Coming home with a craft haul is one of my favorite kinds of souvenirs 🤩 I went to Tokyo in March 2024 and brought back bunches of yarn. Let me tell you all about it!
Yarn Haul from Tokyo, Japan
Daruma Store
We stumbled upon the first place not long after we landed. It’s called Daruma store in the southwest-ish Ebisu area of Tokyo:
Daruma Store
Oike Bldg., 2 Chome-6-1 Ebisunishi, Shibuya City, Tokyo 150-0021, Japan
Because I was too shy to take photos, allow me to borrow from the Daruma Store listing on Google Maps:
There’s a wall of yarn skeins to the left:
and the rest of the store had already made items and even bolts of fabric. I grabbed a couple of hand-dyed Merino wool yarns (click an image below for a larger version):
I don’t know what I’m going to make with these two, but I don’t have any colors like it in my current stash. I love the black/pink/blue/white color scheme on this yarn, and I love, love, love the speckles! Let me know if you have any ideas on what I can make with this yarn 🤔
amimono SPIN
The second yarn store in Tokyo is a spot called amimono SPIN, actually kind of close to Daruma but deeper in Shibuya:
amimono SPIN
13-11 Maruyamacho, Shibuya City, Tokyo 150-0044, Japan
Here’s the storefront, again here courtesy of the amimono SPIN listing on Google Maps:
It’s not on the main drag there in Shibuya; rather, it’s a bit off the beaten path a bit. Just keep an eye out for the sandwich board with the 🐑:
Similar to the layout of Daruma, amimono SPIN has a big wall of yarn to the left:
Some of their yarn had amusing names:
I really liked their swatches & samples section:
I had a difficult time choosing what to buy.. everything in here was like nothing I had at home! I finally settled on these 4 cakes:
Set 1
Set 2
Unfortunately, I can’t tell you anything about this yarn, because there are no characteristics on the tags — just on the shelves, which I didn’t snap. I am super lost about what to make with these but I knew I had to have them!
That’s not the end, though — amimono SPIN isn’t just a yarn maker and store. There’s a whole other half of the retail space dedicated to community! There are patterns, tables, chairs, completely open for anyone to come in and sit down and craft. While there, I ran into some other North Americans, one of whom gave me a tip for my upcoming Seoul trip on a certain yarn store. That’ll be upcoming in my next blog post! Stay tuned!
