Knitting a dream: Unique yarn shop/coffee bar to debut

Heard any good yarns lately?

Shannon O’Brien is stitching together plans for The Common Thread, a gathering place for those who knit and/or crochet. When it debuts – fingers crossed, in August – the 800-square foot brick building in the Warehouse Arts District will also sell coffee, tea and assorted other beverages, and will serve as a retail space where yarn of all varieties, and other such necessities, will be available.

O’Brien, who relocated to St. Petersburg from San Francisco four years ago, is a Certified Clinical Herbalist, an educator and the owner of the all-online Apothecary at Home, a subscription-based service which teaches and aids the use of herbal medicines and natural remedies.

She came here, at the end of the pandemic, to complete a trade school apprenticeship program. She liked the area – plus, some family members lived in Florida – and since her business is remote, she decided to put down roots.

Crocheting is O’Brien’s all-consuming personal passion. “I have a lot of close friends where we share a love for knitting and crocheting,” she said, “and we’re always looking for places to do it, if we like coffee, or a glass of wine ….”

One day, the friends were bemoaning the dearth of quality yarns available at the retail level.

“We were just riffing,” O’Briens recalled. “‘Man, I am so sick of using these plasticky yarns.’ As valuable as those were for economy craft supplies, I don’t really love wearing synthetic stuff. I want stuff that just feels better on my person, and also feels better ethically.

“We’re looking at a map – ‘This just doesn’t exist. Wouldn’t it be crazy if we made one? And it should have coffee! And Kombucha! And wine!’ Just this wonderful daydream.

“And as soon as JoAnn Fabrics announced that they were fully going under, that was kind of the kick: ‘We should actually do this! People want this!’ And there’s been a lot of community validation of that as well.”

O’Brien has the Common Thread sales pitch down pat. Knitting, she explained, “is one of the oldest mediums that people use to express themselves, but also just for utilitarian purposes. And people derive a lot of pleasure just from the act of making.”

Her dream: “To bring that into what people are looking for in 2025, and what millennials and Gen Z are really searching for, more of those third places: Not your home, not your place of business, but you can still have a sense of community. A lot of really wonderful social fulfillment through a shared common interest.

“And for me, it’s fiber art. And that’s where the name came from. The common thread is what unites people, no matter what your walk of life is. We’re kind of bound together by this passion for making things with our hands.”

She’s confident that young people will come to her shop. “It’s definitely had a resurgence on platforms like TikTok and Instagram, where it’s exploded in popularity, especially crochet. People are really embracing crochet and the freedom that comes with it to make clothes that you actually want to wear. That fit you. That are fully customizable.”

Also on the rise, she insists: Making cute little crochet animals, called Amigurumis.

The new business owner has big plans for 2462 5th Avenue South, the former home of the Chelsea coffee shop, and (more recently) HaleLife Bakery and Bistro. In time, she’d like to bring in social nights and special events. Classes, too. There’s a spacious patio out back for such things.

Clear pH Design has been contracted to do the renovations, and O’Brien herself is there constantly, cleaning and painting, painting and cleaning. And scheming.

Eyes on the prize, always. “I’m going on five years of running a remote business, and being the sole employee,” O’Brien said. “I’ve gotten lonely. Even as an introvert with introverted hobbies, I want to go to work and I want to see people. I want to see products going into their hands and making them happy.”

There’s something of a selfish reason behind all this, too: “I’ve always wanted a job where I can knit at work.”