Day 49 – Perth Yarn Crawl

Day 49, 22 Feb – Perth Yarn Crawl

Today was the high-water mark of our World Knitting Cruise as we visited 5 yarn shops in less than 8 hours.  We contacted some local knitters via Ravelry before we began this cruise and they were helpful in identifying the best local shops.  I plotted out their location and with the assistance of google maps I put together our schedule that would include driving time and lunch.

“Happy Go Lucky Tours” was my choice for a charter company who offered all day charters in a 13 passenger bus for $660 AUS.  I made all the arrangements via email with Tanya, from their office, who very responsive and even offered to help coordinate our lunch reservations.  If you ever find yourself in the Perth area, I would highly recommend “Happy Go Lucky Tours” to help you with any private tours.  More information HERE

Yarn Crawl

Here was our schedule:

Depart Ship at 8 AM

• 8:00 – 8:15            Depart Fremantle Passenger Terminal
• 9:00 – 9:30            Bell Tower + Elizabeth Quay
• 9:45 – 10:00          Kings Park Botanical Gardens (quick photo stop)
• 10:15 – 10:45         Teddy Tree (226 Scarborough Beach Rd, Mount Hawthorn)
• 11:00 – 11:30         Crossways Wool and Fabrics (15/180 Rokeby Road, Subiaco)
• 11:45 – 1:00          Lunch at Indiana Tea House (99 Marine Parade, Cottesloe)
• 1:15 – 1:45             Calico and Ivy (1 Glyde St, Mosman Park)
• 2:00 – 2:30           Bilby Yarns (2/6 Harrison St, Willagee)
• 2:45 – 3:15            Yarns on Collie (19 Collie St, Fremantle)
• 3:30pm                  Return to Fremantle Passenger Terminal, Victoria Quay

The Yarn shops didn’t open until 10 AM so we were able to schedule a few tourist stops at Elizabeth Quay and the Kings Park Botanical Gardens before arriving at our first yarn shop, “Teddy Tree”, in Mount Hawthorn.  When planning my excursions, I always go to the furthest point as soon as possible and then spend the rest of day heading back toward the ship.  This way if you have any issues far from the ship you have more time to resolve them.  As the day progresses you are getting closer and closer to the ship which makes it easier to deal with any issues that may arise later.

Traffic was heavy as we headed into Perth from Fremantle, but we had scheduled plenty of time, and we were able to remain on schedule.

Elizabeth Quay

Elizabeth Quay is a very modern harbor area that was recently redeveloped to attract visitors.  A wide variety of shops, restaurants and cafes are here along with outdoor sculptures and other attractions.  Visiting the Bell Tower here was on my list of things to do, but I didn’t notice during my planning that it did not open until 10 AM and we would miss being able to go inside.

I was surprised that the free Wi-Fi offered here to anyone on the street was as fast as my own Wi-Fi back in the USA.  I figured it was probably designed to handle large evening crowds, so the sparse morning crowd enjoyed the entire bandwidth.

A Perth resident, Helen, joined us here and would stay with us for the remainder of our yarn crawl.  We started chatting with her thru Ravelry and she offered to join us today to help provide some local knowledge and insight about the various yarn shops.

Kings Park

Mount Eliza, in Kings Park, was our next stop which is near a War Memorial and a gift shop.  Many people on a HAL tour were here at the same time.  We spent about 15 minutes enjoying the view with enough time for a quick spin through the gift shop.

There were 8 knitters on the yarn crawl and I went along to keep everyone on track and take pictures.  I allocated 30 minutes for each shop, which was tight, but manageable.  We would discover throughout the day that many of the yarn shops – or wool shops as they are referred to here, also carried fabric.

Teddy Tree

Our first yarn shop was Teddy Tree (226 Scarborough Beach Rd, Mount Hawthorn.)  As one might expect by the name of this shop, we were greeted by Teddy Bears everywhere.  There was a small selection of yarn and one room filled with quilt fabrics.  Judy bought some Cotton Cashmere fingering yarn by Concept and a shawl kit in a coral gradient colorway by Katia.  The shop had a well behaved dog watching over the shoppers with different colored eyes, which we later learned was a Dingo.

