ThreadBear is truly a knitting community. There's an abundance of yarn, patterns, notions, novelties, classes, the list goes on! There's even movie nights, yarn tasting parties and a weekly newsletter. The staff can name a yarn substition in nothing flat.

Nautical Yarn is a smaller shop in a great Lake Michigan town. The shop has everything you need, including a wide range of yarns and an extensive selection of patterns, books and notions. The staff is friendly.

I visited Loopy Yarns over a year ago, before they moved. I was there on a Saturday and was immediately impressed with the age of the clientele. Everyone was in their 20's. There were people learning to knit, people knitting and socializing, and of course people were shopping. It was a hang out spot! The yarn was high end, but a little bit different from the norm. I fell in love with some Frog Tree Alpaca.