I Love Yarn Day - My Oahu Yarn Crawl

Hubby and I took the day off to celebrate I Love Yarn Day and created my own Yarn Crawl. ;)  (Hey, if people can have pub or beer crawls, why can't we, knitters, have yarn crawls? :P)

So, to start the day off,  we woke up late (I normally start work at 6:30a so, waking up anytime between 8 - 9am is a treat for me) and made our way into Downtown to Isle Knit (located at 1188 Bishop St, Suite #1416).  It's a tiny little, nondescript store in an office building.  Basically, if you didn't know about it, I'm not quite sure how'd you find it! :P  I knew about this store for ages but never quite got around to going there when I still worked in Downtown.  So, as a birthday gift from my good friend, she took me there last year.  However, since I was a new knitter back then, going there was a bit overwhelming since it was packed with yarn from floor to ceiling and in every nook and cranny.  This time around, it was less overwhelming and I was able to discover what they carried a bit more. :)  Sue, the owner, was really nice and super helpful. :)  I ended up picking up a Noro Taiyo sock yarn and some Brittany wooden cable needles.

Before heading out of Downtown, we stopped by Beach Bum Cafe located at the First Hawaiian Centre (999 Bishop Street, ground floor (http://beachbumcafe.com/index.html) for a quick coffee break.  (I need to keep my poor hubby hydrated and caffeinated! :P)  He had a delicious coffee while I had some hot Jasmine tea. :)

Next was Needle Arts by Ursula Fischer.  I heard that this place has been around forever so, I thought I'd look for it.  It was supposed to be at 1717 Kalakaua Ave.  But alas, I couldn't find it so, I'm presuming that it closed down. :(

For lunch, we intended to head out to Meatball Hawaii (located at 845 Kapahulu Ave. (http://www.meatballhawaii.com/welcome.html).  It's a new place that's opened by the same person who opened the Whole Ox out in Ka'aako (but the Whole Ox had closed because they're renovating the area they were located in).  Instead, we found Kaimana Farm Café at 845 Kapahulu Ave.  They have an all day breakfast menu that was too good to pass up. :P   It's a cool little rustic place, right across from the Kapahulu Safeway.  Lunch was delicious!

After lunch, since we were in the area, I thought I'd detour a bit and check out Peggy's Picks, a local "antique" store that's been around forever at 732 Kapahulu Ave.  It was interesting but no comparison to a really good Goodwill or Salvation Army.  In many ways, it was more like a mix between a junk and kitschy tourist shop.

Then we were off to my favorite yarn shop: Yarn Story (located at 1411 S. King St., Suite#201 (http://yarnstoryhawaii.com/)).  Kim brought in some Knitter's Pride Trendz needles (they're plastic needles - just what I'm looking for so that I can knit while on travel) and I gave them a whirl. :)  I need to check out what size I'm using for my cable project so I can pick up the right size needle (it's a standard US size 8).  As I drooled over some wonderful bamboo yarn, Kim told me there's a sweater class she's going to have.  I think I might just take that class and use some of my polyester yarn to get me started on the road to sweaters!  Once I make my starter sweater and feel comfortable enough about what I'm doing, I'm definitely getting some bamboo yarn.  Bamboo Pop to be specific! :)

Then, we were supposed to head over to the Nimitz area to stop by at: U'i Mau A Mau (located at the Gentry Center (http://uimauamau.com/)).  This yarn store is generally for yarn to make leis and I thought I'd check it out anyways.  But since we woke up late and the day was moving faster then we were, we decided to skip it.

Instead, we headed off to the Windward side, to Kaneohe for Aloha Yarn (located at 46-018 Kamehameha Hwy (http://www.alohayarn.com/)).  I heard they carried Soak products so, I was very excited to check it out.  I've read about Soak in a lot of knitting articles and how it works really well with knitted products and best of all, it's no rinse!  All you literally do is soak your garment in the solution then just take it out and towel it off.  Well, while the concept was cool, Hubby talked me out of it by saying that he'd take care of all my hand washing and using Dr. Bronner's soap would be equally as good as using Soak (besides the fact that Dr. Bronner's is way cheaper than Soak).  So, to make up for not getting any Soak, I picked up some Painted Desert yarn instead. :D

Next, we went to Kailua, where we visited Yarn & Needlecrafts Ltd. (located at 46 Hoolai St. (next to Agnes Portuguese Bakery)).  This is my Tabi no Kami's favorite store so, I thought I'd check them out to see if they're doing anything special for I Love Yarn Day.  And, guess what I found?!  A Susan Bates U-cable hook for practically the same price I'd find on Amazon!  This was the deal of the day! :)

Since we were in the area, we also checked out:

• Oliver (located at 49 Kihapai St. (http://www.oliverhawaii.com/)) just around the corner of Yarn & Needlecrafts.  Their stuff was really expensive and nothing quite so special to justify the price. :P
• The Kailua Salvation Army where hubby found an awesome deal on film (yup, you heard me right ... hubby's into old school cameras and film; I get yarn, he gets film).  You never know what you can find at our local Salvation Armies or Goodwills. :)
• The Kailua Whole Foods.  We ended up eating dinner at Whole Foods and as a surprise, my wonderful hubby also bought me a basket. :)  He knew that I've been drooling over their baskets and was trying to find a more economical version of it.  I'm one lucky girl! ;)

(Isn't my basket so cool?!  And it fits everything I've got (so far)! :)  I love it!!! :))

Kailua town has been revamped since they opened the Whole Foods in that area so, it was fun to explore around there.  

Well, that was it for my yarn crawl this year. :)  Hubby and I had a great time. :)  He even said that perhaps we should do this yearly. :)  (Though my next yarn crawl will be in Japan and I can't wait. :))