Field Trip
Melise and Mary Jo....LOVE that license plate!
Dr. Elizabeth Barber with LA Spinning Guild Members 
This past Saturday, Mary Jo, Melise and I attended a lecture hosted by The Greater Los Angeles Spinning Guild at St. Andrews Church in WLA. The speaker was Dr. Elizabeth Barber, who has written this interesting book, among others. Since this was a lecture primarily attended by spinners and weavers, she geared her talk toward subjects that would be of interest to this group. Dr. Barber brought slides of data showing the existence of different types of fabric and weaving in ancient times. It was fascinating. While we were listening to the lecture, many of the attendees were spinning (wheels and spindles), knitting, crocheting, etc. It was quite inspiring. I saw some old friends and met some new ones.
Elizabeth BarberThe lecture was over around noonish, so the three of us left for lunch at the Sunset Grill in Santa Monica. Lunch was great and perfect nourishment for our impending yarn crawl. Luckily, the L.A. rainstorm stopped for the afternoon so we could "crawl" in the sunshine!
We drove toward the beach and stopped at Yarns Unlimited on Pico Blvd. This is really my go-to yarn shop. It's near my office, the prices are good, the stock is impressive and I can usuallly find what I need. They do not carry Koigu or Noro, but I can live with that.
Yarns Unlimited
Next stop, the new and improved Wild Fiber on 14th St. WF was packed. There was an ongoing knit class in the back, people were checking out the Great Wall of Koigu and just generally hangin' out. The vibe at this shop is really nice. They have all of the high-end yarns and accessories you could ever want. They also have a sale area in the back where I've found some interesting yarns and old magazines. In fact, I found six skeins of Cotton Joy by Needful Yarns for half-price.
Cotton JoyWe zoomed back to Pico Blvd. and stopped by Artesanias Oaxaquenas Fine Art Gallery. This shop used to be located on Ocean Park, near 17th, but has recently relocated. In addition to jewelry and pottery from Oaxaca, they have an amazing selection of those flowered oilcloth handbags, totes and makeup pouches at very reasonable prices. Of course, we all managed to find something to buy.
Last stop, Stitches From The Heart Yarn Store. It was busy here too. There's always something interesting at this shop AND they have tons of free parking in back. They stock many yarns from Turkey that are very colorful and extremely soft. I picked up six skeins of a yarn I had never seen before, Naturally Tussock Aran 10-Ply. It's 85% New Zealand Wool and 15% polyester. It's not quite as rough feeling as the usual Aran wool.
Stitches From The Heart
It was a wonderful day, full of colorful surprises. Thanks, Girls!
Yarns Unlimited, 828 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica
Wild Fiber, 1453 14th St., Santa Monica
Artesanias Oaxaquenas Fine Art Gallery, 2919 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica
Stitches From The Heart, 3316 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica
Labels: yarny stuff
posted by Ellen Bloom @ 2:19 PM
7 Comments:
Hi Ellen,
You are so lucky to have so many yarn shops in close proximity.
Judy
Bakersfield
Oh Ellen, I would've said hello if I knew for sure that you were there. I didn't see you come and go. I thought that it was you when I was taking pictures in the back. But without the headband I couldn't be sure. Then I got to chatting with people after the lecture and didn't see you go. :-( I am glad that you had fun. Please come to the meeting again!
How has Wildfiber changed since Mel left? I used to love that place.
Hi Ellen!
Well, Wild Fiber is a much more welcoming place now. EVERYONE that works there is attentive and goes out of their way to help you all the time. The atmosphere is great now.
Wow you do have a lot of yarn stores in your area, lucky you!
I need an expert in this area to solve my problem.
Maybe that’s you!
Taking a look ahead to look you.
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