f1bercat's SlowKnitter: churchmouse Yarn and Teas

Hello,

24 Yarn shops in 4 days. Crazy. Exhausting. Fun.

The Eastside Stitchers finished up the 2013 North Puget Sound LYS Crawl with a sparkling toast at Churchmouse Yarn & Teas on Bainbridge Island. Today, we had 2 full cars of Stitchers making the trek to 5 different yarn shops. One of the shops was new to the tour. We had a full and fun day. I bought yarn, but just a bit. Mostly, I saw some great shops that I am definitely going back to when I have more time. They are all worth a second, longer and more thorough visit.

The Stitchers on the yarn crawl today were WireKnitter, GwenS, and CathieC in my car. And Chockelet driving Skeinherder, MsWiz, Ellyol, and Tara1682.

We started from Bellevue at 8:30 am and headed up to Stanwood for the first shop. When we got there I discovered that I had left my passport home. O! Woe! I was so devastated. We were on a pretty tight schedule, and I didn't see how we could fit in a stop back home for the almost full passport. But, let's face it. WHAT ABOUT THE PRIZES? Still, I had to be mature and soldier on. Actually, I called my son, Pookie, and had him pick up the envelope with my pen, notebook, and passport, and drive it up to the 4th stop today. What a good boy.

PinchKnitter Yarns

8712 271st St. NW

Stanwood, WA 98292

360.939.0769

PinchKnitter Yarns was ready to roll at 10:00 am. This is such a bright and cheerful shop. They have a really good selection, but the shop still is able to feel very open.

Are you into colorwork? This shop has one of the best selections of Dale of Norway yarns I have seen.

This is definitely a focus for the shop. They feel like Dale of Norway yarns give an excellent bang for the buck. The yarn is high quality, and yet it is reasonably priced, even their higher end yarns, like mohair.

They have extended some of their other yarn brand lines, and are carrying more Prism and Trendsetter Yarns. This Fall, they will carry yarns by Sirdar.

We felt that they have samples that are different from what you might see in most shops. This is especially true for their children's samples. They were just beautiful.

Great Yarns

4023 Rucker Ave

Everett, WA 98201

425.252.8155

Great Yarns, in Everett, has a really nice set up. When you first walk in, you might think this shop looks a bit small. But this is far from true.

They have all of these little rooms that open off the first, main room.

Each little room is open, and uncluttered, and full of incredible yarn.

Great Yarns likes sparkle.

They like color and texture.

They like the unusual. (Cashmere from Mongolia).

When you think high end, think higher. As in 100% mink,

100% mink hand dyed exclusively for their store by a local dyer.

They have lots and lots of samples knit up because they believe that knitters should be able to try on a pattern, see the drape, feel the yarn, and make intelligent informed decisions about their projects.

They have tons of Noro,

a great sock yarn selection, and many many very special yarns.

Country Yarns

119 Avenue B

Snohomish, WA 98290

360.568.7611

To our surprise, today was the Sky Valley Motorcycle Show in Snohomish, WA, and the street in front of Country Yarns was closed for the event.

We made our way through the bikers and found a wonderful yarn shop.

This shop focuses on local yarns, dyers, fibers, and designers. They had a lot of yarn by Rain City Fiber Arts.

Almost all of the yarn they carry is made in the USA, and most of it is local. They carry fiber dyed by BJS Fiber Creations.

They have fiber for spinning, and materials for weaving.

They also have dyes.

There is a Thursday Farmers Market in Snohomish that coincides nicely with their Thursday knit night. The town is picturesque, and full of great places to eat. The drive over from Everett was gorgeous.

Main Street Yarn

15217 Main Street #106

Mill Creek, WA 98012

425.337.9606

Main Street Yarns is spacious and well lit.

The giant picture windows give the open room a beautiful light that is great if you are trying to really see the colors of the yarns.
They try to carry a good general variety of yarns.

But, they made sure to have some of the special yarns that you love to knit, such as Malabrigo, Blue Sky Alpaca, and Spud and Chloe.

