2009 Chain Link: Trip to Niagara Falls and Toronto Yarn Stores

[Amy]

Who is interested in taking a trip to see Niagara Falls followed by a local yarn store crawl through all (or most) of the yarn shops in Toronto?

 

You'll need to have an active passport to go to Toronto. So if you don't have one, be sure to get one!

 

If everybody who wants to go as part of a group posts here, we can figure out some method of sharing rental cars for the day.

 

I can keep a list of who wants to share cars in this post:

 

EXAMPLE ONLY:

 

Car 1: AmyS, Donna, crochetrenee, Myrawood

 

Car 2: whoever wants to share together

 

You can put together your own group with your friends and ask me to add the info here. Those of you who want to go but don't think you know others well enough to ask them to share with you, just post something like "ADD ME TO A GROUP" in your post.

 

I'm pretty sure we can rent cars for the day right at the hotel.

 

So if you want to join us, post here.

[Amy]

I'm haven't had a chance to check all these links yet to make sure the stores are still open, so let me know if you find any are out of business.

 

Also let me know of any other stores I should add to this post.

 

 

Knitomatic

Knit Cafe*

 

Lettuce Knit

Purple Purl*

 

Romni Wools

 

The Naked Sheep*

 

Village Yarns

[crochetrenee]

Wahoo! Count me in! I will get cracking on a passport...never needed one til now!:cheer:clap:cheer

[Amy]

I'm hoping we'll get quite a few Villagers who will want to join us for the "yarn crawl" through Toronto. I've emailed all the stores on the above list today, to alert them to the fact we may want to bring a large group to visit and to make sure we won't overwhelm them! I'm hoping we'll have a large group that wants to caravan together to Niagara Falls and then the yarn shops.

 

I only sent the emails several hours ago, and two of the shops have already responded. They want to know what they can do to help us, and have offered to put together coupons or some other things for us. Wouldn't that be great?

 

I didn't think anybody would be able to respond so quickly!

 

So please think about joining us for the yarn crawl as you might get some really good coupons to Toronto LYS!

 

Once it gets closer to July, I'll see what each store definitely wants to do for us, and see if I can post that information on here.

 

Don't forget to post a response to this thread if you think you might want to join us. You won't be making a definite commitment now, but I'd like to have some idea of how many we might be taking with us.

[Amy]

Just heard from a third shop that they'd love to have us!

[Pumpkinmouse]

This is great because I live in between the falls and Toronto so I AM IN .

And would you believe Ive never been to any Toronto yarn Shops:eek

 

And It would save on some car rentals for some of you...

 

Also Hubby works in Toronto and knows all the streets so we wont get lost looking for the shops

[LeahB]

I may be interested. Not sure how finances/schedule will work out. But, since I live in upstate NY I would also have my own car.

[Amy]

Leah and Maryann, how fabulous! Won't it be fabulous to have a Crochetville day while we're at Chain Link?

 

I am so excited about this location for Chain Link!!!

[Crochet Garden]

Add me to a group please!

[auntbubbels]

I forgot all about this and need to give it serious thought over the next few days -

[Amy]

I won't be able to provide more detailed information (like what type of discount or coupon at which store) until much closer to the time of the trip, like maybe the end of June or so.

 

For anyone who is just interested in the possibility of going with us, even if you're not sure yet you'll be able to, please go ahead and post a note in this thread. That way, when I do have the details available, I can send a PM to everybody who was interested to come check out the final plans and let us know if you can join us.

 

I've also started a Chain Link Roommate Finder thread, for anybody who wants to help cut costs by finding a Crochetville roommate or 2 or 3 to split room costs with. Any roommate arrangements will be completely up to members, so it would be very important to talk a lot with potential roommates and make sure you have a good feeling about their trustworthiness. We won't be able to get involved in any conflicts if a roommate cancels at the last minute.

 

I am so excited about visiting Niagara and Toronto, as I've never been out of the country before. This is going to be such a wonderful trip.

 

Now if they'd just release the conference schedule so I can plan the date for the yarn crawl, I'd be very happy! Of course, I know it's going to be another couple months before that information is available, so we'll all just hvae to be patient.

[kel]

I would like to participate in this!

[JenC]

I plan to be at the conference. I'm interested in the details when they are available. I guess it's time to go get a passport.

[Needle Arts]

It would be a real stretch for me but I'm very interested. I have a friend in Boston that I want to contact about staying with in conjunction with the trip. Date and airfare will be a big factor.

[krazy-kitty]

Hi, Iam would love to come along, just need to see who I can get to come with me, not really sure if it's BF's cup of tea, and as I have never been to the states or Canada it's a long way to travel on my own.

 

Gonna ask my mum if she wants to come along with me

[Amy]

The first online yarn store directory I used didn't show any results near Buffalo, which is partially why I wanted to go to yarn stores in Toronto (plus the fact that some of them look really yummy!). I tried another directory, and found that there are some yarn stores quite a bit closer to Buffalo:

 

Elmwood Yarn Shop in Buffalo (open 10-5 Thursdays; want us to come by) (5.44 miles from hotel)

 

Have Ewe Any Wool? in Snyder (8.75 miles from hotel)

Stitch in Grimsby, Ontario, CANADA (47.5 miles from hotel)

 

All 3 of those shops had email addresses on their website, so I've sent them an inquiry to see if they'd mind a horde of crazy crochet guys and ladies descending on them.

 

I also found:

 

Yarn It All in Tonawanda, but their website is not functional, so they might be out of business. Anybody know anything about them?

 

Rose's Fine Yarns of Niagara in Fonthill, Ontario, CANADA, no website that I could find

The Woolly Lamb in East Aurora, NY, about 25 minutes southeast of Buffalo, no email on website (20.91 miles from hotel)

 

I will try contacting these shops by phone once we're closer to August.

 

Does anybody know of any other yarn shops in the surrounding area that would be closer than Toronto (90 minutes to 2 hours away)?

[DivaKat]

I am on the east side of Buffalo (30 minutes away) and am not aware of any. I will ask around though and let you know if there are any in my area. Also Rochester is abut 90 minutes from where the convention is and is almost as big a city. Any Rochesterians out there know of any LYS in their vacinity?