WC Mercantile
WC Mercantile is a fiber and yarn store on the main drag in downtown Navasota, TX. What a wonderful place! Stephanie and her mother have created a lovely oasis for spinners and knitters in the middle of the hubbub of small town Texas. The storefront is large and open and with it's high ceilings and ceiling fans, it's a cool, calm and inviting place to shop for wonderful fiber or just sit and spin. There are lots of chairs and benches so you can do just that. Stephanie carries lots of different spinning fibers, some straight from the supplier and much that she dyes herself. She has a great eye for color so her hand dyed fiber is wonderful. She also carries some supplies for both spinning and knitting and has the expertise to help you decide what you need. Stephanie found me a free standing distaff so I could start my flax spinning journey. Thank you Stephanie!
WC Mercantile is about an hour and half from my house so I don't get there nearly as often as I would like. I made the trek up there on April 24th for their Spring Spin-In. On that Saturday it wasn't calm or quiet or contemplative. It was a mad house of spinners. I'm not sure how many people came that afternoon but at one point I counted 30 spinners. It was a riot of spinning wheels and drop spindles and chatting and laughing. As with any good spin-in, there were goodies to eat and drink, drawings for prizes and a wonderful sale on the fiber Stephanie carries. She even sent buyers home with a goodie bag of free samples.
Peggy met me at WC Mercantile on the 24th and she brought along her husband, Mike. Mike hasn't been spinning for as long as Peggy and I have but he's good. We all sat and spun and chatted and laughed and admired the work of the other spinners. It's always fun to get a bunch of spinners together. Everyone has their own style and it's great to see what other spinners love to spin, the colors they choose and the wheels they own.
My excuse for buying my way across WC Mercantile is that I want to support others in the fiber industry, especially those local to me. It's a pretty good excuse but I love the fiber and the potential of every bit of fiber that's yet to be discovered. This time I bought several bumps of 80% Mohair/20% Wool. It's not a blend you find a lot and it should be wonderful to spin. And it will give me some ideas about blending the mohair and wool fleeces I have sitting here. I also bought some flax strick for my ongoing journey in spinning linen. And a lovely drop spindle hand made by a local man who has a great touch with wood.
It was a wonderful afternoon in a wonderful place with really wonderful people. If you are ever in Navasota, you need to stop and visit Stephanie and the WC Mercantile! Actually, if you somewhere on the far north west side of Houston, make a detour to Navasota. You won't be disappointed.