Crossways Wool and Fabrics

Crossways Wool and Fabrics (15/180 Rokeby Road, Subiaco) was our next stop and is located in a mall with only street parking so having a driver able to drop us off was a plus.  This shop has a large selection of yarn with many brands familiar to American knitters such as Noro, Sublime and Malabrigo.  Judy found an interesting gradient yarn from Japan which is so attractively presented that she’s thinking about framing it in a shadow box.  Peggy and Judy both had their eyes on one of the last remaining color way combinations and almost got into a tussle over who would be the lucky buyer.

The Indiana Tea House

The Indiana Tea House (99 Marine Parade, Cottesloe) was our choice for lunch.  Located directly on Cottesloe Beach, Tanya from Happy Go Lucky Tours coordinated our orders with the restaurant in advance so once we arrived we quickly confirmed our selections with the waitress and our food was on the way.  Our table faced the Indian Ocean giving us a spectacular panoramic view out to sea and both north and south down the coast.  Fish and Chips was the more popular choice followed by Pizza and a Cheeseburger.  Service was prompt and the food delicious.  They handled our group size easily and separate checks were no problem.

Calico and Ivy

Calico and Ivy (1 Glyde St, Mosman Park) was only a few minutes from our lunch stop and is one of the newer yarn shops we visited.  Bright and cheery, more than half the space is devoted to quilt fabrics.  The sign outside declared that it was ‘Linen Time’ and they featured Quince & Co.’s line of linen yarn.  Judy was drawn to the yarns offered by the local Indy (Independent) Dyer, Dingo Dog.  There wasn’t quite enough to knit a sweater so I offered that there was probably enough for a shrug.  I wasn’t sure exactly what a shrug was, but I had recently seen that word on another pattern and figured it was a good time to use it in a sentence.

Bilby Yarns

Bilby Yarns (2/6 Harrison St, Willagee) was about 20 minutes away and we had to backtrack a little to get there.  This is the place to go for spinners.  Half of the shop’s offerings were rovings.  Judy found six cakes of locally hand spun Corriedale wool and silk yarn.  June Lynn, the proprietor, explained to Judy that the yarn was spun by Wendy Hancock, 82, who lives in the area and also raised the sheep.

Yarns on Collie

Our last stop, Yarns on Collie (19 Collie St, Fremantle) was the closest to the ship.  Most of the yarns are a DK weight and heavier.  Judy is more interested in the lighter weight yarns and asked if there were any linen blends.  She was happy to find a 100% linen fingering yarn from Katia and she bought all the black yarn they had.  I found a kit to knit a koala and added it to her purchases.

On the way back to the ship Tina, our guide from Happy Go Lucky Tours, suggested we make a quick stop at the end of High Street and walk up the steps to the Round House so we could see the street art called the Arcs d’Éllipses which is six large yellow ellipses that appear flat against the three-dimensional landscape and rise over the street.  Read more about the art HERE.

As we left the harbor I noticed the Australian Navy diesel submarine, HMAS Ovens,  on display next to the Western Australia Maritime Museum.  She was built in Scotland in 1967 and was decommissioned in 1995.

Note:  To walk to Coles and the rest of Fremantle from the Cruise Terminal, there is a footbridge available to make it easier to cross the busy road and train tracks nearby.

Back on the Ship

Dinner this evening featured Galumpkis (cabbage, rice, ground meat and tomato sauce), Chicken Cordon Bleu and Spaghetti with Meatless Meatballs.  We all had a chuckle as we tried to square the Meatless Meatball circle.  I ordered the Galumpkis as they remind me of some of my Grandmothers favorite dishes.  But while Holland America’s Galumpkis were OK, they can’t compare to my Grandmothers.

Andy Bunger was in the Queen’s Lounge and put on a very entertaining show where he performed many popular tunes with a wide variety of instruments including drums, saxophone, a Pan Flute and a Hawaiian Steel Guitar.  During the show, he played an amazing “drum duet” with Grahame, the Amsterdam Orchestra’s drummer.