NORWICH — When Norwich’s yarn store closed at the end of the year, knitters despaired at the loss of one of the Upper Valley’s last independent purveyors of quality yarn.
Now knitters can rejoice. The Norwich yarn shop is reopening under a new owner, with a new name and a new plan to become a store, yarn and crafts teaching studio and social gathering place for knitters and fiber artists alike.
Lily Trajman, a Norwich resident, has purchased the yarn inventory from Northern Nights Yarns’ prior owner, Heather Hoisington, and has signed a new lease to take over the space. The new store, to be called Norwich Knits, is set to open on Friday.
“I approached Heather a couple years ago and said, ‘If you’re ever ready to sell the store, I’d be interested.’ But she wasn’t ready, ” Trajman said. But when she learned that Hoisington was retiring and closing the store after 27 years in business, Trajman approached her again and renewed the offer.
This time, Hoisington accepted, according to Trajman.
Norwich Knits is the second shuttered store this year set to be reborn under a new owner with a new concept. Dartmouth College alumna Allie Levy announced last month that she will be opening Still North Books, a bookstore, cafe and bar in the former Dartmouth Bookstore space later this year.
“Maybe bricks and mortar retail isn’t dead yet,” Trajman said.
Trajman, who has been knitting since she was six years old and describes herself as a “fiber enthusiast,” said she will continue the store’s tradition of stocking high-quality yarns but will also host a weekly craft night, after-school classes for kids and weekend knitting workshops.
“I want this to be a community space for people to come, knit, bring their project and chat” as well as an outlet for “small farms who don’t have an avenue to sell (their yarn) outside of farmer’s markets.
Cally Lavigne, who previously worked at the store part time, will be returning to lead knitting classes, Trajman said.
Trajman, who lives in the center of town and has three children attending Marion Cross School across the street from store, said that she will focus on selling yarns from about a half-dozen suppliers as opposed to the dozens Hoisington carried.
But one room in the two-room shop will be a “Vermont yarn boutique” dedicated to yarns sourced from sheep farms in Vermont, such Ellen’s ½ Pint Farm in Norwich, Mad River Fiber Mill in Waitsfield and Wing and a Prayer Farm in Shaftsbury.
Trajman, who has a Ph.D. in biology, said the meditative aspect of knitting actually helped get her through graduate school, when she would take up her needles during lectures.
When a professor asked her if knitting in class wasn’t a distraction, “I said, ‘No, knitting actually helps me pay attention,’ ” Trajman said with a laugh.
John Lippman can be reached at jlippman@vnews.com.
