What are the opening hours?

Tuesday 12pm - 6pm Wednesday 12pm - 6pm Thursday 12pm - 6pm Friday 12pm - 6pm Saturday 9am - 3pm

Rigby Handcraft

A little shop in Cooperstown, NY dedicated to all things craft! We are also the retail location for Zinn Brilliant Ornaments ( on socials).

We offer many fine crafts as gifts as well as everything you need to get started with a new craft or hobby, including craft kits and a secondhand tools and materials exchange.

03/06/2026

Still churning through this 100 days of processing my piles of materials.
Rob found this striped maple on the side of the road in the Adirondacks. It's delightful to carve, a bit softer than sugar maple but burnishes beautifully. Can't wait to play with some kolrosing on these, as I have several dozen roughed out.
It also splits beautifully, so maybe I can finally make some rigid heddles???

02/28/2026

No filter, just morning sunshine on skein number one.
I started spinning this on Sunday afternoon, inspired by .a.kleine briefly mentioning a 100 day project, where you work on a project for 100 days straight. I of course didn't look into it any further than that, because of who I am as a person. But I did ask myself, what project is big enough to spend a hundred days on? And I realized that I am drowning in raw materials (in a good way) and my focus for 100 days should be processing them. My goal for the next 100 days is consistency, so what better craft to start with than spinning? Other materials on the "to craft" list include:
Two more colorways of roving that I dyed last year
About 50 pounds of roving and combed top (no I won't be spinning all of it. This is 1/4 pound and it took me a week, do the math).
Several striped maple logs that I've been unintentionally spalting.
About 30 felted sweaters that I'll be turning into mittens just in time for summer 🌞
Dozens of unlabeled partial skeins of wool that I want to machine knit and then turn into felt.
I'm intentionally omitting the thousands of skeins of secondhand yarn so as not to overwhelm myself.
And just like that, folks, she created a project big enough for 100 days.

For the nerds: this is a worsted spin DK weight chain ply of BFL combed top that I acid dyed with

10/21/2025

The "finished result" of my walnut sweater dyeing. It's so funny to call anything finished when you are making materials to make something else. This is a project of the heart for me.
When I was 20 years old, on break from college after a semester of dendrology, I found a walnut tree growing next to my parents driveway. I recognized it and decided to dig it up and plant it at the lake. It took all day to dig up, because I learned that walnuts have a taproot about as deep as the tree is tall! I somehow got the 6-ft tall tree with the huge Taproot into my Subaru outback and planted it by the water.
I spent the next decade living all around the country on countless adventures, and the Walnut stayed put. Patient. Growing.
When I returned to New York and began the adventure of turning a 3-season camp into a real house, The tree was as tall as the porch. I spent the next 3 years figuring out what plants could tolerate living underneath the tree, to provide a "hedge" and to stabilize the hillside I had planted her on. "Please don't kill this one, it's here to help you." A compromise of thimbleberry, elderberry, valerian and goldenrod was reached.
4 years ago, I set up a lawn chair under the sweeping boughs for the first time and enjoyed the shade in the mid afternoon sun. One of my favorite summer past times is to sit on the deck and exclaim, "the leaves are just SO GREEN!" (Rob can corroborate). Or bring a friend to the tree and have them look up at the leaves, "can you see the concentric circles that the leaflets make?" "....sure Emilie."
2 years ago, the tree made her first crop: 3 walnuts! I gathered them up and kept the mementos in my kitchen.
Last year I was too busy to gather the dozen or so nuts and found countless baby trees the following spring.
This year I got 10 gallons of nuts. The tree is taller than my house. I had been saving 6 skeins of undyed mystery wool for a special occasion. Seeing my mid thirties on the horizon, I can't guarantee where I'll be for the next decade, nor whether this tree will be in my life. So I decided to make a walnut sweater so I can carry the tree with me wherever I go. This is why we craft.

