Yesterday my friend Cindy and I participated in the Yarn Discovery Tour 2016. This tour features 15 yarn shops in northeastern Ohio. To participate in the tour, you purchase a passport listing all of the shops you can visit. If you spend at least $10 in the shop, you get a stamp in your passport and a free pattern. Each shop also had a drawing that you could enter. Since we were only making a day trip out of this, we made it to five shops.
The first shop was Bare Naked Wools in Canton. Finding the shop proved to be a bit of a challenge. Canton was having a race and many of the streets in the area were blocked off. We managed to find our way to a side street near the shop, parked and then walked over a block. The shop is not large and is in the basement of a building housing a doctor's office. They mainly do online sales but the shop was still cozy and had many samples of Knitspot patterns hanging on the walls. They had two versions of their free pattern. It was beautifully done in a green and in two natural colors. I bought a couple skeins of their stone soup fingering and a pattern for a pullover sweater.
From there we headed to North Canton to visit Artist Gallery Yarn. This shop reminded me very much of a Columbus shop called The Yarn Shop because of its large and diverse inventory. The shop was bright and friendly, with a group of ladies knitting at a table in the front. There I got a big bottle of Eucalan in lavender scent.
From North Canton we ventured to Cuyahoga Falls to visit Harps and Thistles. This shop is located in a building in the downtown district. The owner pointed out the organization of the shop and pointed us to some exclusive colorways they had from Three Irish Girls. I couldn't pass up two of the mini-skein sets they had. These are going to become cowls and hats for my girls.
After we left Harps and Thistles we visited a couple antique stores around the block. It was fun to browse through the items. Cindy was almost attached by an antique sewing box, but she managed to unpry herself from its clutches.
Stop #4 was The Designing Woman in Fairlawn. This shop features fabric and yarn. The shop had a lot of inventory but most of it was still in the shipping bags. This made it a little difficult to browse since I like to touch the yarn. Maybe that is the reason for leaving things in the wrapping. I did find some very soft alpaca.
By this point we were getting hungry and a little tired. We decided to grab some lunch on our way toward our fifth and final shop, Black Locust Farm in Lodi. This shop is located right on the main square in Lodi. We were surprised at the amount of inventory it had given the fact that the shop is only open 2 days a week and only accepts cash or checks. We both found treasures in the bargain bin. I found 5 skeins of Cascade Pure Alpaca which I hope is enough to make a sweater for Kristin.
After we exhausted ourselves from shop hopping we turned south to head home. But we needed to make one last stop: Grandpa's Cheese Barn. This place has cheese (obviously), seasonings, jams and jellies, cured meats and a sweets shop. Unfortunately I didn't have enough cash on me or else I would have bought one of the beautiful baskets that the Amish girls were selling in the parking lot. I did get a gift for Blake, a bag of Lucky Charms marshmallows. Just as we finished up shopping a severe storm hit. We sat it out at a gas station before jumping back on the highway.
Next week Cindy and I are planning on going to Wool Gathering in Yellow Springs. After that I need to stop spending money on yarn!!
On the project front, I am making progress on Blake's blanket thanks to another up and back trip to Ann Arbor. I am in the 3rd last section.
Since I finished my Sunset linen top (which I am wearing the picture above) I cast on the Vine Street vest. The pattern and yarn were purchased in June at the wool festival Cindy and I visited in Columbus. It is a fast knit. I should have it done soon.
