I drug the boys into a knitting shop that I found in Cocoa, FL called the Knit and Stitch Boutique. They were not particularly thrilled with me about this. They thought I was joking when I said I wanted to go to a yarn store to look for sock yarn.
I really wasn't impressed with the shop for several reasons:
A. As soon as we walked in, one of the women working there began following us everywhere like we were going to either steal something or the boys would destroy everything in sight. I keep a very tight rein on my children when in stores, so it ticks me off to have someone do this. Yes, I know, not everyone controls their children, but still. I also know that this is not a very child friendly town, but honestly, do they expect every knitter to be ancient and childless? Others in the store (regular customers) were much more friendly to me and the kids though and that was much appreciated.
B. I got lectured by this same woman on how to handle yarn. I pretended to hug the skein of yarn that I was holding (and eventually bought though I was tempted not to) and she began lecturing me on not to touch my face with it. Worried about makeup getting on your yarn, honey? You have no idea how bad I wanted to do that after the stern talking to she gave me just out of spite.
C. If this was the owner of the shop, she has a lot to learn about customer service. Never tick off a potential customer. She might be a knitter, spinner, and crocheter and just might have a blog to tell others about your store and the service in it.
D. The shop was so cramped there was hardly space to move. A class was going on and there were large tables taking up much of the floor space. They would have done better to have chairs set up instead. The people in the class were very warm and friendly though and very patient with my trying to get around them to look at the shelves that contained the yarn. They need to find a place with more space and better parking.
E. The yarn selection could have been a bit better. The shop caters to those who work with thread in general as well as knitters which is cool and I haven't seen that before so it gets a plus for that. However, if you're known as a knit shop, shouldn't you have a bit more of a selection of yarn? Oh, and what about stuff for the crocheter? Just my opinion.
Okay. 'Nuff said about that.
I did get what I went in for and that was some pretty sock yarn! Malabrigo sock yarn to be exact and in the Stonechat colorway:
