You may call Sara Heckman an artist. The Point Loma stitch shop owner prefers to call herself a “maker” of beautiful things — everything from oil paintings and bread to colorful, hand-knit children’s cardigans.
After Heckman had her fill of those creations through her painting career at a second-floor studio in Liberty Station’s Arts District, she wondered what else she could make to satisfy her boundless creative energy.
So in 2017, she moved downstairs and made her biggest creation to date: San Diego’s resident local yarn shop, Apricot Yarn.
Eight years later, the shop’s dynamic growth has shown her that even the artist doesn’t really know what the art will look like — until it’s finished.
“I’m just a maker,” Heckman said. “That is part of what makes us human, is the fact that we can take a tool and we can take a piece of string and we could create a jacket or a scarf or something that we can use.”
Weaving community, one stitch at a time
Once a newcomer struggling to break into San Diego’s tight-knit crochet community, Apricot Yarn today is a cornerstone of the city’s stitch scene. As brick-and-mortar big-box stores like Michaels struggle to draw knitters in an age when you can mail-order yarn from Amazon, Apricot Yarn has thrived in its own niche.
That’s because Heckman’s store isn’t just a place where you can buy yarn — although you certainly will find nearly every shade, strength or type of thread your newest piece needs packed into its sun-filled space.
It’s a place where the threads making up the rich tapestry that is San Diego are on display — literally.
Plush braids of dye-spattered yarn spun from the wool of San Diego County alpacas and merino sheep line the walls. On Wednesdays, the store transforms into your grandma’s living room as a local crochet circle gathers at a corner table to create clothes and catch up.
Just feet away from them sits Apricot Yarn’s most San-Diego offering: a roll of yarn dyed the same rippling shades of blue and gray that color the sea and sky of Sunset Cliffs on a cloudy day.
Apricot Yarn is the only place in the world where knitters can hunt down the roll of yarn named for the coastal gem that sits just a few miles away, on the other side of the Point Loma peninsula. It’s a bucket-list find for many travelers, who flock to the store to get their hands on the beach-colored roll of yarn that they can use to make their own San Diego souvenirs.
They’re all uniquely San Diego touches, personally curated by an artist who herself is a product of America’s Finest City. Heckman has lived in Point Loma long enough to remember when Liberty Station used to be a naval training center, not the bustling community with a “Main Street” feel that her shop calls home.
It’s that uniquely local spirit that has kept shoppers coming back, even as institutional giants like Joann Fabrics have fallen into bankruptcy.
“I wanted it (Apricot Yarn) to be part of the neighborhood,” Heckman said. “The local yarn store is a little place, but it’s a really big part of the community.”
San Diego’s only local yarn shop
Over the last eight years, Apricot Yarn has certainly grown to occupy a bigger and bigger slice of the local crochet community. The store’s come a long way from when it first opened its doors as a new addition to San Diego County’s handful of local yarn stores.
On opening weekend, not everyone in the city’s close-knit crochet community was impressed as they took a look at sparse shelves.
“We had so many people say, ‘Is this all the yarn you have?'” Heckman said.
So Apricot Yarn rose to the occasion. Today, braids of yarn, from alpaca to merino, pack every one of the store’s four walls, shelves and even a leather briefcase. Colorful clothes knit by Heckman’s own two hands dress mannequins, hang from racks and line the store’s new upstairs classroom — inspiration for experts and new knitters alike looking to take on their own projects. The store’s online website also means that Apricot Yarn isn’t just for San Diego; it’s for everywhere.
They’re all part of the ways Apricot Yarn has risen to take on the mantle as San Diego’s only local brick-and-mortar yarn store. Heckman’s shop suddenly earned the title earlier this year after the legacy institution of San Diego’s yarn community, Needlecraft Cottage, lost its lease at the Pacific Beach bungalow that it long called home.
Now, Apricot Yarn is carrying the torch for the city’s small stitch scene. As Needlecraft Cottage looks for a new home, the number of local yarn brick-and-mortars in San Diego County is now down to just three.
Along with Apricot Yarn, the sprawling Emy’s Yarns in Chula Vista and Yarn & Thread Expressions in La Mesa are carrying the county’s crochet community.
“That was something I started with, that I really wanted to be part of the community,” Heckman said. “That is probably the most important thing that’s followed us all the way through, because it started from day one, very small, but we’ve grown that community a lot.”
Apricot Yarn is opening its doors to the community once again this weekend to celebrate its anniversary. From open to close, the store will debut new summer yarn colors, a knit garment show will be on display, and shoppers can enjoy discount deals and double rewards.
