Nancy O'Connell

Nancy learned to knit as a child, as did everyone in her family.  Her grandmother, French-Canadian born, could knit just about anything, no patterns needed.  While her sisters adopted the craft, creating fair isle sweaters, socks and mittens, Nancy wasn’t interested in knitting, and didn’t really “get” why anyone would spend all that time and effort building something stitch by stitch when you could buy it in a store.

It wasn’t until 1999, when her first grandson was born, that Nancy “got it”, and gave in to her genes, knitting obsessively. At a turning point in her marketing career in 2005, Nancy fulfilled every knitter’s dream, opening a yarn shop in Ridgefield, Connecticut. 

Her shop, nancy O, offers an extensive selection of hand-picked yarns, with lots of inspiration for knitters and non-knitters, as the shop is also filled with gift items, unique ready-to-wear sweaters, jewelry, and accessories.  Nancy has tapped into her marketing background to build her business, especially relationships with customers, essential to this industry. 

She still knits obsessively, designing patterns and simple projects for customers, with her latest obsession – crochet – creeping into the picture.  As she began to develop knitting products for the shop, it seemed natural to distribute them for all to enjoy.

 RACHEL LAPNOW

Rachel Lapnow always admired the knitters on the sidelines during her children’s soccer games.  After attending a knitting party, she was hooked.  Her son, Taylor, even wanted to give it a try, so she enrolled him in a knitting class at her local yarn shop, nancy O, along with her friend, Mary’s, daughter.    Mary and Rachel became part of the family at the shop, as they sat out on the shop’s patio and knit while the kids attended knitting class.    She fit in so well that soon she was working at the yarn shop, as her background is in retail, and it was only natural that she join the staff.

It was as Rachel explored her new passion that she began inserting beads into her work to put her signature on her projects, and “sig’nits” were born.  She and Nancy have been working to bring the idea to life over this past year, and are excited to finally introduce sig’nits to the extended knitting community.

Rachel loves knitting gifts for family and friends, and always includes a fish symbol as her sig’nit, since boating and fishing are what her family is all about.  She lives in Wilton, Connecticut, with her husband, two sons, a dog and her newest family member – a cat named Mackerel.  Is a knitted cat bed in his future – and will that little fish bead drive him wild?   Stay tuned . . .