I always try to visit at least one local yarn shop whenever I’m traveling. I love to explore new yarns and knitting tools that are not accessible from where I live, and I got some pretty amazing yarny treasures to bring home, which I’ll get back to in a minute.
How to find the yarn shops you want to visit
When I’m going to a new city, I always plan which yarn shops I want to visit beforehand. I want to know a bit about which yarn brands they carry. It can sometimes be a little tricky to find out through their website, so a bit of research in advance is recommendable.
Besides searching for the best yarn shops and visiting their websites and webshops, I always turn to the amazingly useful feature on Ravelry: Local yarn shop directory, which you can find under the Yarns tab. Here you can search for yarn shops all over the world, and what’s even greater; you can see which yarns people have bought from the shop if you go to their shop page on Ravelry and click on ‘stashed’ in the menu. Under ‘yarns’ you can see the yarns carried. These steps usually make it easier, at least for me, to decide which ones to visit.
Espace Tricot – stylish and well-stocked
First up on my mission to visit the best yarn shops in Montréal was Espace Tricot in the Monkland area.
Espace Tricot – one of the great yarn shops in Montréal.
The place was packed with a very wide range of yarns.
The staff was so nice and helpful.
I had quite a hard time deciding on what yarn to buy but went with some non-superwash yarn from Quince & Co. and from The Fibre Co. I’ve been wanting to try their yarns for some time now.
I bought yarn from Quince & Co and The Fibre Co.
I also acquired a pair of Bryson stainless steel sock blockers which I’ve already tried out.
La Maison Tricotée – cozy with a lovely atmosphere
The second yarn shop La Maison Tricotée was located within walking distance of our accommodation, which is also why I visited twice. This was such a cozy little place, and you could easily spend hours there.
A little gem in a pretty ordinary residential part of Montreal.
A small gathering of knitters was merrily chatting and knitting away when I entered the shop, making a lovely atmosphere. The staff was so friendly and helpful here too.
This shop was so cozy.
My purchase from the shop was nine skeins of Canopy Fingering from The Fibre Co. in the color Wild Ginger. It’s such a pretty and exquisite yarn. I bought all the skeins they had left and hope that it’ll be enough for a cardigan or sweater.
I bought nine skeins of Canopy Fingering from The Fibre Co.
I also got a lovely little leather double point needle case with their logo on. The shop had lots of yarn from Canadian indie dyers as well as more commercialized yarn brands.
Some of the yarn from different local indie dyers.
On my second visit, I bought a skein of sock yarn from Urso Yarn Co., because socks are perfect summer knitting and I want more socks in my knitted wardrobe.
My seven-year-old daughter wanted to come along this time. She wanted me to buy a skein of her choice so that she can learn to knit and make something herself. Do you think I gave in?
Oh, yes! She chose the softest, most purple/pink yarn she could find.
