Yarn Barn

There are only a few things that will make people driving across the state pull off into Lawrence to stop and visit, well, besides the need to fill up the gas tank.
They are: Allen Fieldhouse, the mecca of college basketball. Lawrence’s legendary Free State Brewery, know far and wide across the country as one of the finest. Spencer Museum of Art (currently closed for renovation), one of the finer small museums in the country. And… for folks into, well, yarn, yep, Yarn Barn. It’s that good, it’s that unique, and it has everything imaginable and more.
It’s the Grand Canyon of yarn.
It’s the Iowa Corn Palace of yarn.
It’s the Niagara Falls of yarn.
It’s the World’s Largest Ball of Twine of yarn.
It’s the Arthur Bryant’s, Gates and Joe’s Oklahoma BBQ of yarn.
I could go on.
Go to any large trade show where these things are the center of attention and there they are. A small family run business in Lawrence that serves people all over the world. No, it’s not me that shops here, but I know plenty of folks that do and they never stop talking about it.
Classes, a helpful staff that knows their (yarn) stuff and friendly owners who are there on premises serving.
Now I have just one question: do they have Yak yarn? Maybe I’ll call them today and find out. I’m pretty sure they probably do.

I have attended classes here, bought a spinning wheel & loom here, as well as buying more yarn than I care to mention here. And yet, there is one person there who has given me misinformation several times and generally treats me like I’m about to shoplift something. For the longest time, I thought I was imagining it or being oversensitive until a friend pointed it out. Not planning to go back.

Beautiful, beautiful, spacious & well-​stocked store with supplies for knitters & spinners & weavers & all sorts of fiber artists. I can see how it could be overwhelming to someone who is just starting out; the selection is HUGE and there is an awful lot to look at. If, like me, you are the type of person who doesn’t necessarily want a lot of guidance, but would prefer to get lost looking at all the pretties & daydreaming about potential projects, this is the fibery equivalent of the Library of Alexandria to a voracious reader.
I have never experienced the grumpy staff or elitist vibe that others mention. Perhaps I’ve just been lucky. The classrooms in the basement are pleasant, and they offer a wide variety of classes.
Will definitely return, most likely many times.

While I am a huge advocate of locally owned restaurants and stores, I am also a huge advocate of kind and respectable customer service.
My first visit to The Yarn Barn: I walked into The Yarn Barn and inquired about Noro Yarn (my absolute favorite) and received the response in an unnerving loud rude tone Um, we WON T and DON T deal with Noro. I smiled and asked why. The response was that the distributor is difficult and they don t care. This may very well be true but a simple I m sorry, we don t carry Noro but let me show you some comparable yarns would have sufficed. I went on to buy a skein of sale yarn and was abrubtly told that they would not wind the skein because it was sale yarn (I never even asked about them doing it). For those that don t knit, a skein takes over an hour to manually ball and I have never encountered a store that would not do this complementary. Note that this single sale skein was still well over $ 20.
My second visit to The Yarn Barn: I was excited to try a new project of socks. In an upbeat attitude, I asked if the sales associate (same associate as the first trip) to point me in the direction of their supply of sock yarns. She assisted me by showing me the area as well as what each brand had to offer. I was thrilled that she wasn t obtuse and rude this time around and thrilled that I was on my way to my new project. Once she was done, I told her that I didn t need to be shown the books or patterns, but asked her if she could recommend the title of a good book for a novice sock knitter. She took me to the book section and went over many different options. Again, I was so thrilled that she was so helpful! I went on about my business in selecting my yarn, pattern, book, needles, and markers and checked out. Upon leaving, I notice the same sales associate sitting with another working on, what I believe to be inventory. I waved goodbye to them and told them to have a nice night. I was on cloud nine, a knitting high… ready to tackle my new project. The other associate responded «I’m sorry, if you didn’t get full attention tonight» and I responded, «no worries, she helped me a lot with finding what I needed» (motioning to the sales associate that helped me that was sitting next to her). I hear that woman say to the other woman in a loud rude voice «that’s FOR SURE!» It truly hurt my heart. I never asked her to spend a bunch of time with me, mainly just location guidance. I felt like I had really put her out. It was that same nasty attitude I received when I asked about infamous Noro yarn. I’m sure it wouldn’t have bothered me so much if I wasn’t so excited. But after spending a rather large amount of money in their store and then a comment insinuating that I had consumed too much of her time, really just felt like a stab in the back.
Being the only specialty yarn store in Lawrence, I’m sure that The Yarn Barn won’t care about one person’s poor experiences. However, these experiences really spoil it for those of us who are willing to pay the higher prices to support local businesses. Next time, I will drive the 35 miles to The Studio Knitting Shop in Kansas City or The Yarn Shop in Overland Park, KS, where they actually appreciate their customers with kind words, excellent dispositions, and NORO yarn!

