By Heather Lusk
When she first walked into the Village Yarn Shop six years ago, Mary Vaughan didn’t expect she would someday be the owner.
“Maybe in my wildest dreams I thought about owning a knit shop,” she said, “but I never considered starting one on my own. When (former owners) Harriet and Terry (McNabb) decided they wanted to retire the opportunity arose, I said ‘Let’s do this! Jump in, take the leap.’”
Vaughan had been working at the store part time and teaching classes. Over the holidays she had help from her daughter, a marketing student at IU’s Kelly School of Business, in creating an online and social media presence before she officially took over the store on Jan. 1.
Classes are offered almost every day of the week ranging from kids instruction to Building Blocks for knitting afghans to Basics and Beyond where “anyone can come with their knitting and the instructor takes them to the next step,” Vaughan said.
“Half of them are full. These ladies come every week whether they need help or not,” she said. “It’s a social gathering but at the same time they’re getting help with their knitting.”
There’s also a class to navigate the knitting and crocheting community website Ravelry. “It’s like Facebook for knitters,” Vaughan said.
Amongst colorful skeins of cotton, wool, baby yarns and sweater yarns are samples of knitted items sprinkled throughout the store.
“That’s how a lot of people are inspired to make something,” she said. She hopes to learn about and promote different charity organizations in the future so that “people who don’t have anybody to knit for have somebody to knit for.”
“This place is so special to me because my best friends are here,” she said.
Class information and store hours are listed on the website, recently changed to VillageYarnCompany.com.
