Julia's hat

I spent the majority of my lunch break driving through the half foot of snow to Michael's Arts and Crafts at Jefferson Pointe to buy a cable knitting needle for a new project that I'd like to start tomorrow on my day off. When I got there, I saw their sale flyer posted on a display board at the front of the store which included a 40% off one item coupon. When I asked if I could have a sale flyer, the sales associate told me the only way to get one was from the Sunday paper and that no extra fliers were kept in the store. Whaat? Have they heard that subscriptions for newspapers are falling off at what must be an appalling rate for anyone employed in the news industry? Have they considered venturing into the 21st century and widening their customer base by putting their adds online? or at least by being hospitable enough to hand a sale flyer to customers who make the effort to come to their store and ask for one? Despite how irritating I found their non-service to be, I decided to purchase the cable needle anyway since I'd already taken the time to drive there. But then I found that their selection of knitting needles to be extremely limited. They had a wide variety of the larger size needles in bamboo, metal, baleen, etc.... but none of the smaller sizes with the shorter length cables. Most hats or other small projects need to be done on 16" cable needles. What gives? I've steadily become more and more disillusioned with both the selection of products and the service at Michael's.

Now, contrast that experience with the service I received at the new Knitting Off Broadway. I called when I got back to work, was greeted in a friendly tone by Natalie. She not only had the correct size and length needle (metal or bamboo) ; she also let me know that she was closing early due to the weather. I've been there once already and it was definitely worth the time it took to find the parking lot located behind the store. It's sandwiched between the building that Aaron's Oriental Rug Gallery has occupied for 35 years and the Spay Neuter Vet clinic. The building is a stately brick beauty that's been restored and it has gorgeous interior space. That alone is worth the effort of stopping in. The day I visited, Natalie took the time to give me a guided tour and point out the more affordable yarns and sale items. She also invited me to check out the scheduled knitting classes. Now, all I have to do is keep myself from going broke buying the materials for my homemade gifts.

As for Michael's, I think I'll go there only if there are no other alternatives. They seem to cater to the fake flower, scrapbooking, and prefab crowd anyway.