Fibre Space

Something about Fibre Space keeps drawing me back even though there are definitely shops in the area with a wider selection of more affordable yarns. The front sitting room is cozy and welcoming and shows off what’s new, which tends to mesh really well with the season (but who am I kidding? I always fall for bulky, squishy fibers, even in the peak of the DC summer).
While I haven’t asked the staff any technique questions, I’ve found them very helpful for bouncing around color ideas and coming up with suggested patterns when I’ve fallen in love with a given yarn or vice versa. Though they do offer a great deal of classes, including some for beginners, most of their yarns are geared toward serious fiber geeks (or at least people who’ve invested enough in knitting or crocheting as a hobby to be ready to plop down some significant change to make an average-​size project).
I’ll keep coming back, especially if they do another wine/​chocolate/​yarn tasting event!

Quaint yet well stocked! Staff was friendly and knowledgeable… They spotted my Beth Brown Rensel gansey the minute I walked in. The stairs of the shop are a killer but the stock is exquisite and varied.

I am totally in love with this awesome fiber store on King Street — friendly staff and a fantastic selection, plus a warm and welcoming environment make this a place I want to return to for knit nights and supplies whenever I have the time. I’m happy to be able to support this kind of small local business, and I’m happy to wind up with great yarn (and needles and spinning fiber and whatever else I need) from local sources, too!

This place is a gem! The ladies here are super and helpful with any questions you may have — no question is stupid! They also have a very good selection for a yarn snob like myself — they even have some Plucky yarn every once in a while (my favorite).
Neighborhood Fiver company is also something I usually get when stopping by — excellent locally dyed yarn.
They also have a customer loyalty program, now through an app — even better!

Do not go to this shop if you are easily swayed by the look and feel of pretty fibers. Trust me– you will get in trouble here.
The shop is a wonderful balance of welcoming alcoves, bins of yummy fibers, and shelves of fetching patterns. The staff is welcoming and helpful. They are very patient with a novice like me who comes in when I’m in town to pick up presents for yarn-​loving friends. In short, I’m clueless and they happily help me find cool stuff or let me take pictures of a pattern picture and yarn options to send them along to people for gifting approval.
The only real issue here is parking in Old Town. It’s never impossible, but frequently a challenge.

Great yarn shop! The staff is friendly and knowledgeable. I’ve been helped with various problems (from ‘help! I don’t understand this pattern!” to «what yarn should I choose?») and the advice was always great. The yarns offered by the store are very good, and also quite unique. The shop also offers a lot of crochet and knitting classes as well has trunk shows. It’s also just a great place to hang out and knit!

They had a beautiful selection of very high end yarn. Skeins were between $ 13-​$ 30 and up. The staff was very friendly and helpful, but I wish they had a better price spectrum.

This is a FIVE STAR yarn shop! As good as it gets! I cannot say one negative thing about this shop!
The employees are FANTASTIC! Ultra friendly, not at all overbearing, patient, helpful, gave me a tour, etc. The Best!
Hand-​dyes are my fav, and this shop sure has them aplenty! The store is well-​organized, has room to shop, has a good variety of inventory in weights, colors, and price-​points. Good quality yarns. Local dyers.
They have an AMAZING inventory of needles. Any size (from the smallest to the biggest), length, and material (wood, metal, etc.) in all of your favorite brands (and price-​points). If you’re in need of a needle, this is where you should come!
The roving made me almost want to learn how to spin.
The front has a wonderful couch area and a table with featured yarns/​patterns.
I love that they have a variety of finished projects labeled with pattern & yarn names.
They offer classes, which I can’t wait to try!
Parking is on the street with meters… but the meters take credit cards.

After a long drive and dropping my parents off at Ronald Reagan Airport, I decided to see if there were any yarn shops in the area. To my delight, I found Fibre Space just a few minutes away. I found a nice selection of yarn and needles, and the staff was very friendly. I wish I lived closer so I could visit more often!

