The Yarn Garden in Carlisle, PA

Our first stop on the tour of LYS's (local yarn shops for the two non-knitters reading this) is The Yarn Garden in Carlisle, PA.

The Yarn Garden is located at 52 W. Pomfret St. The first 4 to 5 blocks of this street are an artist's dream. There are all kinds of creative shops, artist's studios, and eating establishments.

The proprieters are Hillary & Jill and you could not ask for two kinder people. They both love to knit and really care about their customers.

Their shop features a huge picture window. A table, sofa, and chair directly in front of the window create a wonderful sitting area with abundant natural light--the perfect place to make color choices about new projects or just sit and knit on works-in-progress. Besides the front window, the shop has other windows bathing most of the space in natural light.

The yarns are mostly seperated by type/fiber and are either in cubby-hole shelves or hanging on the wall. They carry a wonderful (if slightly consevative and predictable) sellection. They have many of the smaller, independantly produced yarns and carry everything from lace and sock to cottons, wools, silk and some novelty yarns. They even have a beautiful selection of pure qiviut (the really, REALLY good stuff) and qiviut blends (more affordable and just as soft).

The two story building provides ample room for their yarns, pattern books, needles, and accessories to be displayed artistically without feeling crowded. There is also room upstairs for a classroom/meeting room, a kitchen area, a bathroom, and ample storage.

There is also a patio off the back of the shop where customers can enjoy a lovely breeze or the scent of nearby flowers when the weather allows.

A cup of coffee, a little conversation, a sock to knit on (or lace, or cables, or....) and the world is a perfect place. That's what you'll find here.