adventures in san francisco, part one yarn tasting at art fibers
By: moraie
tags: 2007, knititng, ming, san_francisco, travel, yarn, yarn_shops, yarn_shop_reviews, yarn_sources
Category: travel, yarn sources, yarn_shop_reviews
San Francisco, Art Fibers. The hallway to the second floor walk-up is filled with xeroxed pictures of models, whose sweaters have been cut-out and filled in with swatches. Clearly, you are headed to a place of fashion.
And fashion it is indeed, with yarn of every sort, eyelash and chunky. Mohair and silk wool blends are common here. Worsted weight is harder to come by.
Like Habu, yarn at Art Fibers is sold by the ounce rather than the yard. For the most part, the fibers come in a array of colors. Take for example, the Ming I found, a silk wool blend. I had my choice of rust, blue and many other colors (although I eventually settled on maroon). Additionally, many of the yarns are available at a cheaper price in dye hanks. I found it hard to keep my hands off of 1000-yard hanks of lace-weight silk and wool, despite the knowledge that it the silk would hardly make this a suitable fiber for a first time dyer like myself.
Karrie and Carmen arrived ahead of me and were already examining the fibers they keep in drawers. Soon after I got there, Anabel and her friend Christina, appeared and we found ourselves tasting various fibers.
Art Fibers is well aware that none of their fibers come with a set gauge and needle size attached to them. They encourage knitters to knit a sample and have set aside a special yarn-tasting area complete with needles (circular, straight AND double points) and fiber for you to try out your potential purchases. They even have drop spindles for spinners to have their own roving tasting. I sampled my Ming with a US Size 4 and found (not at all to my surprise) that I liked the fiber.
Other products at Art Fibers include needles, pattern books and buttons. The staff here is helpful and will kindly draw up a pattern for you using their knitting software. Unfortunately, the one on one attention can come at the price of speedy check out service on a busy day.
I purchased both the Ming and also these artisan crafted buttons from Vermont.
Overall, I had a terrific time at Art Fibers. I’ll give it a rating of 4 1/2 stars and an E for Everyone.
Art Fibers is located at 124 Sutter Street in San Francisco. It is a very short walk from Chinatown.
