Quickly so Quickly

I’m running by the blog at a thousand miles an hour, about to leave the cozy, happy place that is Webs, and head for the glory of Rhinebeck. 

I love Webs.  I love teaching at Webs. I’m pretty sure I love Steve and Kathy because they are kind, decent people who are so lovely and easy to work with…

but it might be because they own Webs.  Webs has this huge variety of yarn, so much that I’ve kidded about retiring to a corner of the warehouse, and I wasn’t even really kidding.  (I am going to make a nest.  It will be lovely.)  

There’s what’s out front…

Then there’s what’s in the Warehouse out back…

and I feel like you could spend days there and not see it all. 

(Actually, I really have just spent days there, and haven’t seen it all.)  The staff is sweeter than pie

and clever too –

That’s Leslie Ann, with her new book Cast On, Bind Off.  (It’s very nice, I have a copy.  Great illustrations.)

Going to Webs before Rhinebeck was a great treat, and I’m probably going back before I leave for Rhinbeck this afternoon, and I’m not ashamed or sorry.  There’s no such thing as too much time at Webs. 

PS. Miss BB is finished.

Almost.  She needs buttons sewn on, I have to find some thread, and one sleeve is still a little longer, but it’s still damp.  (I might dampen the rest of it.  If you can’t beat em’ join ’em.) 

Rhinebeck Ho!

79 thoughts on “Quickly so Quickly

  1. Well, Good Morning. I appear to be first. That’s a very lovely sweater and I am back here in MPLS in the rain and envious as all get out at your weekend adventure. Miss BB is now on my queue. Hope you liked the chocolate and shared it with Joe.

  2. Next time I’m in Massachusetts — which could easily be NEVER — I want to bask in the glory that is Webs. I wallow in their web pages on a regular basis.
    Have a great time @ Rhinebeck!

  3. I’d think I’d died and come to heaven if I had a store like that in my neighbourhood – would you ask them if they’d like to open up in Switzerland…at the end of my street if possible?

  4. I bought that book, and it’s nice to see who wrote it! Even though I live in Massachusetts, I’ve never been to WEBS – I fear the experience would be too overwhelming. Instead, I browse the website and order by phone. That keeps my purchases within bounds – sort of.

  5. The sweater looks lovely, can’t wait to see it fully!
    Thanks to you, I’ve been waiting to make a pilgrimage to Webs and Rhinebeck for months now. Maybe someday.
    *stares toward the east longingly*

  6. I’ve been told that knitters visit WEBS and are totally fooled by entering a nice little shop in the front….then they wonder what all the fuss is about. However when they discover the warehouse and enter it they gasp, stagger and their eyes roll back in their heads from the sheer shock of the unending vastness and volume of yarn!! The staff finds people wandering around, brains fuzzed, out of words and still lost in a yarn haze, days later! 😀

  7. OMG- WEBS is unbelieveable. I would have to work there, live out back. Work for yarn–yeah that’s right. work for yarn…think they’d go for it???
    Oh can we get the pattern for Miss BB (those are my initials as well 🙂 )

  8. WEBS is about one hour east of our weekend place in the Berkshires and I have been there lots of times, sigh. The hard part is not getting dizzy from all the visual stimulation – eyes darting left and right, up and down. You want everything – beautifully arranged array of every kind of yarn imaginable. And then there’s the warehouse in back. It is as close to Paradise as you can get. If you can think of making this even better, there is an amazing old fashioned ice cream parlor just a half mile up the road called Herrell’s Ice Cream, http://www.herrells.com – you can walk there from WEBS. Plan your visit to WEBS right and you can enjoy an ice cream sundae for lunch at Herrill’s. And then go back to WEBS for a second go round. Sounds like a perfect day to me.

  9. Webs is a wonder indeed. I find it goes to my head in a very intoxicating way.
    Rhinebeck ho! I’m trying hard not to count the hours.

