Sisterly ties remain strong at their new yarn, gift shop

Cindy Bellinger | For The New Mexican

10/16/2007 -

Some yarns are so soft you just have to press them to your cheek. But if there are too many soft and beautiful yarns, how do you choose just one, or two, or even three? This may be the only problem customers face while exploring Looking Glass Yarn & Gifts LLC.

"We've tried to find unusual yarns. There are some real different ones that make up into the nicest wearables," said Kathleen Quintana, co-owner of the store with her sister, Sheila Tuler. Quintana has knitted for 54 years.

Some of the yarns the sisters carry are made of bamboo, milk, corn and soy and even sea shells, and all of them so soft the saying "soft as silk" may no longer apply. These specialty yarns come in luscious colors — from teal to burgundy to ivory.

The store opened in July and the two sisters have been busy ever since.

"When the weather changed, the business changed," Quintana said. "It's really starting to take off. Now that it's getting cooler people are thinking about knitting again."

Quintana teaches knitting every Tuesday from 5 to 7 p.m., and many of her sweaters and jackets are for sale in the shop.

The two sisters came up with the idea to start the shop when both were facing retirement. Quintana, an elementary-school teacher, had just left her job after 37 years. Tuler, a veterinarian for the past 24 years, sold her practice, Sangre de Cristo Animal Hospital, several years ago. She will officially retire in February.

"We're hoping this is the equivalent of kicking back," said Tuler, who began knitting two years ago. "This seems a lot less stressful. I wanted to play with something fun that was soft and wouldn't talk back. Everything kind of came together. My husband offered to do the Web site, and Kay's husband is in financial planning and helped with that end. And Kay knows yarn and can teach anyone to knit."

"And Sheila knows how to run the cash register," Quintana said. "Between the two of us, we make a complete person."

But the passion of doing something different with their lives, and of learning new things, is running high. Besides, Quintana, being the knitter she is, had always dreamed of owning a yarn shop.

To get things started, the sisters initially invested $15,000 in the shop. They ordered yarn, furnishings, more yarn, and knitting needles and other accessories and then a cash register.

"If the business pays for itself then that's great," Quintana said. "If worse comes to worst, we'll have a lot of yarn that will last us the rest of our lives."

A grand opening is being planned for
Nov. 9 from 4 to 8 p.m.

Lana Hoffman, a local, had always wanted to learn to knit. She found a pamphlet at the animal hospital and stopped by the store.

"I'm already making stuff you wouldn't believe," Hoffman said. "I'm making necklaces with beads, leg warmers and learning how to work with two colors. Kay is a wonderful teacher."

Susan Feiner began knitting 40 years ago, but quit, for a time.

"Then I began thinking about starting again," she said. "Someone told me about the new shop. Kay is fabulous. She sat with me and refreshed my memory, reminded me how to hold the needles. She got me going again."

Feiner said that, in the past month, she has made six scarves and has almost completed a sweater jacket.