ABOUT | Norwich Knits | Yarn & Craft

Norwich Knits

We're a small yarn store located in Norwich, Vermont, dedicated to supporting all things local. You can find a selection of national brands as well as yarn and fiber from local sheep and dyers in our shop. We offer classes, workshops, and a comfy place to sit and knit. Bring your WIP and say hello!

Lily Trajman - Owner

Lily learned to knit when she was six, and has dreamed of owning a yarn store ever since she knit her way through grad school. After 10 years in Boston and four in San Francisco, Lily and her family moved to the Upper Valley in 2014 and can't imagine ever leaving. In her spare time Lily teaches belly dance fitness classes, runs obstacle races, spoils her dogs, and chauffeurs her three kids (16, 13 and 10) to various after school activities.

Lily was elected Norwich Town Clerk in March, so you can only find her in the store on occasional Saturdays now.

Staff and Instructors

Liz Gemignani is a self-employed graphic designer with over 20 years experience in branding and communications. She’s lived in a number of cities over those years including Washington DC, Chicago and Providence. For the past 10 years she’s called Norwich her home along with her husband, 2 daughters, cats and chickens.

A life-long lover of art and crafts, Liz learned to knit from her mother in law back in her early twenties. Since then, knitting has rapidly become her craft of choice and a pastime she can’t live without! Currently she’s fallen in love with brioche knitting and recently led a class here at the shop. On the rare occasion she’s not knitting, Liz enjoys hiking, yoga, reading, biking and skiing with her family.

Virginia Umland enjoys all types of handwork but knitting has especially taken over during Covid. She learned to knit years ago when roommates were busy knitting Lopi sweaters. Virginia is also a long time quilter, having learned from her mother. Virginia is a long time resident of the Upper Valley and is mostly retired from a career as a registered nurse, leaving time to pursue other fun interests such as learning bridge and mah jongg.

Staff and Instructors, continued

Cally Lavigne is a retired high school teacher who began knitting when needles were straight and metal, and “yarn” meant “wool that had to be washed by hand.”

A native of Virginia, she lived in California and Arkansas before moving to the Upper Valley.

Currently she is a resident of West Lebanon Village. In her younger days, whitewater kayaking and canoeing, backpacking, gardening, and wilderness conservation competed with knitting for her time and attention. Today, friends, knitting groups, Girl Scouts, and a Golden Retriever occupy her spare time.

Cally is looking forward to combining two of her life-long passions, knitting and teaching, in her work at Norwich Knits. She derives great satisfaction from helping fellow knitters solve problems and correct mistakes, almost all of which she recognizes from her own past efforts.

Over the years, her philosophy of knitting has evolved to include the following ideas:

- If it isn’t fun, why are we doing it?

- There are no knitting police. If the knitter is happy, that’s all that matters.

- Knitting is more about the process than the product. It’s so much cheaper than therapy.

- Having several projects on the needles at one time is quite acceptable.

- There are people who do not appreciate hand-knitted gifts and who consequently do not deserve them.

Please note that we shuffle our Saturday staffing depending on availability so if you're looking for someone in particular, weekday hours are the most consistent!