Two sisters have stitched together a special bond through a love of knitting and want to share their passion with others.
Sarah Caton and Susan Waller opened Cosy Yarns knitting studio in River Market last summer. Caton owns the business and works behind the scenes, while Waller teaches a range of classes at the studio.
“My sister and I have always wanted to open up a knitting store. When I was younger, I was taught by my mother and my grandmother and then I taught her,” said Waller, who is nine years older than Caton.
“I was able to teach her when she was little. We have always had that bond between us. When we get together we knit, have tea and sit and talk. We go to yarn stores together, we go on yarn crawls together. We are so into the yarn.”
A job change prompted Waller to re-evaluate her career goals, and she decided to teach knitting.
“I am really enjoying being here,” Waller said. “It doesn’t feel like work.”
Cosy Yarns is stitching together a clientele, class by class. Along with its core knitting classes for all ages and skills, the shop offers private lessons and speciality classes where folks can make items including a Salish hat, West Coast Cowichan sweater, socks, cowl, toques, fingerless gloves or a pullover sweater.
In response to requests from customers, Cosy Yarns is offering crochet lessons starting this fall.
In addition to being a great time to think about making handmade knitted Christmas gifts for loved ones, Caton said fall is a perfect time to jump aboard Cosy Yarns’ knitting train and attend the Knit Knatter and Share night on the first and third Thursday of the month.
“We enthusiastically encourage all levels of knitters and crocheters to come join us,” she said in an email to the Record. “This very informal get-together is about meeting others in our community who share the same passions of all things fibre.”
Knitting has been enjoying a bit of a resurgence in recent years and is no longer something only Granny does in her rocking chair. Celebrities who are reportedly fond of knitting include Julia Roberts, Sarah Jessica Parker, Amanda Seyfried and David Arquette.
While teenagers tend to be busy – or on their phones – Waller said younger girls and women are keen to knit.
“Ladies will come in and say to me, ‘I used to knit years ago, I have my grandmother’s knitting needles’ or ‘I have my mother’s knitting needles and I’d love to pick them back up again and start again.’ I try and give refresher courses,” she said. “It comes back to them pretty quickly once they start getting the needles back in their hands again.”
Cosy Yarns’ classes are small, said Waller, so she can give knitters lots of one-on-one attention and get them off to a good start.
Cosy Yarns has a number of special community projects on the go, including:
* The Poppy Project. Patterns and yarn are available at the studio to help knitters create poppies that will be part of a poppy blanket art installation.
* Knit Knockers – Knitted Knockers of Canada helps women who have undergone a mastectomy, by creating hand-knit knit prosthetics for cancer survivors. People can pick up a yarn and pattern at the studio or drop off completed knockers. More information is available at www.knittedknockers.org.
* Hats for preemies. Yarn and patterns are available at the studio, and completed hats are delivered to Royal Columbian and B.C. Women’s hospitals.
Handknit toques, mittens and scarves are accepted for donating to the less fortunate in the community.
