West Michigan Yarn Quest

Ten of our local yarn shops (well some what local) put together their first shop hop which started last Saturday and ends tomorrow.  I work at Your Local Yarn Shop on Thursday and Saturday so I thought I probably wouldn't make it to many of the other shops.    Ha....wrong! 

As the ladies came in last Saturday full of tales about the other shops, I decided I would have to see at least some of them for myself.  Made a call to Jill, Lady Peddler, to see if she would like to ride along since her shop is closed on Monday, she said sure.......so off we went.

Left early Monday morning and headed to The New Ewe in Newaygo.  Arrived right as they were opening after about a two hour drive.  Really nice shop........well worth the drive. 

Yarn on the left is ALP Dazzle by Fezayarns....awesome deep blue.  I received the cowl pattern free with yarn purchase.  Yarn on right is Vail by Classic Elite Yarns and is 70% Alpaca/30% bamboo fingering weight in Charcoal. 

Then we headed to South Haven in search of The Needlesmith and lunch.  I found three balls of Terra by SWTC.   I recently purchased the Betsy's Beads book so I was searching for yarns to knit up some of the jewelry pieces and thought these would work nicely.   Also bought a skein of Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Lace, just couldn't resist.


Next stop, Painted Trillium in Hudsonville.  They had some awesome fiber by CJKopec but since I'd just bought a bunch from Yarn Hollow a few weeks ago I was able to resist this temptation.  This is the free pattern I received for stopping by.....

Right up the road from Painted Trillium was Country Needleworks in Jenison.  Fun store....gifts, jewelry, beading, stamping, needlework plus yarn.  They were featuring Yarn Hollow yarns but they had not arrived....bummer!

Found some Krenik Metallic thread and white DMC pearl cotton for the knit bead jewelry as well and a beautiful deep teal skein of Scrumptious Lacy by Lantern Moon.

Short drive from Country Needleworks and we arrived at Threadbender in Wyoming where I picked up this ball of Amazing 100% corn fiber.  I plan on using this for some of the patterns in Betsy's Beads.

From there we drove to Clever Ewe in Ada.  They were featuring Juniper Moon yarns.  I picked up a skein of Findley Dappled Lace. 

This was the first time Jill and I had ever been to Ada....what a fun little town.  On one side of the yarn store was a Pottery/Jewelry studio featuring works by local artisans and on the other was an art gallery.  Across from the shop you could get some Hudsonville ice cream and right around the corner was a covered bridge.  Great ending to our shopping day. 

Left home at 8:00am......238 miles......6 shops.  I got home about 6:30, exhausted, but what an awesome day.

Since we  managed to get to 6 out of the ten shops on Monday that left me with only three shops to visit.  After having lunch on Tuesday with my mom and aunts, I decided to head up to A Grand Skein in Grand Rapids where I found this skein of Exquisite Bamboo by Fibernatura.

Then stopped at Henney's in Caledonia and bought this huge skein of Sea Pearl  by Briar Rose Fibers.

And my last stop, Lady Peddler where I picked up her pattern for a  cowl.

So instead of thinking I might make it to a couple of shops, I managed to make it to all ten.....woot, woot! 

My final purchases will be at Your Local Yarn Shop tomorrow.  I have several skeins of Studio June yarn put aside.  My plan is to take in everything I bought at the other shops not only to show off my purchases but hopefully to help me make a decision on which colors/yarn blends to choose. 


What a fun, fun, fun couple of days.  Thanks to all the shops that participated....hope it was worth all their efforts and will be looking forward to next years event.