Bethel is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, about
sixty miles from New York City and it is home to Cannondale
bicycles, Duracell batteries, Meg Ryan, PT Barnum and
a yarn shop called A Stitch In Time! Eva Donnelly
is the owner and she has lived in Bethel for 25 years
and owned the store for 6 years.
She says Bethel is a destination “little New England
town”. It is a quaint country town with great restaurants
and has everything a person could need. Eva says her
store is a destination spot as well, with clientele coming
into the store from Long Island and New York City mostly
for the needlepoint materials.
The store started out selling needlepoint
and cross stitch, and slowly worked into sales of knitting
and yarns, which she said the customers were asking for. Eva
used to knit as a child with her Grandmother, but moved
away from it, and is mostly doing needlepoint.
The store offers classes and workshops, and a Tuesday
night knitting gathering where everyone all works on the
same thing. The Tuesday night gathering is free of
charge and a social knitting time, BUT, everyone works
on the same thing together. The group currently is
knitting the Pure & Simple Top Down V-Neck Pullover. Eva
enjoys knitting sweaters, shawls and socks. Knitting
socks on the magic loop is a favorite of her customers. Eva
loves market time, when she gets to go look at what is
new on the yarn scene for the store and she especially
loves the heather wools.
A Stitch In Time has a history of promoting charity work. Every
Christmas they do a mitten tree. Patrons knit hats,
scarves, socks and mittens for the tree and then all the
items get donated to charity. Last year the store
gave over 200 items to local charities and shelters. In
August and September, the store encouraged knitters to
knit helmet liners for the troops. They are always
knitting things for others! The store has been written
up in the Vogue Knitting magazine (2004 Holiday) and was noted
for their teaching abilities.
Eva is having a lot of fun in Bethel Connecticut and is blessed
with a great staff. The next time you are in New England,
look up A Stitch In Time. They are always eager to
meet new knitters and to offer their help to knitters in
need!
The store offers classes and workshops, and a Tuesday
night knitting gathering where everyone all works on the
same thing. The Tuesday night gathering is free of
charge and a social knitting time, BUT, everyone works
on the same thing together. The group currently is
knitting the Pure & Simple Top Down V-Neck Pullover. Eva
enjoys knitting sweaters, shawls and socks. Knitting
socks on the magic loop is a favorite of her customers. Eva
loves market time, when she gets to go look at what is
new on the yarn scene for the store and she especially
loves the heather wools.