Yarn Crawl, it's a day with the girls

With spring fever in the air and the lure of fabulous fiber filled day of decadent yarn porn, plans were made and a yarn shop crawl was in progress. Little did I know, one of our com padres would be a bit ambitious about it. I had put together a list of shops and with list and phone numbers in hand, JW played co-pilot to LS's adept piloting skills. LS seemed determined to make it to more than a couple of shops.
We made it to 5 shops and stopped for lunch in between them.









First was Amazing threads in Maple Grove
http://www.amazing-threads.com/home.htm
This was a lovely shop medium to large in size, neat and drawers for those balls of yarn that pop off the shelves. The women working were friendly and helpful, I found a great half priced hat pattern called "Arsenic and Old Hats" the hat is cute and the name cuter, so it was a must have. JW commented that I should knit it while watching the old Carey Grant Movie " Arsenic and Old Lace", have to find a rental.
there was a great Andes inspired hat kit that was perfectly priced, perfect for and purchased by CF. Other lovely yarns were purchased and we went on our way.









All about Yarn in Coon Rapids was our next stop.
http://www.allaboutyarn.com/
We were warmly greeted, there were bags and notions, small selection of sock yarns but a lovely little variety of yarns. The shop has tow seating areas, one near the front with a couple chairs and a couch by a fire place, in the back was a large table and what looked like a class was being held. This is an inviting store not as large a selection as the last one mentioned, but I could get cozy by that fire place.




CF had never been to the yarn garage in Rosemount which is where we went next.
http://www.yarngarage.com/
I had not been there since the commotion on Ravelry about it being reorganized, still claustrophobic I thought, one of our group wanted to buy a Namaste bag, had them get it down, really wanted the skein of yarn she had, but could not make it to her turn at the register, with the people and the confinement of the shop, time to put the stuff down and just make it to the exit. He does carry a nice variety of knitting and Namaste bags, a large selection of yarn and plenty of help.





Lunch was at Red Robin, always a great place to eat with the most savory strawberry lemonade, which is endless and your fries are endless too, I barely make it through the first serving of fries, have never been able to get more.
http://www.redrobin.com/










Knitter's Palette in Lakeville was our next stop.
http://www.knitterspalette.com/blog/
I locked onto a seductively delicious hank of roving for spinning from After The Sheep Fiber Arts. The fiber was right by the door and was in my hands before I knew it, it is called Butter Cream Panda, it is creamy whites and light yellows, is a blend of 60% Superwash Merino, 30% Bamboo and 10% Nylon. The roving is 4oz and I am hoping to spin it up for either socks or a hat (maybe Arsenic and Old Hats).
I purchased the roving as well as two skeins of a cascade superwash in a beautiful Caribbean Blue to make a scarf, a Christmas gift, thinking ahead and it is knitting up to be very pretty.

Our last stop was Three Kittens in Mendota heights.
http://www.3kittensneedlearts.com/
The front half of the shop has yarn and the back half is needlepoint, a moderate selection of yarn is available, there are three seating areas, two in the front with the yarn and one in the back for the needle point.
They have a few Namaste bags, a bit of sock yarn was purchased there. They offer a 10% discount on yarns to Knitters Guild members, so don't forget to take your member cards.

It was a great day. We were tired by the time it was over, but I think we could have worked in Zandy's and one other shop perhaps? Any way, my LYS is still Linden Hills Yarns, I enjoy loitering and knitting with everyone there.

Happy stitches and keep your sticks in the yarn.