The Yarn Store Crawl - 9/8/2007

THE YARN STORE CRAWL!!! I know I've been teasing about this but here's the story.

The crawlers: my sister Fleas, my niece Surfer Girl(Sammy), my nephew Crazy Boy, and me.
Fleas is a crocheter who is learning to knit because her daughter, her son and I do. I think she's enjoying it but has always been comfortable with crocheting since learning with our grandmother.

Surfer Girl got interested in knitting when I started and it was all I talked about. I've written about her before in my blog but she came with my to free lessons once and has knitted ever since. She's still hesitant to purl much but I'm trying to guide her along. She's in 6th grade and has orders from all her friends for bracelets and the latest is doggie collars. I've given her some dishcloth patterns to try and she is interested in knitting on circulars. She has a knitting animals book that she is going to try.

Crazy Boy is a bit young at 3rd grade and has a short attention span but he's started learning to knit two weeks ago. I was sitting for two girls and they wanted to learn. One is his friend so he naturally wanted to try it as well. He's coming along and seems to enjoy it when he's not frustrated.

About our Trip: We live in St. Petersburg, FL and the plan was to start in Palm Harbor, FL and hit all the yarn stores we have not been to. (I will do another post with pics and stories about the two I frequent) I googled all the yarn stores and planned a route. I stuck to those in a general area and cut out the ones that would make the crawl too long for the younger ones.

We started out at about 10:00 am and hit Chick-fil-a for a healthy breakfast of chicken!! From there we headed to our first stop, Uncommon Threads in Palm Harbor. As we were getting there I realized that I had forgotten the one thing other than my wallet that I really wanted to bring. A CAMERA!!! I took the pictures of uncommon threads from my cell phone and after hitting the store we stopped for a disposable hence why it took me so long to get this post going. Ok... on with the Yarn Crawl. (ps. I've been writing this post for two days)

Uncommon Threads was probably one of my favorite yarn stores on the crawl. It was located in a strip mall and the sign outside that says YARN does not represent the quality of the store. When you walk in there is shelves and shelves of YARN!! There was plenty of places to sit and when I walked in I spoke with one woman who worked there and she was very helpful. It was a Saturday afternoon and it was packed!! Everyone seemed very friendly and there seemed to be a little group gathering in the back for snacks and knitting. They have an amazing selection of needles and the YARN!! It was so pretty. I saw some Shuibui Sock yarn that was amazing and should have grabbed it for my HSKS 3 pal but it was my first stop and I felt like I had to wait. (If I have time I may go back and get this for her because it was a great color) Surfer Girl really liked this yarn store as well. No one purchased anything but I think only because it was the first of four not because of the selection.

Second stop was The Yarn Gallery in Dunedin. I have wanted to visit this store for about three months and was glad it was open when we got there. (I called all stores ahead and made sure they were open) When I was working up in Dunedin this summer this store was closed for a month I believe because of a pregnancy. The lady who owns the store was so nice, extremely helpful and informative. The selection of yarn was pretty amazing. The store is roomy with three separate rooms and a table on one side in the middle room to sit and hang out but didn't seem as welcoming to strangers as I'm sure it may be. There was some amazing bags and needle rolls there as well. This one type of needle roll was made from recycled material and was a patch work pattern. The lady in the store was very nice and made a copy of a pattern for a sock with no heel for me. We all purchased some yarn at the Yarn Gallery.

Next stop was PIZZA at Cristino's Pizza in Clearwater. We weren't really planning on stopping for lunch here but Fleas had read a review of this place in the local newspaper a couple weeks before and we were all kind of hungry and ready for a break so we stopped. The pizza was wonderful as well as the atmosphere. We ordered a half mushrooms with sausage, a quarter cheese and a quarter pepperoni pizza. Fleas and I got salads for starters. For dessert the kids got gelato and Fleas and I helped them with it. I knit a little while waiting for our pizza. I would definitely recommend eating here if you are around Clearwater.

Next yarn store was Flying Needles Inc. in Belleair Bluffs, FL. This store was most needle point but had a pretty nice selection of yarn. With any purchase of sock yarn, you get a free pattern. I bought sockotta yarn and ChiaoGoo Bamboo double point needles in size 2. Surfer girl bought some circular needles. The two ladies who worked there were friendly and helpful. Fleas spent a bit of time speaking to them about their needle point. They had some high quality hand painted needlepoint patterns. The store was set up with one big room and had a table to sit and hang out.

The last but not least yarn stop was Knits n Krafts in Seminole, FL. The woman who owned this store was the nicest lady I have met. She was an older woman who was eager to help and wanted to make sure we knew that we could come and sit, knit and learn whenever we would like. She said she has taught many of people to knit. The selection of yarn was not as high end as the other stores but there was a wide variety and lovely colors. There was a nice selection of wooden and bamboo needles.

We all had a lot of fun on this yarn crawl. By the end we were tired and yarned out but eager to go home and knit...at least I was. I hope you have enjoyed our little store of Yarn Crawl 9/8/07. This probably will not be the last.

Happy Knitting!!!!