Tori + Eve: The "Hobbits" Behind SCDW

It feels relatively impossible to distill 30 years of friendship into one singular blog post, so we won't. But we will share some notable highlights that turned us from friends to business partners after years and years of dreaming.

The Grade School Years

Tori and Eve met in kindergarten at a farm-turned-private school where young students raised chicks and learned valuable handwashing skills. In this formative and gentler time, we kept scheming to a minimum, but our entrepreneurial spirit bubbled just below the surface. In first grade, Tori notably stormed out of the back door of our classroom after Eve got her in trouble for talking. From this we took away that Tori had a strong backbone and no patience for anyone's bullshit from an early age. One might say she was a business woman in the making. In third grade we grew through an experience our school lovingly referred to as "mini society". Imagine 25 not-quite-ten-year-olds learning the value of a buck by starting fake businesses on their parents' dime and soliciting their handmade wares to the entire student body in return for play money. The goal: turn a profit. The reality: one student did. Eve netted something like eight bucks all said and done. All parents incurred many sleepless nights. As entrepreneurs themselves, Eve's parents were proud, despite any and all agita. Please note: we plan to net more than $8 with Stone Cellar Dye Works.

In fourth grade, we decided to start a class paper to distribute on the recess field. A gossip rag, some might call it. Hard hitting journalism, it certainly was not. We led a trend and suddenly pockets of classmates engaged in the great newspaper race of 1999, delivering the shortest of news stories and the least clever of crossword puzzles. To put ourselves a cut above the rest, we made the bright decision to charge a quarter for our paper. When teachers caught wind of the unsanctioned solicitation, trouble ensued, and we may have received threats of suspension. To this day, the incident remains a point of pride since Stephen King apparently encountered the same situation in his formative years, as he discusses in his book On Writing. We think King is a fine man to have school tomfoolery in common with.

Let it be known that somewhere within this span of time we received "hobbits" as a loving moniker bestowed upon us by Tori's dad. Indicating our short stature, but thankfully not a nod to any hairy feet, the name stuck and we gladly continue to accept it.

The College Years

We went our separate ways for a bit, always remaining the closest of friends. Tori studied textiles while Eve worked her way through several majors, since indecision is where she shines. While Tori built a skillset upon which we rest our unbridled confidence as yarn entrepreneurs, Eve served on student government and chaired many committees to the point of exhaustion. From this experience, she took away her business acumen, drive, and a subsequent dedication to sleep.

The Theatre Years

While not entirely by accident, but certainly not by design, we found ourselves employed at the same professional theatre company not long after graduation. Drawn to the art of storytelling, or rather, the art of storytelling about storytelling (aka arts marketing), Tori spent the next decade and change working her way up to Creative Director with only a few detours into budgets (yikes!) and bartending (double yikes!) along the way. Eve bounced around as Eve do, and she flexed her customer service muscles for more years than she felt passionate about before ultimately leading many departments… sometimes all at once.

(You may be thinking to yourself at this point in the tale, “If only their teachers could see them now!” Rest assured, several of them did. Would it surprise you at all to hear that our aforementioned formative education included field trips to the very theatre where we ended up working side by side 20+ years later? We weren't too surprised either.)

This past winter, we made the mutual decision to depart. After 75+ productions, it was time to strike out on our own and heed the call of the yarn — but not before we managed to worm our way into the same department. With that final friendship-professional objective complete, we bid our thespian friends adieu.

The Now Years

We could go on and on about our years spent in the wild world of professional theatre. But that would spoil the memoirs we plan to one day pen, so we’ll keep you on the edge of your seat for a bit longer. In the meantime, know that every adventure life’s taken us on in the past 30 years has led us here to Stone Cellar Dye Works. And we’ll move forward in the only fashion we know how: as hobbits carrying the One Ring to Mount Doom. Wait, sorry. Got carried away. Guess that’s a different story. Just call us Sam and Frodo. Same sentiment.