I called the store last week looking for Cascade 220 and Rowan Felted Tweed DK. I was told they carried one of them and that someone could help me find a substitute for the other. I appreciated the offer because while I've learned - and am still learning - about yarn substitution, it's still one of those tasks I'd rather get expert-level help with.
So yesterday I swung by in-person to ask about the yarns. I made sure to paste ALL the yarn and needle info from my knitting instructions on my phone to show whoever was going to help me.
There was a class going on and only one person was available to help (although she looked busy preparing something for the class while standing at a counter). I first asked for Cascade 220. The staffer wasn't sure of that particular line, so she asked for the weight.
The yarn thickness category designated by the Craft Yarn Council (CYC) was the LAST thing on my mind. I'm not a vintage-only knitter or anything, and I dare call myself a prolific maker, but I'd say only half of the patterns I've used since I started knitting in the 1990s include the CYC's yarn weight standards' symbol: an illustrated yarn skein with its CYC category number. I'm more used to seeing it on actual yarn labels, so it's not my habit to note it when looking for yarn in-person. Also, no one asked me for the CYC weight when I called last week; we were all on the same wavelength during that call.
So, I told the staffer the GRAM weight of the skein, and the conversation immediately shifted. As nice as this staffer was, she walked me over to a wall of yarn, showed me the store's copy of the CYC yarn weight standards chart, and started explaining how yarn weights are determined from lace to jumbo.
I didn't bother interrupting her to say anything in my defense. When she first asked me for the yarn weight, I didn't ask "do you mean the physical mass of the yarn or the yarn thickness category?" But as someone representing Nimble Fingers, neither did she.
And I do understand there may have been an additional disconnect. While at the wall pointing out certain yarns, the staffer mentioned that the store's yarns are organized by CYC weight. So who knows, right? Maybe she first asked me about the yarn weight to figure out where to send me on their yarn wall while I wandered the store with a near-empty tote bag big enough to smuggle home a sheep. Anyway...
At first she didn't want to look at the typed yarn info on my phone for some reason. And without my reading glasses I rarely need while out 'n' about, I fumbled a bit reading my well-organized yarn notes - with highlighted needle sizes and skein amounts - out loud, which I'm sure added to me looking like a fish out of water.
The staffer pointed out some yarns that might work as substitutions, and she suggested that I take a picture of them, which I did, so I could think more about my ultimate choice. But because yarn substitution is usually more nuanced than matching a thickness category and calling it a day, I was super disappointed that I clearly wasn't talking to whoever was on the phone last week. I'd been practicing my brioche stitch on acrylic stash yarn for a few months. I was SO ready to buy the yarn for my project.
So that happened. The staffer was pleasant enough throughout the interaction, and even dropped a now-fashionable "y'all" on your Cousin Kerstin.
But honestly, experiences like this can hit differently for some BIPOC makers, especially newer knitters navigating crafting spaces where assumptions about knowledge and belonging can feel loaded, like when my answer to this staffer's yarn weight question was apparently the "wrong" one. I also noticed an older 2019 customer photo on this Yelp page showing a much larger yarn selection, so I'm not sure if the store layout has changed or if there are additional areas I wasn't shown, but I was only shown a single wall of yarn during my visit.
Between the awkward interaction that didn't match the informed help I got over the phone, the overall limited selection, and the fact that we took the bus out there specifically looking for yarn options I can't usually find at chain craft stores, I don't see myself making the trip again. read more