When me and my friend Kristy were talking about ideas for the first Stitch Up Brooklyn she said “Oh, I want to host a yarn crawl”. It is very hard for me to say no to her. Thus the first Stitch Up Yarn Crawl was born.
A small group of Stitch Up Brooklyn attendees got to accompany Kristy on a mad dash Brooklyn Yarn Crawl on the Friday of Stitch Up Brooklyn. We started early meeting in the hotel lobby at 8am and heading off to the first shop. And we knew there would be shopping… so much shopping. Our crawlers were prepared for the haul because our incredibly generous sponsor Namaste outfitted EVERY crawler with a Maker’s Backpack to carry their haul. In her very special Kristy (and her granny cart) led the way and we were off…
We started the day at Woolyn, a lovely shop way on the other side of Brooklyn. Rachel, the owner welcomed us and our shoppers did not waste time diving right into the “locally” dyed section. They started the crawl off with gusto and snagged some great finds.
Our next stop was a hop, skip and short walk over to Brooklyn General where Catherine and Emily greeted us all with smiles and bagels! Yep… Breakfast was in fact served!
The selection was incredible and we had a lot of fabulous and unexpected yarn pairings happening at Brooklyn General. We sure kept the gals busy winding yarn and cutting fabric for handmade project bags to be made.
I myself scored quite a few skeins at this stop (but we wont talk about that) just now.
Kristy had a blast helping everyone pick colors for their Rhinebeck sweaters and other projects in the works and Penny scored big with yarn that even matched her Namaste bag!
A short walk and quick subway ride and we were headed to Argyle our next shop!
This was my first time visiting Argyle Yarn Shop and I WILL BE BACK! I know many of our crawlers feel the same way! David & Esther (the owners) and Katie (employee) greeted us with such welcoming open arms and served up delicious refreshments to enjoy as we shopped!
I had been eyeing the pairings Kate had posted on the Argyle Instagram page so I went in with a list, then bought some more just in case. I mean.. IT WAS A YARN CRAWL! And I noticed several of our crawlers getting in on the fabulous fiber action too as I saw Argyle bags being tucked away into their Namaste Maker Backpacks.
The incredible Gina of Skein Cocaine sent a special shipment of the Baby Grand and other fabulous fibers to Argyle just in time for our crawl and I know our crawlers loved it. She also sent TWO skeins to give away at the shop when we arrived! That was such a fun surprise.
I headed back to the event site to begin prep for the evening but the crawlers crawled on with a speedy bus ride over to String Thing Studio for some more fun shopping and a break.
I arranged for lunch in the lovely backyard at String Thing Studio for our crawlers because I was sure we would need the break by now. All that yarn shopping makes ya hungry!
Now that everyone was rested and had some nourishment it was time to head over to the final stop, Brooklyn Craft Company, which happened to be a few short blocks from the event hotel. I myself am REALLY bummed that I missed this part of the crawl and had to get back to the site to get ready for the evening event because I have wanted to go here ever since Kristy first told me about it.
Brooklyn Craft Company has a small yarn selection but an incredible selection of EVERYTHING ELSE crafty! Enamel Pins. Embroidery Kits. Fabric. Notions. Tools. Macrame & Weaving. All the crafts, and the best selection of cute scissors ever! I missed out but saw the pics and know our crawlers scored big at this bonus last stop!
This was such a special outing. A bit of a mad dash at times keeping on our schedule but still so much fun and our crawlers were troopers! I know a few of them will not need to buy yarn for the rest of the year. WELL DONE!
And what was so nice was that the shops all pitched in to give each crawler a special yarn crawl project bag then each shop and Kristy gave the crawlers something to go in that bag as a crawl souvenir. It was that perfect little extra on a magnificent first Stitch Up Yarn Crawl!
THANK YOU TO THE BROOKLYN YARN SHOPS
SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR GENEROUS SPONSOR NAMASTE FOR MAKING SURE OUR CRAWLERS EACH HAD A MAKERS BACKPACK FOR THEIR HAUL!