September 20, 2025 • 11 mins
Whether you use needles, a loom, a hook, or even just your hands, there's a craft in the fiber arts space for everyone who wants to get creative. You'll never run out of ideas for projects, but those projects need yarn and thread to get done - and that's where the Greater Boston Yarn Crawl comes in! More than a dozen small yarn shops are taking part in this year's Crawl, including Sit 'N Knit in Melrose. Owner Jennifer Goldenberg talks with Nichole this week about the event and the recent surge of people joining the fiber arts community.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each and every week right here, we come together and
talk about all the topics important to you and the
place where you live. It is so good to have
you back with us this weekend. I'm Nicole Davis. During
the height of the COVID pandemic, when a lot of
us were stuck at home, many of us decided to
pick up pandemic hobbies. You might have gone the quarantine
(00:30):
baking route, doing a lot of sour dough. You might
have redone your entire house. I know that my social
media was full of do it yourself stuff. You might
have picked up a video game or learned a language.
There was all sorts of stuff to do. One of
my pandemic hobbies was TikTok, and on TikTok, I was
finding a lot of videos about knitting. I figured, Okay,
my feet is full of this. This can't possibly be
(00:52):
all that hard. I personally was full of it because
I realized I'm not very dexterous, but fiber arts is
for everybody, and so I quickly found myself in the
crocheting side of things, and I really do enjoy it
still that's the whole point of this event that's coming
up in just a matter of days, the Greater Boston
Yarn Crawl. It celebrates all things fiber arts and the
(01:12):
people who enjoy them. Fifteen local yarn shops, including Sit
and Knit and Melroads, are taking part. Jennifer Goldenberg is
the owner of Sit and Knit, and she is here
to talk with us all about it. Jennifer, it's great
to have you. You know, everybody has their reason to
enjoy fiber arts. We just talked about mine. What draws
you to.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
This, What draws me to fiber arts. It's the creativity.
So it's kind of like being an engineer. You have
this skein of yarn in your hands, and there's endless possibilities,
and so you get to choose what you want to
do with it. It's kind of like choose your own adventure. Yeah,
and so I love it because it's the color, it's
the texture. I've been knitting since I was eight, and
(01:51):
so this has been a lifelong passion for me. I've
always wanted to own a yarn shop. I came into
it because the previous owner decided that during COVID it
was too much. He had two small children at home.
Video online school is a nightmare for anyone, let alone
(02:11):
when you have littles. I have older kids. I had
tried two other times to open up yarn shops, and
strangely enough, every time I went to open a yarn
shop or start to research opening up a yarn shop,
the yarn shop would open in that town. One of
the times actually opened up into the location I was researching. No,
so oh, it was just it wasn't meant to be
(02:33):
until now. When this went up for sale, I asked
my husband within a couple moments of me getting that email,
and he's liked, oh, go have a conversation, have fun.
So I went off and bought myself a yarn shop.
He gave me the choice of a new car or
a yarn shop, and I decided a yarn shop. It
was something I had always wanted to do. I have
always wanted to own my own small business. Ups it
(02:56):
is not a small business, it's a big franchise. So
I wanted to do something that I have had creative
control over. So that's how I ended up with the sit.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
In it okay? And how is business these days? I
feel like a lot of people, especially during COVID, but
even post COVID have tended to track more toward fiber arts.
It's almost getting a bit of a resurgence with the
younger generations. Would you agree with that?
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Oh? Absolutely. We have My youngest student right now is
in fourth grade. Oh wow, and adorable. And we go
all the way up to people who are in their eighties.
We're seeing a lot of women who are in their
mid thirties to forties picking up this art. COVID pushed
everybody into isolation. They needed something to keep their minds busy,
(03:40):
their hands busy, so they weren't clicking all the time
on their phones. And that's kind of where yarn shops
had a boom. So it's been interesting because we had
a boom and then we kind of, I don't want
to say we flatlined, but we plateaued. So we kept
all those customers, and then all the big box stores closed,
and so now we're getting the younger people back into
(04:02):
our stores who at first couldn't cite afford the more
expensive yarns. And so I moved quickly, moved and pivoted
and brought it more affordable yarns for no that's less
expensive yarns like four dollars of scain, so the kids
who can't afford the twenty dollars skins of yarn can
still be part of the community.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
And that's important too. And they've got a lot of
kids these days too. I see all the kids about
the Amma garumi and you know, the little stuffed animals.
