Every month The CARON Collection features one of the outstanding shops who so ably provide stitchers with not only supplies but guidance, technical expertise, and inspiration. We hope you'll support your local shops and browse through our extensive SHOP LISTINGS to find a shop near you. This month we take you to discover...
The Yarn Barn of San Antonio, Texas
The YARN BARN OF SAN ANTONIO constitutes a city landmark. The shop is housed in a very distinctive, white stucco, triangular shaped building with big red barn-colored awnings and an enormous seasonal wreath gracing its door. Owner, Bobbi Ravicz states, "When you enter, you'll be "greeted" by a turn of the century, old fashioned...display cabinet, dubbed the "Glass Casket," overflowing with...stitched needlepoint pieces which celebrate the season at hand and local festivals." To enter the shop proper, one passes by an "arcade" composed of Caron Watercolours skeins; it's like walking through a rainbow.
Bobbi Ravicz is the proud daughter of "The Old Trader," who owned the "big ole country store" and emceed, for 50 years, a radio show called The Trading Post, filled with local lore, news, wit and wisdom. In recognition of his many contributions to South Texas ranchers, he was recently inducted posthumously into the San Antonio Livestock Exposition and Rodeo Hall of Fame. Her mother, a 3rd generation Texan, remains at age 91, a very outspoken community advocate for San Antonio.
From early childhood, Bobbi has loved needlework of all types. She was self-taught as the only other family member to share this interest was her maternal grandmother, who lived too far away to teach her. In her teens Bobbi sewed and tailored her own clothes and then learned to weave her own fabric. She reflects that her passion may stem from a gene which skips generations since none of her children are as obsessed with needlework. Her daughter Robi Marisol is, however, a rather "eccentric" knitter (If your curiosity is aroused, see the Winter 1998 Issue of Interweave Knits, which has earned her and her sister Elenita some notoriety). Bobbi plans to pass her skills on to the next generation, starting with Marigold, her granddaughter, age six.
Bobbi went east to attend Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY, majoring in Sociology and Modern American History. In retrospect she muses, "While I wouldn't trade my college education for anything in the world, in a sense, I have ended up devoting 29 years of my adult life to the very interests I had as a 12 year old." After college Bobbi's destiny appeared in the guise of a man whom Bobbi knew but had never considered a romantic interest. Apparently Richard had other ideas. He won her heart long before presenting her with a primitive Mexican Indian back-strap loom as an engagement gift and a refined American made jack loom for their wedding. Bobbi adds, "He also humored me with a honeymoon in Mexico and Guatemala, where we spent a lot of time visiting weaving villages. Weaving stayed my passion through the first eleven years of my marriage."
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Truly her father's daughter, Bobbi is a born merchant. At nine she was selling greeting cards to neighbors. Every Saturday would find her at the "ole country store." Horses were another love, "Ultimately I graduated from riding Western style...to showing American Saddlebred Show Horses." What was in the making here - the "Dale Evans" of Stitching? You Betcha!
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STORE FOCUS ARCHIVES
(For previous month's features)The Sampler in Plymouth, MA
Abecedarius in Marietta, GeorgiaWitchery Stitchery of Mt. Horeb Wisconsin City Stitcher of Chicago, IL L'Aguja Loca in Mexico City Ruth's Stitchery, in Colorado Springs, CO
Mrs. Titchett's Eye, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Pocket Full of Stitches, in Lubbock, TXSophisticated Stitchery, in Carteret, New Jersey
Hardanger House, Stettler, Alberta, Canada
Nordic Needle, Fargo, NDNeedlemania, in Cranston, Rhode Island The Country Cross-Stitcher, Woburn, Bedfordshire, UK Amy's Golden Strand, Memphis, TN Needle in a Haystack in Alameda, California
Tri Thy Needlecraft Centre, in North Wales, UK
Fils Du Temps in Strasbourg, France
Stitchery Source International / Rainbow Picture Framing in Miami, Florida
Nettie's Needlecraft in glamorous Beverly Hills, California...
Island Needlework, Key West, Florida...
The Summer House Needleworks, Oley Valley of Pennsylvania
Evening Star Designs, mail order specializing in Quilting supplies
Ginger's Needlearts and Framing, Austin, Texas
The Needlewoman East in Falls Church, Virginia
Hook-n-Needle in Fairfield County, CT
The Needlepointer, Everett, Washington
Haus Tirol in Williamsburg, Virginia
Crafty Lady in Macomb, Michigan
It's A Crewel World in Salem, Massachusetts
Exclamation Point!in Saratoga Village, California
Thistle Needleworks in Glastonbury, Connecticut
