On our way to the City History Museum of Barcelona in the old town, I was able to convince my husband to pop our heads into Merceria Santa Ana to check out a more traditional Spanish craft shop.

We didn’t get very far into the shop before we came across the button counter on the first floor. It quickly dawned on me that I might as well check their stock for something that might work for the Firebirds cardigan.

Many of the buttons were attached to cards that sit in bins on the counter sorted by type/color. There were also stacks of boxes with buttons behind the counter.

Like every late Saturday afternoon, this place (and any other store on this busy pedestrian street) was very busy.  I sifted thorough the cards as quickly as possible, hoping my husbands patience wouldn’t run thin. While they had a really good selection of buttons and several claps, it was soon apparent that finding what I had in mind in a short period of time could be difficult. I finally settled on some buttons that seemed to fit the bill; ones with a dark metal tone.

Since my husband speaks fluent Spanish I had him do the talking.  Apparently, these buttons were not in the boxes behind the counter but had to be delivered from the stock room. As we waited for the buttons to arrive, one of the clerks working in the back room spilled what sounded like a full cannister of buttons on the ground. It got everyone’s attention including many of the clerks in the area who came to her aid. We all watched as many hands helped clean up the spill.

After what seemed like an eternity, my buttons arrived but the alert clerk noticed that they were the wrong color. He then placed another order with the backroom for the correct ones. As we waited for the second delivery, the place seemed to get even more busy with people starting a queue for the next clerk. Finally the long sought after buttons arrived and the clerk handed a hand written ticket to my husband, mentioning that we had to now pay the cashier and collect the buttons with the receipt. This confused my husband until I reminded him of the time we went shopping in Paris at a similar store. Apparently, it was the same system. You to tell a clerk what you want, they get it, write a ticket, you take the ticket to the casher to pay and then you collect the purchase with a receipt from the cashier.

By the time we got the buttons, I was no longer interested in checking out their yarn selection. Normally such experiences wouldn’t frustrate me but I felt bad about dragging my husband into the shop and then not making it to the museum in time before it closed.

Not leaving well enough alone, this weekend I went to a few yarn stores here to check out what they had. None had as good a selection as Merceria Santa Ana. I really wanted some clasps but all seemed to either be too big or made in shiny silver. I did however find an alternative.
Don’t tell my husband, but I think I’ll use the ones I found today.