Photo by Teresa Kendrick
The shop is stocked with natural yarns such as fine Merino wools, alpaca, silk and organic cottons.
Photo by Teresa Kendrick
A hank, a skein and a cake await fiber artists and makers at the Frolicking Lamb.
Photo by Ronda VanDyk
Frolicking Lamb knitters and crocheters gather at their monthly “Relax and Unwind” meeting.
When the weather outside is frightful, there’s nothing more delightful than settling in with a project that occupies your hands and gives your mind the freedom to roam.
As Wimberley braced for an arctic front last Friday, customers of the Frolicking Lamb yarn studio in Wimberley stopped in for supplies, knowing they’d be housebound for several days.
In the shop’s back room was owner Toni Brace, knitting a head warmer, the final element of a three piece project, as serene music played. A Wimberley resident since 2023, Brace opened the all-natural, fine-fiber studio in 2025. Before then, she operated the Frolicking Lamb as an online business from her home studio. Drawn to the area after her son and his wife moved to Driftwood, it was the couple’s child, her grandson, that finalized she and her husband’s plans to move.
“Our son graduated from high school in Lago Vista. After he moved and our grandson was born, we made the decision to relocate. We’re close enough, but not too close. We just love that little guy.”
As a girl, Brace learned to knit and crochet, but she “got the bug” in 2004 after her sister passed away. “I inherited all of her crafting materials which included bins and bins of yarn. I didn’t want to throw it away, even though I didn’t necessarily have a need for it. At that time, I was running another business and raising children. But even so, I started knitting and crocheting charity hats from January to February every year. It took me five years to use up every scrap of her yarn. By then, I had the bug.”
“The bug,” as every enthusiast knows, is any activity that proves so therapeutic and meditative that individuals experience a deeply satisfying state of “flow.”
While some fiber enthusiasts might be attracted to the craft because it’s an artistic pursuit or a way to create something that’s useful, others appreciate creating something that involves precision. Whatever the appeal, her clients, which include seasoned fiber artists, seem to appreciate the selection of yarns she carries.
Brace selects fine merino wool, alpaca, silk and organic yarns because of their quality, sustainability and beauty. When asked why she only carries natural yarns, she said it was akin to growing a garden without toxic chemicals or wanting to buy organic and unprocessed foods.
“For one thing,” Brace said, “you don’t have to hurt an animal to get yarn. And people want fewer chemicals in everything we use, eat and touch. To produce yarns with synthetic fibers requires a lot of chemicals. Who needs that against their skin?”
Acrylic knitting and crocheting yarns, while prolific and cheaper than natural fibers, are made from polyacrylonitrile, a thermoplastic polymer.
About 50 percent of her customers, she says, are locals and about 50 percent are tourists who find her shop in the Vineyard, on RR 12, a couple of blocks from the square. “I was surprised that tourists find me since I’m not really in a tourist area.”
Besides the yarns and intriguing tools to be found in her shop and online, she offers two hour lessons taught by Ronda VanDyk, a former yarn store owner who has years of experience. In addition to offering lessons, anywhere from two to 12 makers gather to work together on the third Thursday of the month she calls the “Relax and Unwind meeting.”
“At first we might ask each other about the projects we’re working on, but after that we just work as a group, pursuing conversation as it unfolds,” she said. “I just love the people that I have met through the shop. Some are business owners from the area, others are men and women, both accomplished and beginners who like to knit or crochet and enjoy doing it together.”
The Frolicking Lamb is open Thursday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday from 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. It’s located in the Vineyard, not far from the Mail Stop, at 13501 RR 12. To learn more, visit frolickinglamb.com.
