They are Knot Witches

1-14-25

By Lauren Royce, Editor
MONTROSE — Knot Witches is a fiber arts club setting up shop in Montrose. Kelly-jo Riker, 56, is one of the owners teaching crochet and knitting through Sit and Stitch events every first and third Wednesday at 18 Public Ave. It’s “knot” just about business though; Riker also hopes to foster community for people, too.
“Some women who come to the Sit and Stitch, they literally just work on their project,” Riker said. “But we all agree, we just feel so much better when we’ve gone and had that community together. As we’ve been together and we were able to talk. A lot of people have gone through some stuff and they still show up on Wednesday because they’re like, I need this, I need to just be here.”
Riker said she hopes for Knot Witches to be the third space people are in need of. Third spaces are places like the bar, the bowling alley. They exist for fun and are important for people to have now more than ever, as social media creates the illusion of socializing.
“We want to be that place where people can come, and you don’t have any responsibilities and you just get to enjoy the companionship of other people,” she said.
Riker said she is hoping to open the shop at 18 Public Ave the first weekend in February and small classes for a fee will hopefully start in March. Anybody who comes to Sit and Stitch can come learn for free. And it’s a casual space, no pressure if someone misses a week or not. All you’ll miss is some good conversation.
On the books is a session this month where local girl scouts will make an amigurumi octopus, a quick and easy way to make a beginner’s fiber craft. Amigurumi is like the stuffed plushy cousin of another Japanese art, origami.
“We’re very excited to become like a part of the town,” Riker said, “being involved in all of the activities and providing a place for people to explore and learn and maybe pick up a hobby. Or maybe hone a hobby that they had before.”
Riker said her niece Renée Welch used to work in a yarn shop, which was always a treat because “There’s something special about people who create things with their hands,” Riker said. “We talked about how we needed to build a community.”
Welch and Riker thanked Welch and her sister Jenny Landis for being instrumental in the process of making Knot Witches happen. Her husband, Scott Beeman, is co-owner and co-signer on the new dream. “I’ve had a lot of crazy ideas and this is the first one that he’s been like, no, this will work,” she said. The influence of fiber arts actually came from all through her family tree.
“I have grown up in a family of major fiber craft people,” Riker said. “My mom and my grandmother, they were quilters, they crocheted, all my aunts. My sister is an amazing crocheter, my niece is an incredible knitter, and so I’ve always been surrounded by it.”
With a daughter studying screenwriting in Los Angeles, Riker decided she needed to have a hobby.
“It’s something that I’ve kind of dabbled in on and off, embroidery, quilting, things like that,” Riker said. “I just really kind of decided I wanted to do it, and it was fun to do by myself but it’s so much more fun to do surrounded by people.”
At the most recent sit and stitch last Wednesday, the group hosted at the shop’s location and about 19 people came. At least 400 views have crossed the Knot Witches Facebook page.
There are two parts to the Knot Witches store, retail in the front and the back will be the “studio” for classes that she calls “granny arts,” with basic sewing, mending, knitting and crocheting and others. The space is rentable for use as well.
“We’re going to have our own line of small batch hand-dyed yarns that we’re going to make, that are going to coincide with different things that are going on in Montrose,” Riker said. “We’ll have a blueberry fest line, a Christmas in Montrose line. Things like that.”
It will take some time for things to materialize, so Riker is taking it one step at a time.
“I’ve already had people contact me and say hey, I do rugs, can you carry flannel? And I was like, you show me it and I will find it and carry it,” she said. “So I am not doing material and sewing (materials) at this time, I know a lot of people are jonesing for a material shop. That’s a whole other beast that I’m not tackling yet. Never say never, but not right now. Right now my focus is on yarns and flannels and flannels and felts and those kinds of things.”
Knot Witches began as a knitting and crochet circle in the Trehab community office on Wednesdays in 2025. Riker said she started doing renovations to the building in December, buying the building from Trehab. The previous business moved out sometime around the fall of 2025.
“Every year I pick a word, kind of as a word of the year,” Riker said. Last year in January, she picked the word “fiber” as the word of the year to guide her path. That was when she decided she would start up Knot Witches. This year’s word was growth, so now it’s all about growth and moving forward in the project, she said.
“The community and the public have been very encouraging, and I just feel so supported from everybody,” Riker said. “It’s wonderful, it’s kind of taken on a life of its own. And I love all the parts of the process.”