Before Oak and Skein: How Our Handmade Gift Story Began

Kathleen Eads

16 hours ago

4 min read

Our History

The creative thread that runs through Oak & Skein actually started more than three decades ago. It began in a season of our lives when our gifts to each other looked like handmade chessboards and coffee mugs stuffed with chocolate.

Many of you traveled as part of our creative journey when we opened Hello Sweetie, after a random post about a cafe called Death By Chocolate almost broke my Facebook page! It was an awesome ride, and we were sad to close up our cookie shop, but this old body simply couldn’t handle the physical wear and tear of spending all day on my feet baking.

A few years later, Adam remembered how much he enjoyed woodworking, I started crocheting again, and a new business was born out of passions we’ve held nearly all our lives.

It was December 28th, 1990 when we first started dating. Because Christmas had already passed and both of our birthdays were late in the year, our very first gift exchange fell on Valentine's Day. We were still newly dating, so we just did dinner and a comedy show rather than tangible gifts that year. But over the next few years, we slowly began sharing our creative sides with each other.

There was the first time Adam shared a Journey song with me, placing his Walkman headphones over my ears, and the denim jacket he had hand-painted with the cover art from Queen’s Innuendo album. And then, there was that first Christmas we celebrated together.

The First Chessboard (The original handmade gift)

Before our recent resin chessboard inspired by a glacier, there was the 1991 original. We weren't married yet, and Adam had given me several hints about the nature of the Christmas gift he was making. He trickled the clues out a few at a time, but I just couldn't figure it out. Finally, I shared the clues with my best friend, and she guessed it in less than five seconds: I was getting a chess set.

Chess was a game we played constantly when we were first dating. Back in 1991, there were a lot less tech distractions! Adam picked out the figurines from a hobby store and hand-painted every single one. He glued together the tiles and constructed the wooden box that stores all the pieces. It is still one of my favorite gifts to this day.

Even when we were young, there was so much intention behind what we crafted. He chose unique, different sizes so that as we moved the pieces on the board, we would remember what they were. The King and Queen were the largest, the knights were all riding animals, and the bishops were slightly larger than the rooks which were slightly larger than the pawns. Compared to our new resin Ice Shelf board, I’m still partial to my original chess set.

The original handmade gift from our story. with personalized D&D figures

The Card, the Chocolates, and the Coffee Mug

A year after our wedding, the "budget gift game" came to play. With a new baby in our family and the lingering expenses from the wedding, we set a strict $20 limit for Valentine's Day.

I found a cute card about how love is like chocolate, mentioning four different chocolates by name. I went to the Hallmark store, bought a few of each chocolate, and paired them with a big coffee mug—because what goes better with chocolate than hot coffee? That was 30-ish years ago when mugs were only $5 and cards were $2!

The sweetness was in the intention. My gifts always seemed to have a thread that tied them together. While Adam’s coffee mug back then didn't feature one of my modern mug wrappers or an iced coffee cozy, it was filled with the exact same love.

Cozy handmade gifts perfect for coffee lovers, made with cotton and acrylic yarns

Now There’s Oak & Skein

In the years since Hello Sweetie closed, we found ourselves creating again and sharing ideas in that exciting way couples do when they first start out: "Hey babe, check out this cool idea!" or "Hon, do you like these colors together?" Eventually, those conversations turned into a business.

We’ve done three markets so far, and our next one is almost here. What better way to celebrate our history together than to showcase our crafts at an event that perfectly mirrors how our story started?

We are so excited to be vendors at the upcoming Chocolate and Coffee Expo in Oaks, PA! We will have plenty of new chess sets, coffee cozies, and a bunch of other handcrafted goods.

Because we don't have an online shop, local markets are the best place to see our work in person. We hope to see you at the expo! You can browse our current creations on Instagram, and if you have a custom order request, you can email us directly at OakAndSkein@gmail.