Yarn Crawl

What a great idea!!! Instead of the usual bar crawl, Natalie, Carla and I went on a YARN CRAWL on Wednesday. Of course, I only took one picture the whole day 'cause I was way too involved with petting the yarn at our various stops. We loved the idea of the little yarn tree in the window at Wildfiber in Santa Monica! If you want to see pix of Natalie and Carla using their newly bought yarn, check out Crazy Aunt Purl's blog.

Since Natalie and Carla both live east of Fairfax, they're not that familiar with all of the great shops in Santa Monica and the Westside. They arrived at my house in Wilshire Vista at 10am. We hopped on the freeway. Our first stop was Stitches From The Heart, 3306 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica. As usual, the store was buzzing. Store Manager, Brandi Dailey was there flying from bin to bin to show us the latest yarns. All of the volunteers are so warm and welcoming at this shop. We were there for at least 45 minutes. We learned a few new patterns and techniques as well as acquiring much gorgeous yarn, patterns and accessories. I picked up some Smile in a pink and khaki combination and some mink-soft Misti Alpaca in a dark purple.

Next stop: I swung south on Centinela and we cruised into Culver City to visit the oft forgotten Azalia's Yarn Shop at 11287 Washington Blvd., just east of Sawtelle. This is a very small shop with limited selection, but the prices are excellent.

West on Venice Blvd. to A Mano Yarn Center, 12808 Venice Blvd. in Mar Vista. Lots of people really like this shop. It's good for certain things: Noro and Koigu. They also have fairly decent sales. I must say, their selection of needles, hooks, buttons and purse handles is really excellent. Everyone is very helpful there too. I picked up a skein of this gorgeous orange, yellow and green handspun wool.

We were starting to get hungry, but we charged on to the next shop, Yarns Unlimited at 828 Pico Blvd., just east of Lincoln in Santa Monica. WELL! The goils were amazed at the incredible selection and organization of this shop. We spent money and time at this LYS.

By then, we were about dropping from hunger and yarn-x-haustion. We sent to Tacos Por Favor on Olympic and 14th in Santa Monica for sustenance. It was crowded, but we had a marvelous lunch which fortified us for our next stop.....Wildfiber, 1453 14th St., Santa Monica. This is a really lovely store. It's not real homey and cordial, but they do have a marvelous selection of everything! I picked up some Manos del Uruguay and some of their terrific sale yarn.

We were rawther exhausted by this time and kinda' yarned-out, but Nat and Car wanted to run up to Brentwood and check out Jennifer Knits, where our friend Shannita works. Shannita is one of the moderators of our LA Stitch 'n Bitch group. She's an excellent knitter and crocheter. She is also a faboo designer. Shannita's patterns have been published AND she'll be featured on next season's Knitty Gritty on the DIY Network.

OK, Jennifer Knits is having a big sale, starting January 3rd, but I have to say that this little store is really crowded. Sorry. I like Jennifer, I like her pattern books...she's very clever, I love Shannita, but you just can't find anything or walk around that store without bumping into furniture, books, yarn or other people. Jennifer needs to expand to a larger space. We chatted with Shannita and Jennifer, walked around the adorable little Brentwood Village, then drove home.

All in all, it was a glorious Yarn Crawl. I suggest we organize some sort of official Yarn Crawl in 2006! Who's got the van?