PORT GAMBLE — As soon as customers step into her store, Heidi Parra knows she’s got something special. Each facial expression is different, but all reflect admiration for her hard work displayed at The Artful Ewe.

And once the customers look beyond the brightly colored yarn and sweet-smelling wool, they see Parra is trying to weave something special in the Port Gamble community with her new fibers shop.

“I think that I operate outside of the box,” she said. “It’s about making the project your own and being inspired by your own personal progress. Even mistakes can turn into something beautiful.”

Parra’s store, which opened May 1, has a collection of her work, with contributions from friends and fellow artists. Everything in the shop is handmade, dyed or spun, with no commercial yarns. She said she also tries to sell needles and spindles made by local companies without contracting out to big businesses.

“It’s not really a yarn shop,” Parra said. “Everything in here has been transformed by my hands or my friends. My grandmother taught me to knit when I was 7, and I’ve been knitting my whole life. In Texas, the business we were next to was a cotton outlet. I learned to spin cotton then.”

Parra and her husband owned their own business in the Lone Star state, but retired and returned to the area in 2004. Parra was born in Seattle, and always wanted to come back to the Pacific Northwest. Before opening her store in the historical fire house in Port Gamble, Parra was selling wares out of her home.

“We have a range of fibers here from angora to yak,” she said. “It has to be quality.”

Because she needs time to spin, dye and knit, Parra only opens the store on weekends unless appointments are made. She said she needs the time to continue creating the items sold at the store, and the weekdays are her studio time. On the weekend, she opens her doors to her friends, customers and anyone who wants to bring in a project to sit and chat. Her friends serve to educate beginners and other knitters, weavers and spinners on different techniques. It’s Parra’s only requirement to selling their items in her store, they must be involved in the shop somehow.

“We want to teach others, we really want to bring people into the craft,” she said. The store also operates under a pay it forward method, taking in and and giving out items that will help others. Parra has a loom from a friend who no longer wanted it, and donated yarn to schools in the area after it was given to her. To her, connections between people are important, every project is special and mistakes are always something beautiful.

“If the final product is something you like, you’re doing it right,” Parra said.