A crafty realm of possibilities waits to be unlocked just outside Franklin’s downtown area.
While unassuming from the outside, Eagle Aerie will fill a visitor’s eyes with awe: large bunches of thread hanging on hooks, fibers dyed in every color imaginable set out to dry, and displays of handmade goods crafted by visitors.
On a recent Saturday, five women embarked on a crafty journey to felt a flower field landscape. Covering the folding tables in the center of the store was fluff of all colors, delicately teased into tiny pieces and pinpointed into place with thin needles.
In the middle of the semicircle sat Eagle Aerie’s owner Rickie Bauer on her Ashford Country Spinner, weaving together two different strands of wool while rhythmically pedaling her feet back and forth. The large bobbin at the top can hold enough material for a sweater, she said.
“There are so many spinning wheels in this state that we are unaware of,” Bauer said. “And we try to get them out and brush the dust of off them and get them used, or sold to someone who will use them.”
In a lot of ways, that’s the goal of Eagle Aerie: to bring fiber craftspeople across New Hampshire together and use materials that would otherwise be thrown out.
The material displayed in the store mostly comes from the backs of woolly animals across the state and beyond. Bauer said many farmers tuck away wool in the far corners of their barns when the time comes to shear their animals.
“We found through our community that fiber processing is a thing that is being shut down all over the country,” she said. “The bigger mills are shutting down and there are many, many farms wondering what to do with their wool.”
Eagle Aerie wanted to be a “micro mill” that took donations of unused wool, big or small, and repurposed it in a variety of crafts. That process starts in the store’s basement.
On the floor, several pounds of donated wool and fur lay dormant in plastic bags. All kinds of debris is caught up in the hairs that were once on the animal: twigs, rocks, dirt and even toenails.
Kyara Gardiner, who has worked at Eagle Aerie for over a year, lumped alpaca wool onto the conveyer belt of a picker machine. Piece by piece, she gently pulled the tufts apart to make the wool cleaner, wispier and softer. She’s not doing all the hard work, though — the picker’s spinning roller further separates the strands and feeds into a large container.
Gardiner said she processes up to 10 pounds of wool per day. She came into Eagle Aerie regularly when the business opened two years ago, and it wasn’t long before Bauer offered her a job to help with processing.
“I want to learn everything about the fiber crafts,” said Gardiner, who has been knitting for 10 years. The farmers and customers she has met through the job have been “really inspiring to my own work.”
After going through the picker, the fiber goes through a carding machine. Its velcro-like teeth help realign the strands that eventually make a solid sheet of wool called roving. This can be used for yarn, hand spinning, felting and other crafts.
Bauer — who works full-time in construction around Boston — has been spinning for 35 years and operates Eagle Aerie exclusively on Friday and the weekends. What started as a measly operation with starter processing equipment has grown rapidly, adding classes and workshops to help teach people about every aspect of wool work.
“I called it ‘jumping of the cliff,’ and either you hit jagged rock and shatter or you hit water and you swim,” she said. “We hit water and we swam.”
Classes at Eagle Aerie, offered on most weekends, are plentiful: learn how to spin, make goat’s milk soap, or weave rugs alongside Bauer or other specialized instructors.
During the Saturday felting class, Kelley Watkins said she feels no pressure to perform well likes she does in her health care job. The Sanbornton resident has been quilting and sewing for years and recently learned how to weave using looms.
Watkins said her dream is to start a pratice that combines her psychiatric background and farming to help people in recovery. She wants to be the catalyst for positive change in people’s lives and help them “find their tribe.” Being at Eagle Aerie propelled that dream.
“All six of us siblings, we still all get together and do things because that’s the way we were raised, but people fractured in their lives haven’t had it,” she said while felting a sunflower. “Now this will hopefully show them that there is a different way and feel safe.”
Bauer finds joy in teaching others, especially young people who are quick to learn and likely to stick with the craft for a while. She also wants to find existing crafstpeople around the state — that’s why she started the 1,400-member-strong New Hampshire Fiber Friends Facebook page that shares projects, circulates events and creates community.
“We all go down one solid rabbit hole and there you are for life — and you’re very happy being there,” she said. “You open up your cupboard and wonder why all that wool is there, but you’re happy.”
Eagle Aerie is located at 31 N Main St. in Franklin and is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday to Sunday.
