Margaret Briggs is a new addition to DFW Fiber Fest. She runs two online stores that cater to the fiber community.  We can’t wait to meet her!

DFW FF:  How long have you been doing business in the fiber community?

Margaret:  I opened my first Etsy shop, kNotes for kNitters, in September 2007, designing paper goods from my collection of antique knitting photographs & postcards. Then I started making my fiber artist’s hand cream - initially just for myself, friends and family, but Happy Hands grew like Topsy so last January I opened a new store just for that.

DFW FF: Were you a crafter before you got into your current business?

Margaret: I have always been a crafter, I really can’t help it. Before knitting, I loved working with polymer clay, and before that I did needlepoint … and before that, I was crazy for miniatures. When I was in middle school, I caught pneumonia and was confined to bed for three weeks, so I made myself a dollhouse, complete with “plumbing” and battery-operated lights! I’ve also tried working with stained glass, and making metal jewelry, but I’m really awful with those hard materials, they’re just too unforgiving.

DFW FF:  Do you still have time to do your favorite crafts?

Margaret: I *make* the time whether it’s there or not. I manage to knit most evenings, even if I only finish a couple of rows, because it’s so relaxing & satisfying. And I carry knitting projects with me everywhere I go, just in case I have some wait time. I do not, however, knit in movie theaters, or in restaurants. Yet.

DFW FF: How many shows do you attend a year?

Margaret: I usually attend 3 to 4 major shows per year, plus my local Cedar Crest (NM) farmer’s market, which meets weekly June through first frost. This summer, in addition to my “debut” at the DFW Fiber Fest, I’ll have a booth at the Estes Park Wool Market in June, and at Sock Summit in Portland in July.

DFW FF: What is the furthest you have traveled for a show?

Margaret: My gal pal, my husband & I drove from Albuquerque, New Mexico all the way to Portland, Oregon for the first Sock Summit in 2009. It looked really “do-able” on Mapquest, but wow, it actually took 3 days each way, more than 3,000 miles total. I’m really glad we got to see a lot of the West - I celebrated my birthday in Boise, Idaho, which is a lovely town, and we visited Four Corners, and the Arches and Mesa Verde National Parks - but we swore we would never, ever make that drive again.

DFW FF: What is your favorite thing about what you do?

Margaret: I love collecting vintage images of knitting, spinning and crocheting, and the collages I create from them for my kNotes for kNitters shop are a really satisfying way to bring them back into the light and share them with others. (An added bonus: now when I find another vintage photo treasure, my husband does *not* ask “What are you going to do with that?”)

My Happy Hands hand cream started out as purely practical: we live at 7,000 feet in the high mountain desert of New Mexico. It’s the driest place I’ve ever been, and in the winters dry skin can be downright painful. But my favorite pastime is dreaming up new scents. I love having a wardrobe of light, fresh, natural fragrances to choose from; some days, I feel like citrus but other days like cinnamon or lilac, if that makes sense? I guess my dream product would be a walk-in cosmetic cabinet to store them all!

DFW FF:  What is your favorite product that you carry?

Margaret: I’d have to say that my “Knit Love: Not Everybody Gets It” design is probably my favorite collage, I like the ephemeral elements of vintage patterns & ball bands in it, plus the looks on the photo subjects’ faces are just priceless.

And from the Happy Hands side, well, Citrus Cilantro was the first scent I ever created and I have never gotten tired of it. Hippie Chick would be a close second, along with Grapefruit Tangerine. And Peppermint Candy. And Sunny Tea, especially in summer … never mind, obviously I can’t really pick a favorite!

DFW FF:  We have a big crochet market here at DFW Fiber Fest.  Do you carry any crochet specific items?

Margaret: Yes, my Happy Hands hand cream is great for any sort of fiber artist because it won’t transfer to your yarn. I also have some fiber care tag designs that feature crochet. Would you believe, it is much, much harder to find vintage images of people crocheting? You wouldn’t think so, would you? But it’s true. In all the time I’ve been collecting I’ve found maybe a half-dozen, and one of those is of a man who posed for a formal studio portrait with his crochet hook in hand! This picture was taken in the late 1800s, mind you, way before football star Rosie Grier started needlepointing.

DFW FF:  What new product are you most excited about?

Margaret: I’ll be bringing a brand new Happy Hands scent to DFW-FF, I’m calling it “White Tea & Ginger” for now, but I’ll be asking attendees to suggest alternate names. It’s a truly lovely fragrance, but hard to describe, so “user feedback” will really help me out. What I love best about doing shows is that I get to meet my customers in person, and hear their comments and suggestions. People have the greatest ideas! Two of my fragrances, Honeysuckle and French Lilac, came from customer suggestions, for example. I’m also working on a body “butter” (another customer request), and a sugar scrub for when you get those rough spots on your finger tips that snag ribbon yarns … stay tuned!

Margaret Briggs

Designer, kNotes for kNitters

Creator, Happy Hands Hand Cream for Fiber Artists

Find me on Ravelry & Twitter as “MaggieBelize”

“Like” my Facebook Page: http://Facebook.com/kNotesforkNitters