Canton, MA: Sheep Street Yarn Shop

I chose a Tuesday afternoon for my first visit to the Sheep Street Yarn Shop, and found it to be very busy. When I entered this tiny store, I counted 7 people, plus myself. Two or three were staff, and I suppose that being busy is a good thing for a yarn shop, but I found it very difficult to navigate the store and browse in comfort. There were several times that I had to step over something (knitting bags or baskets of yarn) or lean across another customer to reach a yarn. The store is somewhat cluttered, and I didn't get a real sense of how the yarn was organized.

When I first entered the store, it felt like everyone was talking and then shut up when "the stranger" entered. I'm sure it didn't actually happen that way, but it was a bit unsettling. It took quite some time before anyone acknowleged me, and that was with a "can I help you?" that was not exactly effusive and friendly.

Sheep Street specializes in luxurious natural fibers, and the selection does not disappoint. There were several brands of alpaca and cashmere yarns, as well as higher-end wools. Manos, Schaefer, and Classic Elite, and Mission Falls yarns were featured prominently, and I also saw quite a bit of Debbie Bliss and Cascade 220. The sock yarn selection appeared to be small and I didn't find anything of interest -- I think I noticed Trekking and Opal or Regia or one of those fairly common variegated yarns that come in large balls. They have Louet listed on their website as one of their suppliers, but I did not find any Louet sock yarn, just Euroflax Linen.

A few shelves and baskets of yarn had "sale" tags, and I lucked out and stumbled into (literally) a basket of Cascade Fixation yarn that was 50% off. I scooped up 8 balls.

The book selection is fairly small, but is up to date with many of the current releases in stock. Patterns are organized in binders at the front of the store, but I did not take a look because there was no comfortable place to browse. The small table near the front of the store had bags on yarn on it, and someone sitting and knitting.

Needles and notions are located behind the register; they carry Brittany needles (I found my precious Brittany cable needles!), Addi Turbos, and the Lantern Moon Sox Stix.

The staff was polite, but not very welcoming or friendly. Questions were answered perfunctorily, and more than once the person stopped in the middle of helping me to answer someone else's question, or to pay for their lunch delivery. When I told the woman who was helping me that I was a new customer to the store, she did not say "welcome", provide information about the store or classes, etc. My purchase was rung up, they put my name in their customer database, but they did nothing to encourage me to come back. There was a little bit of discussion about what I was going to do with my yarn, which was nice, but it came well after my initial impression, and I still didn't feel that they were really interested.

Free parking is available at the back of the store, which is convenient. According to their website, the shop is closed on Sunday and Monday, open til 7pm on Wednesday, and until 5 on the other days.

Though it's not terribly far from my house, I think that this is the type of store that I will keep in mind when I need a certain yarn that I can't find locally elsewhere ... and I will call first to see if they have it before making the 1/2 hour drive. They do have beautiful yarns, but I don't see myself going in often and browsing, as it wasn't a terribly comfortable or welcoming environment.

Martha's Vineyard, MA: Heath Hen Yarn and Quilt Shop

I chose one of the coldest days of the year to explore Heath Hen Yarn and Quilt Shop. The store is located in Vineyard Haven on the island of Martha's Vineyard, and is a short walk from Main Street and the Vineyard Haven ferry. The store is a bit off the beaten path, so I got directions from the hotel. Even on this frigid day, the walk was reasonable: about 10 minutes from my room at the Mansion House Inn.

It wasn't the most beautiful walk that one could take on the island, but I had a mission: I needed yarn. I was in danger of finishing the sock I had with me, and I couldn't imagine being caught on the ferry home with no knitting.

The shop is located in a small plaza with a seafood/takeout store, a toy shop, consignment shop, and some offices. When I walked in, there was one staff person who was helping a customer, so I slipped in unnoticed. The store consists of two rooms: the first room is dedicated to quilting and cross-stitch, and the second room to knitting. There is a pass-through window on the wall between the two rooms, and through that window I could see many sample garments hanging, and I knew immediately that my yarn was in there.

The store is cozy, with wide plank wooden floors and a calming color scheme on the walls -- exactly what you'd expect for the Vineyard. It was warm and smelled of wool: just the thing I needed on this very cold winter day.

The yarn room was organized by type of yarn. The "staples" such as Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride, Jamieson, and Cascade 220 are to your left as you enter. There were about 5 colorways each of the Jamieson and Cascade 220, and maybe 10 colorways of Lamb's Pride. I also saw some Rowan Tapestry on that wall as well. Below eye level were lower-end staples, mainly Plymouth Encore.

The bulk of the display space, however, was given over to Berroco. The entire back wall and center "island" display area were almost completely devoted to Berroco yarns. There was some novelty yarn, but most of it was the more "conservative" of the Berroco line, such as Foliage, Pure Merino, Cotton Twist, Memoirs.

The sock yarn selection was slim: 3 colorways of Jawoll Jacquard, and approximately 5 colorways of Opal. I didn't pay too much attention to their selection of baby yarns, but it was not overwhelming.

I appreciated seeing many of the samples that the store had on display. A log-cabin style afghan that I had seen on the web and didn't care for was actually quite nice in person. I was disappointed that the samples were not labeled with the pattern name or source.

Yarns seemed to be about standard retail price. The store carried a very small selection of knitting-specific notions, such as stitch markers, darning needles, etc. -- nothing I hadn't seen elsewhere. The knitting needles are kept behind the cash register, which I found a bit odd. I spotted Clover bamboo, Pony Pearl DPNs, and Addi Turbo circulars. I think you just ask the staff for the needles you need.

I don't know much (OK, anything) about cross-stitch or quilting, so I can't really evaluate the store on those grounds. They had an assortment of fabric and sewing notions, but I can't speak to the selection. There were some cute cross-stitch kits displayed behind the counter that were Martha's Vineyard specific. If you are vacationing on the island and like cross-stitch, it might be a nice souvenir. The local theme was carried into their selection of buttons and shawl pins, many of which had a seashell or nautical theme.

When I made my purchase (2 skeins of Jawoll jacquard sock yarn in a colorway I'd actually been looking for), the shopkeeper was polite and businesslike. There were two other customers in the store awaiting her assistance, so perhaps that was the reason, but I was surprised that she didn't ask if I needed needles, or try to chat me up in general. In fact, I don't think she said much beyond telling me the amount due. Perhaps in the summer tourist season there is more friendliness.

Overall, I don't think the store is a place that I need to visit again, unless I am desperately in need of a project while on Island. It's nice enough, but I didn't find there to be enough of a selection. However, (and I think this is important to note), business and the economy on the Vineyard are very slow in the off-season; the quantity and selection of yarns may improve considerably in the summer months, during the height of tourist season. For that reason, I am not going to issue a star-rating for this store, because I'm not sure that it would reflect the reality in July.

The store offers both knitting and quilting classes. Please check their website for address, hours, class schedule, etc. Keep in mind that winter hours may be very different from summer hours.