Needham, MA: Creative Warehouse

Creative Warehouse is a yarn experience like none I've ever had. Tucked in the corner of an industrial park, the shop truly lives up to its name. The store is located just a few minutes off Rt. 95, and the driving directions on the website are clear and thorough. The store is marked outside with a cheerful sign saying "open", so I found it easily from the parking lot.

The first thing that struck me was a sign on the door: Yarn of the Day, 20% off. It listed the yarn (which of course I now forget), but I thought it was a cool idea.


The entrance of the store is, in a word, overwhelming. Picture a mountain of yarn (most of it in bags), as high as the very high ceilings, tumbling off shelves onto the floor. It's a warehouse, all right, and it feels like one, too.





The next section of the store features the cash register area, and the pattern area.
Patterns are spilling out of spinner racks and wall racks, and there are more patterns than I've ever seen in before in one place. They are organized and labeled with pattern type (shawls, scarves, afghans), but it's still quite overwhelming.

Then, moving back into the store, more yarn. Much more yarn. Yarn everywhere. Brown Sheep, Cascade and Encore, but also Jamieson, Colinette, Berroco, and many brands that I'd never heard of. Sample garments hang from racks and bags are interspersed throughout, but it's still a lot of yarn. I'm not quite sure how it's organized -- if I had to guess I'd say by weight. I was pulled to one fixture that contained some luxury yarns: Schaefer Elaine, cashmere and wool blends, Great Adirondack hand-dyes. Across the aisle was sock yarn -- Sockotta, Trekking, and Colinette Jitterbug. There were a few hanks of Mountain Colors Weavers Wool quarters there as well.

Several people were sitting at a large table in the middle of the store. A staff member saw me browsing and asked if I needed any help. When I told her it was my first time in the store, she welcomed me, and told me that they were looking at new fall yarns -- I should come over and take a look with them. I went over and realized that they were meeting with a yarn rep, and she was asking customers for input as they sat and knit.

When I asked about pricing, she handed me a price list and explained how it was arranged. I carried this with me as I shopped through the store. Yarns seemed to be priced pretty close to suggested retail, except for 'final sale' yarns that were discounted. She also told me that they were having a sale, and handed me a coupon for 15% off all yarns, needles and books, good through the end of the month.


Then I found the books. Lots of books -- even some that were out of print. I found Charlene Schurch's Knitting Marvelous Mittens, which I had been trying to find without paying the $100 price that the book sells for online. That alone made this trip worthwhile.


The notions wall features needles by Addi, Lantern Moon, Brittany, and Clover. These are self-serve and easy to browse. Other things the shop carries: knitting bags, and lots of them. Hanne Falkenberg kits, SOAK fabric wash, shawl pins, reading glasses, many kits of all kinds.

At the beginning of this review, I described the shop as "an experience" and that's really the only way I can explain it. At first glance, you may think that there is nothing there that interests you, and that's it's too confusing and cluttered to shop. But once you get in, you are there for a long time. There's so much to look at that it's sometimes hard to concentrate.

But what truly impressed me about this shop was the friendliness and helpfulness of the staff. I'd have to say that it was the best welcome I'd ever received from any yarn store. It's the kind of place where you feel like a "regular" from the first hello. I will definitely return.

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.

A note on comments here

I've just installed Haloscan for comments here on my blog. Unfortunately, as part of the install process, all existing comments on the blog disappear. I knew that going in, and I'm ok with it.

I think I've responded to everyone who has commented, but if for some reason I missed you, I'm sorry.

Feel free to leave me new comments so that I can test out this new comment thingamabob and see how it works!

Thanks!

Sometimes it just feels right

The minute I saw the Catalina shawl over at the Posh Yarn blog, I knew I had to knit this. Designed by Gabriella, it is the perfect pattern to use with my Malabrigo Laceweight. And best yet, Gabriella doesn't think it will be too difficult for a beginning lace knitter.

Now if I can just get some of these other projects out of the way so I can cast on this beautiful project!

Sock in a day -- I did it!

OK, I'll admit it's a little bit of a cheat .. an ankle sock in Cascade Fixation knit for a 5 year old foot. I did up the degree of difficulty by trying a new short row heel (Priscilla Gibson Roberts' version, which I took from the Priscilla's Dream Sock pattern in Interweave's Favorite Socks book).

It took me somewhere around 8 hours from cast on to kitchener. I didn't keep track of time too carefully, as I knew I'd be able to finish in the allotted 18 hours.

Sadly, it doesn't fit. Thankfully, it's too big rather than too small. But I also realize that my gauge in ribbing (2x2) is w-a-y looser than my stockinette gauge. I think I should have gone down one needle size for the entire sock, and maybe 2 or 3 needle sizes for the cuff. At least, I think that's the problem. If it's something else, or if you have other suggestions, please tell me.

I really loved the yarn-over short row heel. I am going to try it in the next pair of socks I knit for myself.

This is also the first pair of socks I've knit where I didn't follow a pattern from start to finish.

Pattern: none - 2x2 rib and stockinette cuff, yarn over short row heel, stockinette foot, and traditional toe.

Eesh, am I really going to do this?

When I started blogging, I swore I wasn't going to fill my blog with memes. And I'm not. But I saw this one on Sandy's blog, and thought it was a great way to document where I am and all of the things I still want to try. Regular posts will resume tomorrow, and I will have the meme thing out of my system.

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Bold for stuff you’ve done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you’re not planning on doing.

Afghan/Blanket
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: cuff-up
Mittens: tip down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting (note: I have no idea what this is, so I don't know if I've done it or want to)
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting (note: just a tiny bit, once)
Norwegian knitting
Dyeing with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with DPNs
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dyeing yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Baby items
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

My first Meme

Mrs. H. tagged me. I think it's my first tag, so I'm going to do this, because it's a pretty good one.

Here are the rules... Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write in their blogs the 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog.

1. I am mayonnaise-a-phobic. I can't eat anything that has been touched by the smallest molecule of mayo.

2. I don't hold my pencil "properly." Because of that, I have never mastered chopsticks, because everyone says to "hold it like you hold a pencil." Doesn't work for me.

3. I don't like to tell lies, because it seems that then they come true. When I was in fourth grade, we went roller skating for girl scouts. I didn't feel like skating, so I pretended to twist my ankle. But when I pretended ... I really did twist it. Since then, I've been on crutches 3 times because my ankle has never been right. So now I think twice before telling a lie. I never "call in sick," because I know that I will then get sick. Sadly, this won't work if I tell a "good" lie. If it would, I'd tell you that I just hit the lottery.

4. My husband and I were born one day apart. I'm the older woman. My mother and his father were also born one day apart.

5. I placed 8th in the Westchester County Spelling Bee. I didn't want to win, but I really really wanted to come in 2nd, because the prize was a television. The word I lost on was "vouchsafe". I couldn't believe that it would really be spelled just like it sounds.

6. My cousin and I had the exact same name, including middle name, until we each got married. We are one month apart in age.

7. (this is harder than I thought). When I was 7, I wanted to be a nun.

OK, now I'm tagging Knitchick, Katie, Michelle, Jeanne, and I think I'm going to stop there.

Have fun! I look forward to reading about you all!