Kitschy Stitch in Rehoboth spins new kind of yarn

Kitschy Stitch, 75 Lake Ave., is a yarn and fabric shop that is not only a retail business but also a place where the community can gather to share in the love of knitting.

The store is the brainchild of Allison Worthing, who recently moved to the Cape Region after spending most of her life in California and Colorado. Worthing was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Virginia and Maryland.

“It’s basically a yarn and fabric shop. It started out, I was going to do just yarn, but I love to sew, and there weren’t a lot of places to get clothing-type material, so I wanted to add that,” she said.

But selling yarn and fabric is only part of what Worthing envisions for Kitschy Stitch.

“Every Thursday night people can come in, sit and have tea and bring their projects in,” she said. “I wanted it to feel like a community where people can come in and feel welcome.”

Worthing offers help for people with knitting projects, and the store will also hold workshops for people wanting to learn how to knit. The first of these workshops will be for learning to knit socks with additional classes in fabric dyeing, among other subjects, to come in the future.

“A lot of the time I feel like people think art forms and craft are very specialized. But I think people should be able to have fun with it and experiment,” Worthing said.

That sense of fun helped inspire the store’s name.

“Kitsch is basically a German word meaning ‘trash’ and yet I’m trying to get that to mean something positive in that it doesn’t have to be highbrow. You can just come around, enjoy and have fun with it,” Worthing said.

The available workshops can be found on Worthing’s blog, kitchystitch.blogspot.com.

Worthing said she selected the Lake Avenue location because of its coziness and its proximity to downtown Rehoboth. She has been sewing for 20 years and knitting for four years.

“Knitting you can take everywhere. You can’t really take your sewing machine on the bus,” Worthing said. “There’s something calming about it.”

Those who go to Kitschy Stitch can also get a chance to see the store’s unofficial mascot, Worthing’s 1-year-old son Owen.

“He’s actually pretty funny,” she said.

“To take yarn and make it into a ball there’s something called a swift and a ball-winder. It has a little crank on it, and sometimes he goes over there and cranks it when people are in because he knows people think it’s hilarious. He’s definitely a show-off at times.”

Kitschy Stitch is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday and Wednesday thru Saturday. The store is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday and closed on Tuesday. For more information on Kitschy Stitch go to kitschystitch.blogspot.com or email Kitschy Stitch at: kitschystitch@yahoo.com or call 302-260-9138