They have a large assortment of needles, including Kollage, Knit Pick, Lantern Moon, and Addi.

They have 3 different table areas for drop in knitters, and have drop in groups every day.

Churchmouse Yarns & Teas

118 Madrone Lane

Bainbridge Island, WA 98110

206.780.2686

We finished up our crawl at Churchmouse Yarn and Teas on Bainbridge Island. We planned to end the crawl there because it is a bit difficult to time the visit easily since we have to factor in a ferry ride.

Although day was a bit chilly, the ride was still fun. We grabbed a window booth, and had some time to knit on the 30 minutes or so trip across Puget Sound.

The main shopping area on Bainbridge Island is an easy walk from the ferry dock, but since we were not sure about the rain, we drove and found easy street parking.

The shop wasn't as crowded as I expected it to be, given that it was the last day of the crawl, and finishing your crawl at Churchmouse is super fun.

They ring a bell when you hand in your full passport, and offer sparkling juice or wine.

We had a toast to the 2013 Crawl, and to the Eastside Stitchers.

Churchmouse is a well known shop and deservedly so. They have published 53 of their own patterns. They believe in projects that are relatively easy, quick, and beautiful.

I asked about a possible book collection of their well known patterns, and they said that they have been getting that request more and more from customers, and they are definitely thinking about it.

Right now, patterns that are really popular are the Colorplay Wrap and Scarf,

and the Modern Wrapper.

A new yarn that they are excited to carry is the new collection by Erica Knight.

You cannot believe how squishy this yarn feels. It was amazing.
Along with their more luxurious yarns,

they carry some important standards. Skeinherder and I, both bought some Regia Sock yarn. We have heard that it wears really well, and want to test it out. I won't list all the other yarns that we bought, as I don't want to embarrass Skeinherder. Or WireKnitter, for that matter. Though, I really think that both of them were more investing in yarn,, rather than just buying. Quality yarns in beautiful colors will never spoil.

The ride home on the ferry was uneventful, as we were tired. But, it was certainly beautiful.

Time for bed. Then I must finish those SM High Button Socks. Then, I just might cast on a new cowl.

Peace,

f1bercat
shaping the planet with gorgeous new yarn.

Hello,

Clouding over here, and just starting to rain. Surprise. Not. However, as far as weather goes, it is snowing down in Tucson, AZ. What's up, global climate change?

This is a quick Madrona post (I need to keep the momentum going), then I am off to Crossroads to meet up with my Stitch Buds.

Chameleon Colorworks Dyeworks and Fiber Studio had some very interesting and beautifully dyed fiber in their booth.

I love that these small studios always give you the fiber origin. They never just say "wool." Now that I am reading up a bit on fiber, it actually really makes a difference.

The most beautiful bin in their booth was the silk cocoon bin.

You have to boil these in soap to get rid of the silkworm glue, but then you can either pull out one long giant thread to ply, or you can make it into a silk hankie, from which you can then make some yarn and knit. Aren't they beautiful in this shape?

Next booth over was Churchmouse Yarn & Teas.
I am not really posting about our local shops who were present, but I am mentioning Churchmouse because there was a very special shawl on display at the Churchmouse booth.

Jared Flood had pieces from his new pattern collection knit up and on display along with his Shelter Yarn.

There are people in my stitch Bud group, Eastside Stitchers, who ... well LOVE Jared Flood AND his Shelter Yarn.

Even better than finding the patterns and yarn, we found the actual shawl that our own Redbird1 test knit for Jared Flood's newest pattern collection. And it is beautiful.

The pattern and yarn aren't so bad, either.

Almost time to get ready to meet up with my Buddies, but I just wanted to show the progress on my frogged back Smaug Socks.

I had somehow reduced them too much when I was knitting the gussets, so I briefly thought of tinking, but I could see that it was going to need too many rows, and that would take forever since I was knitting them 2aat. I decided to just frog back to the heels, and add about 1/2 in. more to the flaps. Then, restart the gussets. I have finished the gussets and knit about 3 inches of the foot on the right sock: