Local Yarn Stores and Customer Service

February 15, 2007 by Laura Nixon Leave a Comment

Today I was disappointed with my local yarn stores. It may have just been a bad day for the clerks also, as we had 6 inches of snow drop last night, but I was ready to spend money and they didnâ€™t help.

I wanted a certain pattern for a sweater I saw online at the Brown Sheep Company. I had the required yarn because I bought it for a class, but this yarn wasnâ€™t right for the pattern we were using in the class. Now, I should have used this yarn as a credit on the material I did use in class, but I so loved this Lambâ€™s Pride Worsted and wanted to keep it.

So, I called two of my local stores and ask if they had this sweater pattern made by Brown Sheep Company.

No they did not have the pattern. So not what I wanted to hear.

End of conversation. What?

Neither store volunteered to order the pattern I wanted. Not what I expected from either store because they both usually have great customer service. A good yarn store earns customers by word of mouth as much as they do advertising.

I really wanted that pattern! So I called Brown Sheep Company and asked if they sold to individuals. NO, they didnâ€™t, but they did give me the name and number of a store that could help me. Ellen, of Needle Magic (1-877-922-0117) was highly recommended by the person at Brown Sheep. Ellen found the pattern, told me the required amount of yarn necessary, and took my billing and shipping info happily. She informed me that she works at the mill, but not for the mill and has access to all patterns and yarn that Brown Sheep carries. I will defiantly call Ellen again for more supplies.

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy, I canâ€™t wait to get the pattern to start using some of my stash.

And, I will also give my local yarn stores another chance at allowing me to spend more money with them. Must work hard to keep them open! LOL

Next Pattern:

Have you read?

Stitch a Scarf with Dreamy Waves

As I write this, it’s probably time to start thinking about winter knitting if you haven’t already. And it’s definitely time to think about gift knitting if you have any of that you plan to do for the holidays.

The Dreamy Waves Scarf from Knit Picks, designed by Stacey Winklepleck, would be a great project to go in either category.

It uses two different multicolored yarns and a simple repeating wave pattern to make a project that looks a lot more complicated and dramatic than it is. The gradient look happens naturally just by switching which yarn you’re knitting with.

This pattern uses worsted weight yarn so it’s a pretty quick project even though a scarf is large and this one is pretty wide. It measures 8.5 inches (21.5 cm) wide and 63 inches or 120 cm long. Of course you can make it longer or shorter as you like. As written it takes one ball of each color so it’s a pretty economical project, too.

It’s rated for intermediate knitters but if you know how to do various increases and decreases you’ll be all set. The pattern uses knit 2 together, make 1 left and right, centered double decrease and slip slip knit. All of the stitches are explained in a glossary in the pattern so even if you haven’t done all of them it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out.

The pattern also includes tons of options for different colorways in yarn that Knit Picks sells, so you can see how different combinations knit up before you buy the yarn. That’s such a great idea!

Of course if you already have two multicolored yarns with long color runs on hand, you can absolutely use them, too. It might also be fun, but would give you a totally different look, to use a solid color and a bunch of scraps or one multicolored yarn to see how the different colors play together. So many options!

You can grab this free pattern and check out all the color options at Knit Picks.

[Photo: Knit Picks]

Summer Shawl and Scarf Knitting Patterns

Take It Easy with the Bessie Scarf

Sweater Scarf Knitting Patterns

Next Pattern:

Have you read?

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