This weekend I took a pilgrimage through the mountains ... well, through the caldecott tunnel ... to what may be the world's biggest yarn store: Big Sky Luxury Yarns in Lafayette. As I'd been told, the selection is outrageous -- lots of amazing yarns, lots of things I haven't seen anywhere else. I spent about 2 hours there, and left with some new Noro (silk garden and big kureyon). There was some other yarn I wanted to buy to make a scarf until I decided I didn't want to make a $45 scarf. Which brings up a serious problem with this place: way too spendy. The Noro, for example, was about $2 - $3 more than I've seen it elsewhere. Which makes me equally suspicious about the other yarns.
A related issue -- and equally troublesome -- is the "membership system." Apparently the woman who started the shop eventually found herself unable to handle the large volume of customers seeking individual assistance with patterns, techniques, etc., so ... she instituted a "membership" system, where people pay for an annual membership that gives them (1) a certain amount of free help time with the owner and (2) a certain discount on yarn.
Hmmmm ... I could achieve both of these objectives free by shopping at my LYS ("YARN!") -- the owner is always happy to share her time and the yarns aren't overpriced to begin with. y'know?
But I will admit that the yarn selection is incredible and it's a nice place to visit. But I'm not going to be signing up for a membership anytime soon!
Posted by cmandala at December 12, 2004 03:36 PM