The Yarnery

Having just relocated to the twin cities from Colorado, I was more than pleasantly surprised to discover this gem! Shelly and Angie were not only helpful but so welcoming. I’ve certainly found the perfect place for yarn and friends!

The Yarnery is mixed bag of emotions to me. It’s the closest yarn shop to me. But depending on the day, I’m either really happy or rather annoyed. The location of their swift is always a mystery and when you ask for your yarn to be spun you might as well ask to pull teeth. Parking can be a pain, but usually a bad parking situation doesn’t stop me from frequenting a spot unless my experience is that lackluster, which, unfortunately, this place has known to be.
Selection: Wide and well organized. You’ll find quite possibly the best selection of malabrigo worsted in the metro as well as berrocco, cascade, as well as a wide selection of sock yarns. They also offer a large Brooklyn Tweed collection.
Prices: Reasonable. Of course don’t walk in here expecting to find JoAnn Fabric’s price.
Service: Great… depending on who you work with. I’ve had instances where I’ve walked out here with a smile plastered across my face as if I was a child walking out of a candy store and other times like someone walking out of an accounts office expecting a fat return only to be told they owe uncle sam ten grand.
It is by no means a bad yarn store, but I think it could be a great one. I will stop in if I ever find myself at home and find myself needing to knit something this very second, but it is not my first choice for yarn stores in the twin cities.

Was back again recently and found the folks there super helpful and patient. They have some decent sales scattered around the store but their project bags never seem to be anything close to affordable. As I was there with my two little girls this time, I just wanted to mention that they have a little nook with toys that was a god send. Good move Yarnery.

Super helpful and friendly! Just bought 10 skeins of yarn, a pattern, and needles here. They have so many hand dyed yarns and soft yarns! It was fun to pick out jewel toned colors of wool to have a friend knit into a blanket. :)

Did the selection go down?
I have been visiting the Yarnery periodically for the last 10 yrs or so. Not my favorite yarn shop in the Twin Cities, but it has its purposes for me. I went to the store a few weeks ago and felt like I was walking into a different place all together. It feels a lot less crowded and has a better flow than in previous years, but it seems the selection has suffered a bit to accomplish this. I’ve never had a problem with the staff. They are always able to address my questions in a professional manner.

I knit as a hobby, usually around this time of year to make gifts for friends and family. I was pretty impressed by the quality of the selection and the variety of colors! I thought they were very pretty, and were very soft.
I witnessed many of the staff being friendly and courteous, and showing genuine interest in helping their regulars, which they knew by first name.
What’s intimidating are skeins priced at $ 10 or more on average (not sure how much it would cost to make a blanket, but I’d be sweating at the register). My view of crafting is that is should be less expensive to make something yourself than if you ordered it from a store. This is really the only reason why I hesitate to give it a 5 star review.

The selection is pretty great and there are sale items scattered about the store. The prices on a few items are actually lower than other places in town. The reason I give it a 3 star is because there was a not so nice person waiting there. I felt like I was getting groceries at Copps foods and she wasn’t even making eye contact with me when she rang up my yarn. The other gentleman was very nice but overall the atmosphere just doesn’t make me like the place too much. There are much better places to go but I guess for St. Paul selection is pretty good.
edit: I went back yesterday and felt about the same way. They were training someone so it felt extra nice but I think it might be short lived. The prices are a little high there but it’s the closest shop to where I live so I’ll continue to shop there.

Ok, folks, the Yarnery is under new management! I went in this afternoon and immediately felt a whole different vibe to this lovely shop. It is so much friendlier now, there’s actually a sweetness about the place. I met the owners, a great couple who bought the place in July. The yarn is fabulous of course. I felt the yarn was reasonably priced, but not cheap. It is Grand ave, after all, yo’s.

