This is a call out to all yarn enthusiasts. To all who knit or crochet, all who spin fibers, dye or just those who are crafty: There’s a new outlet for your creativity in Downtown Kingston. Check out Yarn Farm Kingston at 21 West Strand St.

This is also a call out to the thirsty. Yarn Farm Kingston soon will serve wine and craft beers, augmenting an assortment of teas and cheeses already in the works. Whatever the reason for your visit, though, the hope is you come to share in a feeling of community.

Store owner Jocelyn Songco knows a little bit about building communities, and bar manager Todd Rowe knows a thing or two about hospitality. The former, with 14 years of nonprofit work making investments into entrepreneurs who ran companies with goals of societal improvement, and the latter with a good stretch of time as a chef with wine bar and restaurant experience, this couple are open to sharing their passions with their customers. They join forces with part-time helper and knitting instructor Nathalie Tsai-Probst as the team behind Yarn Farm Kingston.

The business owes its existence to Songco’s deep fondness for knitting. Rowe openly admits the shop is her baby. Songco said she found knitting to be a perfect counterbalance to the grind of the job that she loved. Keeping herself active with this hobby was a way to calm her racing mind, she said, and something to quiet unproductive ideas. She started knitting back in 2003; two years later she discovered her very first sheep and wool festival locally. In a word, she was hooked.

Visiting both the New York State and the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festivals with her girlfriends became her favorite vacations every year. “It was the happiest time of my life,” Songco said. The more she spent time around other enthusiasts, the deeper her hobby love grew.

“Some of the more intense dynamics of knitting took on new meaning over time, she said. “I enjoy every part of the process,” Songco said, noting how happy she gets finding patterns to work on or touching new materials for the first time. “It offset all the time I spent on the computer.”

When she started spinning wool fiber into her own yarns, things really started to click for her, Songco said. “You have so much control over every step of the process.” As an example, Songco said she was now choosing between working with super-soft fibers from merino sheep for a certain type of project, or a more traditional Shetland variety as one might find in socks. “The opportunities to learn are almost endless.”

When Songco found that level of devotion to her craft, likeminded crafters kept finding themselves in her orbit. Yarn Farm Kingston will give all such people a place to feel at home and share the zeal they have for what they do. And for the uninitiated, Songco said there will be plenty of opportunities to share in the fun no matter the level of experience. Songco highlighted Knit Night, currently 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesdays with plans to offer more days in the future. Billed not as a class but as an activity that can be open to more than knitting, Songco said it’s a gathering of a dozen or so crafters open to sharing tips about what they do.

Yarn Farm Kingston all started falling into place in 2019. Songco said she was splitting her time between her house in Connelly and an apartment in New York City. She said her business announced it would be restructuring in January 2022, and as a result there was an opportunity to separate amicably if she volunteered. In February she was talking with a friend, asking “do I really want to do this” and in May when her work finally wrapped, it was full speed ahead.

But while Songco’s history in investment opportunity analysis taught her some level of risk appreciation, she said it hits different when it’s personal. “The stakes are higher because it’s my money … you immediately kick it up a notch when it’s your own savings.” So with a dip in retirement funds and a loan on the books, early this year Songco went hunting for real estate.

“The location makes all the difference in the world,” Songco said. Her professional acumen told her there was something special about the 21 West Strand store front. “Seeing the location it was like for real this could work,” she said.

Songco’s professional background helping others with business development touches everything customers see in the store. It’s not just that many of the goods sold in her store are locally made just for the sake of it, she said, but as an enthusiast she can back up the quality. “It’s all really good stuff.”

Songco spoke of many local options, including yarn from Elizaville that makes use of solar and wind power, a soap maker from Germantown or other yarns or dyed fibers from both Poughkeepsie and Kingston.

For items not locally sourced, Songco said there are reasons beyond their high quality to buy them. She said the companies’ makers she’s working with all have greater goals than just profit. One South African company she stocks focuses on female empowerment. A Polish company she works with uses recycled cotton with nontoxic dyes. There are several vendors she chose that benefit from her experience when she opted to elevate likeminded business owners with limited visibility. “They need an advocate for them,” she said.

In that spirit, Rowe said he brings a similar approach to selecting the store’s foods and beverages. Songco explained that their hybrid business synergy should help the yarn side of the store flourish. The plan is to soon offer wines and craft beers, along with teas and juices, Rowe said, once the Kingston permit process finishes. Much like the yarn selection, Rowe said the new wine and beer options should be unique to their business. “No one in Ulster County will carry these wines right now,” he said. But, unlike other local wine bar options, Rowe said prices will be in a more reasonable $8- to $12-a-glass range.

Mixing her love of wine and her love of knitting really made sense for the vibe she’s hoping to create, Songco said. Whether a customer comes in to knit, crochet or hand-stitch and then mingles with friends at the bar, or someone at the bar decides to pick up a new hobby, the energy between the parties will inspire interaction. For enthusiasts, Songco said, it makes all the difference. "That’s the heart and soul of a yarn shop. You’re happy to see the people who are into it. People like their people,” she said.

Yarn Farm Kingston is open Wednesdays and Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 3 to 7 p.m. It’s currently open Fridays thru Sundays, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and will stay open to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday when it starts serving wine. Visit the business online at www.yarnfarmkingston.com, and on Instagram @yarnfarmkingston.