Originally published in the Winter 2020 issue of Spoke+Blossom

On a sunny September morning, a dozen or so women gather at a home overlooking the Colorado River in Palisade for conversation, to snack on fruit salad and homemade biscotti, and to knit. Each person is there with a project — a shawl, scarf, socks or other garment — to work on. It’s an “Unwind” session — a free weekly gathering sponsored by Spun, a fiber studio and yarn shop in historic downtown Palisade at 237 S. Bower Ave.

Spun owner Cayenna Hanna offers classes for kids and adults, including knitting socks, mittens, fingerless gloves and “crazy scarves.”

The shop is charming, like its youngish 40-year-old owner who resided there when it was a studio apartment. Then, one day, her landlords, who live in the grand Victorian house next door, sent their son over to do repairs. The two immediately began hanging out, playing guitar and writing songs. The next summer, they married. Now Cayenna Hanna lives in the main house with her husband Joe, their three children and her in-laws.

Hanna opened Spun in November 2017 during Palisade’s annual Art and Chocolate Walk. The tiny shop is packed with a selection of fine yarns, as well as hand-dyed skeins, natural fibers for spinning and an array of notions.

“I like to get natural fibers, fine yarns, specialty yarns for special projects,” Hanna says. “I like to work with Colorado growers.” She carries alpaca and wool yarns from ranches in Craig, Mesa and Palisade.

Like sweets in a candy store, a shelf with 34 glass gallon jars are each filled with a different colored, 100-percent cotton loops for making potholders. (She sells the potholder loom kits, too.) “Kids like to pick out their favorite colors,” Hanna says.

The sessions are hosted all over the valley. In September, Unwind sessions, which happen 10 a.m. to noon, were often hosted at someone’s home. The free weekly gatherings have also taken place at the shop. In October, knitters gathered at the Palisade Library, and in November and December they are slated to meet at the Palisade Community Center.

Out-of-town visitors are welcome to Unwind, too. At Jane Scribner’s house in September, Cindy Pickett of Boulder happened to be in town for a bike tour through Palisade’s vineyard country. Hanna told her about the Unwind gathering after Pickett visited the shop. Since she was planning to also ride the Tour of the Moon — a cycling tour across Colorado National Monument — on Saturday, she came to Unwind on Friday.

At Unwind sessions, and on days the shop is open, beginners can bring their questions and get help learning how to “cast-on” or unknit a problem. For more in-depth instruction, a variety of instructors teach classes at the shop. Kids learn to make “crazy scarves” in multiple colors during a three-lesson session. Adult classes include knitting socks, mittens or fingerless gloves, and weaving. In September, Hanna taught folks how to weave placemats out of recycled silk saris.

Dedicated to keeping the craft alive, Hanna volunteers at Mt. Garfield Middle School where she teaches a knitting class one day a week in an afterschool program. She teaches fiber arts at Palisade High School’s Club Create during the lunch hour.

Spun winter hours are Fridays and Saturdays, noon to 6 p.m., although she opens daily for one week between Thanksgiving and the first weekend in December to help kick off the holiday season. Spun is open Thursday through Sunday during the summer.

Join the Spun club for $30 a year, and you’ll receive 10 percent off purchases, one free knit class, and you’ll be entered in a drawing each month for a free skein of yarn. It’s fun at Spun!

Fun at Spun: Palisade’s Only Yarn Shop Offers “Unwind” Gatherings