Maureen Wallenfang
Appleton Post-Crescent
Published 8:45 AM EST Dec 18, 2018
Reader question: It looks like a knitting shop is going in next to Avenue Jewelers on College Avenue in Appleton. Do you know anything about it?
Answer: Casting On is the name of the new yarn shop opening by the end of January. It’s at 305 E. College Ave. in downtown Appleton, the location of the former Two Paws Up pet treat bakery that closed in February. The building is under renovation now.
Casting On owner Sara Rabideau was one of many knitters dejected at the loss of Iris Fine Yarns, a shop that closed in October.
“It was the only place to get fine yarn within 50 miles,” she said. “I was a little shocked, and I said to my wife Sam, ‘where am I going to go?’ She said, ‘open a yarn shop.’”
Rabideau said she met a number of times with Iris’ Phyllis Gillespie to figure out the must-have yarns.
Archive: The Buzz: Iris Fine Yarns to close in Appleton
Besides the retail side, Casting On will have knit and crochet classes and space for people to work on personal projects.
“We want it to have a community feel that a yarn shop should have,” she said. “When you come in, you want to feel that you belong to a community.”
See the shop’s progress on its Facebook page.
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