It’s not enough for a yarn store, either brick and mortar or online, to carry yarn; they must also support and carry supplies for those who use their yarn – both crocheters and knitters. For years, crocheters have lamented that their local yarn stores (LYS) haven’t supported their craft. They hear comments like, “Oh, crocheters only use acrylics” or “We don’t have anything you’d like here, but there’s a Michaels down the road.” Then there are the places where, once they learn you crochet, their faces fall, and they either ignore you or try to hurry you away from their store. These stores also have mostly knitting supplies, and if they have any crochet supplies at all,\u00a0tuck them\u00a0away in a bin at the very bottom of a shelf or thrown haphazardly into buckets. Okay, so we still make granny squares, but that doesn’t mean we don’t spend money on expensive yarns and supplies. So, LYS owners, belly up to the hook ’cause we’re fighting back!<\/p>\n
Crocheters are tired of being treated like second class crafters, being pushed to learn to knit (although many of us can knit but prefer crochet), ignored in stores, and generally made to feel not welcome.\u00a0 They are telling fellow crocheters which shops and online stores are crochet friendly and which refuse to support crochet. If the store barely supports, won’t support, or treats crochet as a crime perpetrated on yarn, then we don’t shop there. Crocheters spend hundreds of dollars at a time, just like any knitter, so we believe that it is time to show our support for those stores that welcome us with open arms.<\/p>\n
There is a thread in the Crochet Liberation Front forum at Ravelry where folks can list crochet friendly shops.\u00a0 The shops are then added to a group page where all can see and find these stores no matter where they live or happen to be visiting. There is also a website with the same list for those who have yet to discover the joys of Ravelry.com http:\/\/www.crochetliberationfront.com\/crochetfriendly.html<\/a>)<\/p>\n As an LYS owner, what can you do to support and welcome the ever growing customer base that crochets? For this, I turned to the Crochet Friendly LYS thread at the CLF where Laurie Wheeler listed the basic criteria for what crochet friendly means (summarized a bit):<\/p>\n If you’d like to read more of how to be more crochet friendly, take a look at the What makes a store crochet friendly?<\/a> thread at the CLF forum.<\/p>\n Now,\u00a0for those shops who already support crochet and do what they can to help crocheters find what they need, treat us with respect, have classes, and do what they can to carry supplies for us, we thank you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s not enough for a yarn store, either brick and mortar or online, to carry yarn; they must also support and carry supplies for those who use their yarn – both crocheters and knitters. For years, crocheters have lamented that…\n
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