YBOR CITY, Fla. — The next time you’re in Ybor City, consider stopping by the third floor of the Kress Building.
It’s known to house several amazing art collectives like the Tampa Fringe Black Box Theatre, Screen Door Micro Cinema, and one very niche, small business doing big things called Pop Yarn, specializing in crochet.
"I started crocheting about 10 years ago, and I absolutely loved it," said owner Damara Besker. "It was a process that was so wonderful to me, and then whenever I would travel around the country, I would go, and I’d check out and see what they were doing. I really wanted to bring that back to my home, Tampa, to service our community."
Besker is a nationally certified crochet teacher with a shop full of yarns sourced from the Middle East, South America, and, of course, right here at home. So with her 10 years of experience, whether you knit, crochet or weave, she can get you from first stitch to finished project.
"I personally suffer from anxiety, and this has really helped my anxiety kind of be calmer and not be so stressed out," she said. "And I absolutely will take my crochet and yarn everywhere. I do so that I can just do it on the plane, the bus, anywhere—that’s the best thing about crochet."
It’s something Besker highly recommends to literally everyone. But especially to those working through anxiety and depression or struggling with focus.
"While I love my cellphone, It really gets me off of my phone and looking at something that’s right in front of me," Besker said. "I like to say it's an extremely tactile experience. You feel the fiber, you get to see everything in cool colors, and people say they like to smell different dying processes of the yarn. So many different sensory aspects to the yarn that really ground you."
She calls it meditation in motion, helping the mind, body and overall mood. And she says she’s even seen it work to the benefit of her students with PTSD.
"I have a student who is a veteran, and she’s absolutely wonderful. She experienced the loss of her child, and she had come to me because she was experiencing such, and she wanted to do something that got her mind off of what she had experienced," Besker said. "We went through all of the steps, and she quickly became one of the best students."
An affordable, cathartic hobby that anyone can do. Besker said you don’t have to be a pro to sign up for her class. You just have to be willing to learn!
"Especially this month as it's Mental Health Awareness Month, and while I agree we should also use therapy and medication, this is something you can enjoy and you can love and you can kind of focus on," she said.
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