Traveling?

Do you knit or crochet while you are traveling? I don’t mean while you, yourself are driving, of course, but while you are a passenger? We went on a driving trip to see our son in Seattle, Washington and I took along two projects to knit while we drove. I do not have a problem with car sickness and can read, or write, or knit while moving in a vehicle. I knit fast while we were heading out to Seattle. I had size 10.5 needles and a bulky yarn to knit a vest for myself. It was all stockinette stitch so it went quickly. We listened to an audio book while traveling so in the exciting parts of the book, I knit faster!

Do you stop at yarn stores in the cities that you travel to or through? I did! Several! The first one was in an old house and was FULL of yarn. I loved the ambiance of the shop and the owner was a wealth of info on websites. The customers were so nice and the yarn was to die for. The second shop was one that I had done on-line business with and was very satisfied with their customer service. This second shop was HUGE in an old warehouse type of building and the yarn was stacked floor to ceiling in bins with a moving ladder to reach the top bins! They had looms and spinning wheels in a separate area. I was impressed and overwhelmed. The last shop I visited was in a strip mall in a bigger city than the second shop. It was smaller, more intimate with lots of people inside. They had just finished a class and the ladies were excitedly buying yarn for the new project they had just learned about. I bought another project there to take on the trip home.

Do you look for Indie Dyers or local yarn when you travel? I found some very nice Indie Dyers yarn and fiber in the stores I visited. I also found locally produced yarn. Montana has a lot of locally produced alpaca yarn. Washington didn’t have as much.  I love seeing what other stores have in stock to understand what sells in which type of location: metropolis, smaller city or rural area.

Do you look up a store’s website before you get to that city? I do! I have found that I especially like the websites with photos of the interior of the store so I know what I will find when I get there. I also like to see a photo of the exterior of the store, so I will be able to see it when I am driving down a street in an unfamiliar city.

I love to travel and I am so grateful that my husband likes to drive! I got pretty far along on my bulky knit vest and almost done on the “new” project, a scarf for my husband, before we got home. I am very happy to be back in Rapid City the best place in the West with the best yarn store: C R Yarn!

Sue

Happy Thanksgiving and Black Friday!

We hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday with family, friends, and lots of food. Sue and her husband are in Washington state visiting their son and they pigged out several times since the turkey took longer to cook than we thought! Rita and Amanda spent the day with family and are having the Black Friday Sale today.

When you come in to c r yarn be sure to look across the street and watch the ice skaters. Even though we thought the Square would be a nuisance at first we really think it is cool now. The ice skaters are going around and around and downtown is lit up for Christmas.

Don't forget to check out our website cryarn.com/Events page for the Black Friday and Small Business Saturday specials.

Loom With A View

As I sit at my Loom at C R Yarn I have a view. The view from my Loom is of the new Main Street Square. This last week they put the ice skating rink back into operation. It seems like a minute ago that we had Summer Nights and children running through the sporadically spouting fountains where the ice skaters are now. Time really goes quickly these days. Is it due to our technology? I mean, 30 years ago, we had computers that filled a room and today all of us carry a computer in our pocket called a “cell phone”.  We can be instantly connected with someone literally around the world, or in the midst of our neighborhood. Or is it because we are all getting older? “I remember when..” used to be said to us by our Grandparents, whenever they wanted to tell us about something wonderful or terrible from their childhood. Have you caught yourself saying that yet? When I was ten years old I said to a friend of my Dad’s “In all my born days, tI never saw such a thing” and wondered why they both laughed at me. :) Getting older also means gaining wisdom and that is a good thing.

But back to my view from the Loom. I also see straight lines of yarn going through the beater/reed, into the heddles and then back to the back of the loom. I see the weft (yarn that fills in the lines) going back and forth making a scarf. All of this is quite orderly. I see form and order in my weaving. I see some kinds of form and order on the ice skating rink (sometimes I see crashes and falls) too. Somehow fiber that is spun, yarn that is knitted, crocheted or woven creates form and order in our otherwise not so orderly life.

We are celebrating the month of November as Customer Appreciation Month. We have some items displayed in our windows that were hand-made by our customers from yarn purchased here. They have truly created some beautiful things made with order and form.

Come in during November for a bit of appreciation from Rita, Amanda and Sue. We really enjoy our customers and are so fortunate to be able to assist you as you create your masterpieces.

Don’t forget that we are closed on Thanksgiving Day but OPEN on BLACK FRIDAY with lots of sales! Check out our website for the deals we will be having.

Sue from the Loom With A View at C R Yarn, 519 Main St. Rapid City, SD

Well, I forgot to tell you about our website! Yes, we now have a website with many photos and much information. It is www.cryarn.com.

And we have new ladder yarn from Dark Horse. It has sparkles and is BEE U Ti FUL!

Do come in and C R Yarn, you will love it here!

Welcome to Fall everyone! There is snow on the ground outside the shop and it is chilly. PERFECT weather for knitting, crocheting and spinning! And do we have the equipment and goods for you to fulfill the craving for a "stay-at-home-in-front-of-the-fire" project.

The shop enjoyed great visitors and customers from other cities, states and countries this Summer. We were open during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and we met some awesome knitting bikers! One lady said it was "karma" that her husband parked the bike right in front of our shop! The new Main Street Square was open for busyness this Summer and Fall which brought people into the shop to "c r yarn". We are very grateful to all the new customers we had this year and especially grateful to those that are return customers. You guys are awesome!

Rita has done some expanding in the shop. She has me, Sue, working several days a week and blogging, and Amanda working afternoons. We now carry a complete line of Ashland Bay and  Louet spinning fiber, which is also useful for felting.  We have lots of yarn with sparkles, angora, mohair, wool, acrylic and cotton blends. We carry Brown Sheep, Cascade, Ice, Jaggerspun and Rita's hand-dyed Castle Fiber Yarns.

Rita has Louet spinning wheels for sale and for order. She can also order table and floor looms from Louet. Sue is weaving on her personal loom in the shop until Christmas making scarves for sale. Amanda is knitting hats as fast as Sue weaves and they are for sale also.

We also carry magazines! Knitting Traditions, KnitWear, Spin Off, Interweave Knits, Jane Austin Knits, Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts and are expecting some Crochet magazines shortly.

We have soooo many books and DVDs that you will be amazed. We also carry drop spindles by two different handcrafters, knitting needles by HiyaHiya and knitting notions.



If you haven't been into the shop for a while, now is the time to come and look around.  Our store hours are Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday Night 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. We have Knit Night on Thursday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m. and we have a Spin-Weave-In on the first Saturday of the month. The next one will be December 1 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.