Yarn Along the Rockies 2016: My 3 Day Yarn Crawl

I spent 3 days last week "yarn crawling" to different yarn shops in the Denver area to participate in Yarn Along the Rockies! It was so much fun, I was quietly freaking out inside with excitement with every new yarn shop I made it to.



Yarn Along the Rockies is a 9 day yarn crawl with a passport tour of 17 participating yarn shops across the front range of Colorado. Every shop had their own individual schwag prizes, knit and crochet patterns, shop discounts, and if you visited all 17 shops, you turn in your stamped passport to be entered to win a huge grand prize.

Each shop would stamp your passport, give you a pin to mark the location on your tote (this was my driving force, I needed to get those pins!), and you'd fill out a raffle ticket for that shop's prize basket. And at the 5th, 9th, 14th, and 17th stop, you would earn a stitch marker. My god, this mission was addicting!

I made it to 10 shops before I stopped because the other 7 were just a bit too far away to do with a baby alone, but I had so much fun. It was such a great way to discover yarn shops in the area that I had no idea existed. Since driving to new places makes me super anxious because I'm known for getting lost, I made sure to study Google Maps the night before each trip so I could see where I would be parking, if it was free or metered, and what side on the road I should park on to safely unload Lachlan's car seat (which I loaded and unloaded from the car 20 times, dang!). And my phone's GPS didn't fail me. I didn't get lost once.

Day 1

My goal at the start of this was to make it to the 3 closest shops because I wasn't sure how long Lachlan would take before losing his baby shelf life, but he was being so good and I brought enough food for him so I decided to visit 2 more shops to earn my first stitch marker. I visited Colorful Yarns, Blazing Star Ranch, Wooden Spools, Fancy Tiger Crafts, and Fabric Bliss.

Colorful Yarns was the closest shop to my house so it was the first stop. The inside was just perfect with walls filled to the ceiling with yarns and accessories. There was a pretty large selection here. I can't wait to go back. I bought a lotion bar and my yarn crawl tote here.

Next stop was Blazing Star Ranch which was a tiny but cozy little alcove located inside a vacuum store! It was so unexpected but when I found it, it was like finding a treasure on a scavenger hunt.

Next I stopped at Wooden Spools, which sold not only yarn but pretty and contemporary fabrics too. I wish I could sew!

It was at Fancy Tiger Crafts that I bought my first Madelinetosh yarns that I had been eyeing to knit a Melanie Berg shawl. This store is very hip with high ceilings, a giant crochet taxidermy deer head, on trend patterns, fabrics, yarns, and spinning accessories. It was definitely catered to the younger generation of fiber artists and I loved it. The ladies were so friendly, and they offered to wind my yarn for me. It was while I was waiting for them to wind my yarn, when we discovered we all were currently making a Melanie Berg project. Pretty cool!

Last stop was Fabric Bliss which had fabrics and yarn. I visited this store before a few weeks back during an art festival. I earned my first stitch marker here and we headed home. That was both Lachlan's and my limit for the day. I was starving.

Day 2:

I only visited one shop this day because it was the farthest south that I was willing to drive. It was called Everything Alpaca and I totally should've bought the insanely soft yellow chunky yarn that I couldn't stop feeling but I just didn't. And now I can't stop thinking about it. I'll have to go back another time to get it for a cowl. A nice man was inside that thought Lachlan was adorable.

Day 3:

These were the shops that were deeper inside Denver so that meant I had to drive downtown. I made sure to study Google Maps the night before especially to see how street parking would go because that shit makes me nervous. I visited Tea for Ewe, Bags by CAB, Lamb Shoppe, and I Love Knitting.



Tea for Ewe was adorable. It had tea and yarn (a perfect mix!) and we ran into the man from Everything Alpaca who liked Lachlan. He said he only recognized me because of my baby, not my face haha!

Bags by CAB was a tiny little store filled with yarn and finished crochet and knit projects to purchase. It was pretty close to Market Street and the art museum so next time we go there, I'll have to stop back. It was here I had to parallel park in the street and on the left side of the road too! I did it perfectly, whoop!

Lamb Shoppe was seriously impressive. Floor to ceiling storage packed with yarns. It was beautiful. It's the store in the picture above. The ladies in here loved Lachlan so I felt comfortable leaving his stroller near them and walked around where it wouldn't fit. So much yarn! I wanted to stay here all day and really dig in, but again, baby shelf life is short, so I headed out after a little while. I forgot to pick up my 2nd stitch marker here though because they were sorta busy.

The ladies at I Love Knitting were really nice and they gave me my 2nd stitch marker. I bought 2 skeins of yarn at 40% off that I hope to knit a hat with. I'm going to try the magic loop method too, so I don't have to use those scary double pointed needles

And that was it! I can't wait until next year's yarn crawl. Hopefully I can get some childcare so I can stick around and browse yarns until I can't do it anymore. But Lach did great and I think he actually enjoyed looking at all the colors.

I've been obsessed with checking the yarnalongtherockies hashtag on Instagram to see who hit all the shops and what everyone got. My fingers are crossed so hard that I'll win one of the raffles!