Yarn Shop Politics

Over on Ravelry this week, our local board blew up over a local yarn shop (lys) starting a new policy. Long story short, the shop has said that it will start charging knitters a $10 fee to come to "Open Stitch" (Knit Night, Stitch and Bitch etc.) if you weren't knitting with yarn you had at some point purchased there. This has cause a flurry of comments to the point where the Mod. decided to shut down the thread. It's an interesting issue- on one hand, it's a business and they need to make income. On the other, I've found that more often than not, with the shop I tend to frequent, while I don't buy something all the time, I do buy a lot from them and it's often when I'm there to sit and knit with friends. I see this with all of my friends as well.
It seems the knitting community is also drawn down the middle on this one. Personally, with the shop in question, I've had 2 occasions when I've been there in the last year and felt a definite chill in the air. In one instance, there was a group knitting at the community table, talking about a particular yarn that none of them were familiar with and I, while browsing nearby casually commented as I had knit with it/had it in my stash. Even though I commented at a totally appropriate time, didn't interrupt anyone and didn't say anything weird, instead of a response, I received frosty stares and no comments. It was so unnerving! Another time was also similar. I guess my point is that was the last time I was there and implementing a fee for me to come back is not going to help foster good will in a community that puts a great deal of stock into a shops "personality", "style" and general vibe.

Anyway, now that I'm done thinking out loud about that, I'll share a recent finished object... This is for a dear friend's new little one.

Pattern: Maile (Free!)  

Yarn: Scout's sock yarn, in June's Semi Solid Sock club colorway-Yellow Submarine 

Buttons from Looped Yarn Works in Downtown DC