Abundant Yarn
Abundant Yarn
16 W 18th Ave
Spokane WA 99203
Phone: (503) 258-9276
Tool Free: 1.866.873.0580
The Abundant Yarn that we bring to you through our website is the product of two families' love of fiber. One family has fostered that love over four generations, since coming over from the Old Country at the turn of the century, while the other, a rich community of fiber enthusiasts, nurtured that love in each other over a period of almost five years in our Portland store. While knitting in our family undoubtedly started four generations back (if not earlier), with Eva, it reached its pinnacle with her daughter Emma (Grammy). Emma knit from the age of 6, when she taught herself with sticks and butcher's twine because Eva couldn't spare precious yarn until Emma knew what to do with it. Emma knitted until the age of 89 when she passed away, although there is some debate as to whether she actually stopped then. During the 1930's, Emma taught knitting to Italian immigrant women in Philadelphia, who, in turn, used their skill to knit samples for knitting magazines. Throughout her life, Emma taught her favorite skill to those she loved, including her oldest daughter, Linda, and her first granddaughter, Hannah.
When Hannah came to work at the fledgling yarn store Abundant Yarn and Dyeworks in 2005, she felt that it was the most natural place she could be. Teaching knitting was in her blood, after all. From 2005 to 2009, she felt blessed to be part of an incomparable community of knitters, crocheters, spinners, weavers, dyers and other artists. In the winter of 2008, when it looked as though the store would have to close, Linda (Emma's daughter) and her husband Jim, made the decision to purchase the business from the previous owner. For better or for worse, they felt that the community that had grown around Abundant Yarn should have a chance to keep growing as long as it could. Towards the end of the Summer, however, it became clear that the daily struggle to keep the yarn store afloat was not the healthiest path for the family. In the interest of our financial stability and our collective sanity, we made the Linda and Hannahvery difficult decision to close the physical store and transition to an online business.
While the online store certainly looks a little different than the physical store, it is run by the same people and with the same basic values. Trying our best to follow Emma's mantra "I only knit for love", we endeavored to create an online store that was more about the love of knitting than about commerce. The online store is a work in progress and, we hope, every change we make will bring us closer to creating an online community with the same energy and passion (and hopefully many of the same wonderful people) as the community surrounding our physical store, but with an expanded reach.
When I think about how many lives have been touched by Emma's love of knitting, I smile. When I think about how many more lives we will be able to touch with our new, globally accessible format, I laugh with joy.
Welcome to our store, Hannah
©2009 Emma Knits, dba Abundant Yarn Online All Rights Reserved.
Votes:16
Comments: 0