I showed her how it worked, and she asked me if I'd been to a certain yarn shop, and I hadn't, I hadn't even heard of it. I thought, oh, surely it isn't a new shop, it must be a needlepoint shop or something like that, but no, she said it was a real yarn shop, and a very good one at that.

After I left the post office, I went to get my hair cut, and I asked my hairdresser, who is also a knitter, if she had heard of a new shop, and she hadn't, but she said if I found it, to call and tell her about it.

I found it. It's called, funnily enough, The Yarn Shop.

Oh my. It's wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. A small wall of sock yarn, a couple of freestanding shelf units of novelty yarns, and the rest of the store -- all four walls -- filled with Noro, Colinette, Giotto . . . It was the Noro that blew me away. No one else in town carries it. I was transported, actually being able to see the yarn, since all of it that I've ordered so far I've ordered online.

I controlled myself pretty well -- I bought a skein of Big Kureyon, four skeins of a gorgeous red Kabuto (a wool, silk, alpaca and cashmere blend), a ball of charcoal sock yarn that might turn into a pair of gloves or socks for Bob, and a skein of Berroco Optik that I have no idea what to do with, but that was too cool to pass up.

They also have something that every yarn shop should have -- a frequent buyers club. You get a card, and when $150 worth of purchases have been punched, you get a $15 credit. I'm well on the way to my first one.