There’s a yarn spreading around West Vancouver, and, for the many crafters that call the North Shore home, it’s a particularly devastating one. The Knit and Stitch Shoppe on Marine Drive, a mainstay of the village for the better part of two decades, closed its doors for the last time on Dec. 31.
With rent prices continuously rising and a new development in store for the area, the knitting space was forced to shut up shop, leaving the knitting community reeling, said owner Ingrid Mutsaerts.
“My little old ladies have been coming in, and they’re crying,” she said. “A lot of people are outraged.”
Mutsaerts has run the 5,000-square-foot craft store in Dundarave for 22 years, but the shop itself has been a North Shore staple since her mother, Edith, first opened the business in Lynn Valley in 1971.
In five decades the store has acquired a coterie of new and long-established customers, said Mutsaerts, describing how the space, packed with sofas, has become just as much of a community hub as it has a store.
“Every day here has been a highlight because you never know what you’re going to get. You never know who is going to come walking through the door,” said Mutsaerts.
“I have customers that are lawyers and accountants, and they just come here after work when they’ve had a bad day or something, just to chat.”
Regular customer Olivia Zishiri, describing Mutsaerts as a “knitting wizard,” said she has a yarn selection “like nothing else” – but it is her hospitality that truly keeps locals coming back for more.
“There are little knitting shops across town, but people who work at those knitting shops still go to Ingrid’s to buy yarn, because she has the most incredible selection. She travels across the world to knitting shows, it’s just the best,” she said. “There are a huge number of men and women who go in there and will sit for hours and knit and socialize. It’s just such a nice community, and it’s all being destroyed.”
Determined to not let the loss of the store hinder her beloved business, Mutsaerts said she plans on buying a bus to turn into a mobile knitting unit.
The bus, due to be painted bright green, is a budding project customers and locals can donate to should they wish, she said. “I’ll be going to all my little ladies everywhere I can.”
Mina Kerr-Lazenby is the North Shore News’ Indigenous and civic affairs reporter. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
