Where I live (which is in the Pacific NW) there are 3 major yarn crawls; one down in Portland called the Rose City Yarn Crawl, the LYS Tour on the Seattle side of the Puget Sound, and the PNW Yarn Crawl in the south sound (which happens twice a year). The Rose City Yarn Crawl happens in early March every year, the LYS Tour is mid May and the PNW Yarn Crawl happens in early May and again in October before the holidays begin.
It’s so much fun crawling from shop to shop. Each shop comes up with a pattern, that they are offering up for free. You get your passport stamped and they offer the yarn for that project at a discount. They have daily prize winners and a gift for finishers, plus one grand prize winner. It’s a great way to get inspired if you are in a knitting funk. The yarn crawl is also a fun day out with friends, doing what we all love, ‘going to the yarn shop’.
I first heard of this concept years ago from a quilter friend of mine. I’m so glad that the yarn shops are now on board. It’s a fun outing to look forward too. We can get so mired in our daily routines of life… work, the kids, homework, meals, errands… that’s its fun to plan a fun day out or a weekend away possibly.
This year, my friend Jana and I charted our route and hit the road – she drove. We did the PNW Yarn Crawl, made it to all the shops in one day, and even stopped for coffee and lunch. I think I bought something at every store, but you don’t EVEN need to do that. It’s so fun to see what each shop comes up with for a pattern. We took some pictures, and posted on social media – it was a blast. We even ran into a few friends at one of the shops.
If you are wondering, if your area has a yarn crawl, get to know the folks at your local yarn shop. Use our shop finder to find a yarn close near you. If you knit solely on-line, you are really missing out on a wonderful and fun community, just waiting for you to join in. Your best friend is waiting!! *You can click on any of these photo to see a larger version~