KNIT IN THE CITY!

My lovely Knitting Amiga, Nan, recently celebrated her (?) birthday-no one really knows just how old she really is, by the way-
Her gorgeous daughter Shally, gifted her with a limo day in NYC, so, Nan, sweet and giving soul that she is, invited us to come along!


What a fantasy knitting adventure!


Our driver, John, arrived at my home at 7 a.m. sharp....

That's John, Jeanie, my darling son, Shaun, me, Nan, and our pal Eileen from Kraemer's Yarn Shop. Shaun went off to school and away we went!

New York City, here we come!

We wasted no time during our luxerious ride in to the city. Jeanie is knitting a Koigu shawl that is giving her trouble (Anyone have any tips on how to survive these horribly written Koigu shawl patterns? Like, can we say Errata Page?) If you look closely you can see a really pretty ivory ruffled shawl covering her lap. She knit that simple shawl eons ago.

Eileen is knitting a baby blanket and Nan is working on a cute skirt for one of her 4 year old nieces. I brought my 2 toe up socks on one long circular needle to work on. Slow going, BUT, I am about halfway done on the cuff, so soon.
Our driver let us out near 31st and Madison Ave. and we searched for a deli that served bagels, cream cheese, onion(thin) and lox. Success! We found one run by some Indian gentleman and everything was fresh and deeeeelicious!
While there I saw this really cute top that I'd like to adapt for myself. I just know that I could knit this concept with the help of one of Barbara Walker's treasury books. Knitting and fabric-two of my favorite things!

Our next stop was School Products. Nice shop, nice owner, great prices on cones of different fibers; merino, silk, cashmere, yak. Naturally, I sought out angora and was happy! here the girls display some of their fabulous finds for the camera.

We then arrived at this building with a walk up to Yarn Connection. Very small shop, limited yarn stock and dispite reviews touting it as a great sourse for Rowan, not so good. I did find a nice assortment of cute buttons for baby things and bought several skeins of brightly colored Cascade Luna cotton (Peruvian) yarn for baby hats. The owner threw in for free a crocheted flower pattern I had intended to purchase, which was very nice of her. She was very pleasant to us.


Nothing is better than gracefully exiting your limo in front of String!
Oh, how dissappointed onlookers must have been to discover that the limo held a bunch of middle aged nobodies! No bother! We spent about an hour at String and Nan bought a little. Some very nice custom knit sweaters were on displayed in the shop and nan left with a few pattterns that had some great design features that gave the sweaters a really nice finish. The store is very high end, great interior lighting and the yarns are displayed nicely. The shop person Ivette, has her own blog at Knotology, so go visit. She was very nice to us even though we mostly looked, oohed and aaahed! Jeanie bought koigu, in amounts that she does not wish to discuss.

Next stop PurlSoho. Cute, very small, staff very friendly, customers chatty and willing to share their latest knitting project or yarn quest with you. Lots of yarn, prices were decent, small Koigu collection. Jeanie showed some restraint.
Eileen bought a cute child's sock kit and a few other skeins of yarn. The weather was beautiful!

We also stopped at Knit New York and The Point Knit Cafe, both which had a little eatery with tables attached to them. At Knit New York Nan bought Noro Transitions Yarn, which has some angora sections blended with the striped colorway, so she can knit a turtle neck sweater for herself. Someday. I scored a nice Tahki sweater pattern book from the sale bin at Point Knit Cafe for 4 bucks. The shop people were nice there.
I had read that the NYC chapter of Stitch N Bitch meets at Knit New York on Tuesday nights, but it must get really crowded because it's small and narrow in the store.

We skipped seaport yarns because no one answered the phone despite numerous attempts.

we picked up our most generous benefactor, Shally, and made dinner plans.

Nan gave Shally a pretty capelet she had knit with something Noro. maybe Silk Garden? Now I want one! Finally, after we had all been happily fed and watered at Cara Mia on 9th Ave., it was time for us Knitting Amigas to say "goodbye" to the city and the knitting limo life.

Thanks Shally and Nan for a perfect day!

The following day I unpacked my NYC purchases and marveled that I managed to come home under yarn shopping budget! Disappointed though I was that there was no decent sock yarn to be found at any of the shops we visited. Don't they knit socks in NYC?

I have the urge to crochet these as butons and hat embellishments.
Extra pair of 40 inch o for more 2 toe up socks and a great sweater book. sized up to 52 inches.
There's those colors again!
Sometimes i see knitted hats in every color with buttons on them!
It's all over but for happy memories of a beautiful day in the city with beloved friends!