The 2024 Oklahoma Yarn Crawl recently wrapped, and my gosh was it FUN! If you haven’t checked out Part One of my recap, read it first here.
Twelve fiber businesses from across Oklahoma got together to put on the state’s first yarn crawl. Yarn shops, dye works, a working farm, and a mini fiber mill dot the state map, and fiber lovers made the trek to each one during the August 16th to 24th (excluding Sunday) special event.
Each shop had their own special charm and yarns in addition to special events just for the yarn crawl. Some fiber businesses aren’t usually open to the public every day of the week, but they all kept special hours for the crawl.
My friend Susan and I had five of our twelve yarn crawl stops stamped, and set off early in the morning to visit our first shop of the day.
We learned our lesson trying to hit five stores in one day, so we broke up the remaining seven yarn crawl locations into two days— Thursday and Friday,August 22 & 23, 2024.
Each shop we visited was wonderful, and I hope I can convey something special about each one, as they all have their own unique charms and strengths. Oklahoma has a widespread and vibrant fiber community, and the yarn crawl really showcased that.
The Oklahoma Yarn Crawl website had a handy link to a Google Maps list all of the stops on the crawl.
It was a two and a half hour drive to our first shop of the day, the westernmost in the crawl
Cozy Corner Knits – Enid
I’m fairly familiar with the western part of the state because I have family there. It’s full of farms, oil wells, and wind turbines, but that’s about it. I used to think there wasn’t much else worth visiting in that part of the state.
Cozy Corner Knits is such a welcome addition to that part of the state.
The shop is easy to find if you ignore Google and trust your eyes and common sense while driving. Maps had us take an odd detour through a really cute neighborhood before telling us to turn the opposite direction from the shop we could see right there just across the street.
That wasn’t the shop’s fault at all, so consider calling ahead for directions to any shop if your map app has your route doing silly things.
Cozy Corner Knits is very neatly laid out with a knitting area near the front window and nice displays guiding you back to the classroom area at the rear of the shop.
Susan and I had such a fun time chatting with the owner, her husband, and another customer that it was after 1:00 before we knew it, and we needed to move on to our next stop.
I had briefly considered not visiting Cozy Corner Knits because of the drive out to Enid, so I’m glad Susan convinced me that we absolutely needed to see all of the shops to experience our first yarn crawl to the fullest.
I stuffed some yarn with subtle sparkle from Feederbrook Farm and some gorgeous orange Emma’s Yarn Super Silky into my yarn crawl tote, and we were off to the next one.
You can learn more about Cozy Corner Knits at their Instagram or Facebook pages.
It was about an hour’s drive to our second stop, Susan’s favorite of the trip,
Oklahoma Mini Mill – Guthrie
Oklahoma Mini Mill (OMM) isn’t usually open to the public for walk-ins since they’re a working mill and conduct most of their business online, but one of the owners gladly gave us a tour after she stamped our card. We got to feel some amazing fibers at different stages of processing. It was really interesting to be able to feel the different lanolin contents of wool as the cleaning and fluffing (industry standard term, I’m sure) progressed.
I’ve seen a friend hand process llama fiber before but never really paid attention to this part of the yarn process before, so this visit was very educational and interesting. We even got to touch some amazingly soft bison fiber that costs around $30-35 an OUNCE, and I think that’s the cost before processing.
Oklahoma Mini Mill mainly focuses on processing fleeces for hand spinners, so they process fibers until they are ready to be spun but don’t do the actual spinning. Customers send their fibers to be cleaned and blended into fiber batts. They can even add in special things like this angelina sparkle.
Another neat factoid about OMM: They don’t waste any wool! Pieces that aren’t suitable for processing and spinning are saved and used as insulation.
I didn’t purchase anything from OMM while we were there during the yarn crawl. Most of their business is actually online through Etsy, which I’ll link below.
Oklahoma Mini Mill also vends at the Fiber Christmas in July show, so there is yet another incentive to attend Fiber Christmas if you haven’t yet!
You can learn more about Oklahoma Mini Mill at their website, Instagram, Facebook, or Etsy pages.
Guthrie had two stops on the yarn crawl. Next up was in historic downtown Guthrie
Sealed with a Kiss – Guthrie
Sealed with a Kiss brought in trunk shows and debuted HowdyDo, a new locally dyed yarn inspired by the women of the Wild West, during the yarn crawl.
We missed their Lunch in the Loft event by a couple hours because I forgot to check ahead with every yarn crawl stop like I meant to. Learn from my mistakes and check each shop ahead while planning!
Sealed with a Kiss had a really nice selection of knitting accessories as well as bags, fashion accessories, and even some non knit garments. It’s a yarn boutique but not just a yarn boutique.
I bought a wonderfully sparkly shawl pin. I just can’t resist sparkles.
You can learn more about Sealed with a Kiss by visiting their website, Instagram, and Facebook pages.
Susan and I got a hotel in Edmond for the night that ended up being less than 10 minutes from our next stop
Kristy’s Fiber Arts -Edmond
Kristy’s Fiber Arts is a dyeworks that features Kristy’s hand dyed yarns with a few other yarns alongside them.
Susan and I grabbed a coffee and waited in the parking for 10AM, the daily yarn crawl start time, but Kristy saw us and another group in our cars and invited us all in early.
We had a great time browsing and chatting, and Kristy shared a little bit about how she names her colorways. A lot depends on who or what she’s thinking about when she dyes. Mine would all end up being named after my chickens or food!
