Eight yarn stores in one day

Eight yarn stores in one day! It's madness! Madness, I tell you!

Or, it's the North Shore Yarn Crawl, an event I enjoyed last year and the year before. There are actually twelve stores involved, but even eight is pushing it in one day. As I said to a woman at one store, all I want is unlimited time, money, and storage space; is that so much to ask?

I went with two knitting friends, and we did all agree, at the end of the day, that it was a bit too much. Next year we hope to apply a little more focus. Of course, it isn't always all the same stores from year to year (and new stores are an extra temptation), but in the three years I've gone, the change has not been great. Hopefully, we will be able to be strong and restrained. (I believe I had the same hope after last year; perhaps this time it will sink in.)

The Eight, in the order visited:

• A Loom With a View, in Newburyport. My first visit to this store, and I'll be honest, it's the farthest away and thus unlikely to be a frequent destination for me. That said, it was a very nice store, the people were very pleasant, and I would be happy to go again if I were in the neighborhood. I bought a nice project bag there (photos of all purchases to come).
• Loom'N Shuttle in Ipswich. Hit this one last year; it's the one that's half yarn and half fabric (and mysteriously, no sign of a loom). Perfectly nice, but nothing I feel the need to re-visit next year.
• Village Stitchery in Topsfield. I quite like this one, which we also visited last year (aide-mémoire: it's the one in the corner of the strip mall). I wouldn't feel deprived to miss it next year, but I have nothing against going again. My purchase there was a lovely, soft, blue-green skein of Ella Rae Lace Merino. Socks? Maybe. Another Wingspan, perhaps? Maybe.
• Cranberry Fiber Arts in South Hamilton. To quote myself, "I quite like this one, which we also visited last year... I wouldn't feel deprived to miss it next year, but I have nothing against going again." (Aide-mémoire: it's the one with rooms and rooms linked together.) I bought a set of three cable needles.
  
• After lunch (mmmm), we visited the Mother Ship: Coveted Yarn in Gloucester. This was my favorite LYS two years ago, on my first Crawl, and it remains so. I love it, if it was closer I'd be there all the time, and it's probably a good thing that I'm this far away! They keep expanding: last year they'd added another room, this year there was yet another, and they are planning more into the space next door. Soon it will rival Webs for space! They have great sales for the Crawl, the people are great, and I will be going next year and every year. The Winner! My purchase there, other than a long circular needle, was 3 skeins of a Welsh yarn, Iona from Colinette, which was lovely soft, lovely blue, and an extra-lovely 45% off. I got three skeins because that was what they had. Ahhhh.
• Pity the yarn shop that follows that stop! Actually, two, since The Knit Stitch and Creative Yarns are just down the street from each other, in Beverly. The former opened after last year's crawl, while the latter had just opened in time for it. Both are nice, but probably won't make the cut next year.
• Finally, we made a quick stop at Another Yarn, a new shop in Winchester. It's very nice, big, and promising. I like that they have a huge table for groups or classes, and other seating ... but there's a lot of empty space in the middle that I assume will have something more at some point. (They've only been open a few months, so I'm not throwing stones, just saying.) It's close enough that I can check on them before next year's crawl (and see the store when I'm not wiped out at the end of a long day).
  

Whew! No wonder I came home weary and a little headachy.

The Other Four:

• Two of the closest stores, Butterfly Yarns in Wakefield and Sit 'n Knit in Melrose, we bypassed through having been to before. They are both nice stores, not huge but decent selections, nice people ... you just have to draw the line somewhere.
• Yarns in the Farms, in Beverly Farms. I saw this one in 2010, we hit it at a busy time, it's not big, and I got a little claustrophobic. Nothing personal, YitF!
• Seed Stitch in Salem. We just ran out of time. Next year for sure! If not before. I remember liking it in 2010, and would like to see it again.
  

So! The Bruins pulled out a shoot-out win this afternoon (deo gratias), I'm tired (not so much news, is it?), my head hurts a bit (ditto), and I'm going to get some dinner. Happy Saint Patty's, and happy Saturday night!