Jan 19 2008
LYS Junkies
While we have a favorite LYS, we love to go out and explore all of the ones in our area. Metro Detroit seems to have an abudance of yarn stores. It is fun to check them out and see what they carry and how they treat us. One cause well my husband is a guy who knits. For some reason that is unusual. Normally the owners and employees assume that I am the knitter and he is just tagging along. Which we laugh cause he has more experience and is a much more technical knitter than I am. We have had some interesting experiences at stores in the area which make him feel like the woman in a car dealership.
And two because I have a 2-year-old. We normally get the "oh she isn't going to touch anything, is she?" look. For which we do not frequent that store anymore and spend our money elsewhere. My daughter is a very well behaved child who loves yarn. She loves to touch yarn and pick out pretty colors (normally pink). If she was a terror then I wouldn't take her.
Anyway today we visited two stores in our area, City Knits in Mt. Clemens and Indigo Rose in Sterling Heights. City Knits is in the location that was once occupied that a now defunct yarn store. I'm not really sure why they would pick the same location as a yarn store that couldn't make it, but they do have two successful downtown Detroit locations so what do I know. It is a decent size store with a large selection of Cascade, a lot of alpaca, and some sock yarn. I was not really impressed with the store and I am not sure I will go back. There was a class going on and a few people browsing. Two of the customers got the "these are our specials" spiel and we only got a "welcome to city knits." Not sure if we missed the spiel cause they were busy or what.
We then visited Indigo Rose. This store is in our backyard but we rarely go there. I started going there when I was an inexperienced knitter and didn't really know what I liked yet. We decided to check it out again to see what kind of yarn they carry. My daughter fell asleep in the car so we didn't get the full family treatment. Dh and I each went in seperately. They are a large store but have a very small selection of needles and notions. The store was completely empty except for two employees. This store seems to cater to an older crowd and I have never really felt like I fit in. I'm also not a big fan of their yarn selection, it seems to be a lot of novelty yarn and acrylics. I prefer natural fibers.
All in all a sort of disappointing day. Next time I will try to talk a bit about our favorite LYS in the area.
Found your link through ewe-nique knits ravelry group. Haven’t been to city knits but agree with you about EK (my favorite). I do like Indigo Rose though and have been often. They are rather short on needles and notions but I find that what EK doesn’t have, IR does. I like them both. Their knitting groups have many of all ages and are rather humorous. I’ve not joined them but I have browsed the store while they are going on and they have a great time. Perhaps you should give it another shot. BTW, I like your blogsite and the eye candy pics!
Ruth
Hello Ruth! I really want to like Indigo Rose, I do. They are practically in my backyard and everyone raves about them. There is just something off there though.
Thanks for visiting!