The Summer Crop Top Saga Part One: Yarnia Review

It is not supposed to reach almost 100 degrees Fahrenheit in New Jersey. Ever. It's not natural. But one awful week in July it did. And it drove me to embrace my greatest knitting foe: cotton. Cotton and I do not normally get along. It hurts my hands, dries out my skin, and it just isn't the same as my beloved wool.

But it was 99 degrees outside and my The Throwback cardigan was just...too warm and wooly to think about working on- especially when our air conditioners were just struggling to keep the apartment barely tolerable.

So my husband and I hatched a plan to keep cool in the heat. We would hit up a new (to me) yarn store in Montclair for some emergency cotton yarn so I could knit the adorable Rift Tee by (instert her name here), and then we'd go to an indoor mini golf place.

So, let the reviews begin!

Yarn Shop Review: Yarnia, Montclair NJ

The Vibe

So, I started knitting pretty young. I also have a lot of social anxiety. So going to new yarn stores (or comic book stores) can be a little worrying. Normally I wear something hand knit(for comic books its my DnD shirt from Pax East 10 years ago) and impressive to ward off any judgey looks. However, it was super, super hot out the first day we visited Yarnia. 

I shouldn't have been worried- Yarnia is awesome. The owners and staff are super nice and welcoming, and so are the customers. This is the first yarn shop I have visited where I felt comfortable going to a knit night or day (they have a weekend sit and knit!!) which is great because I have another hobby that conflicts with the Wednesday time.

The owners also have a really fun and cute podcast on youtube- which is actually the first youtube podcast I've enjoyed.

The Yarn

Yarnia has a great mix of work horse yarns, mid range yarns, indie dyers, and high end yarns. Some of them were new to me (ok, a lot were- I've been buying yarn on knit picks or at yarn festivals for a long time). As it's summer, they had a lot of nice cottons and linen blends (but no cotton/wool or linen/wool blends).  The owners really worked hard to choose a good blend of fibers and colors and they arrange it in a very pleasing way.

They also have a small section of spinning fiber, project backs, Akerworks products, and other fun little knitting tools and notions.

Overall?

I love this shop. It's a small shop- but not as small as some others I have seen. Everyone is super nice. I think the greatest compliment I can give is that I took one of my Stitch Apprentices to visit when she was up visiting from Washington D.C. We both got yarn for Soldotnas.

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