Our next trip was to The Tangled Skein, a local yarn store in St. Peter run by two moms who love to knit. It supplies the knitting enthusiast, or beginning student, with everything and anything needed for knitting such as needles, tiny silk yarn, jumbo size yarn, or patterns to make anything from a scarf to a sweatshirt. If you need some hands on help or someone to talk to while you knit then you can come to one of the classes they offer. For example, The Sox Pistols meet the second Sunday of every month right in the shop to work on their next sock knitting project. I was surprised to hear that the owners originally looked at Mankato as the location of their shop; it makes a lot of sense to open it in St. Peter. Of course there are more people in Mankato, but rent will be higher. For a privately owned hobby store it's best to be located where the interest is, and in this case it's St. Peter. First off, the store is in a historic building in downtown St. Peter and second, St. Peter is a retirement community. Two popular activities of retirees are golfing and knitting and since Minnesota only supplies three solid months of golfing, St. Peter should be full of knitters. The owners of the tangled skein also live in St. Peter and have friends in St. Peter, practically guaranteeing business. Finally, combine it with the growing popularity of knitting on college campuses, a class built entirely around knitting, and the stores convenient location nearby local college Gustavus Adolphus and you get the perfectly located hometown shop, The Tangled Skein.
Stephanie:
I thought it was useful to visit the Tangled Skein because it gave us the opportunity to learn about the store from one of the owners. I have been in the knitting shop before, but I was not versed in the reasoning behind the store or the products available for purchase. I now realize that the Tangled Skein is a store that caters to knitters who prefer to work with natural fibers rather than acrylic or nylon. Given this, they annually attend conventions to seek out new yarns from around the world. The layout of the store itself was also very logical with the yarns categorized by relative weights as well as by fiber used to create the yarn.
As a small, locally run store, I was impressed on the knowledge and friendliness of the owners as well as the helpers in the store. Not only were they able to tell us the name and background on any yarn available for purchase, but willingly gave advice on projects and suggestions on how to use different products. It is through this friendliness and openness to knitters, that they have become a valued member of the knitting community in St. Peter. Not only are classes offered, but groups will come in and knit at the table provided, demonstrating that this store has become fully accepted by the residents of the town.
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