Sorrow, somewhat delayed

I haven’t been to my local yarn store in months…the last time was early January, when I popped in for a set of needles and some stitch markers. Between having a stash that borders on insane and not having much money to spend anyway, I’ve actually been kind of avoiding the place – there was always something there to tempt me, you see.

But of course it couldn’t last, so today I was going to pop in for an emergency set of #6 circulars and no more yarn, seriously, I am de-stashing right now. (And fully expecting I’d buy something anyway, because somehow I always do.)

She’s gone. Kathy Kindred, owner of K2 Knits, died back on January 12, of a heart attack.

All I can think is, BUT! She’s wasn’t OLD!

Which is asinine, of course. Heart attacks don’t care how old you are…or how much you loved life, or how vital you were to a community, or how much you were loved and respected by it.

Even though I was one of those highly irregular customers, she always remembered me. She knew my name, what I liked, how to tempt me, how old my children were. She even remembered that my boy was a bonafide Yarn Monster, and would ask after him when he wasn’t with me. She had a great and ready laugh, and a tremendous love for her store – it was so tiny it was vaguely ridiculous, and she had to show great ingenuity and inventiveness to keep it well-stocked.

Oh my god, I will miss her so much. I will miss her laugh and poking around that tiny store looking for treasures. I will miss how she kept boxes of stock in the bathroom, the eternal ‘yarn in waiting’ – waiting for a space to open up on the main floor.

…how many times did I find myself crouched in that bathroom, rummaging through a box, because she’d said, “Tama! Go and look in that box in the bathroom, it’s awesome!”…

I will miss the store, too. Losing Kathy hurts the most…losing the store is a kiss of acid on the open wound. There are stores with bigger footprint, stores with more yarn, stores with fancier layouts and bigger staffs and vast collections of everything…but none had bigger heart.

Because Kathy was that heart, and it permeated the whole place.

Rest in peace, Kathy. If our tears at your leaving make coinage in heaven, well, money will be no object as your build your after-world stash.