CommuKNITy is ostensibly a store for anyone interested in knitting, crocheting and related needle arts. Located at 1345 The Alameda, in the space formerly occupied by Be Civilized, it's 4,000 square feet of yarn, needles, hooks, books, classrooms and a conversation area where people can sit and knit.

CommuKNITy is also a business investment for Faris and her husband, Tom Johnston, who live in Willow Glen.

It could be a shrewd move, given that in the past 10 years, the number of knitters and crocheters has increased 51 percent across the United States to more than 53 million people. It's estimated more than one in three women now knit or crochet and the trend shows no signs of slowing down, according to the Craft Yarn Council of America.

Most important, Faris expects CommuKNITy will be a place to make connections and become part of a community, hence its name.

"As a psychotherapist, I see people are hungry for connection," Faris says. "What I saw in yarn shops and in my own experience is a way for people to connect with themselves. In learning a craft you're connecting with yourself and here you're using your hands which makes an immediate connection with your heart."

Faris, who practices with Affiliated Therapists of Los Gatos, became interested in knitting about a year ago.

"For some reason, I got wild about yarn. I had this idea I would love to learn to knit," she says. "Years ago I was a crocheter, but I hadn't picked up needles for years. I started going to yarn shops and fell in love with the colors and structures."

Faris said she soon noticed that most knitters are involved. Some are helping one another learn to knit or solve knitting problems, while others are involved in good works, making items such as blankets or booties they donate to those less fortunate.

"There's such a connective camaraderie and feeling of community," Faris says. "It occurred to me it's a great way for people in this Valley, particularly women, to come together and make a community in a place where people tend to be isolated. I see in my private practice that women have become isolated from one another.

"My mission in life is helping people connect with themselves and with each other."

Faris says her idea for a store coincided with her husband's search for a new work direction.

"After 35 years in Silicon Valley, he had been laid off. He's a finance guy and we had this vision of starting a shop. Between my creative ideas and his financial background we started poking around and looking at the possibility of doing a yarn shop," she says.

Faris says she first came up with the idea of a yarn shop in October 2004.

At that point, Faris says she and Johnston started looking for a store manager.

"I'm not an expert knitter and knitters require quite a bit of hand-holding," Faris says. "You have to have somebody who really knows yarn and has deep experience. Nathania found us and she's the perfect fit. The two of us are two peas in different pods, but we coordinate really nicely."

Nathania Apple, who connected with Faris and Johnston through a Craigslist ad, says she's been knitting for 25 years.

"My grandmother taught me when I was 8 and it solidified in Norway when I was an exchange student," Apple says.

Although Apple has sold some of her knitwork, she's never supported herself using her knitting knowledge and skills. She's worked as an image consultant, a website designer and a real estate agent.

"This is a wonderful way to combine some of my retail knowledge with my art," Apple says.

Once Apple was on board, the trio started searching for the right location, initially looking in Willow Glen because Faris and Johnston live there.

One day, after attending services at the Center for Spiritual Enlightenment, Faris says she and Johnston spotted the "For Lease" sign at 1345 The Alameda.

"Nathania, Tom and I went over there and we said, 'This is it.' It created the space for the vision I have to take full blossom. It was perfect. This is going to be wonderful," Faris says.

It was Apple who came up with the name CommuKNITy.

"The word community kept coming up, a community of artists, a community of knitters. I thought, 'Why not just call it what we want it to be?' " Apple says.

Both Faris and Apple know they face competition.

Apple says the size of the new store "will allow us to do what other shops can't do. We will have classes in spinning and we're contemplating having a loom."

Additionally, Apple says, "We'll be offering both European and American-made yarns and yarns produced here in California. We'll be bringing in as many products from emerging markets as we can. We're looking at ways of supporting the global community of artisans as well as our local community."

Faris adds, "We realize there is competition and we think what we're offering is an experience the other stores are not offering.

"We will be competitively priced and we will carry yarns that are more difficult to find, but what we're really going to offer is the experience. We're going to offer a relaxed environment and the highest in customer service. We'll be a destination yarn shop and we'll offer something special. People will want to come back."

For more information about CommuKNITy, 1345 The Alameda, call 408.293.9333.