Nice shop for locals--good selection of yarns in various fibers and prices--but not so great for tourists. Small with limited selection, and the only local yarn available were a few skeins of raw wool.

Cultured Purls is located in Gilman Village, which is a very quaint collection of specialty shops. It literally looks like a little village, with shops that look like houses and brick "streets" between them. Cultured Purls proved as charming on the inside as the outside--as did the helpers who work there. I loved the presentation of the yarns, especially the skeins hung on the long hooks. The store is a little small, but they maximize their space and provide an impressive variety of yarns. I could have stayed there all day.

Despite the small size, this store is packed with a wide selection of yarns of all types, fibers, and price ranges: from $6 skeins of quality cotton yarn to $40 skeins of gorgeous hand painted silk yarn. Friendly and knowledgeable service, informative classes, and a welcoming atmosphere. You can join the other knitters in the seating area at any time, or come for the sit 'n knit night each Thursday.

I've shopped Little Knits several times via the internet and always loved the selection, prices, and customer service--once I forgot to add a code for free shipping so I emailed them about it, and they immediately refunded my shipping costs (saved me almost $20!). I didn't even realize they had a brick-and-mortar store, but when I learned about it, I decided to stop by when we next visited Seattle.

Of course, the only day we had available wasn't one of their retail days--but when I called, they told me to come right over. Despite the fact that they were busily trying to fill a mountain of orders, and I descended upon them with husband, pre-schooler, and baby in tow, they could NOT have been more gracious. Walking around and looking at the bins upon bins of yarn brought back that "kid in the candy store" feeling. Fulay even took time to point out some yarns not yet available on the website. Can't recommend them enough!