Yarn shops are my life!!!
Today I headed to the south to visit a couple of yarn shops – one in Norfolk and another in Virginia Beach. First stop was Baa Baa Sheep in Norfolk. 
The route I followed took me through the historic Lafayette district and other small communities. The houses were quite old and quaint looking. Baa Baa Sheep was located on a side street next to a strip center. There didn’t seem to be much parking but I went to the lot in the back of the Rite Aid across the street facing the shop.
Baa Baa Sheep
This is the first shop I have visited where the yarn was organized by weight instead of fiber! It was a totally different way of looking at yarn for me! The cotton, linen, and flax were all mixed in with the wool. Inside the front door, the cubbies on the right started with super bulky and went to sport weight. On the other side of the room, the yarn continued with fingering and lace weights. If you were looking for yarn for a particular project, this would be a quick and easy way to find what you needed with all the different colors of the correct weight right in front of you!
Another thing I loved about this shop was the way it was “decorated”. Along the wall with the larger yarn weights hung sweater samples all along the top of the cubbies. There were long sleeved, sleeveless, winter, and spring styles. Above the lighter weight yarns were shawl samples. I asked Roz, the owner who had knitted the samples and she told me most had been knitted by others who worked in the shop and some came from the yarn company. Other samples such as cowls, hats, scarves and mittens were placed on hangers or on shelves in touchable positions.
There was a classroom in the back of the shop and a sitting area up front. Notions were placed on a rack outside the classroom. I bought a skein of sale yarn (already told you, I LOVE sale yarn).
It is Americo Original Abrazos, cotton and bamboo in a beautiful shade of red. It has a thick/thin construction with a generous 1028 yards! I also purchased the most recent field book by MDK, Revolution, (don’t tell the hubs, he has a rule about purchasing books). {ED. NOTE – WTH!!!} In my defense, it is rather small and lightweight! {ED. NOTE – Ok, but now something’s got to go} After seeing the finished sweaters on the MDK blog, I just felt like it needed a home with me.
This was a shop filled with warmth and kindness and would be a lovely place to hang out and knit!
Sightseeing to come!!
I told Roz, as I checked out, that we were travelers and visiting family. She told me of a couple of places to visit that residents of Norfolk were especially proud of – one, the Chrysler Museum Glass Studio is free to all; the other, Daumar’s Barbecue restaurant and ice cream shop. Roz said Daumar’s invented the first waffle cone and presented it during the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904. Soon thereafter, he invented the four iron waffle machine that still makes Daumar’s waffle cones today! Check out the history here. I’ll be coming back with the hubs, son and DIL before we leave Virginia!
Yarn Club
I left Norfolk and continued on to Virginia Beach. This shop was called the Yarn Club 
and was in a stand alone building with a bright blue roof! The shop had windows all across the front where you could look in and see people knitting and YARN. I was met by the shop dog, a rather large, black, very friendly dog – my guess is a labradoodle (there was a sign on the front door warning customers that they were going to be greeted by a dog upon entering). This shop was basically a big square – on the right side of the room was a table with chairs where several people were knitting and engaged in a lively conversation. An employee was winding a skein of yarn by hand for a waiting customer – I believe the swift was not cooperating that day.
I chose to follow the yarn around the left side of the room which led into another smaller room. I began to notice that there was a lot of varigated yarn. As I looked at the ball bands, I realized it was hand-dyed yarn. As I continued around the room, I realized that most of the yarn was hand-dyed yarn from around the world! Some of the brands were Lolodidit from Las Vegas, Western Sky Fibers from Montana, Barnyard Knits, Life in the Long Grass Dye Studio from Ireland, and Emma’s Yarn from Florida and many others. I found it fascinating to see so many different hand-dyed yarns in one place!