But you've also got a lot of kits on how
to just teach you how to make a potholder or
make like a small blanket or something. And with YouTube
tutorials as well and in person classes like yours, I
feel like it's more accessible than ever to learn how
(04:44):
to do fiber arts.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Oh absolutely. We have people coming in all the time
who've taught themselves on YouTube, but now they're ready to
take their art or their craft up to the next level.
And that's kind of where I step in. We car
ourselves sitting it because anytime someone wants to come in
and hang, now you're welcome to come and sit a
note with us or craft or whatever your fiber art is.
You can come into my store and hang and we'll
(05:07):
give you instruction throughout the day.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
You are one of the several stores taking part in
the twenty twenty five Greater Boston Yarn Crawl, and I
was sat. I was so intrigued when I learned about this.
Tell me about this event and what it entails from
people who want to take part.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Well, we've all heard of a pop crawl, which generally
takes over one night. A yarn Crawl takes over four days,
and it takes place between September twenty fifth to September
twenty eighth, and yet fifteen stores participating Wow, and they're
all the way from Peevity, all the way over to
Northborough and everything in between. And so the goal is
(05:48):
to hit as many yarn shops as you can. Depending
on how many yarn shops you can travel to, you
get a stampany in your passport and we have a
grand prize of over four high undred dollars and they're
all gift certificates to all of our stores to encourage
people to come back and visit us. We also have
fiber artists from the Welcra area coming in to different stores.
(06:12):
We have demonstrations, we have trunk shows, so it's a
way to see all these different yarns and fibers that
are out there that you might not typically see.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Yeah, what a cool way to make some new friends too,
and find other people who love your craft as much
as you do. You may not have run into them
otherwise in any other way.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I've had some wonderful friends doing this. I've have people
who come back to me who had not heard of
my name before, and so it's a great way for
all the stores to find new people.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Now you said there's fifteen stores taking part here. What
are you doing along with these other stores to get
ready for this? I mean, are you hosting anything? It's
sitting it? How are you preparing for the event.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
So I'm hosting a and an indie dier named Wild
Violet Fibers, and so she will be having a trunk
show with us for two days. I've also been reaching
out to all my vendors and they're sending me prizes
for my grand prize basket. So I'm gonna have this huge,
overflowing basket of yarn for somebody to win.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Okay, And what if somebody who again is more of
a beginner in fiber arts or maybe doesn't really know
what they're doing, is this still an event for them
as well? Or is this more for somebody who might
be a little more moderate to advance.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Oh no, it's absolutely for new people. This way you
can find your home, right. We all need our local
yarn shops, someplace where we can go and make friends.
This way, you visit all these yarn shops and you
find out who do you feel like you belong with.
We all have different personalities, and the owner's personalities really
shine through the yarn shops. And so this is a
(07:53):
way for us to showcase who we are as people
and to encourage the new knitters to knit, and also
the crocheers.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Or yeah, the crowcheers or the weavers or the whatever
you choose to doners.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
I have a spinning wheel. We sell spinning fiber at
my store. Some of the stores sell needle point, some
of them sell fabric. So the whole community they can
be involved in it.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Or you could be like me when I first started
and just make a bunch of squares or possibly just
a giant ball. You know, it doesn't really matter how
good you are. All that matters is that.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
You want to go and try absolutely.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Tell us a little bit about what people need to know.
And again, you have a website. Would love to learn
more about that and where people can find out more.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
So, our website is Greater Boston Yarn Crawl and it
will give all the details. Unfortunately, all the shops have
different hours, so you need to look at the website
to find out where you want to start, where you
want to end, who's open early, who's open late, or
who's closing light. It gives you a passport. The passport
(08:58):
in the map gives you a jumping off point to
find out where you want to go, how to where
you want to start, where you want it end. We
also on our website we have a list of all
the events that are happening at each individual store. Who's
coming into our stores to visit us, who has the
trunk shows, who has demonstrations.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
I also wanted to know really quickly the Yarn Crawl shawl.