First of all it is SO ORGANIZED! It’s clean and pleasant to walk through! I can tell you that I wasn’t intimidated by the staff, I found what I was looking for easily AND they have this awesome section by the needle selection where you can TRY OUT the different kinds of needles they have for sale!!! I got some needles and a recommendation of a nearby Gelato place… it was GREAT! Def will go back again!

What an amazing place!!! I discovered Fibre Space when I moved back to Alexandria last year and I fell in love. So much yarn!!! The owner of the shop offers an extensive selection of hand dyed yarns from all over — including many local dyers. And they are all beautiful. The only thing more awesome than the selection are the owner and the ladies who work in the shop. Danielle and her staff are not only knowledgeable, they are personable and they have a great sense of color. They are always willing to help you find a new project, direct you toward the right fiber, and help you plot colors. I love that they keep track of what I purchase so that I can buy more in the exact color and weight to finish a project I started.

It pains me to write this, but I was in Fibre Space very recently, & was made to feel like
the folks working in there couldn’t be bothered. I have been going to this store since it opened, have (mostly), enjoyed it, & have spent a good amount of money there.
Money spent aside, I don’t appreciate staff who treat customers like they are a nuisance.
I am seriously considering returning the products that I just bought, never going back there, & not recommending this store to anymore people. It’s a shame…

Update of my review — down from 4 stars (Yay! I’m a fan!) to 3 (OK)
They are on thin ice — second strike of shopping dislike since they moved to their new location. It’s a shame, because I really dug them back in the day (2010/​2011ish). Now, it seems like they don’t rotate stock very often and the vibe is a tired. Maybe the last two visits were oddballs, since every other time we’ve really enjoyed our visit. If we have a similar time the next, it’ll likely be our last time there.
If we can’t find good skein of lace weight for a project, there is a problem.
The person we dealt with was very patronizing and not very enthusiastic.
I’m hoping I can kick it up a star on my next visit, and not drop it to 2 stars. I’ve got my hopes high but my expectations low.

New Year’s Resolution #14: Learn to knit.
April 15, 2015: Introduction to Knitting Class completed — Mission accomplished!
Wait, before you applaud, that was a resolution from 2012, but better late than never. My knitting experience prior to visiting Fibre Space was based solely on forgotten childhood instruction from my Grandmother, so I was pretty clueless when I walked in. The staff could not have been nicer and were extremely patient as they helped me pick out supplies. My instructor Nicole was engaging and informative and the class left me with a great foundation to start a new hobby. There was a very diverse range of ages in my class, so everyone from 20-​somethings and up should feel comfortable attending.
The store is extremely neat and well organized. Being a beginner, I’m not sure I can adequately assess the selection, but there seemed to be a wide variety of everything you need — yarn, tools, patterns and books. They have a lounge area in the front that was occupied with friendly knitters when I arrived. Overall a great experience, I’m looking forward to returning and fulfilling my dream of knitting a wardrobe of neutrals.

Every time my mum comes to visit us we have to head over Fibre Space to pick up some more yarn goodies to add to her already huge stash of yarn!
Today marked the beginning of wedding planning, naturally my mum needed some special yarn to make a little something for me to wear on my big day! Danielle showed us some great options, walking us around the store giving the inside scoop until we found the perfect pop of color to go with my dress. She gave us a ton of advice, and even helped us find a pattern that matched what I wanted better than I could describe it! (She also gave me a bunch of advice on vendors for my off-​beat local wedding. Thanks Danielle!)
Also, the shop is connected to Ravelry, so the pattern we bought went automatically into my mum’s Ravelry account ready to go!

Years ago I promised my young son I would knit him a scarf. It took a couple of years to fulfill the promise.
I signed up for a class at fibre space — the best value and most convenient schedule I found — purchased the supplies and with trepidation at whether I could accomplish the task, I took the plunge. The 3-​night class was awesome. The teacher was knowledgeable and fun and the class was filled with fun-​loving ladies with the same fears and desires I had.
From that class, I knit a scarf for my son and I discovered it calmed me and eased my stress. So I went back for another class — Intro to cabling — and am addicted.
I’m in love with the medium and in love with this store. The staff make me feel welcome, as do fellow shoppers. They help with project challenges, though expect not to be the only one in need of help, and are always supportive.
I’m also comfortable with the pricing of their products. This is a great small business and I believe in supporting those that treat me well.

