San Francisco!
Yippee! I’m going to San Francisco in November for a little weekend in a bigger city! My husband’s childhood friend who now lives in San Francisco is pregnant with her first baby, so we want to fly down and visit the mom-to-be… PLUS, I want to do some shopping! Any recommendations on fantastic, must-see yarn shops in San Francisco? I’ll also be attempting to get myself to Carolina Homespun to try out a couple different spinning wheels and buy a ton of fibre! Yay!
Tags: San Francisco
Artfibers! 124 Sutter St!!
Stash in Berkeley - they have yummy yarn. I picked up two skeins of Alchemy’s silk yarn in the colorway “San Francisco Sky”. Too beautiful.
ArtFibers is nifty - good to see, even though I only got a tape measure when I was there last year.
I’m the third one to say ARTFIBERS! (If you could only see one.) Good prices, good fibers, nice place. For regular yarn stores - Imagiknit, Urban Knitting Studio, maybe Noe Knits, Atelier Yarns. All easily found via Googling the names.
Woohoo!! I love San Francisco! It’s been 5 years since I’ve visited though…need to get back there one day. Your River is gorgeous by the way and that roving - what a great brother!
Artfibers and Imagiknit if you’re going to be up in the city. If it is a suburb, let us know, there’s plenty of other stores in the ‘burbs which are also great and don’t require city driving.
the top ones in the city have already been mentioned. if you have the time to go outside of the city, there is a good shop in el cerrito… it is called skein lane. their url is http://www.skeinlane.com/
That sounds like a lot of fun. Have a good time shopping for more fiber. More fiber means more stuff for the sweet shop, right? Excellent!
I’ll add my vote for Artfibers as well. Stash in Berekeley. There’s 2 new stores opening as well Marin Fiber Arts in San Rafael (north) and Full Thread Ahead in Los Altos (south), they both should be open by then.
I live in Southern Cali, but I’m sure there are plenty of fabulous yarn stores in San Fransisco (as stated in previous comments)…Have fun!
Don’t know any yarn stores but Britex (right downtown - http://www.britexfabrics.com) has a fabulous selection of buttons for your knitting projects.
PS. You’ve inspired me to koolaid dye some ugly ugly yarn that my sister bought me.
I’m not so hot on Art Fibers. What they carry is high priced and off the beaten path in my book. Greenwich Yarns is pretty good. You can also try Imagiknits near the Mission District. It’s cluttered but it has some great stuff. And, of course there’s the Filati Store in Rocklin (used to be in Danville) is you want to drive up to Rocklin which is above Sacramento. There’s Fashion Knit in Walnut Creek (get there on BART) and a small store (I don’t know the name) in Pleasanton which just opened up. Haven’t been there so can’t help on that end.
P.S. Love your site.
Leigh
Urban Knitting Studio is really nice.
I’d recommend artfibers, if only because it’s such an interesting knitting experience. My advice: make sure you have LOTS of time. I planned to be there about 45 minutes, and the boyfriend had to drag me out of there 90 minutes later.
Remember that rush of wonder you felt when you first started knitting and you’d go into a yarn store? How you just felt dizzy with the possibilities, and your mind tried to make sense of the yarn constructions and colors and what they could turn into?
Yeah. It’s kinda like that. Some of the yarns are really out there, but it’s a really different, really memorable yarny experience.
Google Artfibers - they have their new site up!! And it reflects some of the newer yarns - gee you can make a shopping list before you go there!
And the reader who mentioned Britex - they’re sooooo right - buttons (and trims) galore!
Hmmm, maybe a whole day for those two places?
Artfibers was a memorable visit. Go there. But save some Golden Siam and Chai for me, I’ll be there in October!
If you make it over to the East Bay, check out Article Pract at 51st & Telegraph in Oakland. It’s super-accesible from the Bay Bridge, maybe a mile from the Rockridge BART, and full of gorgeous stuff.
Hi Felicia,
I was just down in San Fran last week - I don’t have a recommendation for a yarn store (didn’t have time), but do have a recommendation for a hotel. It’s a quaint little place called the Inn at Union Square. Not a fancy dancy hotel but VERY central (a hop & skip away from Macy’s and Saks)and friendly staff. I booked on Expedia and got a good rate. The room is small but you get free breakfast, cocktails and yummy cookies. Have fun!
Definitely gotta put my vote in as well. ArtFibers and Imagiknit, hands down!
My suggestion is Urban Knitting Studio. It’s pretty hip, has a great selection and it’s in the Hayes Valley… great shopping.
Check out NoeKnits on 24th Street http://www.noeknits.com, and Carolina Homespun because Morgaine is the best!