Shop Review

I made it over to Spark Craft Studio today. As you can find out from visiting their website, they are a craft supply retailer/studio space. They are most certainly not a "yarn store", yarn just happens to be one of the things they sell, along with beading supplies, scrapbooking materials, etc. The idea seems to be you can buy a membership and go over there and use their space/tools to do your crafty projects. I was there about noon, and was the only person other than staff in the shop - I'm guessing its more active nights/weekends.

The space is nice and clean and bright, well laid out. I didn't really poke around the studio space too much, just the retail areas. The lower level has the knitting stuff - they have nice neat hammocks along the walls to hold the skeins. Not a huge selection, they had some Manos, Mango Moon, a good amount of Gedifra, some Lion Brand (woolease mostly), Nature Wool (and Cotton, which I hadn't bumped into before). They also had a small selection of needles (Addis, Skakel and Clover mostly). Also a very small pattern/book area. Prices were typical. There were comfy chairs with knitting magazines out on the tables where you could sit and knit (if you're a member only? don't know).

I had a nice chat with one of the proprietors as I browsed, she was asking me to tell her if there were certain yarns I'd like to see to let her know, if they get enough requests they'll try to get it in. I told her you can't go wrong with stocking some sock yarn (they had none). She was also wondering what types of things knitters work on in the summer - I told her what I had planned for summer projects. She had heard conflicting reports from different other shop owners that the summer was slow and/or the busiest time. She herself professed knitting ignorance, but I would hope that other staff members have some expertise.

So, it was a good trip, not a huge enough selection to have me back there just for browsing, but if I find I need something specific that I know they have it sure is convenient. The staff was certainly very friendly, and I liked the space itself a lot. I don't live around here (just work nearby) so the membership idea is not for me, but can see where it would make sense for some people - mostly for non-knitting crafters that perhaps could benefit from access to specialized tools and/or the very social who like to knit and be crafty in groups.