I'm still moving along my cabled socks, having begun the second one, and my Fountain Pen Shawl which I'm about a third of the way through. But my update isn't about those projects. I've just learned something that will change how I knit, how I plan projects, how I get yarn, forever.
My favorite yarn store is closing. Windsor Button just announced that their landlord hasn't renewed their lease and I've heard they looked around for another space and were unable to find anywhere suitable and affordable. After 75 years in business - 75! - they're closing forever.
It may seem a huge exaggeration to say that I'm devastated by this news, but allow me to tell why this is so awful, and why I love that store so much. Knitting is one of just two pastimes I engage in (the other being reading) so despite my apparently slow progress I do spend a lot of time on it.
Windsor Button is the only place around that has everything I need for knitting. It's the only yarn store that carries everything from Red Heart to Malabrigo, Lion to Madelinetosh, and everything in between. Sure, they don't have every brand, but whatever you are looking for, they have something like it. No other yarn store in the Boston area - of the very few that still remain - can boast the range of yarns that Windsor can. It's literally the only place I can go when I have a project in mind and know that I'll come home with suitable yarn in a color I like. It may not be what I originally was looking for, but it will be as good or better.
And buttons! Where else can you even buy buttons? And don't say "the internet" because you can't hold them up to your finished sweater to make sure they go with it, or push them through the buttonholes to make sure they fit before buying them.
The staff is friendly and helpful and the owner, Sue, is incredibly skilled at suggesting the perfect buttons to go with your sweater, buttons you would never have even given a second look at but at clearly the ONLY buttons that would even make sense. I may have to stop knitting cardigans altogether.
I don't know what I'll do now. I suppose I'll end up ordering yarn from KnitPicks and WEBS, and maybe take the occasional drive to Western MA to visit WEBS in person, but there's just no substitute for being able to go buy yarn TODAY or TOMORROW because I've suddenly decided to make a project. This is going to take a lot of planning from here on out.
In the meantime, Windsor is having a big sale starting Monday morning. Luckily, I'm working evenings Monday and Tuesday this week so I'll be able to stop by in the morning at the beginning of the sale while there's still a lot there. But I'm not buying for a particular project so I'll have to plan well. Oh, it's going to be tough walking into the store knowing it may be the last time!
2 comments:
It's one thing to lose a yarn store due to poor management. It's another when the yarn store is prospering and it's the landlord. Wonder how much money he'll get after the store is gone. I'm debating coming down to shop and just to see the store one last time.
And you know they'll just turn it into offices or condos or something. You should definitely visit it while you still can!
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