  10. Wow, Webs looks amaaaaazing. Do you think Steve & Kathy would adopt me? I’d be the perfect child. Quiet. Not seen or heard, just nestled in the warehouse, cuddling and stroking yarn.

  11. There is a group of 10 that travel to Webs every spring and this year is our 10th Anniversary….we go solely to shop at Webs….They are always so helpful and nice.
    Two days of shopping…..how sweet is that….
    The April Retreat as I call it….it’s a wonderful girls weekend…..

  12. I love WEBS too. How could you not adore the Yarn Mecca of the Northeast. I always make it part of my annual trip to the Massachusetts Sheep and Woolcraft Fair in May (and come home with way too much yarn).
    I’m giving Rhinebeck a miss this year, but I hope you have fun.

  13. I took Stephanie’s mawata class at WEBS last night. I learned lots about silk ~ where it comes from, how to process it, even how to remove its inner bug! What a great class and a super teacher.
    Thank you, Stephanie, for a memorable class.
    I really enjoyed getting to meet you after many years of reading your blog and your books ~ I think I might be a groupie!

  14. WEBS was the second yarn store I ever saw as a child in Massachusetts just learning to knit. The first one was a little boutique that may have been mostly for fabric. I thought WEBS was where all the yarn in the world was made, and the warehouse was where they were getting ready to ship the yarn out across the globe.

  15. Oh wow, I just bought Leslie Ann’s book – I am so excited. Please tell her if you see her again that I am urber excited about having so much cool knowledge all together in one place…and with a spiral binding squeeeee!!

  16. Goodness, how I love Webs. I live about an hour east of it and make it out at least twice a year. You should see their tent sale in May! Our knitting group caravans out and makes a day of it, we even made it into their promotional video last year 🙂

  17. Oh my goodness!! That looks like the best knitting shop. I think retirement homes could be better designed if they had shops like this as part of the build.
    Have fun

  18. I’m so jealous! WEBS and Rhinebeck!!!! I grew up near WEBS, but left the east coast before they opened. From their photos, I left before Steve and Kathy were born, too. I do hope to do a pilgrimage there someday. For me, it’s right up there with going to the Louvre (not yet), Hershey’s tour (been there!), and to the Taos Wool Festival (been to Taos, not at the right time.) Enjoy!

  19. Someday I will experience the wonder and glory that is webs (so I hear.) It’s a pretty good trip from where I live, but not impossible for those prices! I am so jealous that you get to do webs AND Rhinebeck! Have fun 😀

  20. When I went to Webs several years ago I swear I heard a choir of angels as I opened the door. Sunlight hit my face and everthing! It was a yarn-spiritual experience. The people were so, so nice and helpful without being pushy. The warehouse was totally amazing and even still when I think of one of the best places to visit, this is right up there. Rhinebeck ho for me too! Can’t wait!

  21. i just can NOT believe 1 – the awesome things you get to do… and 2 – that you can get an entire sweater put together in your self-imposed 10 day time limit! Incroyable, ma chère!

  22. You finished Miss BB! Congratulations. I’ve only managed to make one snip and begin to tink back part of mine.

  23. It’s pouring rain here in Rhinebeck so no need to dampen your sweater – the weather will do that for you! Bring extra socks.

  24. Webs is a great and wonderful place! Thanks for the photos. Sure wish there was a place like that anywhere near me. Your sweater might turn out all okay when it dries. Yay!!!

  25. Have great time! Please post lots of pictures for those of us that weren’t able to go. I hope the weather there improves!

  26. You are so right. There is never too much time spent at Webs. It is one of my favorite places to be. Enjoy Rhinebeck. I am missing it this year to meet my new puppy. Priorities must me set.

  27. I am very fortunate because Webs is on the way to my daughters college. Unfortunately I missed seeing you because Fall weekend was the week before. However I am looking forward to Rhinebeck tomorrow. And its supposed to be a beautiful weekend. I can’t wait.

