Our Story

Hi, I’m Nancy. I’m a working mother, a lifelong reader, and a beginner in needlework. Fable is my book-loving owl, who lives somewhere between my bookshelf and my embroidery hoop.

Why I started Story & Skein

For nearly a decade, I worked at Google. I loved building things on the internet, but after high-pressure workdays and caring for two children, my mind often stayed switched on long after the rest of the house was asleep.

Late at night, I found two small ways back to myself: audiobooks and needlework. A story in my ears. A needle moving through fabric. Nothing dramatic happened. The room simply became quieter, one stitch at a time.

I began calling that feeling Stitching Meditation: a little pocket of flow where you can pause, breathe, and make something real with your hands.

When I decided to pause my corporate life and step back from the pace of the AI world, I wanted to share that feeling with more people. That is why I started Story & Skein.

Fable would like you to know that he was there for the whole thing, offering literary opinions from the bookshelf.

How we make room for a slower hour

Story & Skein brings reading and handcraft together in two places.

On YouTube, Nancy and Fable share books, stories, and gentle company for your making time. On this site, you can find a project to stitch along with us. You do not need to be an expert, finish quickly, or make something perfect. You are welcome to listen, stitch, pause, and begin again.

We believe handcraft is more than a finished object. It can be a way to return to your attention after a noisy day - and to find a modest, dependable kind of happiness in the process.

What we choose to offer

I am Chinese, and I have worked in both China and the United States. I now live in Shanghai, where I personally look for craft studios and suppliers whose work I would be happy to bring to our community.

We curate embroidery, cross-stitch, diamond painting, and other hands-on projects around literary and everyday themes. We look for designs that are inviting to make, materials and instructions that are clearly represented, and production partners who care about the details.

We also believe a good product should be fair to the people behind it. We aim for a fair price that respects the creative work of designers and the honest work of makers, while keeping packaging practical and avoiding unnecessary waste. No extra layers just for the sake of it. No grand claims. Simply considered projects for unhurried hands.

Each product page is the best place to find the confirmed details for that particular kit, including its contents, dimensions, origin, and delivery information.

Thank you for being here. I hope Story & Skein gives you a quiet place to land, and perhaps a story worth carrying into your next stitch.

Nancy
Founder of Story & Skein