Letters
Atlas Insider: Y’arn Y’all
Well, there’s a new Field Guide on the horizon, and that always throws the warehouse into quite the tizzy. In addition to the copies that we send out to all of you, your local yarn stores are ordering wholesale quantities as well—so there’s a lot of plate spinning going on.
That’s not quite right—retail and wholesale are two completely different things, so it’s like we’re spinning plates with one hand and … hammers? … with the other. There’s just a lot to keep up with; it’s supremely easy to make an error. Lots of quiet time and no joking around in the warehouse this week.
One aspect of wholesale that complicates things (in an admittedly delightful fashion) is the parade of LYS names. No pun goes unexploited when it comes to yarn stores. Knit Happens! Purls of Wisdom! Something Knotty in the Woodshed! You think you’ve heard them all and then, lo, here comes, oh I dunno … Skeined Alive? We laugh along every single time and marvel that there are still some we haven’t heard.
Here’s the thing, though (I know you’re thinking, “What is the thing, DG?”): I’d have it no other way. You only have to spend five seconds watching pharmaceutical commercials to get the absolutely depressing lay of the land when it comes to naming things. Xeljanz! Eliquis! Snortwhiffle! I guess those all do something helpful; all I know is that they are each quite singularly unmemorable.
So bring on the funny yarn store names until the day I die; though I could perhaps be overestimating the relative belovedness of obscure Hayley Mills movies, who wouldn’t drive thirty extra miles to browse around That Yarn Cat?
Oh and if you were wondering—the name of my yarn store would totally be Y’arn, Y’all.
Yarn dyers just wanna have fun too. Juicy Lichen and Lace Superwash Worsted pictured here in Sunburnt Lobster, Day Lily, Sweet Potato, Sugar Plum, and Marsh Lily
Come Shop With Us
Oh, I thought this was gonna lead to another giveaway contest! Like, what would your yarn store be named? I couldn’t come up with anything better than what is already out there. Some really great puns, store names! I used to shop at Knotty Lamb when I lived in Oregon;)
I used to shop at Serial Knitters in Kirkland, WA, but moved across the country to Cape Cod. My closest LYS is Ocean Purls in Eastham. That is about the punniest of the bunch. My husband and I joke that someday we’ll open a combined yarn store, bookstore, whiskey bar, and dance studio. Haven’t thought of a name for it yet, although 5 6 7 8 Knit comes to mind. Or Knit Two, Drink Two…
Oh, pleez let me know when you open up! I love knitting, dancing, whiskey and books – and my hubby would love the dancing and whiskey, too!!
“Knit One, Bar None”!
Ohhh good one!
Skeined Alive I would totally buy their yarn! I’ve dreamed of converting a food truck into a yarn and book truck to drive around to all the artsy towns in my area, to be called A Good Yarn, naturally. I often chuckle over my own Ravelry moniker, Not Casting Purls…
There’s a shop in Sarasota called “A Good Yarn”. Beautiful inventory.
Wanda, what a terrific idea. I love both books and knitting and would wait for your truck to come just like I waited for the ice cream truck when I was a kid.
I shop at two terrific local yarn shops near me in New Hampshire: Spinning Yarns and Smitten Yarn Co. Smitten sells tea too, but so far I have not found a yarn/bar combination. Now a yarn/beer shop would have my husband frequently asking when I needed more yarn so he could drive me!
I also live in New Hampshire, how do I not know these two shops?? Time for me to change that. I usually go to The Elegant Ewe, Yarn and Fiber Store, and of course Harrisville though it is over an hour from me.
It could be Purls Before Wine…
Cast purls before swine and serve grilled BBQ ribs.
Mollie, that’s a good one!
Excellent idea! I’ll take a side of whiskey for A Tangled Mess!
With a bar you could have fun naming the mixed drinks. Eg. The Ribbing?
Mine too!
My mother, when she was nearly 80, wanted to enter a cooking contest where the main ingredient had to be Spam. She wanted to call her concoction Spam, Bam, Thank You Ma’am. She loved puns!
If I had a yarn shop it would be called Fiber Therapy.
My favorite is Cheers to Ewe in Huntersville, NC.
I’ll have to look for this store. I live in North Cackalacky now!
I have shopped there several times. The owners are wonderful ladies!
In my travels, I’ve encountered Sin City Yarn Shop in Las Vegas, and Yarnivore in San Antonio. Given the choice between visiting a shop with an “ordinary” name and a fun one, I’ll pick the fun one every time!
And I forgot all about one that I love in Midlothian, VA (outside of Richmond): Dances With Wool!!!! Maybe you have to be of a certain age to get the pun….
I know a lady who named her shop The Yarn Farm (she also raises Angora Goats).
P.S. I would name mine Come Shop the Stash
Ewe Count in Cheyenne Wyoming. She sells counted cross-stitch supplies as well as yarn. Your Daily Fiber, Livermore, Colorado. Although not a pun, 2 Unraveled Chicks and a Llama in Norman, Oklahoma is a name that makes me chuckle.
I’m just hopeful to have new stores open up again soon!
I love Y’arn Y’all so much!
Love your yarn store name.
My friend recently bought me a shirt , a pin and a keychain from Llama Llama Ding Dong shop near Chicago Ilinois
Shout out to Ewetopia in Viroqua, WI. Dye Hard yarns in Oak Park, IL and the late, lamented Knot Just Knits and Chix With Stix.
how wonderful to have this song in my head today, love it!!
Thank you for this glorious humor!!! Snortwiffle! Bwah!
I so, so, so NEED this before going back into my workweekspace of whimsy-stunted adults (nah, can’t blame it on the pandemic).
Peace and Blessings…now I can get up and coffee up.
“Y’arn Y’all” Indeed. Indeed.
ImagiKnit in San Francisco.
is this my sister in law Linda??
The Sow’s Ear is delightful
One of our local yarn stores in Michigan is Threadbender.
Greenville, SC: Yarn and Y’all
This was my fave read in forever! I too, love Knotty Lady in Roseburg, OR! And I think Snortwhiffle is the funniest word ever, now running around in my brain! ❤
Ohhhhh it’s close!
There actually IS a store named that—Yarn and Y’all in Greenville, SC 🙂
Pittsburgh PA region has a shop called Kid Ewe Knot that I am one day going to get to. Kathy’s Kreations in Ligonier is always worth a trip.
There used t be a very popular LYS in Alexandria, VA called Knit Happens. It was located in Old Town Alexandria where the local government had strict rules about the size and configuration of signage for business — when it was first getting ready to open, the city council took umbrage at the name. The owner spun a yarn (sorry, I couldn’t resist) about how “knit happens” was a common phrase in the fiber arts community and the city council bought it and let her put up a sign.
Charlotte’s Web… if I ever opened a yarn store…
My store would be called “To Knit or Knot to Knit”
Sally that’s the best!
One of the most fun reads in a long time. Thanks!
Yarn and Y’All is a LYS here in Greenville, SC!
I worked at The Knitting Tree in Madison, Wisconsin 40 years ago, but my favorite name is A Verb for Keeping Warm, in Berkeley, CA
My dormant Etsy shop is called Raging Wool.
I owned a yarn shop for a few years and its name is totally not worth remembering. I wanted to call it Yarnia, but that was taken I found when I checked on Google.