I’m in Asheville, North Carolina this weekend for sightseeing and a concert. The mountains are beautiful here, the Biltmore estate is like visiting Versailles, and Asheville itself is a great town. I’ve had some GREAT meals (I highly recommend Early Girl for breakfast and Cucina 24 if you’re in the mood for Italian), and didn’t even have to look hard to find two wonderful yarn stores.
First, though, I have always had a thing for oversize novelty objects. I also love to iron — I was in heaven the other day as I ironed my Eiffel Tower sheets while watching the Tour de France coverage. So you can imagine the thrill when I rounded a corner in Asheville and discovered:
Isn’t it beautiful? Okay. On to the yarn stores. The first store I found was in the Grove Arcade, which is a wonderful old building decorated with stone carvings. [Side note: The Grove Arcade was built by E.W. Grove, who made his fortune selling patent medicines. An ad for one of them promised that it “Makes children and adults as fat as pigs.” Is that supposed to be a good thing? But I digress.] North Carolina Home Crafts features handspun yarns from local farms, along with handmade fiber art — felted hats, dolls, quilts, scarves, etc. It was a really fun store to browse around in and they have some lovely yarns.
Next on my list — and conveniently next to Early Girl and the giant iron — was Purl’s. Purl’s is a more traditional yarn store. They had a great selection of luscious yarns.
But best of all they had this:
His name is Merino and he is adorable. The wouldn’t let me take him home, though — imagine that!
What fun to go on a fiber adventure on your trip! The iron is magnificent.
Comment by jess — July 23, 2010 @ 8:08 am
From Susan — I am so jealous and wish I could have joined you! I know I was invited, and I am so sorry now that it did not work out. 🙁
Comment by lv2knit — July 23, 2010 @ 8:43 am
So glad you visited us! If you are still in town, come back to purl’s and we’ll treat you to lunch or something. 🙂
Comment by puggerhugger — July 23, 2010 @ 10:20 am
OMG Love Merino. How adorable. You can keep the iron. 😉 Except for quilting they have no purpose in my house. hehe
Comment by Tiny Tyrant — July 23, 2010 @ 12:36 pm
Love the iron! Merino is precious and I love the name!
Comment by Christina Bieloh — July 23, 2010 @ 3:01 pm
Oh, I too love to visit Purl and Early Girl on my annual trip to Asheville. Next time try to also visit Yarn Paradise in Biltmore Village. Yarn shopping is always part of my travels.
Comment by Lori — July 23, 2010 @ 3:21 pm
Oh, totally, isn’t it a great place! I was there for a four day conference (half days each day) and I loved it. I ate at the Early Girl twice a day – and by coincidence I’m wearing my Early Girl t-shirt at the moment. Oh my. There’s so much good stuff in a smallish very walkable area – with just enough hills thrown in for fitness and working off all of that good food!
Comment by Holly — July 24, 2010 @ 12:50 am
I bet he’s as soft as merino, too. I really don’t like little dogs – except I totally love corgis, I think because they’re really big dogs housed in these little meat loaf bodies. And the iron is too cool. Bubbo just posted a pic of her with a giant pink elephant (with nerdy glasses – on the elephant, not Bubbo). Must be a day for quirky sculpture.
Comment by Suzan — July 24, 2010 @ 6:17 pm
Asheville is a lovely place — just a picture-perfect town. And those yarn stores look FABulous!
Comment by Kym — July 26, 2010 @ 7:36 pm
I love how all my local yarn stores (1) have a dog in residence and (2) welcome my dog. My favorite one always seems to be full of ladies who are delighted to make a fuss over my fourlegged friend.
Comment by victoria — July 27, 2010 @ 2:59 pm
Those walls of color sure make a good vacation backdrop!
Comment by twinsetellen — July 28, 2010 @ 10:07 pm
Thank you for visiting Asheville and for spelling it right! We love our little corner of the world.
Comment by LauraSue — August 3, 2010 @ 2:19 pm
If you happen to be flying in the near future, the Philadelphia airport has a whole exhibit of ‘streamlined’ irons from the first half of the 20th century. They even have some made of glass! I read your post the day before getting on a plane, so when I saw the irons I thought of you!
Comment by Natalie — August 5, 2010 @ 7:54 pm