Kristen (KP) Writes: My First Time in the Store

I was very much a newbie to knitting when I first heard of the store. My art teacher told me of a wonderful yarn shop just up the street. I was nervous to seek it out at first, already recognizing that I had a fiber addiction which was difficult to quell at such institutions as Michaels. How much more difficult would a store dedicated to beautiful fiber test my self-control? I also had another fear. Leslie had said there were often multiple women in there knitting all the time. Though I had managed to successfully complete some socks and a couple scarves, I was still very new. I worried that I would look like an ignorant inexperienced child next to these testaments of knitting brilliance. Still, my curiosity was too strong. I drove over, parked my car, and walked to the door. The place looked like a mixture between a house and a hobbit hovel. Upon stepping inside, I was overcome with awe. I was in a cave of wonders that far outweighed Aladdin's. For he could only touch a lamp, I could touch everything in my sight. Oh what sights! Small though the store was it housed more yarn and knitting accessories then I could even think to handle. There were indeed a group of women knitting in the back, but after a brief exchange of greetings I was lost in fiber. I had not intended on buying (this was back before I accepted that I would never be able to walk into a yarn store and not buy something) but I was drawn to a hank of sock yarn that sang in vibrant yellow, magenta, and deep orange. I left the store cuddling my hank, and a sense that no matter how far I roamed or how many LYSs I visited, none would equal the surprise and awe of walking into the Yarn Garden in Meriden for the first time.