Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Boston LYS review

Sorry for the blog absence yesterday - we had a bit of a crazy day - my sister was supposed to come into CT yesterday around 5. She sat on the ground at Denver for almost 4 hours and then sat in the airport while they fooled around trying to fix her plane. She ended up getting to Chicago around 7:30 CST, left Chicago around 11 pm, and go into CT just after 2 AM. We had to drive back to our hotel outside of Boston. We got in at 4:45 AM. We were a little tired today.

I've managed to squeeze in a few yarn store visits, and I'd like to share them with y'all in case you visit Boston soon. Remember, these are MY opinions and I understand that you may not agree with me. That's OK.

Yesterday we visited Windsor Button. They had a very good selection of yarn, for being a "craft store." I liked that they had a wide range of yarn, from Lion Brand to Noro, Debbie Bliss, Manos, etc. I did think the Lion Brand was a bit expensive, but I was glad to see yarn for every price range and type of knitter. I didn't buy anything, as none of the sock yarn grabbed me, and I'm just not in the market to spend enough $$ for a sweater's worth of yarn right now. Of the five stores I visited, this one ranked #2.

Later yesterday afternoon we walked down Newbury Street and popped into Mary Jo Cole's Knit and Needlepoint Store. This is a very nice needlepoint store that seems to have recently added a knitting section to capitalize on the recent popularity. The employees were nice, but more interested in the reality TV program they were watching than in helping us. Rank #5 of 5.

We continued down Newbury Street and popped into Newbury Yarns. Very nice small store. The employee was very helpful, though not familiar with all of the stock. They had a wonderful selection of Mountain Colors, and a bit of Koigu, Lorna's Laces and Trekking. They also had a large overall selection of the "standard" lines. One ball of sock yarn had to come home with me. It is very pastel-y, hard to photograph in bad hotel room lighting. Rank: #3 of 5.

Today I headed out alone to two stores - the first was A Good Yarn in Brookline Village. GREAT STORE! Small, but great selection, super helpful and friendly. I restrained myself to just one ball of sock yarn, though it was terribly difficult! A lovely young lady helped me, and I thought she looked familiar, but I didn't put it together until tonight - It was Johanna! Hi Johanna! Rank: #1 of 5.

I also went to Circles way out on the orange line. I was a little disappointed. The employee, while nice, wasn't terribly helpful and followed me around the whole time I was in there. Perhaps they have a theft problem! They didn't have too much variety and I was pooped after traveling all the way out there and back. Rank #4 of 5.

I wish I had another chance to go back to A Good Yarn. One of the best yarn stores I've been to, if not the best as far as the combo of selection and helpfulness/friendliness. Go there if you can only get to one yarn store in Boston!

We're off to Webs tomorrow - more excitement then!

11 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear about all the trouble - would have been way more fun to have been knitting!

    Enjoy the rest of your trip.

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  2. Anonymous7:47 PM

    Yes, Circles has had some theft problems. Good to know that there is Trekking to be found in the city limits. I'll have to venture out to Newbury Yarns.

    It's interesting how all the yarn stores in Boston have such a different vibe.

    Have fun at Webs!

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  3. Holy crow, girly, FIVE yarn stores??!! ;-) Sounds like you had a lot of fun! I like your kind of vacations. ;-) I'll live vicariously through you. And it looks like tomorrow's the jackpot with WEBS! Can't wait to hear about that- I order from them all the time. Take care, Jenn! :-)

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  4. I'm so glad that you are having a good time in Boston! Thanks so much for the good review for A Good Yarn. I'm really touched! Come back any time! We'd love to have you. :-)

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  5. Sounds fun... I love just going into yarn stores and looking around.

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  6. Hi Jenn,

    I linked to you from Universal Hub - great reviews of Boston LYS! But now for the real reason for my comment...
    I am going to be traveling to Dallas in the beginning of April for work and I have non-kintting family in Fort Worth and I was wondering if you could recommend sone good yarn stores in both Dallas and Fort Worth?

    Thanks!
    ~Marianne

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  7. Thanks for the helpful reviews! Our group is hoping to plan a trip to WEBS in a week or two, so please don't totally clean them out. :-) By the way, I just wanted to say I'm proud of you for continuing to fight the good fight in the name of FWknits and SnB's everywhere. You rock!

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  8. Jenn...you ok? We haven't heard from you in a looooooooong time! Hope all is well.

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  9. Anonymous5:45 PM

    Sister -

    I need a good book to read. I need a good story, so pick a good one!
    James

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  10. Anonymous5:09 PM

    Thanks for your review of the yarn stores. I just want to add my two cents. Today went to Mary Jo Cole's Knit and Needlepoint store on Newbury Street. It is way overpriced! I knew I would be paying a bit more for supplies just because the store was on Newbury St but I didn't realize how much the markup was until I found the same materials online for half the price! I'm relatively new to knitting so I am not familiar with prices in the first place. I definitely won't shop there again.

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  11. Anonymous5:24 PM

    Lola is right! They totally fleece you! You can't return anything without getting a merchandise credit. Additionally their needlepoint patterns are unreasonably overpriced.I think they charge extra only due to the fact they are on Newbury steps away from the Taj hotel. P.S. you are right about the reality TV show!

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