When the gusty winter winds and freezing temps drive you inside, why not pick up a new hobby – especially one associated with curling up, hearthside. The Stitchery RI in Portsmouth is the perfect place to try your hand at cozy crafts like sewing, knitting, and apothecary that you can practice socially or solo, fireplace not required.
The Stitchery first opened in February 2017, when co-founder Traci Vaspol saw a need in the local community for knitting classes after many local yarn shops shut their doors. Vaspol, alongside Karen Katin, decided over coffee one day to combine their talents and rent a studio in the bay as classroom space.
The pair first met through the Great Rhody Yarn Crawl four years ago, a pub crawl-esque event for local yarn enthusiasts. Katin, a self-taught sewer, first picked up a needle as a child, learning the craft and its techniques from her mother and grandmother. “Teaching sewing classes combines all of my past experiences into the ideal job,” says Katin. Vaspol learned when she was a child, too, from her grandmother, an extraordinary knitter. She also took the time to study aromatherapy when her own children were young, and “enjoys opening doors for other folks to learn these skills.”
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