Huge selection and excellent service. I could have spent the day there! I'm looking forward to the next trip!

Service is excellent! Very knowledgeable and patient which is great for this beginner. Fantastic selection of yarn and fiber. Well worth the drive from Liberty and I'm looking forward to my next visit! read more

Well organized and well stocked! Cone yarn, local fiber, local dyers, tools, equipment, and a healthy serving of stalwart workhorse yarns, too. Lots of street parking available and a helpful staff who were ready to lend their expertise as necessary. read more

I have ordered via mail from Yarn Barn after watching the owners' interview with Knitty Natty on Natalie's 50 states yarn shop tour. Their selection of yarns and needle brands is vast yet affordable. Shipping is efficient and the pricing was reasonable. A complimentary ruler with Yarn Barn branding was included in my order which I appreciated. My yarn was also wound without any additional cost. read more

Wonderfully Patient and for that I'm so appreciative! Thanks for making my day once again! read more

This is a really good yarn store. They have locally produced, Indy-Dyer yarns as well as a house brand called 319 (their street address). Th'Red Head Designs Mini Boomer is a serious deal. 1140 yards of fingering for under $60. And the store has the national/international brands you would expect to find in a well-stocked store such as Malabrigo and Cascade. As a knitter living in Texas I also looked at their cones of cotton, a yarn intended for the weaving buyer. But I wasn't in a cotton-buying kind of mood. CAVEAT: Parking is an issue. The street parking in front of the store is heavily patrolled by City Meter Readers. The meter took coins from me but didn't give me time on the meter for the money. It suggested that I turn a handle that didn't exist. Then I tried to make the City parking app work. Apparently I'm just not that App-Literate. I stood by my car while the store wound up my purchases. I ducked back into the store to grab my new yarns. That was all the time it took for a parking ticket to get jammed under the windshield wiper. The ticket was only $10 so it wasn't a Big-City Style parking ticket, but still..... read more

Great store with a great selection of yarns. I am a weaver and they have pretty much anything I need. People are always nice - I live in NC so I have to shop online, but once I called after I submitted an order to have some additional items added to my order (with the discount) - they got the job done and shipped it the same day. read more

I normally don't leave bad reviews but since my 79 yr old mom was treated rudely, with me noticing, I thought I would. On Yelp they have great reviews so we were excited until we were met with a rude employee who had ZERO patience with my mom who had few questions. Its hard for my mom to carry a conversation since her stroke. You'd never know she had one it's trying to get the right word she wants to use. As we left she told me she will never go back there and I don't blame her. read more

Always helpful and a Lawrence institution. I've loved this place since I was a kid! Beautiful products and kind staff.

This place is like a weavers, knitters, any fiber artist dream come true. I love to visit here and they were kind enough to let me try out there spinning wheels, which I've never touched one before, so that was fun and I will definitely be looking at buying one in the future! read more

Yarn Barn - Spinning some art yarn with my new drop spindles and all of the roving that I bought! - Arts & Crafts Near Me - Lawrence, Kansas

Great store, but it's too far from me to go there all the time. What an awesome selection. It's like a great candy store to me. It is large, and spacious, and it is fun and exciting. For me to go there I have to have a reason to go to Lawrence Kansas, and then, I make it appoint to stop . It sits on Mass. Street, and usually I visit around the Cross Stitch Shop Hop weekend. It was on May 1st, 2nd and 3rd, and includes Stitch On Needlework, which is in Lawrence, as well. The Yarn Barn can't be ignored, it's a few doors down from Stitch-on Needlework. The staff are awesome. They are knowledgeable about their yarns and nice, and pleasant. They have a reading area, with just about every book you'd want regarding knitting. When I bought something recently, for change they gave me a Susan B. Anthony dollar. They kit their yarn, which is kind of cool, with patterns. I've bought from them online, but it's nothing like the experience of going into the actual store. They have needles I've not found elsewhere. They are one of the few locations, locally, that deal with spinners.I don't spin my yarn, but I find that fascinating. They offer an array of classes. I live in Missouri, and doubt that I'll have that experience of attending a class there. The store is so vast, and it's this amazing plethora of fibers, needles, tools, samples, classes, books, patterns. A review doesn't even come close to stepping into the doors of this store. Maybe I'm glad it is in Lawrence, so I don't go there all the time, and spend entire paychecks (or several hours) there. I love this store, it is quite possibly my favorite yarn store in the United States. read more

Beautiful, beautiful, spacious & well-stocked store with supplies for knitters & spinners & weavers & all sorts of fiber artists. I can see how it could be overwhelming to someone who is just starting out; the selection is HUGE and there is an awful lot to look at. If, like me, you are the type of person who doesn't necessarily want a lot of guidance, but would prefer to get lost looking at all the pretties & daydreaming about potential projects, this is the fibery equivalent of the Library of Alexandria to a voracious reader. I have never experienced the grumpy staff or elitist vibe that others mention. Perhaps I've just been lucky. The classrooms in the basement are pleasant, and they offer a wide variety of classes. Will definitely return, most likely many times. read more

Yarn Barn - Arts & Crafts Near Me - Lawrence, Kansas

wonderful selection of yarns and accessorirs for knitting and weaving! Very helpful staff!

