I visited a college friend this weekend, who lives in Kent, Ohio. (my second trip to Ohio this month. Who knew that Ohio could be so interesting). She was kind enough to indulge my need for both Starbucks and fiber within a few hours of arriving in town. We set off for coffee and then hit the local yarn store: Miss Chickpea’s Funky Fibers, perhaps the most amazing yarn store in the world. It’s not the fiber in this store that makes it amazing, although I must say that she had quite a collection of fibers that I have never seen before, in addition to a pretty amazing stock of Colinette and Noro. As a marketing guru, it was the presentation of the store that struck me most. This gal knows what she is doing, right down to the little signs on the new fibers that read, “I’m new!” and featured a little baby and stork graphic. Her displays were dark wood shelves, which I have argued would work very well in a yarn shop. And she mixed in metal pots and pans, old fashioned strainers and a variety of other interesting items to display the fibers. Perhaps the most amazing thing in the store was the glass display of buttons that sat at the front counter, organized by colors and selling for “ten for $1.” I definitely stocked up on buttons!
I restrained myself and only bought two hanks of sock yarn to be used for a fall mittens class (more info on that soon!) but my partner in crime definitely picked up some amazing malabrigo for the Central Park Hoodie knit along that I am organizing next month.
While I know that most of you won’t be making a trip to the Akron Ohio area anytime soon, I would definitely encourage you to make it a day trip from any other location in Ohio that you might be visiting. Seriously, this store alone will get me out to Ohio more than once a year. It is that amazing!!