I wanted to mark the ending of something that was important to me and I think, to many of you. The Recycled Lamb was an amazing yarn store in Golden, Colorado. I taught there several times. It was a store that offered a myriad of classes, had a dye studio, and supported both teachers and students completely.
They closed last week.
I stopped by on my way to the trail for my hike. I was sad to see so little left. All I could take away with me was her last two cones of 12/6 cotton seine twine and a wish that the local yarn stores could make it these days.
So here is my plea. I gave it when Village Wools closed just over a year ago and I'll say it again. We need our local yarn stores. Don't you love having a place to go where people know about yarn? Where you can pet the skeins and move them around and think about potential projects? Where they are happy to help you find a pattern or match the one you brought in with the perfect yarn or fiber?
Please don't let them all disappear. They can't stay open if we don't buy their yarn. Please don't be one of those people who goes to the yarn shop, finds the yarn you want for a project, then goes home and orders it online for 10 or 20% less. Just buy it from your local shop. They are performing a much needed service and you're not paying shipping. The knowledge of the people working there is worth far more than the few bucks you save by buying it from a big wholesaler.
Local yarn stores give us a place of comfort to go when we're upset for one. Haven't you ever had a really hard day and wanted nothing more than to wander around a yarn store and think about what you could make with all the marvelous fibers? You can't get that experience buying yarn online.
What about the time you just couldn't figure out a pattern and someone working at The Loopy Ewe or My Sister Knits or whatever your local shop is helped you figure out what you didn't understand? What about all those great Saturday classes offered so inexpensively right around the corner? Those classes where you can laugh with other knitters or weavers and learn something new instead of learning it in front of a screen? (And THAT is said by someone who teaches weaving online for a living!!)
Please don't let them all disappear. Buy their yarn. Take a class. Please.
I am confident that Cheryl Nachtrieb will continue to take the fiber world by storm. She will create something new and amazing in the world of fiber and we should pay attention when she does. I am so sad to see the end of her wonderful yarn store but I will be waiting for the next incarnation of all that good she continues to do in the world. When it comes around, let's all support her, okay?