The story of Skacel
starts in 1957 with
German born Hans and Ingrid. The adventurous
pair met in London, married, and set out for
America soon after. They spent their earliest
years in Florida where Hans was the first stateside
instructor for all things mechanical on the brand
new
"people's car," the Volkswagen Beetle. Ingrid
had two daughters two years apart, Susanne and
Karin. During her spare time, she worked as a disc
jockey for a German radio station.
In 1964, the entire family moved out west to
Portland, Oregon, home of Volkswagen
's Northwest
Regional office. Hans spent the next 12 years
moving up the corporate ladder while Ingrid
started her own import business. She introduced
America to copper kettles from the Netherlands,
ski sweaters and fondue pots from Switzerland and
lederhosen from Germany. Knowing that America
was where they wanted to stay, they both became
American citizens.
In the 70
's, Hans and Ingrid bought a Volkswagen
dealership in Auburn, Washington. It was at this
time that a marketing expert changed the Slavic
pronunciation of the name
"Skacel," to rhyme with
the dealership
's newly coined slogan "excel with
Skacel!
"
When their daughters left the nest in the mid 80
's,
Hans and Ingrid sold the dealership and returned
to Germany for a visit. It wasn
't long before there
was news of grandchildren, and Ingrid began
knitting in earnest. She discovered that Germany
was well stocked with beautiful yarns that weren
't
readily available in the United States. Thus in 1987,
Ingrid and Hans established Skacel Collection, Inc.,
a distributorship for Fine European yarns.
A year later, while on a buying trip to Germany,
Ingrid discovered a lone pair of circular knitting
needles in a shop. Knowing she had access to her
mother
's incredibly large stash of needles back
home, she did not purchase them. But that night,
Ingrid dreamt of those same knitting needles
flying through the air. Several days later she
followed her intuition and went back to the shop,
hoping the needles were still there. They were,
and this was her sign to find the manufacturer.
Several days later Ingrid had her first meeting
with Thomas Selter, the 6th generation owner of
addi. As a result of that meeting, Ingrid began to
import the circular needles into the States. They
were initially met with skepticism at trade shows,
but Ingrid gave free mini lessons on how to knit
in the round and sent shop owners home with a
sample pair. They were instantly smitten with the
newfound ease and speed of knitting in the round
and they loved the lightweight needles
' flexible
cords, snag-free joins and nickel plated tips.
Getting just a few needles into shop owner
's hands
had a snowball effect. The addi Turbo Needles took
flight, this time, not in a dream. As a matter of
fact, Gail from Vail (Gail Newman) a shop owner
back then, once told Hans they sold off her shelves
at
"Turbo" speed! Thus, the addi "Turbo" name was
trademarked.
In the late 90
's, a teacher and author invested in a
few pairs of addi Turbo
®
needles. She discovered
a way to knit socks more quickly and easily using
two circular needles instead of double points.
Excited to share the method with everyone, she
wrote a book appropriately titled
"Socks Soar on
Two Circular Needles.
" If you guessed this was
Cat Bordhi, you are right. Her book, distributed
by Skacel at the time, took Cat, the addi Turbo
®
circular needles, and sock knitting to new heights.
Ingrid and Hans have handed over the reins to
their youngest daughter, Karin. An avid knitter
and self-proclaimed fiber addict, it was a natural
fit.
"My parents established a company that values
quality in all areas, from the precision of the
products sold to the health and happiness of the
employees. They established a tradition of attention
to detail, generosity, and caring for our fiber
community, a tradition that I honor and proudly
carry forward.
"