Eh. So I went to the Yarnery today and got some needle point holders and a 44″ set of bamboo circulars.
I came home and posted the following on my FB:
«Where are the yarn shops where all of the cool kids hang out? I don’t like going into places where the pinched faced, self deprecating, overly scrutinizing, Minnesotan women who wear their cardigans and knit shawls hang out; however, that seems to be the only type of yarn shop around. I don’t want to walk in (the cool kid with a baby in a sling and yarn in my bag) and get the passive aggressive 3^rd degree like I am a novice knitter and don’t belong in their shop. Shopgirls and shops like that sap (almost) all of the joy out of being in a yarn shop.»
While it’s a nice place in an old house on Grand, and it’s packed to the gills with yummy yarn of all sizes and colors, and the women know how to knit, they are not very welcoming. They make you feel like they think you are going to steal something.
Maybe it was an off day? I have been there before though and felt the same way.
Want great yarn at pretty decent prices, then go there. Want to walk in and expect conversation about knitting (I LOVE to talk about knitting!) and fibers and such, then meh. Notsomuch.

My daughter took her beginning knitting classes here and if i were reviewing only on that, I would rate this a four to five star. The teacher was very good and she learned how to knit in a very short period of time.
The reason why I can not give this place a higher rating is because of the snootiness aura that encases your being as you walk in the door. I agree with a few other Unilocalers in that I felt like the staff was quite judgmental. I just wanted to scream at the top of my lungs.“Not everyone can afford $ 35 skeins of yarn. We go to Michael’s and get ours!
It might not be as soft but it does the trick!
I doubt we will ever come to the store again now that she is on her way with her knitting but I do hope for its continued success and I really hope they continue on with their classes.

Very good selection, friendly & knowledgeable staff. Clearance and lots of Malabrigo. Cute area.

I have been to this yarn store a few times. When I stopped in last week the staff was friendly and helpful. This is not the experience I had previously — so I was happy to see the mood in the store lighter and more welcoming. They have a wonderful selection here. You wander from room to room ooohing and aaaaahing and touching all the pretty fiber.
I am really pleased to have had a better experience. This store went from something I avoided to something I would swing into on the way home from work. Wish the parking were a little more friendly on Grand Avenue though. Yick.

The Yarnery is a shop selling out of what was once a Grand Ave house. This made it a bit difficult to tell whether certain areas were «off limits» or just another room or nook to explore. Yarns were grouped by type (cotton, linen, lace, chunky, etc) versus by brand, and there were sometimes multiple sections for each type. The layout would be helpful once memorized a bit, but as a Yarnery newbie, it meant a lot of searching and label checking, especially for yarns that could be classified in multiple areas.
General impression of the store is that it is a pretty traditional knitting shop, and based on the sampled pieces and colorways carried, I would guess many of their customers are middle-​aged. Everything was well labeled, they had many different pattern books and periodicals (some of which I am not familiar with), so plus there. Quite a few yarn brands were represented, it seemed they skipped the low quality (thank goodness) and were really sticking with the mid (Cascade, Berroco, Rowan, etc) and upper (Malabrigo, Dream in Color, Madelinetosh, etc) brands.
Pricing: super fair, especially for the Twin Cities. I picked up a set of sz 4 Britany DPNs for $ 7.25 and some skeins of Rowan Cocoon for $ 16.20/ea.
The shop is too far for me to consider for classes– when I have good shops that are closer– but for a different yarn selection and a cozy atmosphere to shop, this is a great little place.

Very nice and helpful! Tons of great colors too.

Well, this is the store at which I first started getting curious about yarn/​knitting. I love it mainly because it’s on Grand and I love the neighborhood and nice yarn.
I have to say though, that I don’t usually feel welcomed there. I guess I don’t look the part of the customers they want or something. (Perhaps people who don’t need to live on a budget???) It was to the point where I wouldn’t stop there if I had my kids with because I didn’t want them to see their mom be treated so out of hand.
The weekend is a different matter. I’ve been there thrice and each time the employees were at least friendly and once they were down right funny and kind! :-) I try now to go on Sat. or Sundays.
Great yarn. Gorgeous Misti Alpaca etc. Love, love, love the yarn. The reason I still shop there despite the not so good stuff is to help support small business. I just wish some of their employees wouldn’t act as though they’re doing me a favor!
P. S.–I’ve gotten two parking tickets (there were no signs that I could see near the spots either) while going there in the last two years. VERY irritating.
Oct. 21, 2010: I just went back today and NEED to do a shout out to an incredibly sweet and kind employee: (drumroll…) It’s…SARAH!!! She’s so nice and funny and probably one of the nice ones I experienced there during the weekend. Just wanted to give credit where it’s due… The kindness of their employees really does make a difference to their (and all) business.

