Local yarn shops (LYS) do come and go. It is a tough business with a fair amount invested in inventory, personnel and rent. All these expenses need to be covered by the patronage of a group of rather frugal consumers (Most yarn artists want to get their raw material at as low a cost as possible.) That's why you'll see so many classes offered at LYS. These classes are a great way to bring in new customers, help them increase their skills, learn about all the services a LYS can offer and, of course, sell a few hanks of yarn and other knitting paraphernalia along the way.
As a customer it is very nice to have a good working relationship with your LYS because it is there one can go to help solve problems like selecting appropriate colour combinations or substitute yarn, solving knitting problems and find others as fanatic or more so about knitting.
But how do you know if a shop is near you or not if they are popping up or closing down like a whack-a-mole game. Some would like a book to use as a reference, but it would be out of date before it goes to press. So some enterprising knitter designed Knitmap, a searchable catalogue of yarn stores from all over the world. The best part is anyone can review, rate and help keep Knitmap up to date. To use the website simply type in the address, zip or postal code and select what it is you are looking for with regard to knitting such as classes, chain shops or spinning supplies. Push search and poof, your options will become available.
Knitmap is not the only LYS map available out there: Vogue Knitting has its own U.S. map; a map can be found on iTunes and there's another U.S. map found at Daily Knitter. Most major yarn manufacturers also have a map of sorts to help you locate their yarn in a shop near you, so by no means is the list of sites offered here exhaustive. The only drawback to all these sites is their accuracy. In the case of Knitmap, users are asked to update the site as LYS come and go. Other major sites like the ones listed in this paragraph work harder to insure customers know where to look to find their wears. But I offer one bit of caution always in using these sites, before you make an effort to visit a LYS, call first to see if the shop is still open.
BTW, Barley is now finished. I did have enough yarn, in fact there was about 4 yards left over. So yeah for me, my calculations were spot on, there was supposed to be a small bit of yarn left when the toque was complete. Here it is happily drying before it goes back to Jami. I had a good time and an interesting challenge working with this found yarn. (Note this was a variegated yarn where the design of the toque worked well with the colour changes. No colour pooling of the bad kind on this project. The pooling actually accentuated the design.)
As a customer it is very nice to have a good working relationship with your LYS because it is there one can go to help solve problems like selecting appropriate colour combinations or substitute yarn, solving knitting problems and find others as fanatic or more so about knitting.
But how do you know if a shop is near you or not if they are popping up or closing down like a whack-a-mole game. Some would like a book to use as a reference, but it would be out of date before it goes to press. So some enterprising knitter designed Knitmap, a searchable catalogue of yarn stores from all over the world. The best part is anyone can review, rate and help keep Knitmap up to date. To use the website simply type in the address, zip or postal code and select what it is you are looking for with regard to knitting such as classes, chain shops or spinning supplies. Push search and poof, your options will become available.
Knitmap is not the only LYS map available out there: Vogue Knitting has its own U.S. map; a map can be found on iTunes and there's another U.S. map found at Daily Knitter. Most major yarn manufacturers also have a map of sorts to help you locate their yarn in a shop near you, so by no means is the list of sites offered here exhaustive. The only drawback to all these sites is their accuracy. In the case of Knitmap, users are asked to update the site as LYS come and go. Other major sites like the ones listed in this paragraph work harder to insure customers know where to look to find their wears. But I offer one bit of caution always in using these sites, before you make an effort to visit a LYS, call first to see if the shop is still open.
BTW, Barley is now finished. I did have enough yarn, in fact there was about 4 yards left over. So yeah for me, my calculations were spot on, there was supposed to be a small bit of yarn left when the toque was complete. Here it is happily drying before it goes back to Jami. I had a good time and an interesting challenge working with this found yarn. (Note this was a variegated yarn where the design of the toque worked well with the colour changes. No colour pooling of the bad kind on this project. The pooling actually accentuated the design.)
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| Jami's found yarn Barley toque |
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