THE BEST — hands down. I’ve been to most yarn stores in the area when I did the yarn crawl and throughout the last year — even a couple in NYC and one in the Richmond area.
This one had the best of everything — staff, owner (goes above and beyond), friendly, inviting, lots of classes (cater to people who work during the day and have lots of evening and weekend classes for me), yarn options, notions, needles and ease of buying or taking care of any and all problems. Quick responses too via email.
Store tends to be short staffed at certain times and that really sucks for me when I just need to pay or have a quick question about ordering something (people have lots of strange knitting problems, which I understand takes time to sort out). Sometimes there will be 1 gal helping all the customers at night (another might be teaching a class and therefore busy) or even when there are 5 on staff it might take a good 10 – 15 minutes before I can get some help. So its hit or miss with how long you can get in and out of there.
Prices are high for some yarns and low for others so I can find something usually within my budget. Colors sell out quickly so if you see something you like, buy it! Reorders can be spotty or take months (6+), which is not their fault. They really do have something for everyone and continue to get in new stuff all the time.
The Knot House in Frederick was the closest I saw in terms of stock that compares, but that’s a really long drive for me!

I so want to like Fibre Space, but they miss the mark on service. They’re not very friendly or welcoming. Or at least not to me, because it seems like some of the employees are better than others. Like another reviewer, I’ve had the same experience with the employee who pretty much ignores the winder and/​or you, when you need to use the winder. They have a great selection of expensive yarns, but are a bit light on accessories. If they can up their service game, I’d love to give them 5 stars, but for now, I’m looking for another go-​to shop.

**Update 7÷10÷15
I have not returned to this yarn store, because their response to my review did not convince me to return. No one in the store that day told me about the yarn winder in the front, and the woman winding my yarn was not helping any other customer while she took an excessively long time to wind it. I also got a negative vibe from her; everyone knows that feeling when it seems like you are bothering someone just by trying to pay and leave the store. Funnily enough, their response to my review also does not make me feel welcome in their shop.
It’s alright, they probably don’t need my business anyway.
**Original review below:
I traveled very far via public transportation to get here, since I am a newly relocated resident. I have been to Looped Yarn Works in Dupont Circle and wanted to see if this store had more selection. I would say it was about the same in terms of amount and types of yarns. In comparison, my experience at Looped was better because the women working there were very helpful, and really wanted to guide my experience. The woman who rang me up here at Fibre Space was alright, but when it was time to use the machine to ball up my yarn, she kind of kept me waiting. I can use them but this one was not manual like I am used to. After the first ball was made she really really took her time to get to the second one. And then she just turned her back to it, and it had been completed but I didn’t know how to turn off the machine and had to get her attention again to just give me the ball of yarn. There was one girl being taught how to knit at the tables and whoever was teaching her seemed to be doing great.
Since the yarn selection (I have no specific brands that I stick to) seemed to be relatively equal, I would rather go to Looped for the location and hospitality. Oh and also the button selection at Looped is way better.

If you are looking to spend a small fortune on the most delicious feeling yarn, this would be a good place to go. Fibre Space is not for the faint of heart (or the slight of cash), and it is easy to become a little overwhelmed with all of the (albeit beautiful) options. I would avoid coming here on a Saturday as it gets a little like a madhouse and you will want to take your time perusing the goods (lesson learned!). As a newbie crocheter, I felt really overwhelmed with the options and unlike other people, I sadly did not feel like the staff was very helpful. Maybe if I had taken a class here first and had an «in», that would make a difference, but I felt like an outsider looking in to this strange and beautiful crafty world.
I did purchase some yarn — gorgeous raspberry colored soft fine wool — and made a few baby gifts from them for friends & family.
Fibre Space is a great option for really high-​quality yarns and supplies, but I don’t think I’ll be back on a regular basis.