Grumperina's guide to yarn shops in the Boston area
Boston area visitors frequently inquire about my favorite places to spy, touch, and purchase yarn and knitting accessories. Comprehensive directories of Massachusetts yarn shops are available, but I assume my friends want something smaller and infused with personal recommendations. To this end, I've divvied up my narrow list of local haunts into biased tiers. Narrow because I rely on public transportation and many shops are simply out of my reach. Biased because I have favorite yarns and books and accessories and gravitate towards shops which carry them. Also, there's a certain way I like to be treated by the staff - not too pushy, willing to listen to me, and able to converse with me as in a knowledgeable way.
Keeping this in mind, here is my little list:
Tier 1
Wild and Woolly in Lexington is the largest yarn store easily accessible to me. If I have a free Saturday, I take the Red Line to Alewife, then hop on the 76 bus to visit this two-story yarn Mecca. I adore the feisty staff and enormous yarn selection.
Windsor Button has an amazingly convenient location for me - just a block from Park Street. I love their broad selection of yarns and needles and sizeable inventory, not to mention all the extras: buttons, ribbons, sewing thread and accessories. The staff is friendly and helpful, but leaves me alone when I'm in my own little yarn-shopping world.
Woolcott & Co. is just a few blocks away from my work, so I can run in and out during lunch if necessary. The store is small, but has recently become more organized and shopper-friendly.
Tier 2
Newbury Yarns has a very convenient location, in case I need to run in and grab something quickly.
A Good Yarn is a bit of trek for me (either Red Line to Green Line-D to Brookline Village, or 66 bus), but I've always been impressed with their pattern selection. They seem to have many European pattern books not easily found elsewhere.
Tier 3
Circles isn't near me, but at least the lengthy commute is very simple - Red Line to Orange Line, which typically isn't crowded at all. The store is open until 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday!
Mind's Eye Yarns has a very friendly owner and carries spinning goodies - fiber, spindles, and so on.
Other notables
Winmil Fabrics has an awesome location ('round the corner from Windsor Button) and a sizeable selection of fabrics and sewing supplies. The owners are very friendly, and I've never walked away empty handed.
Beadworks has a very respectable selection for beads, including seed beads used in knitting. I frequent both the Boston and Cambridge locations.