I am so interested in this. Tell me about the
shawl and where you can get the pattern. What's this
all about?
Speaker 2 (09:28):
The pattern is available on the website, and what it's about.
We're encouraging people to either knit the shawl or croche
the shawl. They're almost identical, Okay, same setup, same design.
We made it an easy entry level shawl, so anyone
anyone can do it, and if you come to our
store with your shawl, either in process or completed. Most
(09:50):
of the stores are giving out little prizes. Nothing major.
Mine is a little thing of handloation and chapstick. So
we all have these little prizes for people, and we're
also giving out pens to people, so you can select
all the pens from all the stores, and we each
have our individual personality and so it's a neat momental
from Eureka out.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
I think this is the coolest thing. I'm looking at
the shell right now. What a beautiful pattern. And yeah,
this is for those of us who are not always
very good at this. I mean, this seems totally reasonable
and it's very simple, but it's pretty as well. And
I love the gradient on this. I mean this is lovely.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Now that both the designers put a lot of time
and thought an effort into making these shells for us
for sure, and they're available for free for the crawl, and.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Of course you can get all the supplies you need
at all the stores you're going to visit.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
So it works out nicely.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Oh beautiful. Okay, Well, then if people want to find
out more about sitting it, you're in Melrose. Tell us
about where they can find you.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
My website is sit in it dot com and you
can find me at one sixty seven West Emerson Street
in Meller's, Massachusetts.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Okay, and are you on social media any other way?
Speaker 2 (11:02):
I'm on social media. I'm on Facebook and Instagram.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Cool beans. All right, Well, Jennifer, this is such such
a fun event. I really hope you have a great
time with this and that a lot of people come
in and either start to learn or just share their
crafts with you, and I hope you have a great time.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
We would love to see you there, and we'd love
to see everyone in the local community out and have
a fun weekend with us.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
All right, that's it for the show this week. Thanks
again for joining us, and have a safe and healthy weekend.
Please join us again next week for another edition of
the show. I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio.
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each and every week right here, we come together and
talk about all the topics important to you and the
place where you live. It is so good to have
you back with us this weekend. I'm Nicole Davis. During
the height of the COVID pandemic, when a lot of
us were stuck at home, many of us decided to
pick up pandemic hobbies. You might have gone the quarantine
(00:30):
baking route, doing a lot of sour dough. You might
have redone your entire house. I know that my social
media was full of do it yourself stuff. You might
have picked up a video game or learned a language.
There was all sorts of stuff to do. One of
my pandemic hobbies was TikTok, and on TikTok, I was
finding a lot of videos about knitting. I figured, Okay,
my feet is full of this. This can't possibly be
(00:52):
all that hard. I personally was full of it because
I realized I'm not very dexterous, but fiber arts is
for everybody, and so I quickly found myself in the
crocheting side of things, and I really do enjoy it
still that's the whole point of this event that's coming
up in just a matter of days, the Greater Boston
Yarn Crawl. It celebrates all things fiber arts and the
(01:12):
people who enjoy them. Fifteen local yarn shops, including Sit
and Knit and Melroads, are taking part. Jennifer Goldenberg is
the owner of Sit and Knit, and she is here
to talk with us all about it. Jennifer, it's great
to have you. You know, everybody has their reason to
enjoy fiber arts. We just talked about mine. What draws
you to.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
This, What draws me to fiber arts. It's the creativity.
So it's kind of like being an engineer. You have
this skein of yarn in your hands, and there's endless possibilities,
and so you get to choose what you want to
do with it. It's kind of like choose your own adventure. Yeah,
and so I love it because it's the color, it's
the texture. I've been knitting since I was eight, and
(01:51):
so this has been a lifelong passion for me. I've
always wanted to own a yarn shop. I came into
it because the previous owner decided that during COVID it
was too much. He had two small children at home.