Meh. Great selection, yeah, but grumpy staff. Come on. Total grumps. I love to knit, but I don't much like it when I run out of yarn, because that means I have to go back to the Yarn Barn, and deal with the attitudes. I have an awesome knitting group in Lawrence, so I know there are cool knitters in town, but none of us much like the Yarn Barn. It always makes me laugh when more advanced artists or craftspeople are elitist. You're not special just because you've put more time into the artform than I have. read more

There are only a few things that will make people driving across the state pull off into Lawrence to stop and visit, well, besides the need to fill up the gas tank. They are: Allen Fieldhouse, the mecca of college basketball. Lawrence's legendary Free State Brewery, know far and wide across the country as one of the finest. Spencer Museum of Art (currently closed for renovation), one of the finer small museums in the country. And... for folks into, well, yarn, yep, Yarn Barn. It's that good, it's that unique, and it has everything imaginable and more. It's the Grand Canyon of yarn. It's the Iowa Corn Palace of yarn. It's the Niagara Falls of yarn. It's the World's Largest Ball of Twine of yarn. It's the Arthur Bryant's, Gates and Joe's Oklahoma BBQ of yarn. I could go on. Go to any large trade show where these things are the center of attention and there they are. A small family run business in Lawrence that serves people all over the world. No, it's not me that shops here, but I know plenty of folks that do and they never stop talking about it. Classes, a helpful staff that knows their (yarn) stuff and friendly owners who are there on premises serving. Now I have just one question: do they have Yak yarn? Maybe I'll call them today and find out. I'm pretty sure they probably do. read more

This is a great store for the experienced fiber enthusiast. They carry a wide selection of fiber for knitting, crochet, spinning and weaving. It's better that you know what you're looking for when you go into the store, it's large and not always easy to find what you need. The staff is experienced in the fiber arts and should be able to answer questions, although they don't always seemed thrilled to do so. If you're newer to fiber crafts, this store can be so overwhelming, and pretty exciting, but it's good to have a more experienced friend with you to help you out. If you go alone and with questions, it might be hard for you to make it out with what you need. read more

I've had nothing but good experiences shopping & taking classes at The Yarn Barn. It's our only LYS (local yarn shop), and it's important to me to support what they bring to the community, so I don't mind if I pay a little more than I might somewhere else. I think it's a great selection of yarn & knitting tools for a local shop in a smaller town, too. It's a treat just to sweep through and look at and feel all the beautiful yarn. My husband hates waiting on me to shop there because I can never just get in and hurry out! I'm still a new enough knitter that I feel overwhelmed and clueless when I'm starting a new project, but I've always received the help I needed from the staff. I haven't found anyone snobby or condescending in the least. Everyone I've interacted with has been incredibly supportive of newbies. read more

I just moved to Topeka a month ago and made my first trip to The Yarn Barn today. I found the staff to be very nice and the yarn selection is pretty good. Today was the annual sidewalk sale and the prices were 30-40% off so that was good. Even the regular prices were inline with what I am use to. I moved from Knoxville TN and was a weekly visitor to my LYS and was very sad to learn that Topeka does not have a yarn store. Although Lawrence KS is about 40 minutes away, I will make the drive just to visit this store. read more

As someone who has recently entered to world of yarn, just learned how to crochet and knit, the Yarn Barn is an overwhelming plethora of woolen delight. The store is huge! And there's yarn of every distinction, in every color, with any pattern and samples of home made creations next to them so you can see how it would look! That's genius marketing. Or maybe that's just how it works in yarn stores, I'm not sure. They also have a great staff. When I admittedly said I was new to this, she just smiled and pointed out the difference in yarn, saying I should start with textures to see what I would like best. Simple enough, but when there's a giant store full of different yarns, it took me awhile--like an hour or so.. I will definitely be back, christmas is just around the corner and I have A LOT of knitting to do! read more

Nice yarn shop, very well organized. You can find some lovely yarn here and the staff seemed to be fairly friendly and helpful. Nice selection of knitting needles and crochet hooks. If yarn is your thing, this is the shop for you! read more