  28. I spent a week in August in Northampton to “watch” my daughter ride at the Northampton Horse Show. She was always finished by 9 a.m. and had to spend the rest of the day taking care of the horses and helping the other riders. What’s a mother to do? Spend the rest of the day at WEBS of course. That place truly is heaven on earth.
    P.S. your sweater is gorgeous. Love the color.

  29. Just in case it isn’t clear to those who haven’t been to WEBS, all customers can just walk into the warehouse – it attached to the store and the door to the warehouse is wide open and there are many customers wandering in there as well as the store.
    I’m not sure how many square feet of space the store is, but just the store is bigger than any yarn shop I’ve ever been in. Like take many yarn stores and put them together big. Plus the warehouse is big.
    Anyone know the sqft of each?

  30. Miss BB is beautiful! So glad to see her done.
    I feel the pull of Webs…thanks so much for the pictures!
    Hope you have a blast at Rhinebeck, and have many lovely treasures to show us when you have a chance.
    Travel safely and may the knitting force be with you.

  31. I know I would be rendered incapable of speech or sensible thought if I went to WEBS. One day I’ll get there!

  32. WEBS is a lot of fun! I didn’t make it into the warehouse when I was there a few weeks ago, but the next trip will include that. 🙂
    Did you know there is an awesome brewery just blocks from WEBS? Northampton Brewery, the food is great as well as the beer!!
    Miss BB is very pretty. I am starting to get into some of these warmer colors.

  33. The coolest thing about WEBS? (besides the awesome sales, the masses of yarn, etc?) The shopping carts!! Not kidding, next time I go for their big end of the year sale I am soooo snagging one.

  34. I live an hour from WEBS and plan on retiring there to snuggle in all that yarny goodness!

  35. O my glob! That place looks amazing and you get to follow up with RHINEBECK?!?!? How dare you complain about coffee down your boot ~ I would wear TWO boots full of coffee for that opportunity! (I am totes jelly-beans, in case you can’t tell!)

  36. Hope you don’t have to start growing a longer arm. Then the rest of your clothes wouldn’t fit. It looks like it is quite stunning despite the minor fit problem. Heaven might be an iPod with music and knitting podcasts, an endless flow of coffee and a corner at Webs. (I thought of beer but then there might be more arm length problems.)

  37. Missed out on your classes at Web’s but headed there to meet Franklin in November (shop, shop, shop.) Hope to see you at Rhinebeck tomorrow in Miss BB

  38. I’m picturing a felted nest. Something with a long colour repeat, and quite bright. Maybe even ‘intentional’ stripes, with different balls. Like the tiptoe through the tulips socks stripes.
    Probably I’m tired. 🙂

  39. If I ever get to America – which unfortunately isn’t likely – my first stop would be Webs. And my last stop would be Webs. And I pretty much would take home any clothes but stock up on yarn….Here in Adelaide we have two yarn shops which are odd – to say the least. In one of them you have to get past the polyester nightgowns and large white knickers to get to the wool. The other is run by a woman who is scary…to say the least. I envy the fact that you have access to so much beautiful wool.

  40. Now I can almost hear the Knitting Deities shrieking “Curses, foiled again!”. . .but there is still that small matter of finding appropriate thread.
    But, how can you sew on buttons while recovering from the yarn fume hangover from spending so much time in Webs??? Would this not be a form of self-inflicted acupuncture??

  41. Wow Steph, Miss BB is beautiful! Looking forward to a picture posted of you in it- or whoever is it’s intended.
    Holy Schmoly Webs is amazing! I can see what you mean that it could take days to see it all and absorb it – could the mind handle it!? 🙂 Maybe they need to sell 3-day hopper tickets like at Disney but with 1 day in the front, 1 day in the back, and 1 day to decide what you can buy and still fit in the hall closet.
    Have fun at Rhinebeck!

  42. WEBS looks absolutely amazing! It’s probably just as well I live so far away…the yarn-to-other-things ratio in my house could easily reverse itself otherwise, lol.

