Western Australia

[lupinbunny]

oo! ivy and maude moved back to its old haunt (mosman park. its also now called calico & ivy) so now i have to walk past it twice a day, to and from the busstop. it kills me. they change the displays in the window so often i think they must be buying the jumpers. or they have oompa-loompas chained up out the back knitting in 12 hour shifts.
they have a VERY nice pattern selection there. BUT i try not to shop there because (apart from the price) they treated a community centre my mum goes to very, very poorly. it's sort of an ethical boycott i have going

i like Crossway's Wool in subiaco... ladies are very patient, and quite helpful. they tend to have HUGE selections of very fine plys, less so in 8- or 12-ply. mostly old ladies shop there, so be prepared to have your retail assistant 'stolen' by a demanding old lady who thinks the white, 3-ply merino just isn't WHITE enough and do they have any other brand of white, 3-ply merino? (something similar has happened to me EVERY single time i've gone there. seriously!)

and i've had a great time at the city lincraft for wool actually. i was really surprised how much they had. they're my favourite right now.

i've given up on the freo spotlight. customer service too poor. occasionally visit the osbourne park one. the bunbury one (yes. when i travel i visit craft stores...) is okaaaaaaay.

[mamasmurf]

I shop a lot at spotlight generally because they have cheap fabric and regular sales, and being in Rockingham I just don't have the time (or petrol money) to go travelling. But the customer service is poor. At one point I even wrote a letter of complaint to the store manager about one sales person rude and shocking service, it wasn't until after I posted the letter and spoke to a friend when I realised the person I was complaining about was in fact the store manager (whoops).

Anyhow, at the Rockingham store, at the counter you line up for (a really long time) fabric they have these little feel good sayings such as 'a smile is the easiest thing to give away" blah blah along with cute pictures of pooh bear ect.
Everytime I see these feel good sayings, whilst waiting to be served and/or being served by some snot-light staff member I can't help but have a quiet chuckle.

But alas, I seem to be the only one that finds this funny, I pointed this out to my sister and she just looked at me real  strange and rolled her eyes.

Do any other snotlight store's have nice sweet feelgood quotes/sayings posted by their counters, or is it just Rockingham?

[Cat-n-Caboodle]

Another Perth person here...
On Spotlight Rockingham...the other day I rang up to find out if they had something in stock.  The reply was immediate "No we don't sell that" and I was absolutely sure they did.  I went down there later and picked it straight off the shelf where I knew it would be.

Anyway...I am into lots of different crafts...finally doing some beading and wire jewellery after resisting for so long.  I get a lot of stuff from a local store in Armadale called Cottonwool...the lady who runs it is great and I like to support small businesses.

[lol-lol]

Westies rock! yeah, i'm a year 11 that lives in the perth hills.. lil place called glen forrest...te...well i shop at spotlight(mildland, and coz hills people are much nicer than city p-ples, i have no troubles with service!) and mrs bojangles(also in midland). also the bead stall @ midland military markets ( no, there are NO soldiers!!!  ) wellz, btr goes, good luck fellow craftsters!

[deachiu]

Just thought I'd enter the convo...was from South o'th' River, now North o'th' River.
Went to the "Knitting for our Homeless" this arvo for the Salvos, I heard on the grapevine there is a new knitting cafe being set up in Wembley, couldn't find anything on google - anyone know about this?
I agree woolshack is a good site and they have knitting circles, haven't managed to get there yet. For papercraft projects I usually buy wrapping paper on special after Xmas from Myer etc, it's always good to have primary colours and bold patterns stashed in the house...

[lupinbunny]

oh, i went to the knitting cafe in wembley.
the wooly sheep, i think it was called?

i seriously wouldn't bother. they had one teeny, weeny little wall with wool. it felt like they wanted to open a cafe, and decided the angle they'd take was a knitting cafe... so they'd better have some knitting stuff around.
lots of kits with very basic scarf patterns and luxury wools in them.

the coffee was quite good though.

[Lori-lee]

I've been to Freo Spotlight once.....never again. I felt like i needed a shower afterwards. It was dingy, messy and the staff were rude. I used to love the one in the city, I almost lived there. Mum gave me a $100 gift voucher for my bday one year coz i used to spend so much money there.lol.

[mrtour]

Hi,

I'm posting from NYC, but next year, our family is moving to Perth (my husband is originally from there).  I am seriously considering in a few years after we get settled to open a knitting cafe in Perth or thereabouts.  So all you knitters/crocheters in Western Australia....what would you like to see in such a cafe?  Are there certain yarns that you can't get there without extensive hassell?  I suspect that the yarns I would stock would not be cheap, like at the big box craft stores....would you be willing to purchase hand-painted or dyed high quality yarn?  What is the current yarn situation in Perth? 

Please email me privately as I don't check this forum very often.
sorry
m_tourigny@yahoo.com

thanks
Michelle
soon to be Aussie

[lupinbunny]

uh.. your email adress is hidden... makes it hard to send my intended rant/ plea about the wool situation in perth.

in short: yes. yes there's a market for handpainted, etc.
Personally, i think there's a gap in mid-quality, mid-price wools. you either get cheap acryclic or french silk/mohair mixes.

[theloonypin]

Hey lupinbunny, send me your rant!  I'm an American who has already moved here and is opening a knitting shop in January (but south of Perth, though I'll also have an online shop).  Tell me what you want!
crazy at theloonypin.com

It's actually a knitting and craft supply - heaps of supplies.  Out here in the country, where we don't even have spotlight, it's hard to get anything.  I'm going to stock lots of different things, including some American stuff that I can't find here at all, including magazines.  Holler if there's anything you think I ought to stock.  I need some opinions on the subject.

amy
The Loony Pin:  nothing ordinary...