Island Yarn Boutique is a full-service knitting and crochet shop where the prices are friendly and inspiration and encouragement are always free. Opened by an unashamed fiberholic with experience in just about any needle art you can name, the shop offers an extraordinary assortment of yarn, needles, buttons, beads, notions, patterns and more.
Our inventory includes familiar fiber names including Plymouth, Classic Elite, Berroco, Cascade, JoJoland, Reynolds, Blue Heron and Kollage to name a few. We carry more than 500 different buttons so you’ll never have to go from shop to shop to find the perfect button to complete your next project.
Did we mention our selection of notions, patterns and needles? We stock the full line of Addi turbos with cables from 8 to 40 inches as well as crochet hooks, straight and double pointed needles in so many sizes that if you can’t find it here, they probably don’t make it.
The goal of our always-growing inventory is to be sure you never have a problem finding what you need. We’d much rather you have a problem deciding what to buy next.
A more long-term aspiration in the shop is to have as many American grown, made and/or processed items as possible. Toward that end we proudly offer alpaca from Maryland farms including Cabin Creek Farm in Upper Marlboro, Outstanding Dreams Farm in Preston and Chesapeake Alpacas of Stevensville. Romney wool from Stevensville, hand-dyed yarn from Bare Sheep Yarn Company in Church Hill, kettle-dyed yarn from Angel’s Kiss of Baltimore and batts from Luna Aura of Severna Park are additional local products in the shop. This list continues to expand, so stop by often to see what’s new and all-American!
Taught to knit and crochet by her grandmother at the age of five, owner Sue Pilsch has over 50 years of needle experience. Growing up in the Boston area, mittens, hats and scarves were necessities, not fun projects, so knitting as a child was often a chore, not a pleasure. Eventually Sue discovered that by playing with patterns she could have some fun with the mitten making she did each year. To this day, she rarely follows a pattern as written, tending to combine pieces of many patterns, change stitches or yarn until she achieves something that pleases her. The results are sometimes unique masterpieces, occasionally abysmal failures but the attempt is always fun and that’s what matters most.
Guided by Sue’s philosophy that enjoying the process of creating is more important than what is created, an ongoing roster of classes, workshops and demonstrations for all skill levels is offered at the shop.