High praise and appreciation to Jim (one of the owners) who helped me with the tension on my spinning wheel. I needed a refresher boost to get me back on the wheel and he provided patience (most important!), tips and information. He was not intimidating and talked me through my rather 'rusty' spinning skills. I came away with self confidence and a new joy for spinning. I've been a customer for most of their time in business, and always get the help I need. I had great phone help and also they carried a replacement part for an old wheel that I would have had to order from a costly distributor. A happy visit :) Tip: Had a great lunch at Wheatfield's Bakery/Café on Vermont. Joan O. read more

While I am a huge advocate of locally owned restaurants and stores, I am also a huge advocate of kind and respectable customer service. My first visit to The Yarn Barn: I walked into The Yarn Barn and inquired about Noro Yarn (my absolute favorite) and received the response in an unnerving loud rude tone Um, we WON T and DON T deal with Noro. I smiled and asked why. The response was that the distributor is difficult and they don t care. This may very well be true but a simple I m sorry, we don t carry Noro but let me show you some comparable yarns would have sufficed. I went on to buy a skein of sale yarn and was abrubtly told that they would not wind the skein because it was sale yarn (I never even asked about them doing it). For those that don t knit, a skein takes over an hour to manually ball and I have never encountered a store that would not do this complementary. Note that this single sale skein was still well over $20. My second visit to The Yarn Barn: I was excited to try a new project of socks. In an upbeat attitude, I asked if the sales associate (same associate as the first trip) to point me in the direction of their supply of sock yarns. She assisted me by showing me the area as well as what each brand had to offer. I was thrilled that she wasn t obtuse and rude this time around and thrilled that I was on my way to my new project. Once she was done, I told her that I didn t need to be shown the books or patterns, but asked her if she could recommend the title of a good book for a novice sock knitter. She took me to the book section and went over many different options. Again, I was so thrilled that she was so helpful! I went on about my business in selecting my yarn, pattern, book, needles, and markers and checked out. Upon leaving, I notice the same sales associate sitting with another working on, what I believe to be inventory. I waved goodbye to them and told them to have a nice night. I was on cloud nine, a knitting high... ready to tackle my new project. The other associate responded "I'm sorry, if you didn't get full attention tonight" and I responded, "no worries, she helped me a lot with finding what I needed" (motioning to the sales associate that helped me that was sitting next to her). I hear that woman say to the other woman in a loud rude voice "that's FOR SURE!" It truly hurt my heart. I never asked her to spend a bunch of time with me, mainly just location guidance. I felt like I had really put her out. It was that same nasty attitude I received when I asked about infamous Noro yarn. I'm sure it wouldn't have bothered me so much if I wasn't so excited. But after spending a rather large amount of money in their store and then a comment insinuating that I had consumed too much of her time, really just felt like a stab in the back. Being the only specialty yarn store in Lawrence, I'm sure that The Yarn Barn won't care about one person's poor experiences. However, these experiences really spoil it for those of us who are willing to pay the higher prices to support local businesses. Next time, I will drive the 35 miles to The Studio Knitting Shop in Kansas City or The Yarn Shop in Overland Park, KS, where they actually appreciate their customers with kind words, excellent dispositions, and NORO yarn! read more

I went to Yarn Barn for the first time yesterday, looking for a rather unusual yarn for a particular pattern. Although they didn't have the recommended yarn, the woman working there recommended a few options for substitution, taking into account my additional needs (had to be machine washable and dryable, as it's for a baby.) She was very friendly and helpful. The yarn I purchased is knitting up beautifully. I will definitely be going back, as they had some beautiful locally sourced, hand dyed yarns, as well as a great selection of Malabrigo and other fine brands. read more

