One of the absolute highlights of my trip to Portland, OR for the Knit & Crochet Show was swinging by a little tucked-away shop called Yarnia. I had first learned of Yarnia when a certain crochet dude (aka The Crochet Dude) told me that it was a must-see while I was there.

The basic concept…ok, the ONLY concept of Yarnia is that you are able to pick fibers of your choice and then have them brought together to create your own custom yarn.

When you walk in you feel like you are in a fiber wonderland. Even though it’s a small space, you are overwhelmed by the choices. Cotton, hemp, wool, silk, acrylic…it just keeps going. I felt like a kid in a candy shop.

I knew the only way I was going to get through this was to enlist the help of the store owner. Having guided many an over-excited hand, she was more than happy to explain the layout of the fibers, hints and suggestions for getting exactly what I wanted. No I just needed to figure out exactly what I wanted.

After, what seemed like days, of matching, re-matching, miss-matching, over-matching and de-matching, the choice was finally made, which should result in a one-of-a-kind, double knit weight yarn that was destined to be something as yet unknown.

Then the fun begins. Your choices are threaded into this little beast of a machine (we were so trying to come up with a nickname for it based on Narnia, but failed miserably when we realized we couldn’t remember any of the characters from the movie).

With a flip of a switch, the little beast goes into action and you stand mesmerized as your choices become your creation.

If you ever find yourself in Portland (and who wouldn’t want to find themselves in Portland), hop across the river and spend a cappuccino or two over at Yarna (bring your own cappuccino…but you’ll thank me, the store begs to have you sit in the rocking chair, sipping a cappuccino while your yarn is made). If you can’t make it to Portland, at least grab a cup of coffee and go to their online store.

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