  43. My guilty pleasure is a yearly pilgrimage to WEBS. I say that it’s for grandparents’ day at my granddaughters’ school, but that just puts me within shouting distance of WEBS. If I can get there for their tent sale, that’s Nirvanah.

  44. I was once in a car driving through Northampton on the freeway, and COULD NOT STOP. excruciating physical pain ensued

  45. I have Leslie Ann’s book checked out from the library & am going to buy my own copy–BUT, I want a DVD made so I can see how do the cast on & cast off in 3-D, PLEASE!

  46. On a road trip last summer around the east coast I was lucky enough to persuade my riding companions to stop at WEBS (but only for 15 min.). Better than nothing, but I could only see a fraction of the goodies. Cast On book is marvelous & I refer to it often!

  47. I’m sort of glad that Webs wasn’t there (I think?) when I lived in Northampton. I was in school and needed every penny for tuition and books (okay, and Steve’s Ice Cream and Whole Wheat Pizza). And I needed all my time for classes and campus jobs and what-not. I did knit when I was in college. A sweater for my brother, a sweater for a BF (broke up, but finished the sweater anyway, and still have.), and mittens. But had I access to too much yarny stimulus, I would have had to go to the Cooley-Dickinson Hosp for knitting OD. Someday, on a visit back to college, I will take all my savings, attach a lifeline and plunge in.
    WendyBee
    Smith ’85

  48. A road trip to Webs might be in order! Looks amazing. Loving the sweater. I knit both sleeves at the same time, its my best chance of them being the same. I also knit both “fronts” at the same time – same reason. Somehow I don’t think you need me to tell you this. Now if I could just knit as fast as you do.

  49. I knew you would finish your Rhinebeck sweater in time! I hope you were able to find the perfect buttons at Webs (it looks like you couldn’t fail to find the perfect buttons among the selection they have there!). That looks like it just might be the most awesome place on earth, and I can certainly undersstand your desire to retire there. Have fun at Rhinebeck!

  50. Amazing photos of WEBS. I am from a small town in Indiana and WalMart was the only place to buy yarn. My wonderful husband found a yarn shop about 40 miles away and got me a gift certificate. The first time I entered the shop and saw real yarn, I was giggly for quite a while. I would probably go into maniacle laughter if I ever visited WEBS.
    There is always hope though.
    Thanks for the photos.

  51. Miss BB is great, but I’ve fallen for the orange beauty nestled in the wall of yarn. The book displayed is for the scarf — any chance of getting info on the sweater? I’m heading from Louisiana to Minnesota for some winter delight in January and I’d love to have a beautiful new sweater to wear, but I need all of two months not ten days!!

  52. New sidelines for Webs…renting small apartments to knitters to nest in. Hmmmmm…..
    Miss BB looked good on you in Rhinebeck too! And congratulations to you, and all the other knitters at Rhinebeck, who kept you gorgeous sweaters on all day. I am from more southern climes…and I wanted a short – sleeve tshirt!

  53. I agree with Leslie….Miss BB was lovely..such gorgeous yarn! Although I’m not from a southern climate, I was too hot in my light weight cotton sweater. So I give you oodles of credit for wearing wool on a sunny, 70 degree day.

  54. I’m in Springfield cheering my daughter on at the New Englanf Equitation Championships but managed to steal away for a blissful 30 minutes to WEBS yesterday before being summonsed back. The time crunch über-focused me; got the size 3 circs I need for current wip and scored great warehouse yarn for 2 hats! Thank goodness I live 2+ hours away, otherwise I would be there 24/7.

  55. I loved taking the mawata class with you at WEBS, even despite my phobia of worms! Now I have a bright orange baby bonnet for some friends’ baby due for November. I hope you had a happy Rhinebeck!

  56. I have lived in Massachusetts for the last nearly 20 years (10 of those knitting years), and I still haven’t been to Webs. I’m jealous of even seeing all of the pretties.

  57. I’m an employee at Webs and I just wanted to say what a treat it was to have you visit our store! I hope one day to be able to take one of your awesome classes, instead of peeking in through the window.

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