Wife wants to investigate yarn purchase in France. Any (well-supplied, not hole-in-the-wall) yarn stores in, say, Paris? Address please. And how does one say "yarn" in French?

I have not been to paris yet, but I am an avid knitter and i myself have been researching for my own upcoming trip. She should look in the pagesjaunes.fr (the online yellow pages, there is an english option) for anny blatt and phildar, two companies that have shops in paris and throughout france, it seems. You can buy Anny Blatt yarn in the USA, so your wife may be familiar with it already, and i think there is a shop in the Marais. Phildar is this company that has really nice contemporary patterns and sells ready to wear along with the yarn in most of their shops, from what i gather. Also, she should have a look at this weblog that I find interesting - maybe she will glean some info - fluffa www.skinnyrabbit.com . It is written by an American expatriate living in Lyon, and chronicles her daily knitting life. She speaks often about her yarn buying experiences, and if you check the archives, she has a nice post from 1.17.03 where she describes a tour of all of the knitting / craft stores in her town. I really like her style and her tone. She and some other expatriate french friends also have a collaborative blog called "the frogpond " - frogpond.prettyposies.net - which may also be worth checking out. Oh, and "tricoter" means "to knit". Hope this helps! Please let me know how they are if you visit any of them, or if you discover anything fun!

Wife? Whose wife? Yours?

Try searching for a thread titled "Buying yarn in France". It will provide "the wife" a number of suggestions, which I presume you will generously relay to her.

As for excluding holes-in-the-wall, I cannot guarantee which of them offer a spacious establishment stocked to the ceiling with a mind boggling array of selections, but if you enter the names of the stores on the website www.pagesjaunes.com you will be given the locations.

Try babblefish.com, a translation website, to learn the French word for yarn.

Or, you might follow miss_emery's suggestions.

Good info, miss_em!

croque madame, are you a knitter too? any secret spots that you can share with me? I am going to Paris in September.... and I can't wait!!!

I gave the names and addresses of a couple of these in a prior post (dated around 8/26/03). One that something was particularly searching for carried the French brand of Pingouin yarn. It's an easy search -- just type "yarn" and select "France" in the right box.

There is a nice store on rue Cler, about 2 blocks toward Ste. Dominique on the left side of the street. There is also an absolutely gorgeous needlework store in the shops in the Viaduct des Artes on rue Daumesnil. I'm not sure if they carry yarn but the needlepoint and cross stitch is memorable.

With Christina's assistance (thank-you Christina!), I had great success purchasing Pingouin yarn in Paris (2002) at:

Mercerie Collection "5"
215, rue Lafayette
- in the 10th arr. across from metro station Louis Blanc

tomboy, I believe that the word for yarn is "fil". Your wife may find the info at this website helpful also. www.purlwise.com/yarn_store_visits

For those looking for a needlework or cross-stitch store (no knitting supplies), I strongly agree with Gretchen's recommendation. Le Bonheur des Dames (17, avenue Daumesnil) is quite wonderful. www.bonheurdesdames.com

..my favorite is annie blatt..there is a store in les marais ..40 rue des francs bourgeois...great patterns with wonderful wool.

Yarn - filé ?

When we were in Galleries Lafayette, I saw some needlepoint kits and yarn.
But my all time favorite is Libertys in London

tomboy, those 'hole in the wall' shops can be full of treasures in Paris!

<<Yarn - filé ?>>
no, that's not a French word, except as a conjugation of a verb.

Yarn (or thread) is fil in French. Specifically, knitting yarn is "fil à tricoter". Sewing thread is fil a coudre.