Sisters from Massachusetts, Jennifer and Melissa VanSant joined forces to open Off the Beaded Path, a bead and craft store, in 2005. A lifelong love of fibers and fiber craft led them into the world of needle felting. Customers in the store were constantly asking how they made their needle-felted gnomes and woodland friends, which led them to begin teaching felting classes and producing their own felting kits. They teach workshops all over the country and have made instructional videos. They take each step in this amazing business with gratitude that people far and wide embrace their artwork and vision of this gentle, though sometimes scary, place they have created, Going Gnome.