Travel Crafty Bay Area

With Maker Faire Bay Area coming up this weekend (May 21 & 22!), it's the perfect opportunity to share with you some of our favorite crafty spots around the Bay!

San Francisco

ImagiKnit
Address: 3897 18th St., San Francisco, Calif., 94114
Phone: 415-621-6642
Hours: Mon-Sat, 11am to 6:30pm; Sun, 11am to 4pm
Website: imagiknit.com

From floor to ceiling everywhere you look, you'll find yarn, yarn, and more yarn.
Allison and the friendly staff at ImagiKnit are fantastic at helping you find the right yarn you'll need for any kind of project. I've been coming to this store for years since it first opened years ago and always find inspiration just ogling and touching all the variety of yarns they carry.

You can also just sit in their craft book area and search for your next project through their extensive pattern binders, books, and magazines or sit on their cozy couches and chairs and cast on your new project. Hone your craft skills by taking any one of their classes from knitting and crochet 101 to spinning. You'll definitely find lots of fiber love at ImagiKnit.

Food Match: Find more inner peace stroll across the street at Samovar Tea Lounge for a pot of green tea and their tea-infused cookie plate. Then sit back and knit or crochet in serenity.

/Natalie Zee Drieu

Britex Fabrics
Address: 146 Geary St., San Francisco, Calif., 94108
Phone: 415-392-2910
Hours: Mon-Sat, 10am to 6pm
Website: britexfabrics.com

If you go to Britex, bring cash only. Not because they don't take credit cards, but because you will spend far more than you intend to otherwise! While the prices are on the high end, this is a true fabric emporium of the highest order, all four floors of it. I always feel a bit like the country girl arriving in the city in some old Hollywood musical - I fantasize that people are dancing up the ladders and unrolling bolts of the most glorious silks, velvets, denims, and prints. (Not that anyone would ever behave so indecorously there!) The notions floor is worth a trip in itself.

Food match: If you're looking for lunch, it's a pleasant walk down to the Embarcadero to drool over the offerings at the Ferry Building Marketplace. Full of boutique butchers, locally grown mushrooms, gluten-free baked goods, and artisan olive oils, there are enough fancy food shops and restaurants to bankrupt just about anyone! But it's also easy to grab a perfect espresso at Blue Bottle Coffee, a bento box to go from Delica, or a few briny oysters from Hog Island Oyster Company. On Tuesday, Thursdays, and Saturdays, there's also hopping farmer's market with, dare I say, the finest of the nation's produce. Saturday is the "see and be seen" day, packed to the gills, but it's worth a trip any day of the week.

/Arwen O'Reilly Griffith

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Source: http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2011/05/travel_crafty_bay_area.html

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