
  • We recycle cardboard from inbound parcels for packaging and look to minimise our waste footprint as much as possible, and we constantly evaluate and improve our environmental practices.

We are still listening and learning, and we will make mistakes. When we do, we will do our best to improve. Our philosophy is: Know better, do better. We have designed our mission and values to be adaptable, and to grow, change and evolve as we work to become the best possible partner to the fibre community.

Please feel free to let us know here, or via any of our communication options, what you need from us to make this a safe and enjoyable space.