How Far Will You Go For Yarn?

Seriously, how far are you willing to go for yarn?

Lately I have been traveling for work - I've been in NC and in Philly over the last couple of months. I love to venture out and explore new places, so of course I found the yarn stores out there...

So here is the result of my company sponsored yarn store "crawl" along the eastern seaboard...(Too bad I can't figure out how to expense the yarn yet!)

First up, Great Yarns. in Raleigh, NC. The first time I tried to go here, they weren't very nice to me (it was 5:58 and they close at 6) and wouldn't let me in the store. I gave them the benefit of the doubt and went back a second time. The store is Ok, though I wasn't overly excited about their selection. I did find the great Baby Pullover sweater pattern here and a great Encore Chunky yarn in "Carolina Blue" (think UNC Chapel Hill colors) This is the finished sweater that went to T's nephew Little J.

Next up was a store about an hour SW of Raleigh in Southern Pines, NC called Bella Filati. I really drove down there to visit the Pinehurst golf course, but this store was "on the way". It was a bit of a drive, but it was SOOO worth it. (Yeah, I stopped there first and did actually visit the golf course) This store was beautiful and had FABULOUS yarn. There was a knit night that night too, but I had forgotten my project, but had a great time shopping and talking with the other knitters. They even have a great online store. I may even visit it again this week. I bought some Blue Sky Cotton in a bright red for a baby sweater (the son of a Rutgers grad) and some Malbridgo, which was heavenly and PINK...I know, what a surprise.

So, next up was Philadelphia. I wasn't even thinking about yarn shopping, until Jenn, who is well versed on "Yarn Traveling" told me that I HAD to go visit Loop in downtown Philly. I wasn't planning on having any time, but my flight was at 6:30pm and we were finished at 1pm and the earlier flights were booked... Thus, it was on to LOOP!

They had some great yarns too. There was a whole wall of Koigu which was amazing and gorgeous. I was rather overwhelmed by the whole store, so I asked for some recommendations. I was led to a great yarn from Sheep Shop Yarn Company - it's 30% silk and 70% wool. There was a great shell on display in the window made out of the yarn, that I was then determined to make immediately! (ok, so the yarn cost in excess of 4x that I would pay for it in a store, but that's so NOT the point!) Oh, and the bag was a party favor from their anniversary party.

I did find Rosie's Yarn Cellar, but couldn't find a space to park for blocks. Ok, there were a couple that opened up, but I was in a bigger car than I'm used to and never did pass parallel parking for my driver's test, so didn't want to risk it. Maybe next trip...

Last week I was back in Philly, but about an hour west of the city and had an early night and was totally ready to get away from "Jr." that I had been working together all week. I came back to the hotel to change shoes, checked the websites for yarns near Exton, PA, found FrouFrou was open until 7 and hit the road for some Yarn Therapy!! (I was on the phone with T at the time and told him that I had to go, in order to get to the store on time!!) It is a cute store that had a lot of yarn on SALE. I found some Noro Silk Garden Lite, some Cascade 220 for baby sweaters and some really cool Tahki wool from Ireland. It was all 15% off and I actually had about 6 more skeins picked out at the time, but had to contain myself.

Next up, I go to Athens GA next week and I'm already scouting for stores. Any suggestions?

After that, I'm back in NC for a week, then home to STL for the summer. I'm looking forward to a STL yarn crawl!

Ok, so really, how far have you been willing to go for yarn??