Two Sisters and Ewe - La Mesa, California

Location: La Mesa, California
Shop:       Two Sisters and Ewe
Owner:    Jane
Website:  http://www.twosistersandewe.com/

La Mesa is the third and final city we're visiting in San Diego County. It's a bustling city with nearly 60,000 people. Another trip I made by myself, luckily I have a Garmin, I took 4 highways to get to La Mesa from Encinitas. Some of these highways had 6 lanes in them. Seattle is lucky to have four in some places, and only two running right through downtown. I would have been lost without GPS.

Two Sisters and Ewe is about to celebrate their 10 year anniversary. Jane and her sister opened the shop in May of 2002 and Jane's 11 year old son came up with the name. Now Jane runs the place on her own, her sister decided to go farm in Arkansas after 3 1/2 years of yarning. Jane seems to be okay with that.

While I was there, a local artist, George Wright, came in to sell his ceramic yarn bowls. One side has two holes and the other side has an angled slit in the side for your yarn. Each one is unique and truly a piece of art. Those are my buttons in the bowl above.

There was also a small girl getting individual lessons while I was there. The gal that was instructing her was really friendly, I happened to overhear her say that she was also a doll maker and some of her dolls have been presented to some pretty famous people, including a previous president's child.

La Mesa is the furthest south we are going on this tour. Now for the quick trip back home. So far seven more shops to visit in four days. My dog, Nina, aka Grandma, is ready to be out of the camper. That's her above, resting her head in the water bowl, she's almost 15, it's easier than standing at this point. It gets pretty tight in here with the two of us and the two medium-sized dogs, not to mention all the dog hair we get to put up with. Our final destination is Polson, Montana, but that doesn't happen until the end of March. So for now, we are cozy and happy.

Yarning For You - San Marcos, California

Location: San Marcos
Shop:       Yarning For You
Owner:     Deb
Website:   http://yarningforyou.com

San Marcos is part of San Diego County and is home to California State University & University of St. Augustine. The town, known for having some of the best restaurants in the north county, has 90,000 people in it, but the county has over 3 million. I visited San Marcos by myself this time, if I'd known that it was known for their restaurants, I would have scheduled things a bit differently. Next time.

Deb opened Yarning For You after suffering through a legal career most of her life. One day she had enough and quit. On her way home, she called her husband, and through the tears explained what she had done. Her husband asked her what she was going to do, and she answered, still crying, that she wanted to open a yarn shop. After a moment of silence, her husband asked her if she was driving, she said yes, and he tells her to pull over because he thinks she's been drinking. That was seven years ago.

 There's a comfy couch to sit on plus two big tables to conduct your craftiness at. There's a crafty person sitting at one of the tables in the center picture below. Tons of samples throughout the store, plus a sale room, that's always a bonus.

There were too many neat things in this shop to take pictures of. If you're in San Diego, you'll get a better appreciation for all the samples if you visit the shop. They offer classes, and the gals I met with were rays of sunshine. This shop just made you happy to be there, one shopper made that obvious by making herself comfortable on the couch while deciding which yarn to get for the afghan she's planning. She didn't know when she was going to start it though, she just wanted to be prepared. I completely understand.

Next Stop: La Mesa, California

Common Thread - Encinitas, California

Location: Encinitas, California
Shop:       Common Thread
Owners:   Nancy & Carol & Coco
website:   http://www.fiberartshop.com/

Encinitas is not a big town, but because it's right on the beach, it is a destination location. There are 60,000 people in the town I bet 85% of the residents own a surf board. If your address says Encinitas, you can walk to the beach. Encinitas is located in northern San Diego county which has over 3 million residents. There's a train track that runs right through town with trains going back and forth all day. Some of these trains are barrelling through town at 40-50 mph, not something I'm used to.

Carol and Nancy are mother and daughter and have owned the shop for 20 years. Carol is the mom, that's a painting of her in the picture above on the left that Nancy painted, and that's Nancy's dad on the right. These two banners are hanging in the front room and looking down at every person that walks in the door. Not pictured is the same type of banner on the lightpost outside her store on the street which pictures her step-dad.

Coco is the shop mascot, but she goes home with the girls every night. Nancy says she'd be pretty mad if she was left behind. Carol has a dog she would love to make the shop dog, but apparently the dog has too much energy for the shop, so it's a no for now. :( Not that I don't like cats, but as you can see, they don't care as much. Coco, was definitely pettable though, and she wouldn't be in the center of the store if she didn't like the attention.

The shop is pretty extensive. It's almost a maze to get to throu everything, a pretty wonderful maze of shelves full of yarn and inspiring examples. There's a small table in the front of the storer where a couple of customers set some of there things while shopping or getting help. One gal came in to get help on an Afghan she was knitting and Nancy was able to see immediately some twisted stitches and was able to explain quite quearly in a matter of minutes what had been perplexing this lady all night.

There's also a great sitting area in the back as well as another table, a great spot for classes, still close to the yarn but not too close. And the books were in this are which made it a great refernce are, too.

I definitely have some competition in the button department, as you can see they have a gigantic selection. There's more corners in this shop than I even have room to picture in this blog. If you're in San Diego, Encinitas is not that far, and worth the drive.

Next stop: San Marcos, California

Location: Encinitas, California
Shop:       Beads, Crystals & More
Owners:   Phil & Valerie
website:   http://www.beadscrystalsandmore.com/












Yes! A bead shop!! If you've been following me, or you know me, this is one of my most favorite things ever in the world. An extremely tight budget and an even smaller living space means I can only look because I have enough to keep me busy for now. But it doesn't hurt to look.

