On a fall morning, Jean Sullivan of Nantucket marched urgently into Newbury
Yarns. "Have you heard? Curt Schilling's wife is making Red Sox scarves!"
Amidst colorful patchwork shelves of soft pastel kid mohair, rose Jaeger
natural fleece, and fluffy dyed blue wool, Newbury Yarns owner Aldrich
Robinson patiently showed Sullivan combination after combination of skeins
and exotic fibers from far flung locals like New Zealand and Japan to match
the legendary baseball team's colors.
As Sullivan left inspired to recreate the Schilling scarf, Kay Dann of
California walked in eager for help in fixing her burgundy bamboo fiber
shawl, its stitches tangled while she watched the World Series the night
before.
Sports and knitting have always gone hand in hand for Aldrich Robinson,
owner of Newbury Yarns, a new high-end specialty knitting shop on stylish
Newbury Street. Born in Jamaica, Aldrich moved to England in the 1970s
where she raised her two children while taking on part-time work designing
and knitting the sweaters for the local cricket team. Emigrating to the
U.S. and settling in Dorchester, MA in the 1980s, Aldrich decided her hobby
of "making a garment with two sticks and a string," could be
profitable.
Yet, the downtrend in the knitting industry and expensive store leases
forced Aldrich to postpone her dream of opening a business.
That all changed with the recent industry boom. Celebrity knitters like
Julia Roberts and Kathy Lee Gifford led the way with their stylish handmade
scarves, conveying to multiple generations that today's knitting circle
is
not your grandma's sewing bee. The handicraft's repetitive pattern has
made
it an attractive addition in multiplication lessons for elementary students
and a soothing activity in counseling groups. Fiber manufacturers have
replaced the meager selection of the 1960s with an abundance of unique
novelty fibers of all textures, colors and sizes, meeting the growing
demands of Generation Xers who now flock to knitting circles.
Encouraged by the industry upswing and determined to finally transform
her
love of knitting into a high-end specialty shop, Aldrich turned to the
Center for Women & Enterprise (CWE) for counsel. During a 6-week business
planning course, Aldrich was introduced to CWE's legal and marketing
consultants who reviewed her business plan and legal contracts to help
her
find the perfect location. On July 3, 2004, six months later, Newbury Yarns
opened its doors. "To know the industry is not enough, there's so
much more
to business," says Aldrich. "At CWE I found professional guidance
I can go
by, it's like having a big sister."
Aldrich encourages her Newbury Yarns clientele to partake in a full sensory
experience while visiting - from touching and testing the fibers to
learning how to make designer wearables in the shop's evening classes.
Knitters often sit at an antique table comparing projects and stitches
by
the natural light of a large bay window.
The most common conversation? "I get a lot of knitters that are into
sports," says Aldrich, "many customers purchase yarn to stitch
just in time
for the Red Sox or now the hot seasonal Patriots game." And for a
sports-savvy city, that means a never-ending demand for skeins of red,
white, and blue.
Newbury Yarns is located at 164 Newbury Street, Boston, MA. Newbury Yarns
can be reached at 617-572-3733 or newbury_yarns@hotmail.com.
Kate Hoagland
C.H.E.N PR, Inc.
Suite 360
1601 Trapelo Road
Waltham, MA 02451
Phone 781-672-3141
Fax: 781-466-8989
khoagland@chenpr.com
http://www.chenpr.com/