On today’s episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast we’re talking about the first year of owning a retail shop with my guest, Sanjani Ramkissoon.
Sanjani is the owner of Stitch & Revel, a yarn shop in Livermore, California, a charming wine country town in the Bay Area, about 45 miles east of San Francisco.
Born in Fiji and raised in the Bay Area since the age of five, she considers herself an accidental business owner, turning a long-held dream into reality when an unexpected opportunity to purchase inventory from a closing yarn shop led her and her husband to take the leap. They opened Stitch & Revel in September 2025, in a new location with a fresh vision and name.
Her vision for the shop was to create an experience, not just a place to buy yarn (though that’s important too), but a space where creativity flows, and community grows.
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In this interview, Sanjani shares her background as an accidental business owner who turned a dream into reality when she and her husband purchased inventory from a closing yarn shop and opened Stitch & Revel in September 2025 in Livermore, California.
The transition involved reorganizing the existing inventory, changing the location and name, and managing a system migration over the summer before opening in September. Sanjani shared that the decision to buy existing inventory rather than start from scratch was influenced by the support from the previous owner and the established customer base, which helped her transition into business ownership more easily.
Sanjani grew up in the Bay Area as part of an immigrant family from Fiji. Her background instilled in her a strong work ethic. Sanjani worked full-time while attending community college and transferring to UC Davis. She began a career in human resources, progressing from HR coordinator to HR director over a decade until 2014.
Sanjani shared her journey into crochet, which began in 2012 after her father’s death when she discovered her mother’s incomplete crochet project. She took a class at Joann’s with her mother and eventually learned to crochet to help her mother understand the technique. She began teaching crochet after having twins and taking time off work.
Part of the success of Stitch & Revel has come through collaborations, including a Crafts at the Cinema event and partnerships with local wineries for sip and stitch events.
For inventory, she’s focusing on bringing in new yarn lines not available in local shops while supporting local makers, including indie dyers and craft creators.
Sanjani discussed the core values of Stitch & Rubble, emphasizing community and creating a welcoming space for makers from all backgrounds, particularly drawing from her own experiences as a person of color in the fiber crafts community.
And, of course, I ask Sanjani to recommend great stuff she’s enjoying right now. She recommends:
Keep up with Sanjani on Instagram and on the Stitch & Revel website.
