Finally back to blogging as usual! After two weeks in New York City (and a ridiculous amount of money spent) I'm back home and life is has returned to normal (normalish).
I got to spend some time working for a really great marketing company in the city and most of my time was spent busy at work. I did manage to get out into the city a little and see some of the sights. A friend and I walked through time square (more like...were pushed through time square) one night and I was just in disbelief at the amount of people there. It really was amazing to see all the lights and signs and all the thousands of people going about their business under the glow of advertisements.
Of course I had to stop by the Apple store near 5th ave. What techy could resist? And with the new ipad out on display it was more of an obligation than anything. I think Ali and I spent around 2 hours in the store. Just an FYI the ipad is flipping awesome. The store it's self was really neat. The structure in the picture is the entrance way and is all made out of "glass", guests are then either taken down belows the side walk in a glass elevator or walked down a set of glowing stairs. It just puts you in a buying mood and of course, the store employees just make the world seem peachy keen and for about $500 you can bring an ipad home with you making the world that much better. Unfortunately I decided several days before hand that my money would be spent best else where and thus had to leave the Apple store empty handed. =(
The South St. sea port was just a few steps away from where I worked all 2 weeks. This is a beautiful area and a really fun place to hang out during lunch. After growing up right next to some of the largest lakes in the country, a few minuets at the sea port everyday was a welcome break in the hurried, concrete laden life of the city.
They had these enormous boats on display in the port and around the pier. The scale of these things was awe inspiring but the whole scene just transported you into a completely different place. Then as you turned around and saw the limitless heights of the sky scrapers in the financial district you were taken right back to big apple.
And now, what you have all been waiting for. The yarn. The whole reason for coming to the city in the first place (well aside from the job). Before I went I made a list of all the yarn stores I just HAD to visit. I got most of them from the NYC LYS list on Ravelry but I also stumbled across a few on my own. Because I was so busy I didn't make it to all of them but the ones I did have a chance to visit were fabulous. Remember when I said I couldn't buy an ipad cuz i was broke? Well I was broke because I spent all my money on yarn.
My first stop was Purl. A quaint little shoppe in Soho on Broome St. The area was very artsy and I visited some of the coolest looking stores on the way there. Purl was FANTASTIC. Literally, a little piece of knitter's heaven. The store was bright and friendly and the staff were extremely helpful and willing to help you find anything I was looking for and answer any questions I had. Half the store is devoted to yarn, and the other half is full of fabric and quilting supplies. They also had a wall of cross stitch supplies. I spent way too much money here ( I couldn't help it) and was the last person out of the store when they closed at 7.
Here is the loot. My haul from purl included 2 skeins of bright green lace weight baby alpaca, 2 skeins of yellow pure cotton textured worsted weight, 2 skeins of natural gray chunky baby alpaca, 11 skeins of the softest pure cotton worsted weight you have ever felt, a neon purple "baby baggu" project bag, a pair of size 3 24" circular needles and a bundle of eighths fabric. I have great plans for all of it. You pretty much could not make me happier.
Next on the list, Knitty City!
I only had a minuet to browse as Amanda and I were late to meeting up with some friends. I didn't buy much here but the did have a great selection and at a very fun atmosphere.
I grabbed a couple different colors of cotton wool blend and ended up purchasing a couple skeins of the pale green (second from the bottom).I will definitely be browsing their online shop next time I get some money >< haha.
Sea Port Yarns was next. This was a very strange little shop. Set in something of an office building the yarn is "organized" into all of the different rooms. I found it very hard to find anything specific but they did have a HUGE selection. The store was a little hard to find but the people were pretty friendly and as helpful as they could be. I didn't buy anything here because it turned out to be too hard to find enough of anything in the same dye lot. I don't think this would be at the top of my NYC yarn store list, but it was nice to visit.
The Lion Brand Studio was another one of my favorites.
The studio is on 15th street, a short walk from the 2 3 subway. This store is extremely well run. When you first walk in they have samples of projects using their yarn and a "test" wall. They have large spools of some of their most popular yarn available for knitters to take. You can grab a piece borrow some needles and knit up a swatch or two. The staff was helpful, cheerful and friendly and all the customers where the same way! The knitting "guru", a man whose name now escapes me, helps knitters solve problems in their projects and I was more than impressed at both his knowledge and skill as well as his friendly disposition. He seemed to enjoy every second he spent there.
The yarn selection at Lion Brand Studio was wonderful. Although they didn't have as much diversity as other stores, they were well organized and clearly labled with names and prices and the yarns were all well stocked and of high quality. Along with yarn this store had a great stock of notions and accesories. They had a TON of bags and I ended up buying (along with some yarn) a black sheep tape measure, a bracelet made from a pink size 3 knitting needle, a key chain made from the top of a size 11 needle and a package of size 3 dpns (Pictures of those soon). All in all, this store probably ranks a very close 2 on the list of favorites, just a hair under purl.
Now that I've got all this yarn I'll have to come up with great projects for all of it. It's back to posting regularly for me.