08/17/2025

About halfway through setup yesterday, when I realized how HUGE the sale was, I started walking around to all of my loved ones and asking "am I....insane?"
My mom (who had just moved hundreds of pounds of fabric): "uh huh!!" 😉
Rob: "absolutely and I love you for it."
My dad: *shakes his head and smirks*
My brother: "Emilie, you made a wonderful thing. Enjoy it."
And as I looked around at the 3 dozen loaded tables, the 30ish selfless volunteers working tirelessly, and then the hundreds of customers clearing those tables with their support, it was obvious that I didn't do this. We did.
As great as it is to have a delusional idea to help a wonderful friend, it's nothing without a community to catch me on the wind and make that idea a reality.
My deepest, most heartfelt thanks to everyone that donated, sorted, moved things, set up, worked the sale, came to the sale, and cleaned up. To everyone who has encouraged and fed me in the last 3 weeks. To the kind words, the shares, and just the tireless selflessness you all have shown me. I wish I could thank each and every one of you individually by name, but that's the downside of such great support. We can't name you individually. But we can name you a community. A village.
We raised over $16,000 last night.
I am still stunned.
How did I ever get so lucky to have you all in my circle?
All my wood chips,
Emilie

08/16/2025

Well folks, the sale is tomorrow! 6:00 p.m. at the Cooperstown Farmers market building.
Am I exhausted? Yes.
Do I feel so loved and supported by my community? Also yes.
Will I be looking at these photos next time I have a grand idea? Definitely yes.
Will I still follow all of my crazy ideas to fruition? Absolutely I will.
After weeks of sorting, receiving donations, organizing, researching, pricing, and now schlepping, we are ready for this secondhand yarn and fabric and every-single-other-possible-thing-you-could-ever-use-to create-with sale to benefit recover from the Milford Fire.
Join us! And if you can't join us, share this post so other people in the greater upstate New York area know that they need to make a road trip tomorrow.
.go.otsego

07/21/2025

As many of you know, our local yarn shop, Sybil's of Milford, burned down a few days ago. Jeanetta the owner is a friend, mentor and inspiration to me. I'm so thankful for the space and the resources to host a fundraiser to help her recover (with her permission of course).
Mark your calendars! The evening of August 16th at my studio at 43 Pioneer Street in Cooperstown NY, we will be having a huge secondhand craft supplies sale to fund the recovery of this beloved business. There will be plenty of yarn and fabric (and snacks), but we aren't limiting the scope of treasures at all, so you never know what you'll get!
We will also be raffling off several other big ticket items (think spinning wheels, sewing machines, a sweater's worth of combed Merino top for spinning, etc). ALL SALES go to support Jeanetta recover from this loss.
Want to help?? (We need it) There are SO MANY ways to help:
✨Tell people!! Share this post, tell your friends, scream it from the rooftops. I can send you a PDF of the poster if you email me. Locals can pick up physical posters to post at work/gyms/etc.
✨Donate! We are accepting clean, unused or lightly loved craft supplies between now and the 15th of August. Not local? Our address is 43 Pioneer Street in Cooperstown NY 13326.
✨Help sort! We will be having a sorting party on August 1st at 6pm, and a setup party August 15th 6PM. Email me to RSVP.
✨Shop! Come to the sale and snag some awesome secondhand materials for your next project. Not within day trip distance? Shop the secondhand materials on my website. All sales (not profits, sales) go directly to our fundraising totals.

Let's show up for this wonderful human and the incredible business she built!

07/18/2025

On today's episode of Emilie takes a sick day and the weather happened to be under 70°
Natural dyeing! From left, we have multiflora, Rose, Virginia, creeper, and elderberry berries. I had a lot of fun, and actually took notes which I am excited about.
Want to guess how many hours this took?

Address

43 Pioneer Street
Cooperstown, NY
13326

Opening Hours

Tuesday	12pm - 6pm
Wednesday	12pm - 6pm
Thursday	12pm - 6pm
Friday	12pm - 6pm
Saturday	9am - 3pm

Website

http://rigbyhandcraft.com/

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