Fortitude Founder

DeKalb County
Founder Profile

Molly

Grimm

Business

Wool & Cottage

Founded

December 2017

$500 Grant Date

October 2018

Idea

Bringing women together while teaching them a useful skill.

Creating community in Auburn through crafting

Starting a new craft or hobby can be frustrating for people who have never done it before. Where do you start? Which supplies are the best to use? What if you don’t feel like you’re good at it? These questions and more lead many people to quit before they even begin.

One popular craft hobby to take on is knitting, which can be therapeutic but also overwhelming to start. Molly Grimm took her love for knitting and the recognition that the hobby may not be accessible to some and created Wool & Cottage, a community where women can feel equipped and safe to begin knitting.

Wool & Cottage provides the community with interactive classes that help teach the basics of knitting. Class members are provided with beautiful, easy-to-use knitting kits that include all materials, patterns, and learn-to-knit guides.

Molly has partnered with several other businesses in Auburn, IN, to make the classes positive not just for members of the group, but also for the community at large. Jeremiah’s Brewed Awakenings is the location for knitting classes and provides specialty beverages to attendees; Classic City Cookies provides “ball of yarn” cookies as a favor for all class attendees; and The Sprinkling Can creates a floral arrangement as decor for each class, which is given away at the end to one lucky class member,

Molly’s hope is to grow her businesses by expanding class offerings to crocheting, sewing, embroidery, and more and continuing to grow relationships with other small businesses in Auburn.