Video online school is a nightmare for anyone, let alone
(02:11):
when you have littles. I have older kids. I had
tried two other times to open up yarn shops, and
strangely enough, every time I went to open a yarn
shop or start to research opening up a yarn shop,
the yarn shop would open in that town. One of
the times actually opened up into the location I was researching. No,
so oh, it was just it wasn't meant to be
(02:33):
until now. When this went up for sale, I asked
my husband within a couple moments of me getting that email,
and he's liked, oh, go have a conversation, have fun.
So I went off and bought myself a yarn shop.
He gave me the choice of a new car or
a yarn shop, and I decided a yarn shop. It
was something I had always wanted to do. I have
always wanted to own my own small business. Ups it
(02:56):
is not a small business, it's a big franchise. So
I wanted to do something that I have had creative
control over. So that's how I ended up with the sit.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
In it okay? And how is business these days? I
feel like a lot of people, especially during COVID, but
even post COVID have tended to track more toward fiber arts.
It's almost getting a bit of a resurgence with the
younger generations. Would you agree with that?
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Oh? Absolutely. We have My youngest student right now is
in fourth grade. Oh wow, and adorable. And we go
all the way up to people who are in their eighties.
We're seeing a lot of women who are in their
mid thirties to forties picking up this art. COVID pushed
everybody into isolation. They needed something to keep their minds busy,
(03:40):
their hands busy, so they weren't clicking all the time
on their phones. And that's kind of where yarn shops
had a boom. So it's been interesting because we had
a boom and then we kind of, I don't want
to say we flatlined, but we plateaued. So we kept
all those customers, and then all the big box stores closed,
and so now we're getting the younger people back into
(04:02):
our stores who at first couldn't cite afford the more
expensive yarns. And so I moved quickly, moved and pivoted
and brought it more affordable yarns for no that's less
expensive yarns like four dollars of scain, so the kids
who can't afford the twenty dollars skins of yarn can
still be part of the community.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
And that's important too. And they've got a lot of
kids these days too. I see all the kids about
the Amma garumi and you know, the little stuffed animals.
But you've also got a lot of kits on how
to just teach you how to make a potholder or
make like a small blanket or something. And with YouTube
tutorials as well and in person classes like yours, I
feel like it's more accessible than ever to learn how
(04:44):
to do fiber arts.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Oh absolutely. We have people coming in all the time
who've taught themselves on YouTube, but now they're ready to
take their art or their craft up to the next level.
And that's kind of where I step in. We car
ourselves sitting it because anytime someone wants to come in
and hang, now you're welcome to come and sit a
note with us or craft or whatever your fiber art is.
You can come into my store and hang and we'll
(05:07):
give you instruction throughout the day.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
You are one of the several stores taking part in
the twenty twenty five Greater Boston Yarn Crawl, and I
was sat. I was so intrigued when I learned about this.
Tell me about this event and what it entails from
people who want to take part.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Well, we've all heard of a pop crawl, which generally
takes over one night. A yarn Crawl takes over four days,
and it takes place between September twenty fifth to September
twenty eighth, and yet fifteen stores participating Wow, and they're
all the way from Peevity, all the way over to
Northborough and everything in between. And so the goal is
(05:48):
to hit as many yarn shops as you can. Depending
on how many yarn shops you can travel to, you
get a stampany in your passport and we have a
grand prize of over four high undred dollars and they're
all gift certificates to all of our stores to encourage
people to come back and visit us. We also have
fiber artists from the Welcra area coming in to different stores.
