Yesterday was Local Yarn Shop Day and I hope, if you’re a crafter, you visited your LYS and gave them some love and support! This past year has been so hard on small businesses. I had plans yesterday so was unable to stop into my LYS, Knits and Pieces, but I’ll be popping in later today to show support by picking up a few items I need for a second design I have in the works.
When the world began shutting down in March of 2020, Knits and Pieces, was one of the last places I shopped. Everyone else was picking up paper towels and toilet paper, but I made sure I had a new project and enough yarn to keep me busy. At the time, the website for Knits and Pieces wasn’t set up for online shopping but within a week, the owner Karen Santa, added online shopping and I was able to support her and other yarn shops and dyers throughout the year. Still, being able to visit a shop and actually touch and feel the squishy yarn is every knitter’s nirvana.
Which brings me to what I did yesterday to support Local Yarn Shop Day! In a previous post (found here) I talked about one of my favorite (and home state) indie dyers, Magpie Fibers. My LYS carries a few of their bases but not the full line. When I’ve wanted to knit something with a base they didn’t carry, like Nest Worsted for the Andrea Mowry Spark cardigan, I’ve order online. It’s easy to place an order on the Magpie Fibers website and the Magpie’s are very helpful in describing their colors or answering email questions. Still, I really longed for a shop I could go to that had all their bases, which Magpie didn’t have. Until NOW.
Announced on Instagram and opened this past week, Magpie Fibers now has a brick and mortar store called Magpie Market. There they have all of their bases and so much more. Designed to be a maker’s dream place to shop, Magpie Market carries not just all their yarn bases but curated Japanese stationary, cross stitch and embroidery kits and supplies, macrame, buttons and other crafts as well. The shop is located in downtown Frederick, Maryland at 141 N. Market Street, about an hour drive from where I live in Annapolis. Can you say road trip?
I texted my daughter, Kira, to see if she wanted to meet me in Frederick for lunch and visit Magpie Market. Kira lives in Pennsylvania, about an hour north of Frederick and as luck would have it, had no plans for the day. Yay, a chance to spend some one on one time with my daughter, visit Magpie and check out downtown Frederick, a place I hadn’t visited before. What could be better?
We met up at the shop and it is inviting! Kira isn’t a crafter but had as nice a time as I did checking out all the different items artfully displayed throughout the store. We started in the back where all the Magpie bases are on display. It was such a treat getting to see and touch Solstice, a base I’d only seen online. In addition to all of their own bases, they also carry a small selection of Farmer’s Daughters bases, Spincycle Dream State and Dyed in the Wool and some Toft kits. .
We then slowly explored the rest of the store, admiring the macrame, cards, journals and colored pencils. Kira enjoyed the selection of witty cards and we were both delighted by the button display. The buttons made me eager to knit up a cardigan just so I can go back and pick out something special from their selection.
After wandering the entire store, I headed back to the yarn section to pick out some Nest Sport. Magpie has their own special colorway of Spincycle called Birds of a Feather. Earlier this year, I had ordered a few skeins for making for Andrea Mowry’s Sparky pullover but couldn’t decide which color of Nest would go best with them. I had brought those skeins with me and with Kira’s help, I chose Natural Twilight, a medium grey.
After making my purchase, Kira and I went across the street for lunch had a lovely lunch and a pint at Brewer’s Alley. We then spent some time walking and exploring the other cute shops along Market Street like the Curious Iguana (a bookstore) and Molly’s Meanderings (a clothing store) and noticing other restaurants we’d enjoy visiting next time we’re in town.
Before we each headed home, Kira suggested we popped back in Magpie Market to pick up the Birdie Parker stitch markers I had admired. “Mom, if you don’t buy them, you’ll get home and wish you had.” Magpie Kayla welcomed us back as she rang up the markers and Kira told her how she had thought they were wine glass markers before I corrected her. “Oh no, they’re so much more important,” Kayla laughed. Kayla then noticed my Birdie Parker earrings and mentioned that they were going to have an entire section of special Birdie Parker items in the future. I sense another road trip in the not too distant future! In the meantime, I’m busy working on publishing my first design (post here) and still looking for test knitters. If interested, please email me at kimberlee.shaffir@gmail.com for details. Have a great week!
A Yarn of A Tale 