A is for Apple Yarns!

If you haven’t seen it yet, the newest episode of the show is up – An Apple A Day! You can click on the link at the end of this post to go there. Recently ITBTK went to Washington State to visit one of my favorite LYS owners, Andrea, in her store, Apple Yarns. If you’ve never been, you really have to go. They have just been named an official tourist destination and currently have signage on the street to point the way, and will soon have signs on the highway to make sure you know where you are. The signs are great, but you won’t need them. They’re just East of the I-5 off exit 254 on Iowa street!

The first thing you’ll notice when you walk into the store will be either Andrea or Claudia, depending on who s closer to the door. They always have a warm greeting and genuine friendly smile to make you feel welcome ad at home. And you do feel at home in this great space that is Apple Yarns. Not only has Andrea made the store colorful and bright, it’s laid out in a way that you’ll be able to find exactly what you’re looking for easily, or allow you to browse at your leisure. The yarns in the store are organized by weight, so you can go to the particular section carrying the yarn you’re looking for. All your color choices are there and then the hard part starts – making a choice! 😉 I love this idea as it allows knitters to make yarn substitutions painlessly, and introduces them to equivalent yarns they may not have known about. I think this is a great first step in helping knitters express their creativity by making their own choices while still keeping them in their comfort zone.

Another reason for visiting Apple Yarns is that they are one of only 10 stores in the United States that carry Watershed Yarns. Yes, this is the very same mill that Jared Flood (aka Brooklyn Tweed) gets his yarns from. They have a great selection of colorways, and Claudia has already been busy creating some unique designs (with patterns available) for you. The yarn is sourced entirely in the United States, including the spinning and dyeing. It felts wonderfully as you’ll be able to see from the sample tea cozy that is there. There’s also a great sample hat that Claudia designed and uses for her Fair Isle class taught in the store.

In case this wasn’t enough, there is a very large room at the side of the store called the Gathering Place. If you’re ever in the store on a Tuesday or Thursday morning, you’ll be able to go and knit along with the Tuesday/Thursday morning knitting group. They’re a very friendly and welcoming bunch of ladies that meet regularly to knit and share stories. It’s a very informal group that has found a home in the store and they love drop ins and new people. And they’re crochet friendly too! The room is always open for you to use to relax and knit, even when the group isn’t meeting. You might have a hard time getting up out of your seat after you’ve grabbed your coffee and knitting though … just sayin’.

So a couple of details here for anyone who has watched the episode. You now know that Andrea is getting used to the whole Social Media scene and we’re here to help her. They have a great website and presence on the internet at this link … APPLE YARNS … and I suggested something to her in the episode about hashtags (#). If you’ve watched it you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, you’ll want to subscribe and make sure you do! You can do that here – ITBTK The Show. Great, now that we’re all on the same skein of yarn, I’ll randomly pick 1 person who qualifies and send them 1 skein of the yarn that Andrea was winding at the start of the episode! It’s a BFL, sock weight yarn called Dyed In The Wool by SpinCycle and you can find out about it here … Dyed in the Wool. It will be in the Poinsetta colorway which is a custom colorway made specifically for Apple Yarns! I’ll pick someone on December 1st, so make sure you watch it soon!

You can also find them all over Ravelry, and they even have their own group there at this link … APPLE YARNS RAVELRY.

If you’re not local to Washington State or won’t be visiting there anytime in the near future, you can still get all the great yarns and accessories from the store by going to their online presence, as they do ship. You’ll also be eligible for the OTHER deal that was mentioned in the episode (near the end of the segment). If you’re local, go in and do it and Andrea will be glad to help you. Since the American Thanksgiving is this Thursday, I’ll give you one more thing to be thankful for. A very unique attribute to Apple Yarns is the sayings that are on the walls all over the place. There’s one in this picture of Michael in the store. If you’ve watched the episode, you’ll find one that is accredited to MOM. Leave a comment on this posting with the quote, and you’ll be entered into a draw for another skein of the yarn.

As I said in the segment on the show, there’s tons more to this store that I can’t put here without this being like a novel. If you have the ability, you really should drop in and make sure you give Andrea some lovin’ from me – she’s a big fan of hugzzz. If you can’t do that, watch the episode of the show – An Apple A Day and you’ll begin to see why I’m always so excited to zip over the border to visit!