KNIT & STITCH: Veronica Murphy shows off her amazing space, Stash Needle Art Lounge (1B 1215 13th Street SE). The warm, cozy, happily vintage feel makes you want to grab some wool and get down to it. Having taken over the business in April, Veronica has worked hard at making the Lounge a further reflection of her lifestyle, filled with vintage goodies, supple yarns, trendy crafts and a friendly smile. This fall, she’s offering a number of classes, everything from knitting basics, terrarium building, hand felting, and embroidery to a Sexy Craft Collage Party coming up September 28.
Photos by Amy Jo Espetveidt, Quadrophonic Image

If you go down 9th Ave in Inglewood, take a right on 13th Street and head to the end of the road. Here you’ll find a slice of crafters paradise. Stash Needle Art Lounge (1B 1215 13th Street SE) is cozy and warm, filled with vintage goodies – like the Admiral Refrigerator and the hollowed out TVSs, stacked and filled with wool.

It’s like a step back in time.

A nook of vintage couches sit in front of a big bay of windows, letting in natural light. A shelf above a fire place holds mason jars and an Elvis bust. A turntable spins tunes, drifting out of a tube receiver. Old suitcases sit in a corner with an adorable metallic blue TV on top. And there’s a wide open workspace, just begging to be cluttered up with fabric and needles.

Meet Veronica Murphy, the store is an extension of her life and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

She took the reigns in April from two other ladies and has taken the place and made it her own. She joked that the lounge has become an extension of her home, decor interchangeable in both.

“This is who I am,” she said as she showed off the space. “It makes you want to be here.”

Veronica said she’s been collecting vintage items since she was a teen. Her crafting is part of her essence and she really does love it all. Stash just combines the two.

“Every kind of craft, I’ve dabbled in everything from traditional bead work to rug hooking,” she said.

But her main passion are her classes.

She describes her class calendar as her specialty and explained that her past working experiences at places like the Glenbow Museum have ingrained a need to have interesting and informative programming. She runs intros to knitting and crochet, sewing to creating terrariums and a bunch of others including quick crafts for Christmas.

The upcoming class Veronica is most looking forward to is the Sexy Craft Collage Party where they’ll be cutting up vintage pornography and craft magazines to collage and create wonderful pieces exploring the depiction of women in vintage media. Local artist Jane Grace will be on hand to help out and pitch in.

“There’ll be a party like atmosphere,” she said. “It’s going to be a blast.”

And just because you haven’t been to Stash, doesn’t mean you haven’t meet Veronica.

She has a beautiful 1956 Shasta trailer, named Lucy, that has been at the Folk Fest and Vintage in the Village. Lovingly restored, Veronica describes Lucy as Stash’s ambassador.

“It’s like being in a one person parade,” she said.

Veronica uses the trailer not just to camp, but to set up popup shops. Bought three years ago, the ’56 will soon have a companion, a ’61 New Yorker Station Wagon to pull her along.

“It’s helped people know about Stash and what we do here,” explained Veronica. “She reflects the look and feel of what I do.”

At the Folk Fest, Veronica estimates that nearly 600 people swung by, and most of those visits were thanks to Lucy.

“It’s a great conversation piece. People always tell you how they used to go camping in a vintage trailer,” she said. “And knitting is like that too. People start telling you how they starting knitting, who in their family knitted. I think that’s what makes all this work.”

She’s currently planning programming well into the fall with a swank of intro class and quick project classes in time for Christmas.

“This is the time of year people want to nest and be cozy,” Veronica said.