BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT:Stitching together

Nestled in a quiet storefront in Kenneth Village, the yarn store Itza Knitterie is as much a social meeting place as it is a shop for knitters.

Two nights a week and on weekend afternoons, customers don't bother to peruse the thousands of yarn varieties tucked neatly into square shelves that line the store's walls. Instead, they mostly bring their own materials, sit down together at long tables and troubleshoot their latest projects.

Classical music plays in the background as the clicking of knitting needles mixes with casual chatter.

"It's like a therapy," said Maritsa Sasaki, who opened the store in February with her husband, Donald Sasaki.

The three-hour sessions, which Maritsa Sasaki calls "sit 'n knits," offer expert knitting advice to beginners.

It's also a way for Sasaki, a first-time business owner, to get to know her customers, many of which trickle into the store for the first time after hearing from a friend about the sit 'n knits, she said.

"You can always knit at home but it's not the same if you can't meet other people," she said.

Sasaki, an Eagle Rock resident, started the business mostly because her favorite yarn shop, which had been housed in the same Kenneth Avenue storefront, closed down, she said.

That shop — Emiline's — made sit 'n knits popular among a crowd of regulars who now come to Itza Knitterie.

The crowd, comprised mostly of women, ranges from 12 to 96 years in age, Sasaki said.

But they come for different reasons.

On a recent Tuesday night, Jeannie Zino came in seeking advice on how to knit a complex shoulder bag that she found in a knitting magazine.

Cathryn Strand, 94, who has been coming to Kenneth Village to get her yarn for at least 10 years, said she comes for what can often evolve into a party-like atmosphere.

"It's fun," said Strand, taking a break from knitting a baby's blanket for her unborn grandchild. "The girls are interesting. Sometimes it's like a party."

Others liken the casual sessions, which cost $5 to attend, to addiction therapy.

"This is our addicts' meeting, except we come to heighten our addiction instead of get rid of it," said Kathleen Korsborn, who hosts the Tuesday-night sit 'n knit.

Despite the store's laid-back atmosphere, getting the business up and running hasn't been easy, Sasaki said.

"It's really hard to start a business," she said.

But a host of aspiring knitters are sure thankful that Sasaki took the initiative to keep a yarn shop in Kenneth Village.

"If it wasn't for sit 'n knit, I wouldn't be knitting," Zino said.

FYI

WHAT: Sit ’n knit sessions

WHEN: 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays; 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays; 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays

WHERE: Itza Knitterie, 1413 W. Kenneth Road

COST: $5