Amid a background of used books, several women gathered Sept. 11 in a newly renovated storefront on West Main Street in Batesville, knitting needles in hand and balls of yarn on the floor next to their chairs. Some of the women had been knitting for years, and others had just taken up the craft, but everyone was working diligently on projects they continuously regarded with pride.
“I’m tickled to death with this,” Lenora Mobley said as she worked on a green scarf, the yarn fashioned into a basket-weave pattern. The scarf was nearly completed, and Mobley said that although she is a beginner when it comes to knitting, she was excited about how quickly the scarf had taken shape.
“The pattern looks more complicated than it is,” she said. “It’s just real nice.”
Several completed scarves were casually placed on the coffee table that was surrounded by the women. As they continued to work on their projects, needles tapping together with purpose, the women commented on the work being done by their neighbors.
Near the wall of windows facing Batesville’s West Main Street, Joyce Williams worked away on her intricate pattern while other women asked questions and gathered advice to pour into their own work. Williams put down her needles in order to help Judy Purnell with a more complex pattern for a headband, and they discussed possibly teaching children how to knit the headbands in future classes.
“I love to teach kids,” Williams said. “I think it is great when they want to learn how to crochet or knit. I think it’s making a comeback.”
Williams teaches the needlework lessons in the new knitting nook at The Paper Chase, 136 W. Main St. in Batesville, instructing participants to follow patterns and to practice every day, even if just for a short time.
Williams, who also teaches needlework at her church and for the Extension Needlework Club, taught herself how to crochet when she was 18 years old.
“Everyone told me it was too hard to learn, so I bought a book and taught myself,” she said.
Shortly after she taught herself how to crochet, Williams learned how to knit and work in other needlework mediums. Since then, she has entered her work in fairs, made items as gifts and for-sale merchandise, and has taught others.
The knitting nook is a new feature of the recently expanded used-book store, The Paper Chase. Owners Mayfan and Clint Thomas have owned the bookstore for 18 years, with the store moved to its current location 16 years ago.
Mayfan Thomas said The Paper Chase doubled in size last fall when it acquired the space next door, a change that better serves customers by providing more room for books and eliminating the necessity of utilizing the second floor of the shop, which was accessible by a spiral staircase that was difficult for some customers to climb.
Even after moving their books from the second floor to the newly acquired area, Thomas and her husband still had room left over. At that time, the duo started thinking about what new product they could introduce to the store.
“We wanted something that would go with books,” Thomas said. “And then it came to me. All I could think of was ‘yarn in The Paper Chase.’”
Thomas said she enjoys knitting, but finding good yarn in town, as well as other needlework supplies, was difficult.
The Paper Chase started carrying yarn in June, and soon after that, the store began hosting needlework lessons. Some of the needlework participants have been a part of The Paper Chase’s book club, which has read one book each month for 14 years. Others have heard about the lessons through word of mouth or the store’s Facebook page.
The Paper Chase is currently compiling a list of contacts who are interested in needlework lessons. The classes include five weekly lessons for $25, and Williams and Thomas said they do their best to supply scrap yarn and loan out needles for the first lessons as participants learn the basics.
For more information on needlework lessons at The Paper Chase, call Thomas at (870) 793-4276.
Staff writer Angela Spencer can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or aspencer@arkansasonline.com.