Yarn Crawlers Ewe-nite!
by JuliAnne Pardon Diesch
I should let you know up front that I am a bit of a geek. So when I got my I-75 Yarn Crawl Passport, I used it as a reference tool to guide my research about the stores participating in the Crawl. I also got out the LYS Tour Passports from my time in the Seattle area to compare shop descriptions and offerings. I still have them because I am a curator of personal memorabilia (and not a hoarder, as some might suggest).
When used well, these kinds of Passports can be extremely valuable as tools to write notes about yarns found at certain shops, knit samples and pattern inspiration, purchases, and impressions about the shops. My friends and I made it to 15 shops in Michigan and Ohio in the two days we had together to Crawl. With more than 50 shops in these two states plus Kentucky and Tennessee, it would be easy to have stores start blending together in our minds. The Passport can help keep track of where you have been, what you have seen, and whom you have met.
If we were Millennials or otherwise tech-savvy, we might have done a live video on social media. But we are women who take and compare notes written on paper. Which shops are worth a return trip? Which give off that somewhat indefinable sense that we belong and can grow in this space? In which shops were independent dyers, spinners, or designers available to chat? Who offers classes to take us as knitters to the next level in our craft? Whatever your questions or method of keeping track, the Passports include shop names and exact locations to fill out the information you need about any of the shops on the Yarn Crawl.
You might be thinking, "Drat! The I-75 Yarn Crawl is over for 2018. This blog post does me no good until next year!" But the shops are still open, and the Passport can still be useful in finding and exploring participating shops. (In a future post, I'll address using Ravelry to plot out a road trip in other locations, too.) AND the Mid-Mitten Yarn Shops Shop Hop 2018 runs September 20th-23rd. The five participating shops have consistent hours for the four-day Shop Hop, offer a free pattern to Hoppers, conduct daily drawings, and provide a coupon for 15% off one item in October. A Grand Prize Drawing for those with Passport Completion sweetens the pot!
Charlene has Passports for the Mid-Mitten Shop Hop 2018 - and while you are in the store to pick yours up, check out her new Stitch in Time exclusive project bag! This was an in-demand item among Crawlers. In an upcoming blog post I'll share how to get mobile with your knitting, and this bag is ideal for working WIPs on-the-go!