sign reads "oldest photo taken at this site"
Almost a month ago, or more, I traveled to Philadelphia. It's just one of my top five cities, but barely: Seattle, Boston, Asheville, Charleston, and Philly. Last time I was there, oh six years ago, I wasn't completely consumed with a yarn shopping habit. I noted the name and address of one yarn store in the city from one of the entertainment papers, and thought it'd be great if I happened across it, but didn't exactly seek it out. I'm sure it was Loop, though.
This trip, I sought yarn. Three city-center stores were recommended by ya'll Philly lovers: Loop, Rosie's Yarn Cellar, and Sophie's Yarns. I went to all three. And I bought at all three, yes, indeedy.
First off, you've gotta know how much I love walking city streets. I was up for neighborhood exploration and enjoyed all the sights, sounds, and occasionally hounds--cause Philly's canine-friendly, don't you know--encountered along the way.
And second off, the other thing is that no matter how much I've walked, how tired my dogs are, how blistered and hot those piggies are, I'm walking everywhere. The other thing, was that I was too dumb to figure out Philly's mass transit system. Just didn't go there, cause I had in my head that Philly was SO walkable. This trip, the weather was fabulous. It was more than I could ask for. Did not need my winter coat at all. Made it all around the city with my raincoat. The weather was glorious and sunny and in the forties everyday. There was rain and fog one or two days, maybe, but it was still warm, and that was a vast difference from last time: snow, 10 degree temps, skirt-lifting wind. I sought out scarf to protect my chinny-chin-chin, for gosh sake!
And staying at the Ritz and being so centrally located to all I had to do and all I wanted to do was fabulous. So that was my time at the Ritz and I must say that I'd stay at every Ritz across the world if only librarians made more money than they do. But the big bummer was that their lobby was under construction, so there was no lounging on the sofas to see and be seen; like I'm into that at all, y'all? But I love people watching, so it coulda been entertaining for me.
But back to yarn. My first trek was to the seemingly most out of the way store, Loop. Delightful facade, yummy hardwood floors, yarn all in its place along the walls in organized shelving. Lots of Koigu and Malabrigo and Noro, too. Surely there were other things, but I shopped in Philly on purpose for yarn for a special project to be named/revealed later, and found it first stop, at Loop.
The ladies at Loop were helpful. They wound my Malabrigo. I bought yarn, a scarf pattern (candy stripe scarf), and needles, just in case, you know? Just in case I decided I'd knit. But I didn't. Besides winding my yarn and helping me find the right size needles, the ladies at Loop graciously gave me directions to my next stop, which I think was Fabric Row, and I think that was like Another Twenty Blocks, but I passed a Soul Food restaurant and a Whole Foods along the trek, and some tremendously decorated facades. The thing about Loop is that it's design and vibe reminded me of the sixties; that modern, sleek, uncluttered look that I so admire in others but cannot manage to pull off myself because my home, my person exudes cluttered eccentricity with a bit of frump. And they also gave me a fabulous bag in which I much easily lugged my junk around with me.
This trip I decided to forgo the yarn and needles because by this point knitter knows thyself. This knitter usually packs, overpacks, at least three or four projects just in case she gets Bored and wants to move on to something else. Also packs all her needles just in case she visits a yarn store and buys yarn and pattern for a new project and desires to cast on immediately. She carries all this stuff along and then doesn't do a thing with it ninety percent of the time. No knitting accompanied me to Philly. I didn't feel the first bit of guilt about packing it in and then packing it all out the same way it came., like usual.
Stumbling around Fabric Row I entered a few stores and was immediately overwhelmed. Didn't buy the first remnant of fabric, no notions, not buttons, no ribbons. But there wasn't a haberdashery there, so nothing on that front. I wandered the street in wonder, peering inside windows and imagining how fabulous it must be to have access to such fabric variety on a daily basis.
Sophie's Yarns was on Fourth Street on the edge of Fabric Row and I must say that I loved this store best of all. While I was the only customer at both Loop and Sophie's, I developed a rapport with the yarnseller at Sophie's.
Portia (Rowan Studio, Book Four)
I tried on one of the sweaters in the window. We chatted about patterns. I admired her hat. She sold me that pattern, yarn (online sock yarn in melange), and beads (YIKES!) to go along with it. The cat! The yarn cat was fabulous, furry, and friendly. As a former cat person, I love meeting cats in stores. In bookstores, yarnstores, where else? They aren't so much anywhere else. Sophie's store was really wide. Lots of room to move around in, awesome hardwood wide-plank floors. The display cabinets were older, maybe antique? I could have stayed all day, but I felt like I was bothering the yarnseller. I found thing after pattern after yarn after.... that I had questions about.
Seems like I did all three yarn stores in one day. That was a lot of walking. Or no. Actually, maybe I did two in one day and saved Rosie's Yarn Cellar for last; dates on my camera corroborate this last thought. I bought a skein of Regia sock yarn and a skein of the new Noro sock yarn. Yum. And the second volume of Jo Sharp's Knit series; already had one and three at home. Rosie's was the busiest of the three yarn stores, and the smallest, most crowded one, too. It was an actual cellar. I walked along the street looking for the street number and almost passed it by because it was below street level. As I descended into various levels of yarn everywhere I felt right at home. It was homey, but I was elbow-to-elbow with other yarn scavengers and waited in line to buy my things.
Gosh, Philly is great for yarn. And there are even more places to shop that I didn't make it to. I mean, three shops in two or three days when you're walking there is a LOT. I call that true yarn devotion. You should, too!
One last thing: The food was great there, too. Discovered a new drink I've got to try at home. It's called a Moscow Mule. But I'll likely write more about food and drink and show those photos at potlikker in a few days.
