All week I’ve been meaning to post about a marvelous LYS experience I had last week. As I’d posted earlier, I’d run out of the golden Plymouth Encore for my crocheted log cabin blanket. I’d called all the yarn stores nearest to me (of which there are many, being in Los Angeles), and the only store that had it was Black Sheep Knittery.
So Saturday comes along, and I get all set to go to BSK, but I couldn’t remember the cross streets, so I went to the SnB mailing list to get the exact address, and lo and behold, there’s a post from BSK, announcing that they would be closed for the day due to a large anti-war protest going on nearby. Grrrrrrrrrr! Need! Yarn! Now!
I was too desperate for the yarn, having been unable to work on my blanket for a whole four days, and I didn’t want to wait until it reopened on Sunday. I had posted to the list earlier asking for LYS recommendations, but the only other two that were mentioned were terribly far away, one in Westlake and one in the far reaches of Burbank, further into the Valley than I’d ever been except to pass through on my way to Yosemite or San Francisco. Compared to Westlake, though, the Burbank store was much closer, so I printed out a map and away I went. And no, I didn’t even call first, because if I was going to be disappointed, I wanted to put it off for as long as possible.
But it wasn’t a disappointment! First, Handmade wasn’t nearly as far as the map made it look, which is a good thing, because it was adorable! There was plenty of Encore, in many beautiful colors, as well as my favorite felting yarn, Cascade (they could use more 220, though). The Encore was totally reasonably priced ($5!), which is always a joy after shopping in the more expensive “boutiques” of West Hollywood and Santa Monica. And the owner was truly a delight (which isn’t always the case, in my experience). She was warm and friendly, accessible but not obtrusive, and wonderful to talk to. She was all decked out in green for St. Patrick’s Day, which was also her wedding anniversary, and the beautiful green stained glass window in one of her interior walls that had been made by her dad years ago proclaimed her to be Irish all year round and not just on the 17th of March. (Perhaps this is only important to me, being all Boston Irish myself.)
I wish the store was a little closer, because this would easily become my first choice LYS, but even with the 10 miles between us, I suspect I’ll be there again. Heck, according to Mapquest, it’s really only 23 minutes away!
