Like most avid knitters, when I travel I try to visit a few of the local yarn shops. My 15 year old son tolerated visiting 3 stores while we were in Paris. I was most impressed by a delightful shop called “Lil Weasel”, which had opened 4 months previously. It is located in one of the grand passages – built in the early 1800’s they are precursors to the present day shopping mall. The “Passage du Grand Cerf” is one of the prettiest, with glass domed ceilings 3 floors high, decorated with wrought iron and wood. “Lil Weasel” is one of the shops lining this passage and as the owner Carine’s blog states “Lil Weasel c’est une petite boutique de laines. Et de tissus. Et aussi de boutons, de rubans, et d’articles de mercerie”. When you step inside the “petite boutique” you see a nice selection of yarn arranged by colour, and a cozy sitting area. Carine is very friendly (which is unfortunately not always the case with shopkeepers in Paris!) and speaks fluent English. If you visit Paris and can only visit one yarn shop, “Lil Weasel” should it.

I was interested to learn which yarns are popular in France. It seems that they prefer all the yarns which we have in North America. They love Cascade Yarns and are delighted if they can get Koigu or Lorna’s Laces. Lil Weasel was waiting for a shipment of Malabrigo. So, I didn’t buy any yarn in Paris as I have all that at Black Sheep Yarns! I did purchase some beautiful wooden knitting needles and gorgeous buttons.

Posted on Sunday, August 8th, 2010 at 3:05 pm in the News category.