Marin Fiber Twilight Zone
An adult woman and her mother walk into an unfamiliar yarn shop. Overwhelmed, they stop for a moment just inside the door, then the daughter approaches the counter, lugging a large shopping bag full of yarn. She addresses the tall man there who is leaning over some knitting.
“Hi. I got an email about ‘cash for stash’, and I have three pounds of yarn here.”
The man (who turns out to be the owner of said store) looks up. “Oh, hi. I read your blog, and I’ve been expecting you. You just had a birthday, didn’t you?”
Stunned silence follows as the daughter, caught completely off guard, tries to figure out how this man knows her, if he’s a friend of a friend, how on earth he could have happened upon her blog. Then it hits her. “Oh, was it because I linked to your website? Do you get notified when someone links to you?”
“No. I just periodically Google ‘Marin Fiber Arts’ to see who’s talking about us, and I saw your blog and recognized you from the picture.”
Two days later, the daughter still bursts out laughing occasionally as she remembers this incident. It will stick with her for a long, long time.
The yarn? You want to know what yarn I ended up getting? Oh, sure. First of all, I must say that Marin Fiber Arts is a fabulous store. Warren, you rock, and so does that nice woman who was sitting in the corner knitting and consulted with me about the yarn I bought. I was so thrilled to see that they carried Lorna’s Laces; I’d never seen it in a brick-and-mortar store, just online. Anyhow, with my $15 credit from my three pounds of stash that I’d brought in (Goodbye, Red Heart!), plus some of my birthday money from Poppa & Nana, I got three skeins of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport in the Irving Park colorway. I feel a Clapotis coming on…
Click for lame-o yarno pics.
Shopping there with Nana was so much fun! She hadn’t been in a yarn shop since probably the 1980’s, and she was very impressed with a lot of the yarns. I hope this provides the necessary inspiration for her to pick up her needles. If you’re ever in Marin and need a yarn fix, by all means give Warren your business and go to Marin Fiber Arts.
Afterwards, we also hit Dharma Trading Company, which was quite overwhelming, too. That place is huge! I hadn’t realized they carried so much yarn b/c it’s really not emphasized on their website. They have quite a mixture of stuff, from Manos del Uruguay down to Paton’s Divine. Next time I’m there, I’ll probably buy some of their undyed yarn to dye myself. Very cool.
Cash for stash is a great idea. Never heard of it before. Red Heart for Lorna’s Laces. You can’t beat a switch like that!
Looks like a clapotis indeed! Did you ever get your present from me? Hope you like it!
Dahlink, I just haven’t had a chance to email you. It came in today’s mail. Woot! Thankyouthankyouthankyou! Hubby was surprised that you sent me a birthday present; he hasn’t figured out yet how incredibly generous knitters are. ;->
Yupp, it’s uber-cool. For every pound of yarn you bring in, they give you $5 store credit, which you have to use during that visit. They’ll accept ANY yarn, no matter how crummy, as long as it’s clean and wound into balls/skeins, etc. They donate the yarn to charity, so everyone wins! Hubby didn’t get how it made sense to get rid of a bunch of yarn to get a smaller amount of yarn, but that’s OK. Maybe if I made up an analogy about golf clubs, it would make sense to him. ;->
That is some preeeeety yarn! Can I pet it?
Thanks for coming by my gift blog. Hope you get to make some fun yarn ornaments!
you are a blogging star! um so i’m a giant geek, i was at the store yesterday & forgot to pick up my package! well thank you in advance! i’ll get it thursday when i go for knit flicks!