Yeah, I don’t get all the five star reviews for Yarn Barn.
This is NOT a five star shop. It certainly is the biggest yarn/​spinning store I’ve been to, but it is far, far FAR from the nicest.
Let’s start with the customer service (one of my biggest problems with them):
The staff seem to resent the customers on some days, and tolerate them on others. I’ve been smiled at/​acknowledged/​asked if they could help me TWICE, and I’ve bought or browsed from them more than fifteen times (I went through my yarn stash and counted).
Someone on Ravelry told me how lucky I was to move so close to the YB, because they would help anyone with any kind of knitting/​crocheting trouble: this turned out to be true once, and uncomfortably, totally false three times. The staff member that was working one day I came in (trouble with my first short row wrapped heel) was so impatient and borderline rude that I’ve never tried to ask for knitting help again. I told a friend about my experience and she asked me who had helped me, then stated, «Oh, I never go in if I see certain people working there, they’re too rude.»
The store has a huge selection of yarn, a decent selection of fiber, a mediocre selection of needles, patterns and books. A smallish complaint here: most of the brightly colored or pastel colored yarn is baby yarn; most of the other yarn is dark. I didn’t realize this was even an issue at YB until I visited the yarn shop in Manhattan, Ks, and saw all of their bright colored yarn.
They do have classes for knitting and crocheting and spinning, and I was quite excited to enroll, when I first moved here, but after a few classes there, I’m done. First of all, some of the classes aren’t classes. They’re knitting cliques. That specialized groups of friends who are knitters sign up for. And pay for. But you’d better hope you personally, don’t accidentally sign up for, because they are clique members only. Even though they advertise as a class. This is seen as normal at the YB.
Also: the classes are sadly monotonous and un-​inspired. There are amazing things happening on Ravlery, in the knitting and crocheting world, but YB teaches the same classes over and over again. I’ve had good teachers there, indifferent teachers, and one teacher who was downright hostile. Apparently the YB gets complaints and comments about her frequently, but she still teaches regularly.

I’ve visited many yarn shops, across the US, and they were gathering places for people to come knit or crochet or visit or show off projects, to get support, help or compliments.
The Yarn Barn is not that kind of shop.
People shop there, yes, and the crap selection at Michaels/​Hobby Lobby means that people will continue to shop there, but YB is not user friendly. They seem to want people to come in, buy quickly and quietly, and get out. The screeching classical music from the local NPR station on the store stereo, the lack of innovative classes, the lack of knitter/​crochet community building/​support, the absolute indifference from the staff, all say to me that this is a store that just doesn’t give a damn. It’s a pity, because I believe that a fun, loving, supportive fiber shop in Lawrence would do gangbusters.

Also: like another reviewer said, God help you if you stop in fifteen minutes before closing time; they do indeed take their hours seriously.

I just moved to Topeka a month ago and made my first trip to The Yarn Barn today. I found the staff to be very nice and the yarn selection is pretty good. Today was the annual sidewalk sale and the prices were 30−40% off so that was good. Even the regular prices were inline with what I am use to.
I moved from Knoxville TN and was a weekly visitor to my LYS and was very sad to learn that Topeka does not have a yarn store. Although Lawrence KS is about 40 minutes away, I will make the drive just to visit this store.

Beautiful yarns! Clean and roomy store. I love shoping here

A yarn lovers heaven!!! There is so much yarn and roving. It awesomely, crazily, heavenly cool!!!

What a great yarn store. They have a huge selection of fibers, books, and inspiration. I don’t live anywhere near Lawrence – or even Kansas – but I’ve been to this great store twice in the past two years. While I don’t know anything about weaving or spinning, they also seem to have quite a bit of supplies in those sections, too.

