My wife, daughter, and I went to our favorite LYS today, Ewe-Nique Knits in Royal Oak, Michigan. We had the best time there today, and they didn’t even have what we were looking for. We spent over an hour there looking at yarn, patterns and books. My 32 month old daughter even had a good time. They have blocks, coloring books, and a few other toys for the little ones. To top it all off, one of the owners brought out her spinning wheel and showed my daughter how to spin yarn.
My favorite part of the trip was when I looked around, and there were more men in the shop than women. I think that’s the first time I’ve seen that at any LYS. I’ve had different levels of acceptances at yarn stores, being a man. Some, like Ewe-Nique are wonderful, others that I won’t name here are terrible. They always treat me well at Ewe-Nique, they’ve never assumed I’m unskilled or inexperienced just because I’m a man. I find the fact that other shops treat me that way amazing, especially given the history of women being treated poorly by male salespeople (think car dealerships).
While I was there a man came in with a problem he was having with a pattern he was knitting for his wife. Three different employees looked and they were all unsure. They didn’t bat an eye when I came over and had a look myself. I was able to help decipher the problem was. Turns out it was a missing stitch on an increase chart that was causing the problem. Not only did they help him with a pattern they didn’t sell him, using materials he likely didn’t buy there, but they didn’t mind me getting involved. I’ve seen other shops charge for their time and not let you bring in projects and materials you bought elsewhere.
If you are ever near Royal Oak, Michigan, make sure to stop by and see this wonderful gem of an LYS.