By GAYLE WEBER

gweber@dailynews.net

GOVE -- The yards of yarn that billow out of bushel baskets and drape the shelves throughout Gove City Yarns are just too much for Chriss Ellison to handle.

The knitter of eight months couldn't make up her mind on which colors and textures of yarns to use for her "advanced level scarves."

"When our mothers and grandmothers knitted, they had cotton and wool and it was straight," Ellison said. "You didn't dream of knitting with ribbon or anything festive."

Ellison spent much of a Saturday afternoon hovering over the scores of yarn. She only makes the trek from her home in Hoxie to the store about every three months, "but it's a major trip as you can see by my stash on the counter," she said, pointing to the dozen or so varieties of yarn awaiting check out.

Gove City Yarns opened five years ago and has been a god-send to knitters and crocheters across western Kansas.

Previously, the closest yarn providers for Ellison were Wal-Marts in Colby and Hays.

"They don't have this variety," she said. "They don't have people as knowledgeable who can share different ideas and techniques and spend the time with you that you need."

Ann Gallentine, Oberlin, brought a group of knitting students to the store for Knitting in Gove Day on Sept. 13. One of the students, 90-year-old Edna Mott, never had been to Gove before.

"I've heard they have loads and loads of yarn, and they do," Mott said.

Gove City Yarns owner Betty McDonald said she can't take credit for the revival of handcrafts including knitting, crocheting and tatting, all of which are taught at the store. However, the increased interest across the country hasn't hurt her business.

"Gove's a pretty little town, so they have to come from all over," McDonald said. "We have the signs (on Interstate 70), and we advertise in the (trade) magazines too."

People from both coasts and many places in between have signed the guest book at the store.

But resident Marjorie Evans accounts for most of the local business, making the two-block journey from her home more times than she would like to admit.

"If I could do it with yarn, I'll try anything," Evans said. "My hands are very seldom empty. I'm knitting or crocheting something. If I don't have something for myself to make, I'm making for someone else."

Evans said her husband might have benefited the most by the opening of the store. It now is a lot easier for him to shop for birthday, anniversary and Christmas gifts.

"For Mother's Day this year, I said there is a set of interchangeable knitting needles down there ... and it's $60, or there is this yarn down there that would make a beautiful sweater and it comes to $60," Evans said. "So he gave me a $60 gift certificate, and I had to choose which one."

Gove City Yarns introduced its own homemade yarn Sept. 13. Yarni is a unique combination of yarns developed by McDonald and employee Charlie Hein over a cup of coffee one day.

"You open the boxes and look at the yarn and think that would look nice together, so we started putting them together," Hein said.

The store has created a few "yarn snobs" by providing everything from alpaca and llama yarn to novelty yarns from Italy and Turkey.

Gallentine declined a cup of coffee during her shopping because she needed both hands to look at the specialty yarns, she said.

"I drove 75 miles, and I'm fortunate to have it this close," she said.

Gove City Yarns is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and Friday and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday. It also is open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. Classes in tatting, spinning, knitting and crocheting are taught from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursdays and during store hours Saturdays.