A Yarn Shop called Dreams

Isn't it great that this store is called Dreams? I met the nice owner, Tita Lilli de Leon, tonight when I went there... I told her about my blog title and my Ravelry name. Although I think her store began before I came up with them, and I did come up with them not knowing that such a store existed here in the Philippines.

This store definitely deserves to be called the Philippines's true Local Yarn Shop, or LYS. For one thing, it does call itself one: Dreams Yarnshoppe. For another, it has the best collection of yarns, needles and other knitting supplies to the serious knitter. They're mostly imported, even the locally distributed Red Heart is from China. I think it's only the crochet thread with Anchor and Cannon brands that are truly made in the Philippines (I'm not sure though.)




However, being located in the upscale business district of Makati (the country's version of Manhattan, more or less), the prices cater to its moneyed residents, the locals and expats. You can find Addi Turbo circulars (didn't check the prices, since I knew I'd rather spend the money on yarn, someday) and Berroco yarns and other brands. There were some bulk yarns on sale, mostly acrylic and yarn, at reasonably fair prices, for the budget-conscious. I would have bought some if I hadn't joined knittinghelp.com's Year of the Stash, which is basically about stash management. For now, I have enough yarn. Really.



Anyway, I rarely venture out of my little apartment in Quezon City, except that I had decided to check out the local availability of knitting supplies in anticipation of my summer classes at Miriam College. Much as I wanted to rule out the Dreams Yarnshoppe, since it's about an hour away by car in traffic from the school, I thought I couldn't be a good knitting teacher without being able to inform my future learners about the state of the local market. (More on that later, in another post.)



Granted, you could say that Craft World in Megamall (formerly at Robinson's Galleria) is some sort of LYS too, except that it has marketed itself more for general crafting. It does have its fair share of yarn, needles et al, but they sell some yarn hanks without any label if it's wool, acrylic, or whatever. Just a nice hank of gorgeous colors, and I'm not that much of a yarn expert yet. It's most likely acrylic. I bought a lot of my needles from this store when it used to be at Galleria, when I was just beginning to knit. They had a few double-points in various sizes. Tonight I got to buy size 15 (10mm) straight needles there, for roughly US$4 dollars. A good deal, and I badly needed that size.

My third source for knitting yarn and needles in Metro Manila, Philippines is Carolina's Lace Shoppe, and it's more known for sewing supplies including lace and beads, lots of them.

I'll soon make my prognosis re knitting supplies in the Philippines, since I have yet to check the downtown supply stores in Quiapo and Divisoria.