Yarns were organized by weight. I love to see hand dyers working with more than just sock weight yarn. I want those pretty colors and one-of-a-kind skeins in lace and bulky weights, too!
Kristy also stocked pretty macrame cord, so I made note of that for my mom, who does really nice macrame work. It was the most colors of cord I have ever seen in store, so if you like macrame, Kristy’s Fiber Arts is a great stop for it, too!
I bought some orange yarn and a mini skein kit from her at Fiber Christmas in July this year that I really liked, so I was excited to see what I missed that she’d have in store. The green and black yarn made me think of my younger brother, so Merry Christmas to him! I hope he’s not tired of beanies!
You can learn more about Kristy’s Fiber Arts from their website, Instagram, and Facebook pages.
The next stop was also in Edmond-another dyeworks.
A Chick That Knitz – Edmond
A Chick That Knitz used to be a “full blown” yarn shop a few years ago, but they weren’t as able to focus on dyeing yarn as much as they wanted, so they took a step back and opened as a dyeworks with exclusively their own yarn and limited days open to the public.
I’ve followed A Chick That Knitz online for quite a while, and I was excited to see their planned pooling yarns in person. The concept is simple— knit in one stitch, perhaps stockinette or garter stitch, for the main color of the yarn until you come across the color pooling bit (this is the section that isn’t the main color) and perform a special stitch.
It’s simple enough, but because each hand dyed skein is unique, it really enables you to create a one-of-a-kind item.
A Chick That Knitz has much more than just planned pooling yarns, but those were something I had been waiting to see for a long time because they’re how I learned about this way of using planned pooling. I’m in their area a few times a year, but the timing never lined up before to be able to see their space, so I’m glad I finally got to experience it during the yarn crawl.
I bought planned pooling yarn from their website after the yarn crawl ended.
You can learn more about A Chick That Knitz at their website, Instagram, and Facebook pages. Also look at their cool chicken logo!
The cloud ate my pictures from our next stop alongside most of my pictures from A Chick That Knitz, so I’ve linked some of their Instagram posts to show you their space.
MoonDrake Co. – Oklahoma City
When we reached MoonDrake Co. dyeworks in Oklahoma City, it started to hit me that our yarn crawl journey was almost over. The public part of the shop is on the small side but is nicely organized. Wool and dye scents wafted from the back room, and I really enjoyed that. Wool and lanolin smell is so comforting to me.
Because the display area was smaller, it was easy to see the many different types of yarn bases MoonDrake uses in their yarn lines.
I went home with a large skein that was actually two skeins —one of a stubby yarn and one of a cashmere/mohair blend— that were meant to be worked together into the same project. I also purchased a really pretty neon tweed yarn that I am looking forward to working with.
I really wish my photos hadn’t been eaten because the display did a really good job of telling the neon tweed line’s color story. They’re gorgeous, vibrant, and fun.
You can learn more about Moondrake Co. at their website, Instagram, and Facebook pages.
Our final stop on the 2024 Oklahoma Yarn Crawl was
Yarnatopia—Oklahoma City
I’ve been to Yarnatopia a few times over the years, having pleaded with Chris to stop by on the way to or from visiting family. I really enjoy stopping by. The shop is a very nice size and has a really nice Malabrigo yarn wall. I know others appreciated it, too, because it had been picked through by the time we got there, and the yarn crawl had two days left!
I found some really nice “hi-viz” yarn to make a hat for my dad (he always requests a hat for Christmas) and a very nice slub yarn by Emma’s Yarn. (I tried to buy from all different brands but didn’t realize the sock yarn I bought from Cozy Corner Knits was also Emma’s Yarn. Guess that means I need to look into that brand more since I really like what I’ve seen so far!)
I really like the “Yarnatopia” yarn-wrapped letters on the wall, but I don’t think Chris would go for that in our house….
You can learn more about Yarnatopia at their website, Instagram, and Facebook pages.
The End of the Road Trip
We were both pretty tired at the end of the Yarn Crawl and had a two and a half hour drive back to my place. Susan had another hour to go after she dropped me off. I think we’ll attend a few more days of the yarn crawl next year rather than trying to squish everything into three total days. We’ll be able to spend more time at each shop and participate in events that way, too.
Every shop owner I talked to seemed very excited about the results of the yarn crawl for their business, and the crawl still had three days left to go when Susan and I made our way to the central Oklahoma area shops.
Many of the dyers had sold out of colorways and had to tell crawlers when they’d be back in stock. I ended up making some purchases online or through Etsy after the official crawl dates were over to find colors, bases, and fibers I liked the most.
I knew of many of these businesses before the yarn crawl, but I had only managed to visit about half of them before the event. I have family in the western part of the state, and I’m already thinking up alternative routes that would allow me to drop by and see shops again on my way out and back home.
The yarn crawl did a great job showcasing how amazing and varied the Oklahoma fiber community is. I loved seeing each dyer’s different color stories and the variations in each shop’s different brands and specialties.
I had a wonderful time meeting Oklahoma’s fiber talents, and I can’t wait for The Second Annual Oklahoma Yarn Crawl 2025!
Thanks for joining me on this road trip recap of the 2024 Inaugural Oklahoma Yarn Crawl! Have you ever been on a yarn crawl as a customer or as a host? Do you plan your own yarny road trips?
ELY Knits 