Encinitas is about 45 minutes north of San Diego, California, right on the coast. The place never gets too hot, or too cool. it was mid 60's - 70's the five days we were there. I was not jealous of my family in Seattle where it was mid to high 40's.

I learned what 'goat heads' are. For those that are unfamiliar with goatheads, they seem to serve no purpose at all. I have yet to figure out what plant produces them, but I know they have no pretty flowers, or delicious fruit. They do have these thorn balls though, and they're not short thorns like a rose bush, they're long enough to go through the sole of crocs and cause you a lot of discomfort.

Besides, the goat heads, Encinitas is a beautiful town.










Phil and Valerie purchased Beads, Crystals and More, which was pretty much going out of business 14 years ago. The shop had tried to be a kids bead shop, but after 6 years, it wasn't going so well.

Phil and Valerie were both working the day I went in, along with a couple of other employees, including Karen, who'd been there long enough to help run things at this point. I was there when the shop opened and the place was already hoppin.

Plenty of selection, whether you want strands or single beads. Plus most of the beads are sorted by color, instead of by type and size.

I didn't photo the boring tools and traditional staple items, but they have those too, like crimp beads, head pins, tools, etc...










They also had several counters of higher end gemstones as well as a nice rainbow selection of seed beads.

Plus they have a literal bead museum in a little side room. No photos were taken there. Tons of old beads and beaded things though, inlcuding a beaded chest of an African princess. There was already a crew of professional photographers there, otherwise I would have asked to take some photos. Oh well, maybe next time.

And the huge amethyst specimen pictured below is only for display, not for sale. This is only one of the amazing things this shop has on display. Although there's a museum in a side room, the whole shop has plenty of things to look at, including locally made hand beaded items.

Next stop: Encinitas (yes, again, but this time it's a yarn shop)

Location: Bakersfield, California

Shop:       Classy Knits & Yarns

Owner:     Judy

Website:  http://classyyarns.com/

Still in southern California. This tree is in someone's backyard, notice how all of the ripe fruit is unreachable? Seems to be my luck.

One classy shop. Judy's owned her shop for over 25 years, she used to dabble in oil paints, but turned to knitting (in a classy way). She started by knitting her own garments and doing fashion shows, but soon found out that is was supplying the yarn is where she wanted to be, not making things with the yarn, although she still enjoys that.

Judy's shop has some classy yarns as well as some other things. A gigantic table in the center of the shop is a great place to sit for the open knitting, crochet & needle point she holds every weekday, except Monday (she's closed Sundays & Mondays).


















She also has a back room where everything is 40% off, which helps with keepig the front area fresh and new. Not to say that the yarn in this room isn't worth having, it definitely is, she just needed to make room for some more classy yarns.

It's late February, and on the day we visited this shop was 85 degrees outside. I'm really enjoying this roadtrip, and although I miss my friends and family, I'm not looking forward to the cold and wet weather I will be experiencing in about a two weeks.

Next stop: Encinitas, California

Location: Bakersfield, California
Shop:       Bead & Yarn Studio
Owner:    Lisa
Website:  http://beadandyarnstudio.weebly.com/

Bakersfield, aka Buckersfield, is California's 9th largest city with over 300,000 people and home to some good country music. You can drive on Merle Haggard Ave or Buck Owens Drive, I'm sure there's more, but those stood out to me. Also home to Buck Owen's Crystal Palace which has one of the best chicken friend steak dinners I've ever had, speaking from experience.

Two things really stand out in this shop; first of all, they have beads, and second, all of their yarn is 40% off. The shop originally opened as a rock and gem shop over 20 years ago. Lisa's parents were the rock hounds, digging up a lot of what the shop sold. Slowly, they started to get more female customers and their bead business expanded. With the many woman the rock shop was now selling to, the yarn just seemed like a good idea to add.

Lisa's able to offer all of her yarn at 40% off because of the lots she purchases. They're usually lots that were made not to the original specifications, or that the company might have had too much of, or that a store simply didn't want anymore. She gets the lots at discounted rates and passes the savings on to her customers. Pretty sweet deal, I think.

Classes a plenty, whether you're interested in beads, crochet or knitting. There's also plenty of room for you to hang out and knit or bead anything. Need help on something? Just ask, the store is full of friendly & crafty people.

Next stop: Bakersfield, CA  (again)

Location: Sacramento, California
Shop:       Fabric Garden
Owner:    Jill
Website:  www.fabricgardenquiltshop.com

Sacramento is the capital of California, and it's just north of the middle of the state. There are just under a half million people in Sacramento, about the size of Seattle (my home town). But just over an hour away is San Francisco Bay area with over 2 million.

One of the few quilt shops on our tour, but well worth the stop. Jill just opened Fabric Garden last May (Cinco de Mayo, to be exact), so she's getting ready to have her first anniversary (yay!). For a store that's less than a year old, I never would have guessed how young they were with as well stocked as they are.

There's something happening every day of the week in this place, whether it be a kid's quilting class, or maybe a 'sit & finish' day, the calendar has something going on every day they're open. Lots of fabrics and some great accents, including plenty of ribbon.

Quilting, one more hobby I don't need but would love to start. Whether you've new to quilting or not, this store has a lot to offer. Absolutely everyone that works here can help you in your projects and steer you in the right direction.

Next stop: Bakersfield, California