Another Yarn Shop

Grown-up yarn shops are still sort of an elusive thing to me. I know where every chain craft shop is within a 30+ mile radius from my house, but little yarn shops are often off the beaten track, in a town I don't frequent, and in a GPS black hole; for me at least, my GSP hasn't been updated since 2005 when my car was born. So knowing last Friday that I had a lunch meeting in Vineland I searched on Google Maps for yarn shops in the vicinity.

This brought me to Fiber Arts Cafe in Bridgeton, about 20 minutes from Vineland, and I went on a little adventure after my meeting. Winding through small towns on a Jersey-country road in various states of neglect I wondered where exactly I was headed. However, turning onto the correct street alleviated my fears. It was a cute little downtown area with lovely brick laid sidewalks and well kept Victorian-esque storefronts.

I entered the store and was greeted with... emptiness. There was no one in sight, so I snapped another quick picture, since I never know how that will be received, and started to look around. I noticed a noise that almost sounded like snoring, so as I made my way to the back of the store I figured I'd startle someone who was taking a nap. There wasn't a huge selection of yarn so it didn't take me long to get to the back of the store and I found, not someone sleeping, but a very noisy osculating fan working hard between the yarn store and the used bookstore that was towards the back of the store.

That's right, two of my favorite things, books and yarn, under one roof! Wait, there's coffee too, that's three! Three of my favorite things in one place. I was getting a little giddy, yet I was still left totally alone.

Finally the owner of the yarn shop came in from the back room and she kept me there for over an hour, talking about knitting, crochet, getting certified, the anniversary of 9/11, another shop keeper came to visit and get a cup of coffee, and eventually the book store owner joined us too.

Basically, Fiber Arts Cafe had everything you could want from a small town yarn shop, good people, friendly conversation, yarn, and as a bonus, books, coffee, and chocolate chip cookies. What they lacked in inventory they made up in personality and I'm looking forward to returning to visit my new friends.