I am a yarn tourist, just like you! In this series, I will review a yarn store from Australia or abroad. You can nominate one you would like me to feature by emailing me knitting@dearpru.com
Technically I visited WEBS a year ago in person, but I reconnected with them virtually recently during their Virtual Winter Retreat, so I thought I’d tell you a bit more about America’s Yarn Store. Read to the end to discover the interesting fact behind WEBS name…!
When I first started knitting garments I was happy to raid the discount bin at my local Spotlight. The challenge was to find the most yarn at the CHEAPEST price! However, in my 20s, I started buying Vogue Knitting Magazine and Knitscene and the patterns all featured the most beautiful yarns. I didn’t have a local yarn shop I could source these from at the time, so I jumped on yarn.com, WEBS online store. I was able to filter for yardage, fibre content, gauge, brand: it still is THE BEST website IMO to shop for yarn for these reasons (it’s amazing how many online stores leave out some of this important info!!). And they always had responsive customer service when trying to work out how many more skeins I could squeeze into the post pack before I got bumped to a larger one!
You can imagine how excited I was to be able to visit WEBS in person last January. Local designer, teacher and author Rosann Fleischauer kindly drove me from Boston to Northampton to check out the store. It was a lot of fun to learn about the local knitting scene and lunch at a fun local restaurant, Fitzwilly’s
I knew from WEBS website that the range was extensive, but I was still amazed by the range of yarns they stocked, as well as tools, bags and notions. Highlights include Rowan, Koigu, Barocco, Hedgehog Fibres, and Katrinkles.
I bought quite a bit of yarn, including some Tahki Yarn Donegal Tweed which, judging by the label, was going to be perfect for my Bread and Jam Jumper. It ended up knitting up at 16 sts per 10cm not 18 but I made it work by knitting the size down.Despite it being such a large store, they bear the hallmarks of an excellent LYS: they have regular classes, social knit sessions and drop in help sessions. They also have online knitting groups, retreats in person and online and an Expert Knitter Certification Program!
And why is it called WEBS? I’ve been told it’s an acronym and that the first two letters stand for Weaving and Education…! I am guessing the B stands for Basement (their first location was a cellar) and the S for school but I can’t verify that! And when did they first open? 1974!