Great store, but it’s too far from me to go there all the time. What an awesome selection. It’s like a great candy store to me. It is large, and spacious, and it is fun and exciting.
For me to go there I have to have a reason to go to Lawrence Kansas, and then, I make it appoint to stop. It sits on Mass. Street, and usually I visit around the Cross Stitch Shop Hop weekend. It was on May 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd, and includes Stitch On Needlework, which is in Lawrence, as well. The Yarn Barn can’t be ignored, it’s a few doors down from Stitch-​on Needlework.
The staff are awesome. They are knowledgeable about their yarns and nice, and pleasant. They have a reading area, with just about every book you’d want regarding knitting. When I bought something recently, for change they gave me a Susan B. Anthony dollar.
They kit their yarn, which is kind of cool, with patterns. I’ve bought from them online, but it’s nothing like the experience of going into the actual store. They have needles I’ve not found elsewhere. They are one of the few locations, locally, that deal with spinners. I don’t spin my yarn, but I find that fascinating.
They offer an array of classes. I live in Missouri, and doubt that I’ll have that experience of attending a class there. The store is so vast, and it’s this amazing plethora of fibers, needles, tools, samples, classes, books, patterns. A review doesn’t even come close to stepping into the doors of this store.
Maybe I’m glad it is in Lawrence, so I don’t go there all the time, and spend entire paychecks (or several hours) there. I love this store, it is quite possibly my favorite yarn store in the United States.

I’ve had nothing but good experiences shopping & taking classes at The Yarn Barn. It’s our only LYS (local yarn shop), and it’s important to me to support what they bring to the community, so I don’t mind if I pay a little more than I might somewhere else. I think it’s a great selection of yarn & knitting tools for a local shop in a smaller town, too. It’s a treat just to sweep through and look at and feel all the beautiful yarn. My husband hates waiting on me to shop there because I can never just get in and hurry out!
I’m still a new enough knitter that I feel overwhelmed and clueless when I’m starting a new project, but I’ve always received the help I needed from the staff. I haven’t found anyone snobby or condescending in the least. Everyone I’ve interacted with has been incredibly supportive of newbies.

This is a great store for the experienced fiber enthusiast. They carry a wide selection of fiber for knitting, crochet, spinning and weaving. It’s better that you know what you’re looking for when you go into the store, it’s large and not always easy to find what you need. The staff is experienced in the fiber arts and should be able to answer questions, although they don’t always seemed thrilled to do so.
If you’re newer to fiber crafts, this store can be so overwhelming, and pretty exciting, but it’s good to have a more experienced friend with you to help you out. If you go alone and with questions, it might be hard for you to make it out with what you need.

Meh. Great selection, yeah, but grumpy staff. Come on. Total grumps. I love to knit, but I don’t much like it when I run out of yarn, because that means I have to go back to the Yarn Barn, and deal with the attitudes.
I have an awesome knitting group in Lawrence, so I know there are cool knitters in town, but none of us much like the Yarn Barn. It always makes me laugh when more advanced artists or craftspeople are elitist. You’re not special just because you’ve put more time into the artform than I have.

As someone who has recently entered to world of yarn, just learned how to crochet and knit, the Yarn Barn is an overwhelming plethora of woolen delight.
The store is huge! And there’s yarn of every distinction, in every color, with any pattern and samples of home made creations next to them so you can see how it would look! That’s genius marketing. Or maybe that’s just how it works in yarn stores, I’m not sure.
They also have a great staff. When I admittedly said I was new to this, she just smiled and pointed out the difference in yarn, saying I should start with textures to see what I would like best. Simple enough, but when there’s a giant store full of different yarns, it took me awhile – like an hour or so.
I will definitely be back, christmas is just around the corner and I have A LOT of knitting to do!

This is one of the best fiber stores in the whole wide world.
Serious.
It’s almost not FAIR how completely well stocked and varied this store is.
Knitting, spinning, weaving and more — you are covered here — which is a real treasure in a store.
They mail order, so you can still enjoy them from afar, but being inside the store is a giddy, fun time for a textile nerd.