I have a new-​found passion for needlework, and have been making the rounds to discover places for supplies. The Yarnery doesn’t have any needlework, cross stitch, embroidary etc. supplies. They are knitting and knitting only. A warning for any other needlers out there who are intrigued by this shop.
But honestly, just comparing what I’ve seen in other stores… if I was a knitter I would be in heaven. Books, sample made of patterns they sell and classes they have, well labeled yarn, lots of amazing colors and project ideas… And the ladies who worked there were very nice in explaining that they carried needlework stuff a long time ago, but not anymore.
My main reason for writing the review though, was that I went on a Wednesday evening and there were 2 separate groups of knitters sitting around talking. It looked really fun! Nice atmosphere, people asking questions, etc… unfortunately they were also blocking a lot of the yarn, so if you’re not going for a class it might actually be hard to shop while that’s going on. But if I was a knitter, I’d be way into this place.
And of course, as with any business in that part of Grand Ave, parking was a major inconvenience.

Don’t get me wrong — the yarn is still awesome, but the staff was a bit snippy the last time I went in, which makes me really sad. The old lady that works there is very sweet, but there is a younger girl who seems to just want to push everyone out of the store so she can go back to what she was doing before. I don’t even want your help, lady, calm down!
She also made extremely snide comments about someone who put her purchase on to two different orders on the same credit card. Like, how dare she? What on earth was she thinking? I was so close to telling her that she was probably just picking up something for someone else, and wanted an accurate value or something. BLEH, who cares? Pick your battles and all that.
The older woman in the shop was very sweet — helped with a smile whenever I asked, and showed me how to use their swift… I dunno. I’ll probably stop by somewhat regularly because of my love of their yarn selection, but the staff is really hit or miss…

BLAH. I have never had a happy experience here. I don’t know if it’s because I don’t look like a Grand Avenue Scarf Knitter, but the ladies here treat me like gum on the bottom of their shoe.
Unfortunately for me, they have a very nice selection, so I have to go to pick up things sometimes. I scurry in and out, hoping to avoid their judgmental glares.

I went into this shop a week or so ago in preparation for my first Unilocal’s Knitter’s Night at Nina’s Café. I feel I got taken under the comforting wing of a motherly/​grandmotherly figure. I think her name was «Jean». She was a wealth of info. And then, after I browsed at the beautiful yarns for a while, another very nice and knowledgeable younger woman helped my towards my decision to buy a set of bamboo needles for their «grippiness» — helpful to new knitters. I think I could spend hours and hours in there pouring over the awesome colors and textures and dreaming…

I’ve been coming to this yarn store for more years than I’ve actually been knitting. It’s funny how that works.
If you know anything about the history of knitting, you’ll know that the craft has been around for eons and through the ages has evolved from being a task accomplished primarily by men to something that was done only by women to something that was done only by maiden aunts and grandmas to something that is now hip and trendy and done by famous people like Julia Roberts, Vanna White and Cameron Diaz (google it if you don’t believe me).
When I was a kid, my mom taught me to knit. I didn’t take to it and at the time saw it as yet one more weird and wacky way that she was trying to force me into committing social suicide. She never forced the issue and then about five years ago, I approached her and asked for a refresher. She was thrilled and I’ve been knitting ever since.
So it’s very weird for me to come to The Yarnery because I have vivid memories of coming here with my mom and my grandma as a teenager and hating every minute of it. Only now I LOVE coming here! I plan entire days around coming to this yarn store and then visiting all the other shops in the area (it’s in the Summit/​Grand neighborhood).
It isn’t very big but they make good use of the space they have. It’s on the first floor of a house that was converted into a store so when you walk in, it has a very homey feeling with lots of little rooms full of shelves and yarn and nooks and crannies that are perfect for exploration.
They have a large supply of some of my favorites such as Cascade 220, Noro and Koigu. *le sigh* I also can’t come here without checking out their gorgeous selection of mohair (gotta touch ‘em!), unique buttons and other types of fun novelty yarns.