A Relaxed Yarn Adventure – Slow Yarn Crawl PNW 2024
Keeley Richardson
Founder and Chief Fiber Officer
If traveling further afield during the summer months takes your fancy, and you like your yarn tourism at a more relaxed pace, then the PNW Slow Yarn Crawl could be just right for you. This year twenty shops across Oregon and Washington State will be participating in this fun yarn celebration that began on May 25th.
Tina and Kelli are the two fiber enthusiasts behind the Slow Yarn Crawl and are responsible for bringing all the participating stores together for a summer of yarny fun. Kelli told The Woolpack, “We wanted a crawl that you didn’t have to rush to complete, where people could take their friends or family and find many of the wonderful yarn shops in the Pacific Northwest. And we wanted to include shops that may not have access to a “Big City” yarn crawl. So the best way to do that seemed to be a nice sloooowwww crawl.”
From May 24th through September 2nd, free patterns and prize drawings will be a feature in all the Slow Crawl shops. You can check out the featured patterns on the Slow Yarn Crawl PNW website – this sometimes helps with decision making on which of the stores to visit. Kelli filled us in on the theme for 2024, ” This is our 7th year and our loose theme is “Space Odyssey” with many of our patterns designed around or inspired by our solar system and space.”
The participating stores stretch from Bellingham WA, in the north to Roseburg OR, in the south, and from Port Townsend in the west to Spokane in the east, but don’t let this deter you. The lovely people at SYC PNW have broken down the stores into four different groups that are closer together geographically. If you visit a group of stores, you will be entered into a group grand prize drawing. Although it would be huge fun to visit all twenty, it’s not necessary.
“Bonus experiences”, provide another opportunity to join the fun. These are outlined in the tour passport which is available for $10 online or in the Slow Crawl stores. Sharing your bonus experience on social media will automatically enter you into another prize draw – fun!
Long distance travel is not always an option for every yarn adventurer, and being mindful of this, the crawl organizers offer an online tour option known as the “Couch Crawl”. To join the fun from the comfort of your own home, all you have to do is make an online purchase from any of the stores.
You can find all the information you need to get touring at www.slowcrawl.com. Here’s to a long, happy summer full of yarn adventuring!
