jimmy Beans road trip
November 07, 2017
Jimmy Beans moved to a new location in January, and today I had the chance to visit them. My husband and I are making a quick trip to the Sierras, and tonight, our last night, we are in Reno, Jimmy's home town. This afternoon when we left Lake Tahoe for Reno, I said, "You know there is a really famous yarn shop in Reno." "Yeesss," he groaned, "I know. We only go there every time we are even remotely close." He's a retired guy married to a knitter and he knows the drill: no yarn shop shall go unvisited.
Jimmy's new shop is much bigger than the last. The main room has a few sofas and a table and chairs surrounded by 4 walls of yarn. Off this main room are a half dozen smaller rooms. One room is a book room, one is filled entirely with Madeline Tosh, and one is brimming with needles, needles, needles! And that's what I bought--several sizes of ChiaoGoo 12" circular needles. Twelve inch circs are not sold everywhere and they had them in every size. They also had 9" circs! They even had 2.5mm needles that are not easy to find in the US. I bought two sets just to be on the safe side. Jimmy Beans has a busy online business and their warehouse and offices are attached to the showroom. In their previous locations we were allowed to wander around the enormous warehouse, but in this new location that pleasure is available only on Wednesday evenings. All their yarns and colorways are cleverly displayed throughout the showroom/shop's walls. If you need multiple skeins, they pull from the attached warehouse.
Visiting the Sierras? Reno and Jimmy Beans are less than an hour from Lake Tahoe. It's just heaven to submerge yourself inside a giant selection of fine fibers and glorious color. If you don't know Jimmy, he is the bellwether of online yarn shops and I think was the first to introduce yarn subscriptions and kits. Those things we now take for granted had to begin somewhere! The folks there are super friendly and helpful. I know you'll love it.
Is there really a Jimmy Bean? Yes! He was the little orphan boy who played opposite Hayley Mills in the Disney movie, Pollyanna. You were thinking you'd heard that name somewhere before, right? I had a serious crush on this movie when I was a little girl. It's such a great fifties, feel-good children's movie.
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| One corner of the MadelineTosh room. |
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| The needle and notions room. |
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| A wall of circulars held in the little compartments of these hanging shoe sleeves! Clever! |
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| String Quintet or the left and Lorna's Laces on the right. |
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| The Lorna's Laces room. |
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| They had many clever ways to display their yarn. Samples of each color are in the showroom/shop, and if you need multiples, they pull it from the attached warehouse. |
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| guilty |
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| Off the main room are a half dozen rooms full of yarn! |
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| A cute Christmas display in the entry. |
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| Mad Tosh in Sodalite. |
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| The entry way. |
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| Every trip, even a wee one, deserves a travel project. My son and dil have requested Christmas hats; a hat that fits daddy, a hat that fits mommy, and a hat that fits baby. I'm on it! |
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4 Comments
You are so lucky in the US to have such fab yarn shops, the last decent shop i visited was in Ogden, Utah and I live in the London suburbs. Oh well, I'll just have to plan another US road trip.
ReplyDeleteRoad trip! I visited a friend who lived outside of Manchester and she took me to Black Sheep! I almost died as they had a room with bags of yarn thrown in that were all half price. I know England is big, but if you are ever up that way, you should pop in! Also, I think they are a Rowan flagship store. And back in the states, I understand Colorado has some pretty nifty yarn shops.
DeleteWonderful pictures. I love the needle wall and the basket of KSH. Live too far away to even hope to get there, but I can dream. Congratulations on inclusion on Knit Like Granny's best 100 knitting blogs, Kristen, per Mr. Puffy's recent post. I always thought I had the best taste:-). Chloe
ReplyDeleteOh, thank you, I just saw that. And as for Mr. Puffy, I've been reading Claudia's blog for years now. She is an inspiration and lives in an area in Southern California that is familiar to me. I love it when she talks about Los Angeles. I moved away when I was 21 but I still get a bit homesick!
DeleteYou make my day when you make a comment!