Yeasty Adventures

While looking over hundreds of brochures at the San Francisco Visitor's Center recently, I came across only one that had the word "yarn" on it. Since that set it apart form all of the other ones featuring tours and sights to see, I grabbed the brochure and, map in hand, walked around the city until I found ArtFibers.

What a surprise. You take a small elevator at 266 Sutter Street and when the door opens on the third floor, you enter the cafe designed for those who love yarn.

The store offers a unique way to purchase their beautiful yarns. You can take any length of yarn they sell -- all offered by American spinners, dyers and designers -- and work up a swatch right there in the store, enjoying the natural light and cammaradie of other knitsters. For those of you who don't do yarn work, a swatch is a sample of yarn that is knitted or crocheted into a square to determine if this is the right yarn for a project.

Untimately you could sit there all day -- knitting or crocheting to your heart's content as the busy city carries on outside.

It's a creative way to sell yarn and shows a genuine interest on the owner's part to make customers happy. Allowing them to sit and work with a new yarn in hand in such a comfortable spot is definitely a way to do that.