Location: Fair Oaks, California
Shop:       Knitique, A Yarn Boutique
Owner:    Danielle
Website: www.knitique.net

Fair Oaks is in Sacramento County and is a suburb of Sacramento. The town itself only has 30,000 people, but the county has almost 1.5 million. One of the first things I noticed was the abundance of citrus trees in the area, one thing we don't have in Seattle. It's mid-late winter, so the fruits are almost overripe. You have to really search for the ones that aren't already rotting on the trees. I haven't found one that is reachable yet.

I walked in to Knitique at about 11:30 and it was bustling, not just with shoppers, but there were about 5 gals sitting  in the center of the store just having a ball, knitting and talking (but not necessarily gossipping). This wasn't a class, just gals hanging out, and it looked to me, everyone had a comfortable seat to sit in. There's a few of the gals in the pic below.

Tons of samples, and I mean tons, but not in the literal sense. Right now she's got a few boxes in the back room filled with retired samples. She lists some on Etsy, but they're not moving fast enough, so she's considering some other options, including a possible charity auction event.

Danielle has a few gals that help her in this bustling shop, but for the first part of our appointment, she handled everything. Somehow picking out buttons, offering advice to customers and ringing people out. One of her employees came on shift a bit later which helped a little bit.

Knitique has probably one of the more extensive books and patterns selection I've seen, you could be inspired by those alone for hours. But don't forgot about the gazillion other things around the shop to be inspired by.

There were so many things to look at in this place that I forgot to ask about classes. But it's pretty obvious by the table in the back area that classes happen.

 

Next stop: Sacramento, California (the capital)