Great Yarns!

What exciting things can you expect from Great Yarns!?  We are glad you asked!

1)      We have very special LYS patterns for our attendees in both knit and crochet.

2)      Our store is filled with fabulous models from designers such as Prism, Twisted Sisters, Trendsetter Yarns, Tilli Tomas, Jane Slicer-Smith as well as our Great Yarns! originals.

3)      Our Bargain Basement is always stocked with great specials and closeouts.

4)       Great Yarns! is committed to charity activities.   We are in our 10th year of knitting and crocheting outfits to dress bears for Camp Erin. The donated bears are then given to children who have lost a loved one and are attending bereavement camp run by Hospice of Snohomish County.  Make sure you ask us for the free knit and crochet patterns available if you are interested in helping us with this project.  While you are at it, ask about our Free Chemo Hat Class too!

5)      We carry yarns for every budget… from basic, cost-minded yarns to high-fashion, sky’s-the-limit yarns.

6)      Did you know you can order directly from our Website? We accept special orders by phone or email too!  Orders ship from our shop daily.
7)       Our shop proudly features a nationally recognized crochet instructor and author, Karen Whooley.  Additionally we have a gifted teaching staff in all levels of knitting.

Acorn Street

With the LYS Tour right around the corner we are excited to share with you some of the new items just received. Adorable sheep mugs are available for enjoying your favorite coffee or tea. Taiyo, a new silk, cotton, wool, and nylon sock yarn from Noro, comes in a wonderful array of colors. Sawya is a cotton, alpaca, and silk worsted weight blend from Mirasol that is soft to the touch and has a lovely twist. It will offer wonderful drape to your sweaters, wraps, or skirts. Finish your garments with the unique buttons from our latest shipment.

Whatever the project, the staff at Acorn Street looks forward to offering you any help you may need. We are excited to be a part of the Puget Sound LYS Tour and appreciate your participation.

We love our location in the heart of Wallingford in the old renovated school that is now the Wallingford Center. Look for the big red building at the corner of North 45th and Wallingford Avenue. We have plenty of free parking in our large parking lot so no searching for street parking. The Wallingford Center is a great place to browse, shop and eat, so plan to spend some time.

We are proud of our yarn selections from many companies including Berroco, Skacel, Classic Elite, Manos del Uruguay, Malabrigo, Madelinetosh, Plymouth, plus several more. This year we have added Rowan to our shelves and love their yarns. All this plus our great wall of sock yarns — remember, they are not just for feet anymore.

We hope you will be as excited as we are about our one skein patterns. This year one of our talented local designers has designed our knit pattern and it is stunning! Another treat will be two other local women showing their “wares” — hand quilted, one of a kind needle cases on Thursday and beautiful unique buttons on Friday. We are happy to have them make their debuts in our shop.

You can walk onto the ferry: it’s only ten minutes from the terminal to our shop. If you prefer to drive, prepare yourself for construction detours (our main street is getting gussied up!) by visiting the “parking + access” map on winslowstreetsmarts.com . Our customers say it’s remarkably easy to get around.

This week, our friend Andrew’s scooter goes into the window in honor of the LYS Tour logo. It’s electric, so it’s very heavy. We’ll have to make a little ramp and run it up there. Kit and David, her wonderful window designer, are putting their heads together on how to dress everything up.

Inside our doors you’ll find our favorite traditional “woolly wools” (Brooklyn Tweed Shelter, Jamieson’s Shetland, Frangipani Guernsey…) along with modern essentials (Habu, madelinetosh, Louet Euroflax…). You’ll also see our wall of Rowan—they balance modern and traditional with utmost grace.

And while you’re patting yarn skeins and trying on samples, your non-knitting entourage can always amuse themselves in our tea area or at other Island shops and cafés.

We hope you’ll include our island in your travels this year. All the best, from all of us.

We’re excited to participate again in the LYS tour and we think you’ll find even more fun surprises here than last year. Our friendly staff has stocked up on lots of new bags and accessories, as well as all kinds of yarn. We have extensive selections of Malabrigo, Spud & Chloe and Noro among others, and more than a dozen brands of sock yarn. We also have organic, recycled, fair-traded and vegan yarns for the Earth-friendly knitter. And check out our huge selection of books.

By the way, don’t be fooled by the tour map, which has our location incorrect. Sorry about that! We’re west of Greenlake and Highway 99, just north of numbers 23 and 24 on the map.

We are within three blocks of some great local restaurants, whether you are craving organic sandwiches and soups, gourmet pizza and salads, or a fabulous Mexican lunch or dinner! These are all small, locally owned establishments, so take a break from the ordinary – Burlington is the perfect mid-tour location to grab a bite to eat and recharge your batteries. We’re very easy to find, and have plenty of off street parking in our lot next to the building. We’re looking forward to seeing you again in May!

Jean and Patricia welcome you to the LYS Tour and to Tea Cozy Yarn! Jean (the Frenetic Owner) and Patricia (the Forensic Knitter) happily join forces in this new location – 5816 24th Avenue NW in Ballard (one of Seattle Magazine’s Best Neighborhoods).

We’ve filled our shop with an array of lovely yarns (have you seen the organic cottons?). We also have a variety of Murchie’s Teas from British Columbia. We are happiest when our table is full of knitters. So, come in for a cup of tea and knitting…

Spring is in the air—and hopefully we’ll have some beautiful weather for the tour. But, since we do understand our climatic challenge here in the great Northwest, we may have to make our own good weather during the tour. We invite you to come to Seattle Yarn and enjoy the warmth that has become part of our trademark.

Last year I went on the complete LYS tour for the first time—it was a blast. I enjoyed visiting every shop and was so grateful that we live in such a yarn friendly part of the world. I did notice that the only thing we have that the others lacked is a kid’s room. It started with a basket of toys 14 years ago and it’s grown into a dedicated toy room.

This year it looks as if this room will turn into a baby room because Ruth—the famous daughter that got me into this business–is expecting. Ruth has been checking with other
mother yarn shop owners and has learned that this vision is doable—until the crawl-around, throw-around stage, I imagine. Come see another transition at Seattle Yarn.