My love of needlework goes back over 60+ years. It started when I was a little girl sitting next to my mother while she embroidered pillowcases and tea towels and tablecloths. I loved the colorful flosses and the textiles right from the very beginning. I started embroidering around the age of four and added needlepoint before I became a teenager. As a teenager I fell in love with yarn and knitting which is still a passion. Then one day when I was in college, I came home to visit and my mother was cutting pieces for a quilt. That sparked an interest in quilting which I did not have time to pursue at that moment. That passion re-emerged in the mid 1970's when the national bi-centennial celebrations were in full force. I got hooked and have been a knitter, quilter, stitcher ever since.
In February of 1989 I was taking a short-cut to my job at a local doctor's office when I discovered the cute little shops in the Old Town Center in Manassas, VA. I saw Creative Country and because it had a spinning wheel on the sign, I thought it might be a knitting shop. The first chance I got, I went to check it out only to find out that it was a home decorating shop. The shop next door was empty though and an idea was born. I got busy seeing what I had to do to start a knit shop. Cross-stitch got added to the mix even before I opened the door. In two years I had outgrown my cute little shop on Main Street, so I moved to Cavalry Village.
Although I was in a different unit when I closed than where I started, I spent the next twenty-four years in Cavalry Village. We added Needlepoint, Quilting, and Elna Sewing machines to the mix as we grew. With each addition came more training and knowledge and skills. I am still learning and although I do not have the brick and mortar store anymore, both my husband I continue to be active in the industry with my husband continuing to service sewing machines from our home and I am continuing to do longarm services. I enjoy quilting for customers and I am finally finishing some of the models that were tops in the shop.Working on customer quilts and trying to achieve top quality products in a timely manner has inspired our latest adventure and the invention of Jannette's Professional Quilt Clamp. The clamp certainly makes this phase of my part of the business more enjoyable.
I still like bumping into my customers and hearing from them. We would love to hear from you, too. Contact us at knitwit109@aol.com.
Jannette
Jannette, the owner, has over forty years experience in teaching needlework of all types and received the Silver Thimble award from the APNR* in recognition of her knowledge and skill in designing, creating, and teaching knitting.
*Association of Professional Needlework Retailers