The first store I visited was Impact Gallery & Gifts on Broadway, right downtown. It was a fun store with lots of local artist wares. The sales clerk was really nice and explained about the local artist offerings and also explained that the store was phasing out of yarn, but had a few skeins left in a basket in the corner. I dug through the half dozen skeins and found a couple of skeins of yarn that would work well for a market bag. They were marked half price ($5 each!) and then when I brought my purchases to the cashier, they subtracted an additional 20% from a current sale. Great price - wish they had more yarn.
Next I walked a block up Broadway and found cedesigns Yarn Shoppe. Now here was some serious yarn!
Lots of great yarn, but I was also impressed with some of the knitted display items that the owner (a very nice woman) had made. Obvious talent here! I commented on this cute wrap (pictured below) and asked if she sold the pattern. She said she hadn't written it up yet, but wanted to get more of her patterns written down so she could put them on her website. Knitting without a pattern and creating something this cool? I'm impressed. I'll be watching her website for some of her original patterns.
Another yarn shop in the area was Sage Junction Yarns, listed with a Mandan address. All I can say is, good thing I had my gps! I drove for twenty some miles in the middle of a very snowy countryside. Mona (my gps voice) finally stated "Arriving at destination on right."I saw a brown rambler style home and pulled in the driveway. There was a small sign on the mailbox saying Sage Junction Yarns. I guess I was in the right place - there was a tiny little sign on the front door saying yarn sold. I could see in the front window and saw someone's living room, but no yarn. I felt a little funny just knocking on someone's front door, but it didn't matter, as no one was home.
