Storefront: Casting About
Fiber addicts get their fix at Knit On!
Alyssa Brandt
Photograph by Chris Smith
Yarn shops are very touchy-feely places. It’s impossible to set foot in Knit On!’s sunny new Monmouth Street retail space and not squeeze a skein. Of course you could do this at their old store in Bellevue, too. That store was so packed and the aisles so narrow that it was impossible not to touch something while browsing. But as cozy as that space was, it was a little like Fibber McGee’s closet. Pulling out one hank of yarn could start an avalanche of wool. The new, bigger space for Dave Spurlock’s five-year-old shop means even more sumptuous fibers from Europe and South America and new classes, including one on how to use the compact, portable Ashford’s Knitter’s Loop. They’ll also be adding more hand-painted yarns, such as the cloud-like Baby Alpaca Grande from Plymouth Yarns.
Knitting has become super trendy in recent years, with socks being the current rage. “I’ll be teaching a class on Magic Loom, which is a way to knit socks using circular needles,” says instructor and Knit On! veteran Sally Dixon. Today’s self-patterning sock yarns make it easy for even a novice to create something colorful and unique. “Hand dyed yarns are really in and novelty yarns are back, too. It’s not all furry scarves this time, but chunky yarns that can be knit or crocheted in a free-form way,” says Dixon, who has been knitting for 30 years.
You’ll also find all sizes of the best circular needles by Addi Turbo as well as great books, especially the stash-busting One Skein Wonders series edited by Judith Durant. As knitting’s popularity has surged, fiber manufacturers have responded by creating yarns that are vibrant and easy to work up with simple stitches on large needles, so even beginners can make a maiden project impressive. Says Dixon, “It’s exciting to see what they’ll come up with next.”
Originally published in the November 2009 issue.