11 Apr The End of an Era: The Yarn Box Closes After 35 Years in Pawling
Sometimes a store is more than just a store. Sometimes a store is so successful that it becomes part of the fabric of the community: a place for people to gather, to connect, to create, and to give back to those in need. The Yarn Box, which closed its doors on March 29, was just such a place.
On any day the shop was open, shoppers could find the energetic owner, Marie Stewart, at the head of a long conference table at the front of the store, surrounded by friends amicably working on knitting and crochet projects.
I recently met a new friend in Connecticut, who mentioned how much she loved the Yarn Box. She’s a casual knitting enthusiast who enjoyed shopping there–but more importantly, she liked to go there when she messed up a project and couldn’t figure out how to fix it.
“I love all of those ladies in that shop,” she said, “I was intimidated at first,because they all seem to be experts. But I couldn’t figure out how to fix this one project, so I got up my courage, walked in, threw it on the table and asked for help. They were all so nice and interested in my project! They immediately stopped what they were doing and taught me how to fix it.”
And I have my own “Yarn Box” story. My husband and I were gifted on our wedding day with beautiful handknit Christmas stockings which included our names and our wedding date. An elderly friend made them for us, and we loved them, using them every Christmas. About six years later, our first son was born, and we were thrilled when she made us a stocking for him with his name and birthdate. We were hoping to have a second child a few years later, but fate stepped in and we finally adopted our second son 11 years later.
As our second son’s first Christmas approached, I realized that we had a problem. The lovely lady who had knit our family Christmas stockings had passed away. It’s especially important for adopted kids to feel included in every way, so we all needed to have the same kind of Christmas stockings. I was thinking that we would need to stop using our beloved handmade stockings, and buy four new stockings that were all the same, when I suddenly got the idea to visit the Yarn Box.
Long story short, I walked in with one of our stockings, told the story to Marie, and asked if she knew anyone that I could pay to make us one with our younger son’s name and his birthdate. Marie carefully looked at the stocking and offered to make one for him herself. When I asked her how much I should pay her, she seemed uninterested in being paid at all, and said I could pay her $20, which was probably the cost of the yarn! She took a photo of the stocking and just a few weeks later, she called me to come by to pick it up.
I was amazed at how much like the others it was, and that she was able to create it from a photo. The only difference is that it is quite a bit larger than the others, leaving more room for presents from Santa. One year, Santa overloaded it so much that the loop for the mantle hook broke. I brought it back to Marie, who fixed it quite easily–and she refused to accept any payment for the repair!
Marie’s kindness meant so much to our family, and over the years, I’ve heard about many other folks that she’s helped–small business owners, parents, teachers–a seemingly endless list of people have been touched by Marie’s generosity and hard work. When I was interviewing Marie for this article, I asked her if I could share my Christmas stocking story, and she hadn’t remembered it until I reminded her. She’s helped so many people over the years, that she can’t remember them all!
Marie became a partner in the business back in 1990, when the former owner of the shop, Dorothy Lawson, invited her in. The store had been around since the 1970’s and was located where the Blue Olive currently is. At that time, Marie was about to retire from a career at the telephone company, and was just finishing up her last months there when she started at the Yarn Box. One of the first decisions Marie and Dorothy made together was to move the shop into its current location, which had previously been a frame shop and was quite a bit larger.
There were some big changes over the years. Dorothy retired and moved away around 1995, leaving Marie as the sole proprietor. In the beginning, the store sold arts and craft supplies as well as needlecrafts. After A.C. Moore Arts and Crafts opened a local location, Marie wisely changed her inventory to focus exclusively on yarn and needlecrafts.. She also added a section for handknit apparel and accessories to the shop.
Sitting with Marie and her friends at the work table, I asked her about some of her favorite memories of the store.
“Oh my…there are so many!,” Marie said, “I met a lot of wonderful people who would become close friends. I saw a lot of beautiful work.” Gesturing to Margaret Hubert, a professional crochet designer, author, and close friend, she said, “And Margaret’s been here this whole time too. She became the crochet teacher after Dorothy retired. We met even before I started with the shop.”
Marie is also proud of the charity knitting project that she started at the store over 25 years ago, a program for volunteers to knit hats and scarves for the needy and homeless in Dutchess County via an ever growing list of local nonprofits, including the Pawling Resource Center. She plans to continue that program in her retirement, and the Pawling Library has promised her some space where she and her volunteers can knit together.
Marie’s dedication to our local community has not gone unnoticed. In 2023, Marie was honored at the Pawling Community Foundation’s Annual Gala for her many contributions to Pawling. As an executive board member of the Pawling Chamber of Commerce for over three decades, Marie spearheaded the Chamber’s gift certificate program and started popular annual Pawling village events, including the June Car Show and the Community-wide Garage Sale in September. After several years serving as the Chamber’s president, Marie continues to serve as the Chamber’s secretary.
She’s also been an active member of Pawling’s Beautification Committee for many years, raising funds and spearheading projects for new signage throughout the village and the restoration of the stone wall at the corner of Route 22 and East Main Street. Marie says she plans to remain active on the Beautification Commitee, and to continue to raise funds for several new projects that are still in the planning stages.
When asked what she plans to do in her retirement, in addition to her volunteer activities, Marie says she plans to enjoy spending more time with her family, which includes 11(!) great-grandchildren. She says she’s looking forward to not needing to be at the store during open hours, and being able to spend time simply doing what she feels like doing each day.
And Marie plans to keep on knitting. “I’ve been giving out my home phone number, so that people can still call me if they have any problems. I don’t want to leave anybody in the middle of a project. I want people to know they can call me, and I will help them. This is my life,” she said with a smile. (That number is 845-855-3252.)
–by Amy Emke