Albuquerque Yarn Crawl

Fiesta Yarn Outlet's Exterior is very different from the Interior!

On Monday morning, Shayne and I went on an Albuquerque yarn crawl.  Shayne is a some-time knitter.  She usually has one project on her needles, but she's not as obsessed as I am.  After our yarn crawl on Monday, I think Shayne just may be on her way to obsession.  Shayne has not really shopped in LYSs (Little Yarn Shops) often, so she was blown away by the variety of color, texture and content of the yarns.

There are some great yarn shops in the Albuquerque area.  We hit three on Monday.  I wanted to go to the Fiesta Yarns Outlet store first.  Always check out the discounted yarn before looking at the retail choices!  

Fiesta Outlet Interior - WOW!

Fiesta's Warehouse is in an industrial section of town.  It's very bleak looking from the outside.  HOWEVER, when you open the door to the tiny outlet store, you're met with a riot of color and texture.  All of the "seconds" are crammed onto 2-1/2 walls and into over-flowing baskets.  What makes this yarn only suitable to sell in the outlet?  Well, it seems that some of the dye-lots are not perfect and that some of the skeins may weigh less than advertised.  Well, that's OK with me!  

The dyes that Fiesta uses are gorgeous!  We spent awhile oooooing and ahhhhing all of the various yarns.  The prices are excellent.  I came away with some gorgeous worsted weight; Flake Cotton, a sweet little sample yarn and some surprise birthday yarn for my friend, Julie.

"Rusty" - mini sample skein

Our next stop was Village Wools.  This is a very large, traditional yarn shop that also includes supplies for dyeing and spinning.  

The selection at Village is amazing.  They had every yarn under the sun.  The prices at Village Wools is a bit better than many of the high-end shops in Los Angeles.  I purchased just two skeins washable Liberty Wool in yummy colors.

Village Wools, Interior

After a delicious lunch near the University of New Mexico (Greek food), we drove into Albuquerque's Historic Old Town and walked around their plaza.  This is a sweet little town center, full of craftspeople, restaurants and the obligatory Catholic church.  After the tourists and hype of the Santa Fe Plaza, this smaller, less touristy Plaza was delightful.  Of course, it was Monday and many of the shops were closed.  We wandered around looking for Fiber Chicks.  This colorful little shop is down a walkway, in the corner of a mini plaza. 

We found Fiber Chicks!

Inside Fiber Chicks

The talented and charming Lesley

The owner, Lesley was so much fun!  She showed us all of her samples and we talked Knit-Talk for a long time.  Shayne learned a lot at this little shop.  I hope she returns for a few lessons and pattern ideas from Lesley.  I bought a skein of Noro Silk Garden Sock Yarn and two skeins of this fluffy CaraCara yarn.

 

There are even more yarn shops in Albuquerque and the surrounding areas that we didn't have time to visit or they were closed on Monday.  Albuquerque is definitely a yarn lover's destination! Naturally, all of the yarn I purchased is considered souvenir yarn and does not count toward my vast yarn stash! Thanks for shlepping all around town, Shayne!