Yearning for yarn: knit holiday gifts at these San Francisco shops

Sunset, Nov, 2004 by Abigail Peterson

"Please touch" seems to be the rule when you enter a yarn store. It's like a petting zoo--faces are buried in fuzzy things, and exclamations of "so soft!" and "so sweet!" are bantered about.

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Yarn's sensory appeal is only one of the reasons knitting's popularity is soaring in the Bay Area. There's also the chance to make something wonderful and one-of-a-kind--for only the price of yarn, needles, and your time.

Helen Kim, owner of the sleek, airy Urban Knitting Studio in San Francisco's Hayes Valley, says that knitting is all about the pleasures of making gifts and working with materials chosen to suit a personal style. "Knitting doesn't begin when the needles start clicking," says Kim. "Knitting begins when you start thinking about the personality of the person you're knitting for and choosing the colors and textures they'd love."

INFO: Urban Knitting Studio (closed Mon; Intro to Knitting I, $75; 320 Fell St.; 415/552-5333); also Greenwich Yarn (closed Wed and Sun; Beginning Knitting, $75; 2073 Greenwich St.; 415/567-2535) and ImagiKnit (Knitting 101, $80; 3897 18th St.; 415/621-6642).

PHOTOGRAPH BY MARGOT HARTFORD