Location: Eureka, CA
Shop:       Yarn
Owner:     Sunni
website:    www.yarn-fun.com

Home to about 27,000, Eureka is the county seat for Humboldt County, which holds 7 incorporated towns, plus 40 unincorporated towns. That's a lot of towns. There are over 44,000 square miles of Humboldt County, located in the top western part of California.

Yarn is in what's considered Old Town Eureka. The shop itself is about as cute as a button, no pun intended.

Once, past the cute worn welcome mat, you'll find that it's probably the tiniest yarn shop you've ever been in. But Sunni made great use with this tiny space. There's absolutely no backstock, the place is too tiny to have a back room. Everything she has is right there in your face, and she has some cool stuff. They tend to focus on natural fibers and locally dyed yarn, which came in some fabulous colors.

One wall of yarn, and I'm serious about the wall. Every nook is filled with some great stuff. The ladder shown in the above picture gets you to some out of reach spots, but not climbable by customers. If you see something you can't reach, just ask Sunni, or one of her 3 part time gals, they will most likely point out where you can find it at a lower level.

Yarn has been in business for four years. They have classes and every Sunday is Sit & Knit. They also carry locally made things, including knitted items, chocolates, jewelry & yarn sacks, just to list a few. And, just like any great yarn shop, they've got a nice selection of books and patterns. I'm amazed that with as tiny as the shop is, they've manage to strategically place some really cute samples.

If you plan on visiting Eureka, you should know there are three yarn shops in town. I did not visit the other two, but this one had everything I would need, plus as I said before, it's about as cute as a button.

Next stop: Ferndale, California

Location: Crescent City, California
Shop: A Perfect Yarn
Owners: Leapha & Karen

Our first stop in California, Crescent City, took us through some beautiful red wood forests. Nothing on Earth quite like these giant trees. Home to about 7500 people during with off-season. Some of those 7500 live in the filled to capacity Pelican Bay State Prison, but if it's here, I didn't see it.

This small city on the California coast, about 20 miles from the border of Oregon, is filled with hotels and waterfront RV parks. We stayed at one, and woke up to seals calling in the distance. A day at the beach is always memorable, if you don't live by one, even if the weather's crappy.

Leapha (Lee-fu) and Karen opened A Perfect Yarn 6 years ago. I met with Leapha, she works half the time, and Karen works half the time. They have a day or two mid-week that overlap. Although a small yarn shop, they have plenty of stuff to look at. Plus a small table in the middle of the store. While I was there, two locals were at these tables. One was a boy knitting a 'just-because' gift of a pair of socks for his mom. Nice kid. Lucky mom. Leapha was helping him keep his secret as well as helping him with the project.

I'm glad I'm visiting these places in the off-season. No issues getting into places that might fill. $28 to stay on the beach is pretty cool. The rates in the summer are on $32 (for the RV Park), but you have to plan months ahead. In the winter, the parks are less than a quarter full.

Next stop: McKinleyville, California

Location: Ashland, Oregon
Shop: The Websters
Owner: Linda
Website: http://yarnatwebsters.com/store/

In the "You-learn-something-new-every-day" category, I learned that webster is an old english term for a weaver. Merriam-Webster's dictionary says "Middle English, from Old English webbestre female weaver, from webbian to weave; akin to Old English wefan to weave".

The Websters is located next to beautiful Lithia Park. There's a nice meandering stream in the park for you to sit by and be crafty while you enjoy the day. Ashland is home to only 20,000, so there's plenty of room for you and your crafty gear at the park. There's also plenty of other shops around, all within walking distance of the park and The Websters.

This store is awesome. I was amazed at the store and it's selection. There's a huge rack of sweaters in the middle of the store.

Not one of them is for sale. They're all amazing samples of things you can make with the yarn that they carry. They also have a great selection of books and plenty of bins for you to rummage through.

Not to mention the walls, yes I said walls, of yarn.

The Websters is getting ready to celebrate their 30 year anniversary. Don't ask about an anniversary sale though, Dona's way too busy to even think about that. She's got a big store to run, plus a pretty extensive website.

Her shop's been in the same location the entire time, just not so big. They started as a small store which is now their back office. Now they have an upstairs, a back room, and an amazing giant store, with a roomy classroom.

Plus, the two gals at the front counter were all smiles and extremely helpful.

This was our last stop in Oregon, at least for the southern part of our journey. Next stop: Crescent City, California.

Location: Corvallis, Oregon
Shop: Fiber Nooks and Crannys
Owner: Michelle (and Mollie)
Website: www.fncyarn.com

Corvallis is about 80 miles south of Portland and 50 miles the Oregon coast. Home to 55,000 and Oregon State University.

I'm a dog lover, and this shop has a "shop dog". I already like it. Meet Mollie, a pit bull with beautiful ice blue eyes. She's about as docile as they come. She hung out with me & Michelle while she went through my buttons.

Unfortunately, Fiber Nooks & Cranny's is having to downsize there store. Slow business calls for a re-location, just 3 minutes south of the current one. The good news is that they're not closing, and their heating bill will be smaller. The shop opened 16 years ago in 1996. Michelle used to hang out there, then after a few years she started working there. Then in 2005 after raising her two daughters, she purchased the store from one of the original owners. Her husband is "the computer guy" and she's got a couple of other part-time employees, and Mollie, of course.

Next stop: Ashland, Oregon