Detroit Needs a Yarn Store

Detroit has a lot of problems, but one that didn’t occur to me until I read a story in the Detroit News is that the city lacks a yarn store. City Knits closed in 2012, and the only options for knitters in the city involve long drives to big chain stores or a couple of independent yarn shops in the suburbs.

When you consider that people living in the city — even Detroit — might not have cars, and even if they do the time involved to go buy a ball of yarn might not be worth the trouble to keep up their hobby.

Audrey Chatman, a crocheter who lives in Detroit, told the Detroit News, “Most of the times I get upset because I have to go out to the suburbs to get my yarn. I have to go outside the city limits because there are no stores in the area. People complain that we don’t support our city — well, how do you support the city if everything is in the suburbs? It’s very upsetting to me because sometimes you don’t feel like driving across town to get one ball of yarn to complete a project.”

Leigh Mosley, who knits and crochets, organized the Detroit Knitting and Crochet Club, a yarn craft group that meets once a month, about two years ago, in part because there were no options or gathering places for yarn crafters in the city. She says the group includes about 250 people and they’ve taught about 35 people how to knit or crochet, because there is no where else for people who want to learn to go.

Mosley says she thinks the city could support a local yarn store, and I say a Yarnover Truck type project would probably be super successful. Entrepreneurs, get on that!

[Photo by John T. Greilick via the Detroit News.]

A few years ago I wrote a post that was full of patterns for knit mushrooms, but I don’t think I ever did a post that was knitting patterns with mushrooms on them, so today’s the day.

I love the Fungi Beanie from Jacki Bean, which calls for worsted weight yarn and uses duplicate stitch to add the mushrooms and other details. I think the colors she used for the design are tonal/multicolor so it doesn’t use as many colors as it looks like, but you can use whatever red, green, brown and white yarn you have in your stash for those details.

How about some mushroom socks? The Magic Toadstool sock form Stone Knits includes a ring of mushrooms around the leg, contrasting heel and toe and a little more colorwork at the toe for extra cuteness. As shown it uses four colors and comes in three sizes.

Or there’s the Fairy Ring Socks from Katie Green, which have mushrooms of two sizes on the legs, plus a bit of wavy grass. They have a contrasting cuff, heel and toe and some colorwork flecks in the body of the sock as well. This one is available in eight sizes to fit everyone from a baby to an XL adult.

This trippy cowl from Hunt Hand Knits looks like a lot of fun to knit. The Fungus Among Us Cowl is shown using four colors of DK weight yarn, though you can do it with as few as two if you’d rather.

Stitch some mushroom mittens with this cute pattern from Holly C Watson. This design uses three colors, and it’s shown with a self-striping yarn on the mushroom caps, which makes the colors change without you having to do any work. The pattern is charted but it’s a pretty easy repeat. The mittens are one size.

If you don’t feel like knitting mushrooms but still want to give your project a touch of the forest, the Toadstools Cardigan from Julie Taylor may be what you’re looking for. It’s stitched as a plain cardigan worked in DK weight yarn and sized for newborns up to 4 years old. The mushrooms are added with embroidery and the pattern includes the design, which you can trace onto water soluble stabilizer to stitch the mushrooms onto your sweater. Or anything else you want. You can find this pattern on Ravelry.

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