North Shore Yarn Crawl

The North Shore Yarn Crawl started today. I thought it was a good excuse to check out some shops within driving distance that I have never visited. So, I packed up the kids, promised them lunch and some time at the beach, and took off this morning.

Our first stop was Seed Stitch Fine Yarn in Salem. The shop is gorgeous, and the two women who worked there were very helpful. I had the kids bring coloring books and crayons, and they sat a nice big table and colored for a little while, and then played with some of the toys the shop has in the corner (I love shops that have decent toys for the kids to use.) There are a lot of things being raffled off for the crawl on display - I want them ALL! I wound up buying one skein of Blue Sky Organic Cotton. I had made a mistake in my notes, and thought I only needed 100 yards for a project I had in mind for Little Girl. I didn't think much about it at the time, but on the way home, I realized that just didn't make sense. So, now I have to decide to use the yarn for something else, or to buy another skein. I've decided not to worry about it this week.

Next stop of Yarns in the Farms in Beverly. Actually, that's not true. The next stop was Prides Crossing Confections, the cutest little candy store you can imagine. I just happened to notice it as we drove by and we stopped. The kids got some chocolate bunny pops, and I got some fudge. YUM! Then we went to Yarns in the Farms. I was a little disappointed in this store. It's really small, and there's hardly room to manuever an umbrella stroller. They have some nice yarns, but nothing that felt really special. However, I would be very interested in visiting again without the kids. They were hungry, and little boy was getting hyper, so I can't say I felt like I was at liberty to really browse. The proprietor was really nice, and tried to engage the kids a little bit, which I really appreciated. It's kind of a hike for me, but I'd make it once more without kids to see if I get a different feel.

The last yarn shop stop was Abott Yarn Shop, also in Beverly. This shop doesn't have a website, so I wasn't sure if it would be worth stopping. But, it happened to be two minutes away from Burger King, and I promised the kids I would be no more than 5 minutes. This shop was also small, and I didn't get to look at too much, but the proprietor can only be described as lovely. I only bought one skein of Happy Feet sock yarn (to make my brother a pair of ankle socks for Christmas), but I walked away with several free patterns, an idea for a sweater (the proprietor was wearing it) and directions to the beach. I would totally go back there!

Here's the yarn:

Here are some pictures of the kids at the beach. It was kind of chilly, but they had a good time! I promised them we would go back on a sunny day, when we could stay longer.

Baby girl was tickled with the sand (although I was not so tickled that she kept trying to eat it.) My mom made her hat.

I have lots and lots of knitting to do! Happy knitting to you!