Wanna know who’s behind our little LYS, virtual-LYS, online store, and yarny community? We are going to start a monthly feature on the Staff and Teachers that make our little corner of yarny heaven possible. You can check out all of our Staff and Teacher bios here.

For our first staff spotlight, we’d like to introduce our amazing store manager, Sarah! The hero of our store, she helps the rest of us take on the days. A crafting inspiration, Sarah can complete a project every time you turn around. Check out her Ravelry page to view her extensive collection of personal work.

Journey to Baaad Anna’s and Knitting

Sarah discovered knitting in 2004 and loved the portability of the work and the usefulness of the final projects. A few years later, she added crochet and then, in 2018, sewing to her list of crafts. She loves having the ability to make her own wardrobe; getting to make things that fit her and her family just right, that were designed to be special and one-of-a-kind.

Coming from an office job, it was in 2015 that Sarah decided to take what she loves doing and spend all her time around yarn and crafting. She’s found herself a great community of yarn lovers, and we love having her on the Baaad Anna’s team!

We sat down virtually with Sarah to ask her a few questions:

What do you have cast on right now?

S: I generally try to keep to no more than five projects at a time (I am not always successful at this). Right now I have:

1. Ridgeview Tee crop top in Sugar Bush Crisp in Boreal Forest (for me)
2. My Knitted Vanilla Heart Sock in Shirley Brian Sock Set Tesseract (for me)
3. King Edmond the Just socks in Black Cat Everyday Sock Starforce (for my husband)
4. White Karin dress in Wollmeise Lacegarn Blaue Tinte (for me)
5. Baby Owl C2C in Uptown Worsted (crochet) (for my new baby cousin)

How do you take to learning a new technique?
S: I usually look for tutorials online. Then it’s just a matter of getting some yarn and practicing until it makes sense. One of the great things about knitting is that you can rip out your work and try again with the same yarn over and over until it looks the way you want it to.

What is your comfort show/movie/book?
S: I read pretty much constantly, it’s one of the reasons that I learned to knit without looking at my hands. In 2020 I read Becky Chambers Wayfarers series for the first time (and then twice more) but for true comfort reading the Terry Pratchet Discworld books are a series that I re-read once every year or two. I don’t watch a ton of tv or movies but I spend a lot of time watching Twitch streamers play games or make art while I knit. There are some really great communities out there to join. I’m an introvert at heart so for the most part my life hasn’t changed too much due to COVID-19. But I very much miss knitting and having a beer in a brewpub!

What is your hottest knitting take?
S: I don’t know if it’s a hot take but please please please swatch before you knit a sweater. It’s worth it. Also if you are using hand-dyed yarn alternating skeins while you knit is a pain but your finished project will look much more cohesive.

We hope you enjoyed getting to know Sarah. If you frequent Baaad Anna’s, it’s more than likely you will run into her. Be sure to ask her about her one-skein Wollmeise Lacegarn dresses!