(06:12):
We have demonstrations, we have trunk shows, so it's a
way to see all these different yarns and fibers that
are out there that you might not typically see.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Yeah, what a cool way to make some new friends too,
and find other people who love your craft as much
as you do. You may not have run into them
otherwise in any other way.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I've had some wonderful friends doing this. I've have people
who come back to me who had not heard of
my name before, and so it's a great way for
all the stores to find new people.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Now you said there's fifteen stores taking part here. What
are you doing along with these other stores to get
ready for this? I mean, are you hosting anything? It's
sitting it? How are you preparing for the event.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
So I'm hosting a and an indie dier named Wild
Violet Fibers, and so she will be having a trunk
show with us for two days. I've also been reaching
out to all my vendors and they're sending me prizes
for my grand prize basket. So I'm gonna have this huge,
overflowing basket of yarn for somebody to win.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Okay, And what if somebody who again is more of
a beginner in fiber arts or maybe doesn't really know
what they're doing, is this still an event for them
as well? Or is this more for somebody who might
be a little more moderate to advance.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Oh no, it's absolutely for new people. This way you
can find your home, right. We all need our local
yarn shops, someplace where we can go and make friends.
This way, you visit all these yarn shops and you
find out who do you feel like you belong with.
We all have different personalities, and the owner's personalities really
shine through the yarn shops. And so this is a
(07:53):
way for us to showcase who we are as people
and to encourage the new knitters to knit, and also
the crocheers.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Or yeah, the crowcheers or the weavers or the whatever
you choose to doners.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
I have a spinning wheel. We sell spinning fiber at
my store. Some of the stores sell needle point, some
of them sell fabric. So the whole community they can
be involved in it.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Or you could be like me when I first started
and just make a bunch of squares or possibly just
a giant ball. You know, it doesn't really matter how
good you are. All that matters is that.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
You want to go and try absolutely.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Tell us a little bit about what people need to know.
And again, you have a website. Would love to learn
more about that and where people can find out more.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
So, our website is Greater Boston Yarn Crawl and it
will give all the details. Unfortunately, all the shops have
different hours, so you need to look at the website
to find out where you want to start, where you
want to end, who's open early, who's open late, or
who's closing light. It gives you a passport. The passport
(08:58):
in the map gives you a jumping off point to
find out where you want to go, how to where
you want to start, where you want it end. We
also on our website we have a list of all
the events that are happening at each individual store. Who's
coming into our stores to visit us, who has the
trunk shows, who has demonstrations.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
I also wanted to know really quickly the Yarn Crawl shawl.
I am so interested in this. Tell me about the
shawl and where you can get the pattern. What's this
all about?
Speaker 2 (09:28):
The pattern is available on the website, and what it's about.
We're encouraging people to either knit the shawl or croche
the shawl. They're almost identical, Okay, same setup, same design.
We made it an easy entry level shawl, so anyone
anyone can do it, and if you come to our
store with your shawl, either in process or completed. Most
(09:50):
of the stores are giving out little prizes. Nothing major.
Mine is a little thing of handloation and chapstick. So
we all have these little prizes for people, and we're
also giving out pens to people, so you can select
all the pens from all the stores, and we each
have our individual personality and so it's a neat momental
from Eureka out.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
I think this is the coolest thing. I'm looking at
the shell right now. What a beautiful pattern. And yeah,
this is for those of us who are not always
very good at this. I mean, this seems totally reasonable
and it's very simple, but it's pretty as well. And
I love the gradient on this. I mean this is lovely.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Now that both the designers put a lot of time
and thought an effort into making these shells for us
for sure, and they're available for free for the crawl, and.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Of course you can get all the supplies you need
at all the stores you're going to visit.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
So it works out nicely.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Oh beautiful. Okay, Well, then if people want to find
out more about sitting it, you're in Melrose. Tell us
about where they can find you.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
My website is sit in it dot com and you
can find me at one sixty seven West Emerson Street
in Meller's, Massachusetts.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Okay, and are you on social media any other way?
Speaker 2 (11:02):
I'm on social media. I'm on Facebook and Instagram.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Cool beans. All right, Well, Jennifer, this is such such
a fun event. I really hope you have a great
time with this and that a lot of people come
in and either start to learn or just share their
crafts with you, and I hope you have a great time.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
We would love to see you there, and we'd love
to see everyone in the local community out and have
a fun weekend with us.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
All right, that's it for the show this week. Thanks
again for joining us, and have a safe and healthy weekend.
Please join us again next week for another edition of
the show. I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio.
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