Earth Guild — Local services in Asheville

I visited about a year about before the virus. I came in, and the owner greeted me warmly, but stayed at the counter reading, and let me wander around and get my feet under me. It is a cool store, and I appreciated her not feeling a need to pounce on me when I walked in. I also didn't touch the fibers or yarns though. We joked about the looms. I still love the joke she made. She leaned in and said, " the secret of weaving is, never EVER give your 1st piece to your mother. You will get better, but she will never get rid of it!" I could have howled laughing because to this day my mother has the most sad woven cloth I made 10 years ago on her table like it is the finest table runner. She answered my questions about spinning. She gave me recommendations about wool, and about processing some wool I already had (a process mind you she made no money explaining to me!) And all of this happened shortly before closing. Children like to "look" by touching things. The spinning fibers look soft, and the drop spindles look like PERFECT swords. But many of the things in the store are expensive, like the looms, and are made with great care, like the wool. If people are handling the yarn, and especially the carded wool, it will get oily and ruined quickly. There are just some stores that kids have to know they cannot handle things in. If she has to be a little stern to get that message across, I see no issue with that. I am sure they get a lot of foot traffic in downtown asheville and she has to protect her products from getting dingy from...

I stopped in while visiting Asheville a few weeks ago. I’m a weaver, knitter, needlepointer, etc. and I was so happy to see a store like this right in the downtown area of the city!

The selection of products was great. They don’t have everything, but that’s almost impossible. The selection for weaving tools, basketry materials, and dyes were especially good.

I thought the prices were very fair for what I got (a small shuttle for inkle weaving, a pickup stick, a darning egg, and a washable fabric marker): comparable or a little cheaper than an online shop or Webs (which is where I would usually shop in person for weaving tools.)

I see quite a few reviews about the owners being rude. I wasn’t present for anyone’s interaction but my own, and it’s not for me to say that those reviewers can’t feel the way that they do about whatever they experienced. When I interacted with them, the owners were a bit gruff, but not rude in my opinion. I ended up chatting with them a bit and they’re from New England, like myself. So I’m not surprised that people from a more southern state think that people from New England are rude….but that doesn’t necessarily make it true. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I would happily visit this store regularly if I lived...

The owner is incredibly rude!!! I was at the store this past Friday with my family, craft stores are my favorite and the store is actually quite lovely inside. They did not greet or acknowledge our presence, that is until the woman working there decided to rudely and publicly reprimand my 8 year old stepson for simply looking at a spool of thread. He wasn’t taking everything off the shelf or messing up their displays, he had one spool of thread in his hand and was just looking at it while right next to us. It was absolutely rude and embarrassing and I was in total shock over the way this woman spoke to a child. You would think a store of this nature would encourage a little curiosity and creativity from children. Instead the only interaction we had from this owner was for her to yell at a child for touching a spool of thread while standing quietly next to his parents. This level of rudeness and lack of professionalism has bothered me for a few days now so I figured the public should know what they are getting into before entering this unprofessional...