Yeah, I don't get all the five star reviews for Yarn Barn. This is NOT a five star shop. It certainly is the biggest yarn/spinning store I've been to, but it is far, far FAR from the nicest. Let's start with the customer service (one of my biggest problems with them): The staff seem to resent the customers on some days, and tolerate them on others. I've been smiled at/acknowledged/asked if they could help me TWICE, and I've bought or browsed from them more than fifteen times (I went through my yarn stash and counted). Someone on Ravelry told me how lucky I was to move so close to the YB, because they would help anyone with any kind of knitting/crocheting trouble: this turned out to be true once, and uncomfortably, totally false three times. The staff member that was working one day I came in (trouble with my first short row wrapped heel) was so impatient and borderline rude that I've never tried to ask for knitting help again. I told a friend about my experience and she asked me who had helped me, then stated, "Oh, I never go in if I see certain people working there, they're too rude." The store has a huge selection of yarn, a decent selection of fiber, a mediocre selection of needles, patterns and books. A smallish complaint here: most of the brightly colored or pastel colored yarn is baby yarn; most of the other yarn is dark. I didn't realize this was even an issue at YB until I visited the yarn shop in Manhattan, Ks, and saw all of their bright colored yarn. They do have classes for knitting and crocheting and spinning, and I was quite excited to enroll, when I first moved here, but after a few classes there, I'm done. First of all, some of the classes aren't classes. They're knitting cliques. That specialized groups of friends who are knitters sign up for. And pay for. But you'd better hope you personally, don't accidentally sign up for, because they are clique members only. Even though they advertise as a class. This is seen as normal at the YB. Also: the classes are sadly monotonous and un-inspired. There are amazing things happening on Ravlery, in the knitting and crocheting world, but YB teaches the same classes over and over again. I've had good teachers there, indifferent teachers, and one teacher who was downright hostile. Apparently the YB gets complaints and comments about her frequently, but she still teaches regularly. I've visited many yarn shops, across the US, and they were gathering places for people to come knit or crochet or visit or show off projects, to get support, help or compliments. The Yarn Barn is not that kind of shop. People shop there, yes, and the crap selection at Michaels/Hobby Lobby means that people will continue to shop there, but YB is not user friendly. They seem to want people to come in, buy quickly and quietly, and get out. The screeching classical music from the local NPR station on the store stereo, the lack of innovative classes, the lack of knitter/crochet community building/support, the absolute indifference from the staff, all say to me that this is a store that just doesn't give a damn. It's a pity, because I believe that a fun, loving, supportive fiber shop in Lawrence would do gangbusters. Also: like another reviewer said, God help you if you stop in fifteen minutes before closing time; they do indeed take their hours seriously. read more

I have attended classes here, bought a spinning wheel & loom here, as well as buying more yarn than I care to mention here. And yet, there is one person there who has given me misinformation several times and generally treats me like I'm about to shoplift something. For the longest time, I thought I was imagining it or being oversensitive until a friend pointed it out. Not planning to go back. read more

The lady who helped my fiance find the right yarn for her sweater for our wedding did just that. But was kind of bitch about it. My fiance doesnt know knitting or anything similar and the lady didnt seem to know how to communicate to some who has zero knowledge of this activity. My fiance was there to find something for our special moment and the lady just seemed to have unobtainable frustration. Shes isnt the one knitting it shes trying to find the right yarn for someone who offered to make her sweater. I saw that they have classes and it madevme think... Look im a snowsports instructor and if i let my frustration dictate how this persons first views this activity.... I would be doing a grave disservice to those people. I want throw lamp at this woman yell LIGHTEN THE FUCK UP! read more

What a great yarn store. They have a huge selection of fibers, books, and inspiration. I don't live anywhere near Lawrence--or even Kansas--but I've been to this great store twice in the past two years. While I don't know anything about weaving or spinning, they also seem to have quite a bit of supplies in those sections, too. read more

Beautiful yarns! Clean and roomy store. I love shoping here

A yarn lovers heaven!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There is so much yarn and roving. It awesomely ,crazily, heavenly cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I live in a small town on the Central Coast of California, and this is my go-to store for yarn and weaving supplies. They usually have what I need in stock, and their customer service is outstanding. When I need a small cone of yarn, and they only have a large cone at a higher price, they call me and offer to wind a partial cone for me. I recently forgot to order a couple of things for an upcoming workshop and needed the items fast. Despite an already busy day with a lot of weekend orders in front of mine, they have managed to get me the items that I need in time for the class (at standard shipping rates.) Their weaving staff also offers good advice about which yarns to purchase for a particular project -- and even which sett to use for a particular yarn. I know that some people have complained about the sales people on the floor, but all I know is that the online staff is second to none! read more

I recently went into yarn barn because I was back in Lawrence for a holiday. I teach weaving at a college and as a weaver I was really excited to go into a store that caters to weavers and carries much of the yarn I use. I was however very disheartened to be treated much like the other reviewer who felt like she was being watched for shoplifting. I did end up buying 2 1b cones of supreme cotton to support the store (which I normally buy online through a different supplier because I didn't know yarn barn carried it) and continued to try to make conversation with the shop keeper but was met with a cold and unfriendly attitude. Both of the people I was with that day witnessed the interaction and mentioned it once we got outside of the store. "What was with that lady?" The attitude should be one that is friendly and inclusive especially since weaving is a somewhat unapproachable and dying craft (no pun intended!) I would think that they would want some younger weavers showing interest. I want to think that that person was having a bad day. On the bright side there was one younger salesperson (red hair) that smiled warmly and it gives me hope that this weird attitude is isolated to one person. read more