yarn crawl

Madeline Tosh and Pagewood Farms

Yesterday Gavin rented a board and a wetsuit from ZJ's Board house with a plan to catch as many waves as he could, leaving me free to do whatever I pleased. Perfect opportunity for a yarn crawl!

I googled and decided on two shops that I wanted to see - Compatto Yarn Salon and Wild Fiber - both well reviewed. And then I studied the system map for the Big Blue Bus to figure out my route. Turns out that the No2 bus stops almost at the doorstep of my motel and drives pretty much directly to Compatto on Wilshire Blvd.

Wollmeise

The reviews did mention that the store associates were friendly, but that seems to be something of an understatement. Add more descriptors like welcoming, enthusiastic, happy, helpful, attentive and you start to get the picture. For instance, a young woman walked in with a page torn from a magazine showing a cowl she liked. The store associate confirmed that she wanted to knit it, showed her the appropriate bulky yarns to choose from, helped her select the correct needles, and then reverse engineered the pattern for her. They had a lovely selection of yarn, but I focussed on sock yarns that you don't see in Canada - Madeline Tosh and Pagewood Farms are both local to the southern California area.

Next stop - one crosstown bus and then the No7 EB - at Wild Fiber. Good thing they have lots of chairs - I nearly fell over when I spotted two whole shelves of Wollmeise.  I've never seen that in person!

You may wonder why I stopped at two skeins in each shop. Nothing to do with self-control I'm afraid. It's just that we're travelling with carry-on luggage only and I didn't think I could fit anymore than that!