Shop Review: Strands & Stitches - Laguna Beach

Mom and I have been in search of a good (and 'nice' as in "nice-people" nice) local knitting shop.

After our truly 'local' knitting shop has pissed us off so many times with their terrible rudeness and hoity-toity-ness, we said "Enough! Never again will we go there!"

Well... except for when we want to see what a particular yarn looks like... We go there to look at it and then we'll go buy it elsewhere! ;-)

Anyway, we'd both randomly seen this lovely little shop in one of our regular knitting mags (Vogue Knitting, Knit.1, KnitSimple... we can't remember) and had been wanting to go check it out... so we did!

First off, it is the cutest little shop ever!!! It's like a little home with a Dutch-Door! Totally sweet and adorable. It's down in Laguna and since the weather was gorgeous on Saturday, they had their dutch-door open. Very welcoming!

Second of all, there is quite a selection of yarn! It's not a big shop but they sure do make great use of their space and they have a lot of different types of yarn, organized by color (which I think is a great idea since so many times I have a project idea based on what color mood I'm in).

Also in 2nd of all... they have a sale basket! YAY! And these days, who doesn't love a sale? :)

Third, they were sooooo nice and sooooo helpful! I bombarded them with all of my questions about yarn weight and ounces vs grams (see next post) and they were so patient and so willing to answer and teach!

That, to me is key! I am always interested in learning more and it's nice to meet someone who's willing to teach!

Fourth and finally, the prices are not bad! They are definitely less expensive that the incredibly huffy and rude 'local' store, which is odd considering it's Laguna Beach!

I'd absolutely go back there again. My 2-part interest in going was not only to check out a new yarn shop but also to see if I could look at and hold a skein of Twinkle Soft Chunky and get a feel for what it's like.

Not only did she have it, but she said if I didn't like any of the colors, she could order it for me! Nice! :)

I asked Mom what she thought and if she'd go back (she's like "The Godfather" of crafts) and she said she absolutely would! She bought some yarn herself and some needles!

Yay! Another successful shopping trip! ;-)