rec and request for help

[sofiaviolet]

sl1 k2tog psso by carleton97 (MCR, Bob/Frank/Jamia, ~9k)

You guys. Bob owns a yarn shop. Eeeee! (Basically, this fic and Buy Handmade by jjtaylor are the fics of my crafty fangirl soul. Buy Handmade sustained me through "I'm going to learn to make SOMETHING, dammit" - which turned out to be jewelry - and sl1 k2tog psso is going to sustain me through "I'm going to learn to knit, dammit.")

***

Anyone got recs for a yarn shop in or near Boston? T-accessible is preferred, although Ellie has a car and can sometimes be bribed or badgered into driving me around.

Comments

[rivenwanderer]

I'm a fan of Windsor Button for its selection (everything from Red Heart to oh-my-god-don't-look-at-the-price-tag silk). It's close to Park Street/Downtown Crossing. The people at Mind's Eye Yarns in Porter Square are awesome, but their selection is much smaller (though a good place to go if you're interested in spinning).

[sofiaviolet]

Thanks! I go downtown pretty often, and it's easy to get from my apartment to Porter - just kind of a long trip.

As I said to my mom, "spinning is cool but oh my god I don't need another crafting skill to learn." /o\

[zarhooie]

WEBS is the best yarn store ever, full-stop. It's in Northampton, which is about 2 hours from Boston. The best way to handle that is to drive out early-ish in the morning, go yarn shopping but don't buy anything, go to lunch at one of the really good brew pubs in town, check out the rest of Northampton's sparkling downtown, go back to WEBS, try not to spend your entire life savings and then head home.

It's worth the trek, I promise.

[pinesandmaples]

Honestly, I don't think WEBS is good for a beginner. --> particularly when it involves a road trip
People need a few months of futzing around, ruining yarn by ripping it eighteen times, and preference-building before running off to WEBS. I know that most of the yarn I purchased in the first year of knitting--even though it was purchased from an excellent yarn store with wise staff after a lot of advice and consideration--was completely worthless and against my style. Yes, I love some of the brands and yarns I found, but they don't work with the kind of things I like knitting or the way I like working.

WEBS is a good reward for finishing a couple projects and starting to form some ideas of where to go from there.

[zarhooie]

And see, I think that a place like WEBS, *especially* if you take the break in the middle, is a great place to go to get an idea for what is out there. So many people start with crappy acrylic and never progress past that. You can (and should!) practice and work with cotton worsted to get stitch patterns and technique down, but having a couple (or more than a couple) skeins of nice stuff around to play with when you feel like it... there's no better feeling.

Don't spend a ton your first trip and only get what you *really* love.

[sofiaviolet]

I mainly need to learn the starting and finishing bits - someone did once teach me the in-between part and I think I still remember it.

Lol weird way of learning. And I am going to go with synecdochic's whole "knit dishcloths!" thing, so cotton is good. We can probably use them. (Besides, I need to get revenge on my mom for her housewares thing. "You need pillows? Here's ten of them! You need flatware? Here's enough for sixteen full place settings!" etc.)

[sofiaviolet]

It'll take me a while to get out there anyway. Maybe a couple of finished projects would help convince my sister to provide transportation.

[bookofcalm]

If you're visiting Noho you can always sleep on my couches for an overnight trip. If I am home, I mean. Which I usually am. INCENTIVE, y/y?

[sofiaviolet]

:D Y.

[bookofcalm]

Actually, I am also thinking about trying to come in for part of Arisia (you're going, right?), but classes start like the day after the con is over and that weekend is SUPER BUSY at work usually, so IDK if they'd let me have any of it off. I'm also not sure I want Post-Con Crash right before throwing myself back into classes. But Arisia! I haven't gone in years! We'll see.

We have an upstairs couch and a futon couch downstairs and a bed in my actual room that I can always sleep on for a night (I would not subject anyone to my room ahahaha) and, uh. Two parents! But since I stayed with you, I don't think they'd mind you two staying here.

[sofiaviolet]

I am going to Arisia. You can stay at my place like you did for MJ, if you want.

We shall see whether Ellie wants to drive me out there. :\

[bookofcalm]

I'm trying to figure out when to visit and stuff because a friend is moving on the sixteenth so I am going to help her out with that if I can but then there's no point in bothering with Arisia, except for how it is potentially going to gather like ten of my friends in one place. AUGH. I have to ask off TODAY if I am going to do it and I still have no clue what is going on. :(

[sofiaviolet]

Let me know your plans whenever. I am flexible.

[sofiaviolet]

Heh. Problem will be getting out there - I told Ellie about this and she just made a face. :[

[contrarywise]

Windsor Button is handy and well-stocked, but you pay a bit of a premium for the convenience to offset the high downtown Boston rent. Still, I don't mind helping to support a Boston knitters' landmark from time to time.

My favorite Boston area shop is Wild and Wooly in Lexington Center. They have 2 floors of yarn, and the Wall o' Manos del Uruguay. It's a bit far, but worth a trip, especially during their annual clearance sale.

[sofiaviolet]

And when is that sale? :)

I will totally pay the premium for omg convenient. I have resigned myself to that in all areas of brick-and-mortar shopping, as I don't drive and don't really want to.

[contrarywise]

The sale is in the spring every year. I'll try to remember to alert you when I get the usual postcard announcement. :)

[sofiaviolet]

Thanks!

Hey, I remembered!

[contrarywise]

Wild & Wooly in Lexington Center is having their Giant Winter Inventory Clearance Sale from 1/14 - 1/31

"Selected designer yarns and discontinued yarns at bargain prices... free patterns with purchases...

Come early and often for best selections... new offerings throughout the two weeks of the sale...

Early birds (before 1pm on 1/14) eligible for chances on door prizes..."

Sale hours: 1/14 7am-7pm; 1/15 10am-6pm; 1/16 10am-5pm; 1/17 12-5pm; 1/18 11am-6pm.

Regular store hours thereafter.
Mon-Fri 10am-5:30pm; Sat 10am-5pm; Sun 11am-5pm

7A Meriam St. Lexington, MA 02420 781-861-7717

[pinesandmaples]

I'm top-over-tea kettle for A Good Yarn in Brookline. Their prices are fair, and their staff is lovely. Normally, I get treated poorly in yarn stores (face full of piercings, fat, mini-skirt, unshaven legs, funny haircut); but the folks at A Good Yarn didn't even flinch. It was nice, because I get shitty treatment in most city yarn stores.

I like them a lot.

If you ever hit up Philly, DC, or NYC, you should request info there, too. I have favorites in many cities!

[sofiaviolet]

I suspect my trips to this one will result in stops at the Popeyes in Kenmore on my way home. Not that this is a bad thing, mind you, except maybe for my arteries. :)

I occasionally wind up in Philadelphia and New York, but for concerts, which means I'm not there long. :\ In New York, I don't even bother with "place to sleep." I just catch the ass o'clock bus out of Port Authority.

[zarhooie]

Oh! There's a yarn shop near Wagamama in Harvard square. I think it's on the same side of the street.

[sofiaviolet]

OMGYAY

I want to take my parents to Wagamama while they're here. My mom will totally come and look at yarn with me, even if Ellie and Dad get bored and leave.

[contrarywise]

Not anymore, sadly. Woolcott & Co. closed a couple of months ago, after being in Harvard Square for well over a decade.

[sofiaviolet]

D:

Although thanks for letting me know.

[contrarywise]

Not anymore.

*shakes fist at shitty economy*