The Knitter's City: Denver, Colorado with Fancy Tiger Crafts
Time for another crafty voyage with our Knitter's City guide! No doubt you've caught up with our archive of adventures already, so pack your bags with your favourite WIP and join us in Denver, Colorado with Jaime Jennings and Amber Platzer Corcoran of Fancy Tiger Crafts.
These super knitters were part of the team from our recent collaboration Wool Journey: Shetland. Our dedicated Wool Journey KAL ends on Sunday 8th October, so you've just got enough time to cast off those projects and enter! Of course there are prizes to be won, including a bumper bag of Fancy Tiger Crafts swag!
So over to Amber and Jaime for the lowdown on Denver!
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Ah Denver. The city of over 300 sunny days a year, legalized marijuana, and outdoor sports galore. We love you. Here is Fancy Tiger Crafts' guide to the Queen City of the Plains.
Crafts
We might be biased, but for craft supplies, Fancy Tiger Crafts is it. We stock hard-to-find, curated supplies for knitting, crochet, sewing, quilting, felting spinning, and embroidery. We renovated our current space to showcase our products with 2,000 square feet of retail space and another 2,000 square feet of workroom space including a large community area for handcrafts and two sewing studios. If you happen to be in town on a Tuesday night, please stop by for our weekly, free Open Craft Night from 6 - 9pm. You can catch both of us here, knitting away with our community of regulars and out of town friends.
Culture
The Denver Art Museum is a treasure trove for textile lovers. It has a beautiful gallery that is changed often, dedicated to textiles. Everything from Native American rugs to Japanese street fashion of the 1980's can be found in this nook of the museum which also features world-class traveling exhibitions. The building itself is a must-visit, designed by Daniel Libeskind, it is a striking sight when walking about the capitol area.
Be sure to check the calendar of events for the community-centered Museum of Contemporary Art which often has fun events like lecture series, live music on their gorgeous rooftop bar, and dance parties in the basement.
Food and Drink
El Five is a new Middle East centered restaurant with both stunning views of downtown and delicious fare. Potager is a tiny farm-to-table restaurant that's been around for 20 (twenty!) years and in Jaime's opinion, still the best farm-to-table restaurant in the city. With it's extensive mezcal list, Oaxacan fare, and outdoor patio Palenque Mezcaleria is a great place to enjoy some happy hour knitting when the weather is nice. And a stop at Fancy Tiger Crafts is not complete without a trip to our favorite ice cream shop across the street, Sweet Action.
Knitting at coffee shops is one of our favorite pastimes. Some favorites include: Crema (also get a gluten-free sweet potato waffle), Aviano for a Swedish Oat Milk latte and Amethyst.
Shopping
Denver has a ton of great local makers to check out while you're in town. You'll want to stop by Topo Designs unique shipping container store to outfit yourself for your outdoor mountain adventures with locally made gear. Winter Session designs and crafts waxed canvas and leather bags from their studio and showroom. In the S. Broadway neighborhood by FTC, you'll want to stop by Rosehouse Botanicals, a beautiful space filled with unusual plants as well as herbal medicines and potions. For your witch-craft needs, look no further than Ritualcravt in the highlands.
Libations
Denver is rich in two things: beer and pot. With no fewer than 150 craft breweries, you can be sure to enjoy a locally-crafted beer in any neighborhood you find yourself in. In the South Broadway district that is home to Fancy Tiger Crafts, we love Trve and Baere Brewing. Other breweries of note include Former Future, Cerebral, Crooked Stave, and Mockery. Denver Relief is one of many options for recreational pot and is on the same block as FTC.
Nature
No list of Denver would be complete without mentioning some of our close-by nature spots. It doesn't matter what season you visit in, there are plenty of recreational activities to get you moving out and about in the foothills and mountains. In town, the bike path that runs along Speer boulevard is a beautiful creekside path that connects several key neighborhoods including Cherry Creek, Downtown and the Highlands. You can walk, run, or bike along this path.
B-cycle is our local bike rental system. Just a mile and a half from the shop is Wash Park, with plenty of running trails, lakes and gardens to explore. If you have a car and are visiting in the summer months, a wonderful drive is up to the summit of Mt Evans, one of our many "fourteeners" (14,000+ feet peaks).
