We’re about to close the door on the Tangled Web. Not for good of course. Just for a couple of weeks as we prepare to move to a new and bigger location on Germantown Avenue.
It is a bittersweet time. I have been associated with the Web since 1995 when I finally wandered into the store to renew my long-dormant interest in knitting. I hadn’t really been knitting for the last 18 years but the store front was intriguing and I entered a whole new world that fall afternoon.
I was hooked in no time -- a yarn junkie; frantic for wool and cottons and needles and patterns. I made a sweater for my daughter -- which she hated. But I was not deterred from knitting. I vowed to get better (the sweater was pretty sad) and try new techniques.
As a customer, I spent a lot of time at the Web, taking classes,buying novelty yarns. After a while, I began teaching classes. When I left my newspaper job in 2005 I asked owner Mary Spratt if I couldn’t work a few hours a week. She graciously agreed and I crossed over from being a customer to an employee. Of course I was there so often that she was either going to have to hire me or call the police and charge me with loitering.
I know the new space is going to be great -- lots of room for yarn, classes, comfy knitting. We’re even going to have a kitchen and office space. But it will be hard to say good-bye to 7900 Germantown Avenue. I walked in there a stranger and found kindness and laughter and friendship. I taught a lot and learned even more. The shop has offered more than yarn but also served as a haven from a hectic world. It has been a source of wisdom and skill and compassion. With any luck we will take all of that to our new home.
Here’s hoping that all of you will come and find that while our location has changed our creativity and care have not. After all, we are a full-service yarn boutique.
Lucia Herndon
Thursday, May 22, 2008
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4 comments:
As someone who has only been in the area for about a year, I've been SO HAPPY to find a lys that I adore. I won't be able to make it in before you guys close this weekend, but you'd better believe that I will be there at the first Knit In when you reopen!
Best of luck and stamina during the move.
I can sincerely relate. I walked by The Tangled Web for years as a child and was always intrigued by the beautiful colors and textures just beyond the window. I never knew my grandmothers and my mother has not a knitting bone in her body. I stopped into the shop 5 years ago, the summer before my freshman year of college, and took a lesson with Diana. It was all downhill from there. Knitting got me through some rough years - school-wise and family-wise. I don't know what I would have done without something to keep my hands busy! The Tangled Web is like a second home and I am so glad that there will now be space for so many more to join us.
The Tangled Web has been one of my "happy places" - a spot to go to learn & expand & create & make & have fun & find friendship.
CANNOT wait to see the new space - know that Mary & Diana & Lucia & Annie & everyone there is doing a fabulous job.
Good luck, everyone, & we'll see you soon.
Much XOXO to all the Tangled Web Staff.
I think The Tangled Web is a bit of heaven on earth. Everyone is always so incredibly helpful, the classes are great and the yarn is irresistible! Even when I think I can't finish something, I get stuck or just don't believe that I can tackle a tough pattern, I go there and get the supportive words to keep going. I can't wait for the new store to open. More space and more cool yarn - does it get better than that?!
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