Happy Knits - Portland

Location:        Portland, Oregon

Shop:              Happy Knits

Owner/Buyer:  Sara/Tai

Website:         http://happyknits.com/

Happy Knits is definitely a happy place. One of Portlands newest yarn shops. They've only been open for just over two years and seem to be thriving. Not only is Happy Knits one of the newer shops, they're one of the bigger shops, plus you can shop online.

Happy Knits has one of the largest and more inviting common areas I've seen in a yarn shop. The table above is HUGE, plus there's a couch and a couple of chairs you can sit in while knitting in front of the gas fireplace. Everytime I've been in this shop, there's at least one person sitting and knitting away. There was even someone there when I took this picture, but she said it wasn't a good hair day for her, so asked me to keep her out of the picture, so she's off to the right.

Notions galore plus a few other things. A great place to buy your knitting friends a gift. Plenty of tote bags to put your craftiness in, plus plenty of other notions.

There's also plenty of inspiration throughout the store, not only in samples, but there's a section where the employees put their favorite patterns for the shoppers to look at. And a great range of experience within these patterns, plenty of simple things, but a few more difficult patterns for those that like to be challanged.




Next stop:  Seattle, Washington (my hometown)


It's been awhile since my last blog, I'll try not to do that anymore. My husband and I are just getting settled into our new state of Montana. I absolutely love it here, so do my dogs, I still have at least eight more shops to talk about before I get into rebuilding my studio and making buttons in Montana. Thanks for your patience in this time of transition.

Middleford Yarn & Stitchery - Medford, Oregon

Location: Medford, Oregon
Shop:       Middleford Yarn & Stitchery Shoppe
Owner:    Sonja
Website: www.miyarn.com/

Medford is in southern Oregon just north of Ashland on I-5. 70,000 people live in this sunny valley. It's location between two mountain ranges, the Siskiyous and the Cascades, allows the rain that permeates the pacific northwest to bypass Medford. On average, they get 180 more days of sun  than Seattle. That's half a year. Kinda depressing when you think about it.

Sonja has a lot of things on her plate. She does custom upholstery, runs a furniture shop, has the yarn shop (which includes counted cross-stitch), plus she offers individual lessons, and all under one roof.

She's been doing upholstery for 20 years in Medford, the yarn shop came 10 years later. She says she's addicted to both hobbies. She even makes most of the samples adorning the furniture in the show room, like the bed in the middle above.

Another store with lots of inspiring samples. According to Sonja, the key to having your store samples not take over your back room is to make only things she likes and that fit her. That's smart, I think.

Her shop has a 'Stitch-In' on Thursday nights, a 'Help Time' on Wednesdays as well as the weekends as long as they're not too busy, plus they have 'Social Stitch' all day on the weekends. That's the knitting schedule, there's also things happening for the cross-stitchers, check the website if you're interested.

Location: McKinleyville, California
Shop:       Knitter's Lane
Owner:    April
Website:  http://knitterslane.com/


Home to 15,000, McKinleyville is about 90 minutes south of our last stop, Crescent City. 90 minutes of Highway 101 which runs along the north coast of California. Very, very cool. I've spent most of my life in Seattle where we have the Puget Sound, not at all like the coast. The immense power in the waves and how they sculpt the beaches is amazing. We had the coast on our right and the giant redwoods on our left. I'm going to look forward to this drive next year.

Just off Highway 101, Knitter's Lane is in an old motel. The single story kind that surrounds the parking lot. Walk in and you can see their counter, knitting table, knitting couch, and accessories such as knitting needles and books are in what used to be the main room. There's two rooms off to the side that used to be the bedrooms. Now they hold lots of fiber.

Unlike a lot of the other stores I've been to, they had a nice supply of ribbon.

The store used to be a scrapbooking store, with stamps, papers and ribbons. The only thing that stayed when yarn came in was the ribbon.

April has owned the store for a year and a half. Prior to that, she was a stay at home mom who frequented the store. When her son and husband talked about adding a daughter to their family, she was okay with that as long as she had four legs. Now she's a proud dog owner with an extremely friendly dog who's too friendly to have in the store. Darn.

We have taken a few days off while visiting friends in Blue Lake, California. Blue Lake is located about 20 miles from the coast along the Mad River. They have an extremely loud air siren that goes off at 8am in the morning. Our friends neglected to tell us that and my husband assumed it was a Tsunami warning siren. He kinda figured out that since the town wasn't panicking, he should probably relax. In fact, our friends slept right through it.

Next stop: Eureka, California  -home of the Carson House

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