Maui Yarn Crawl

Dateline: Maui, 1/12/08 - 1/16/08

As soon as you get off the plane in Maui, a relaxed feeling comes over you. The fragrance of flowers is in the air. A gentle breeze is blowing. The weather is warm but not hot. The scenery is beautiful, mountains and sea, even on the road from the airport. So how do I spend my time in this paradise? Going to yarn stores and bead stores!

Well, not all of my time. We do manage to get in some beach and pool time, a whale watch (this is whale season in Hawaii and we saw a lot of activity), a submarine tour, a coastal walk, and a performance of Ulalena, which interprets Hawaiian myths and legends in dance. Not to mention some great food at restaurants like Mama's Fish House and Pacific'o.

Yarn stores in Hawaii are different from the stores I usually frequent. There's very little wool (are you surprised?). Lots of cotton and novelty yarns. Less emphasis on knitting, and more on needlepoint, crochet and quilting.


Before the trip I looked on the web for Maui yarn stores and found some helpful information on M.K. Carroll's blog. The Needlework Shop is conveniently located right next door to our hotel in Lahaina. I couldn't resist buying some locally hand-dyed wool, which comes in luscious colors with names like Maui Sunset. My two skeins of Ripe Pineapple are pictured. At Yarn & Needlecraft, there were a lot of crocheted leis, and the woman in the store was nice enough to show me how to make one. It involves crocheting around a piece of grosgrain ribbon. I bought some ribbon and yarn, and also a book called Making Eyelash Crochet Leis 2. (By happy coincidence I also found book 1 at the airport in Honolulu as we were about to leave for home.) So now I have another UFO.

I also enjoyed traveling around the island to 3 bead stores. My favorite was Aloha Bead Company, in Paia, a small town with a hippie-ish reputation. (I love towns like that!) Aloha had beautiful garden bracelet kits, and I have to admit I bought 2. Maui Bead Shack, despite its name, is in a big mall near the airport. I was delighted to find that they offer certain classes each week, and that I was able to take the Sugar Cube bracelet class and still get back to Lahaina in time for the Ulalena performance. (Maui is small, but the roads are not fast, and the 20 miles from the mall to Lahaina took about 45 minutes.) I was the only student in the class, and had a great time. I also enjoyed visiting Maui Beads of Paradise.