Knitting is having a moment. Your granny’s favorite hobby is now a Zen-like pastime in an increasingly frayed-nerves world, with 28 million knitting posts on Instagram and celebrity fans such as Michelle Obama.
Not that this would surprise Lindsay Degen, owner of Knit Club, a small but growing business that offers knitting and crocheting classes, as well as tools and yarn. Its sunny location on the East Side of Providence works for Degen, who’s been smitten with the city from the time she was a student here.
“I love the old mill buildings, the giant windows, the architecture where homes have character, and the affordable artists’ studios,” she said.
Degen grew up in Cincinnati, the only child of two scientists specializing in genetics, whose jobs took them to Ohio from California.
“It’s essentially the deep South,” Degen said. “There were cotillions and debutante balls, which I didn’t go to. I couldn’t get away from there fast enough.”
She says her scientist parents showed her how the mashup of a math brain, merged with creativity, can lead to discovery.
“I approach my work the same way,” she said.
Her grandmother taught her to knit when she was little, but Degen didn’t realize then that knitting is far more than producing a basic square.
“Knitting is about limitations. There are only four basic stitches, but you can do an infinite number of patterns,” she said.
After high school, Degen moved east, to attend the Rhode Island School of Design, where she discovered machine knitting classes. Her first project was creating two complementary oversized outfits with sweaters. It left her feeling that she hadn’t even scratched the surface.
“When you first learn to knit, everyone goes through a trash phase, and you can get discouraged,” she said.
Degen graduated in 2010 with a fine arts degree in textiles. She says the employment market was tough back then.
“I had friends with terrible jobs lined up and the prospect of working for a big fashion house in New York for less than $30,000 wasn’t appealing,” she said.
She had started Degen, her own fashion brand, during her senior year with one-of-a-kind show pieces for Fashion Week in New York, where the vibe is schmoozing, making connections and talking to editors. “It’s an opportunity for big brands to support small brands, where shows can cost $100,000 to participate,” she recalled.
By the time graduation rolled around, she was ready to make the leap.
“I felt if I got too comfortable, I wouldn’t go for it,” Degen said.
She took the traditional designer apparel route, creating a full-knit collection for Fashion Week, from outerwear and dresses to sweaters. Social media was in its infancy and at first, she didn’t know exactly who her customers were. Then she started getting a response on Instagram from clients who were interested in her designs. By 2015, she was creating handmade patterns for clients she’d met through the New York shows.
In 2017, she moved back to Providence and took a job as apparel designer at Converse Inc., a connection and partner she’d made in New York. It was a corporate environment that turned out to be a good fit for Degen, who’s organized and knows how to interpret what others want.
After a while, though, working in Boston with its four-hour daily commute became a grind.
“I realized during the COVID shutdown, when we worked from home, that I could take those four hours and devote them to what I wanted to do,” she said.
She started a Zoom knitting circle and met fellow knitters in an online community, now numbering 4,000, who remain good friends. And when the quarantine was over, she realized she craved that experience of hanging out with her community, but in the real world.
She left Converse in 2024 and opened Knit Club, a small retail yarn shop on Brook Street in Providence. It’s formally registered under the name DEGEN.us LLC.
Knitters and crocheters of all skill levels will find soft, colorful Portuguese yarns, patterns for stitching sweaters and hats, and playful knitting tools. Evening classes include basic sessions with Knotty Knit Night drag queen instructors, as well as a monthly Stoned Stitching Circle (“Bring your work in progress and your weed”) and Purl and Swirl (“Bring your WIP [work in progress], be ready to sip”).
Customers are all ages, but generally range from 18 to 35, and business has doubled each year since she opened. Degen has also found time to expand her fashion line. Its focus is on carefully handcrafted pieces with a minimalist aesthetic that nods to Japanese and Scandinavian design.
“Simple pieces with volume, as well as shrunken and oversize shapes are interesting to me,” she said.
For Degen, every day is different.
Running the business includes dealing with tariffs and the consequences of the Iranian war.
“The more you grow, the more money you have to put into inventory. My supply of Peruvian wool is affected by the blockage of [the Strait of] Hormuz. Who’d have thunk it?” she said.
