Yarn shop offers new twist on old tradition

Some people go to Iceland to see the volcanoes and glaciers.

Brick Walker went for the yarn and sheep.

In fact, Walker, a business partner with two others at the new A Yarn Crossing fiber arts shop in Clifton, said he bought so much Icelandic yarn during a trip last spring that he had to buy a suitcase to bring it back.

Visitors to the shop, 2123 Frankfort Ave., will find Iceland marked on a map of the world behind the checkout counter, along with other countries and states, as well as local and regional sites.

The map shows where the shop's yarns come from, and Walker, who lives in Parkway Village off Eastern Parkway, and his shop partners, Lindsey Hoehn and Tina Taylor of Jeffersontown, hope to add even more locations. Among the local suppliers is Littledove Farm in Fisherville, where Shetland sheep are raised.

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The shop held a soft opening this week, and its grand opening will be from noon to 8 p.m. Friday.

A lot of its colorful stock was on display on a recent afternoon, and more was on the way — including spinning wheels. The business mostly will be devoted to knitting, crocheting, dyeing and spinning products, and it also sells items on consignment made by local fiber artists. Instructional classes are expected to start in mid-January.

The holiday opening be could be a boon to knitters who need supplies to make or complete gifts. The real experts usually start working on gifts in January for the following Christmas, Hoehn said. The store also has items that could be given as gifts — such as knitting needles, afghan kits and project bags for storing works in progress.

A Yarn Crossing is in a renovated, shotgun-style building with a contemporary feel inside, most recently a stationary and gift shop. A meetup.com group called Louisville Stitch and Bitch led by Hoehn also likely will start meeting there. It now meets at various locations, including Vint coffee shop nearby on Frankfort.

In some ways, it's not your grandmother's knitting and needlework shop. But Taylor emphasizes that it's for all ages, and everyone is welcome.

It reflects both a newer twist — and in some respects a return to the past — on centuries-old trades and arts that Walker and the others say were common male professional pursuits in earlier days in Germany and elsewhere.

Many things have not changed: "If you haven't worn a pair of hand-knit socks, you're missing out," said Taylor, who's in her 40s and also president of the Louisville Knitting Guild, formed a couple of years ago. Knitting socks is a "straightforward, simple skill," Taylor said. "Anyone can learn."

She said she taught her five-year-old niece to knit. Taylor knit her first sweater in about fifth grade, she said, and since then has made many other wearable items, including towels, hats, mittens, scarves, gloves and belts.

Hoehn, who's in her 30s, learned to knit when she was at college and living on her own about eight years ago in the summer in another state, while working 40 hours a week. "I just decided one day that I needed a hobby," she said. "I haven't put it down."

She showed a photo of her husband wearing a brown, patterned sweater that she knit from wool she bought when they were on vacation in Ireland.

Walker was wearing a short neck shawl he knit and also showed off a wool bow tie he's working on as a gift, along with a scarf. He said his grandmother taught him to knit when he was about 10, but "I didn't stick with it."

In the past couple of years or so, he decided to take it up seriously and has learned other fiber arts skills, too. He has a culinary degree from Sullivan University and also is an independent pastry chef. Hoehn is a CVS pharmacist working at different locations, and Taylor also is a social worker.

They met through the local fiber groups and were interested in starting a business. "It's a passion for all of us," Hoehn said. "We want everyone to enjoy it like we do."

Reporter Martha Elson can be reached at (502) 582-7061. Follow her on Twitter at @MarthaElson_cj.

Fiber Lovers Unite

For information about A Yarn Crossing, go to https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Yarn-Crossing/468576636615765 , write AYarnCrossingLouisville@gmail.com or call 822-1315. For information about Stitch and Bitch and Louisville Knitting Guild meetings go to http://www.meetup.com/knit2tog-Louisville/.

The next meeting of the Knitting Guild is at 6:30 Thursday at the Home of the Innocents, 1100 E. Market St.. Stitch and Bitch meets at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 6 at Vint coffee shop, 2309 Frankfort Ave.