Knit Your Socks Off

Complete List of Yarn Stores...

2010-04-29T09:00:00.001-04:00

Hi Everyone! I have been a bit amiss here, which I regret. First my computer died, then the hard drive had to be recovered, and then I got really busy with life...

I have one last store sitting on my clip board, La Casita on Smith Street in Brooklyn. Its a lovely place, small but very cozy with a fireplace and a little restaurant. They have a very nice selection of yarns. I will blog about them soon and update the pictures on the new locations of Purl and String. After that my work here is done until another yarn store opens or moves. I will leave the blog as is so you can all use it to research your yarn travels.

On another note: I recently published my own design website http://www.knityoursocksoff.com. In addition to the site, which shows my designs, I will begin to write a design blog about my knitted pieces, which range from clothes to furniture...

Thank you all so much for reading. I'll announce details soon!

:-)

Sinje

Smileys

2009-12-09T20:03:00.024-05:00

After finishing Manhattan and Brooklyn, I ventured far into the outer reaches of Queens this week to visit a knitting institution. Smiley's (92-06 Jamaica AveWoodhaven, NY 11421Store: (718) 849-9873 Mail Order: (718) 847-2185, http://www.smileysyarns.com/) has been around since 1935. It has always been on Jamaica Avenue, first at one location, and then (for the last 36 years) in its current place. I took the J train out to Woodhaven Avenue and exited down the stairs, finding myself right across the street from the store. Tempting smells of fast food pizza and chicken entered my nose, but our babysitter had to go to school soon, so I had very little time to linger. When I enterd Smiley's, I thought I had gone to a "Target for wool". The store is very large and filled with shelves and shelves of yarn--most of it wrapped in plastic so it won't get dusty. The website promises: "Smileys Yarns offers all of its wool yarns, cotton yarns and acrylic yarns at the guaranteed lowest prices in America." And that is true. The prices are truly amazing. Most balls of yarn are sold for under $2.

Smiley's has been run by the same family since it was founded. The two women at the front were not sure if it was the grandfather or father of the current owner who founded the company. Counting back, though, we all agreed it must have been the grandfather (unless the dad was really old!). The store was quite busy when I was there. A couple of people asked questions and were promptly (and very nicely) educated about the yarns. The women behind the counter were both knowledgeable and eager to help. Both were crocheting. I the feeling of watching old acquaintances during a coffeclatsch.

I would recommend the store to anyone on a budget and to people who are just starting out, who want to work with cheaper yarns before they try the fancy stuff. Most of the yarns can be machine washed. The store carries Tahki Elliott, Royale Love Beads, Bernat Boa, Bernat Eyelash, Cervinia Genova, Patons Twister, Patons Ci Ci, Bernat Bling Bling, Moda Dea Dream, Patons Carmen, Aunt Lydia New Wave, and more. It is a good idea to call the store and ask if there are any special yarns in the store--sometimes they carry cashmere... Aside from yarns, Smileys carries a wide array of knitting and crocheting needles, threading needles, and rows and rows of knitting magazines (also at great discounts). Once a year there is a trunk show in Manhattan where all the yarns are available. Higher end yarns, are also sold during the sales dates--at mind boggling prices. These brands are announced on the website shortly bfore the sales. The ride out on the train was enjoyable and mostly overground. You can catch the J from the A at Chambers or at Broadway Junction. Both transitions are easy--just make sure you catch the "uptown" train if you are coming from the Chambers station. Give yourself about one hour from most Manhattan locations.

After chatting for a little while and snapping photos , I looked at my watch, and dashed back out of the store to get back to Manhattan. I even made it with fifteen minutes to spare! My son greeted me with "Yay, Mom's home, now Kara can leave!" Then he turned his back on me and continued playing with his babysitter--go figure... :-)

P.S.: "Oldestyle10" from Ravelry sent me an alternate route to get to Smileys:

An alternate route to Smiley’s, for those to whom the J train is a mystery.
Take the R or V to Woodhaven Blvd-Slattery Plaza. Follow the signs to the Q11 or Q53 bus, both of which run south on Woodhaven. Get off at Jamaica Ave, which runs under the first el train you will pass, and Smiley’s is a half-block down Jamaica Ave. Travel time is still probably about an hour, but I enjoy buses much more than subways.

And on the northeast corner of Woodhaven and Jamaica, there is one of those wonderful Peruvian roast chicken places. Delicious.

Fair Trade the Second.

2009-12-09T19:00:00.003-05:00

After my whole diatribe of "Fair Trade Knitting" last week, I had to eat my words (literally) :-) !

I have been enjoying going to the farmers market on Union Square on Wednesdays, and generally I pay less there for food than I pay at our neighborhood grocery store. So last week I went to my favorite salad stand (we've really been enjoying salads at home recently). I picked up two bags. When I went to pay, the man at the stand said, "That will be 31 dollars." My jaw dropped to the floor. $31 for two bags of salad and one box of edible flowers? I glanced back at the sign and it said $6 per quarter pound". He was right. I was too embarrassed to make a big scene, but in the afternoon I checked Whole Foods and found that their prices for salads are nearly four times less. So I went back to the stand today and asked them. "Can you please explain to me why your salads are sooo much more expensive than at other stores?" And here it goes: the guy said, "When you buy an organic salad form Whole Foods or Fairway, it's mostly been harvested by machines. The lettuce gets taken care of by machines, it is ripped out of the ground by machines, and it is washed by machines. On our farm we do everything by hand. Every leaf has been handled with care and everyone on our farm earns a living wage." So I said, "Oh, so it's kind of like Fair Trade Salad then." And he said, "Exactly!" So I went back to Whole Foods and looked at their salads, but after having eaten this amazing concoction of green, red, and purple leaves, I just could not go back to the packaged, slightly limp version. I asked my husband what he thought. Could we really justify spending so much on SALAD? And he said, "Honey, the salads from the market are amazing! They actually have flavor--you feel like you're eating a nourishing meal. The stuff from Whole Foods doesn't really taste like anything." He was right. The salads from the market are amazing. The ones from the store keep sitting in our fridge until they wilt. So today I grabbed a little less salad from the market. I figure, we will pay Fair Trade. We'll just have eat a little less... And I learned (again):

You really DO get what you pay for!

Wool And The Gang

2009-11-30T20:40:00.020-05:00

Yet another new knitting store in Manhattan! It seems like we've lost so many, but here they are, sprouting out of the ground again...

Wool and the Gang (96 Thompson Street, New York, NY 10012, phone (212) 966 266, e-mail: nycshop@woolandthegang.com, http://www.woolandthegang.com) is not your everyday knitting store: it carries only three different kinds of yarns--100% Peruvian wool, 100% Peruvian alpaca, and 100% Peruvian cotton--each in up to 20 different colors. The concept of the store is very simple: attract a clientele that is young and hip, and would not get into knitting unless it was easy, fun, and accessible. The patterns are made accordingly. Most kits are stockinette stitch, some with embellishments.

You can either buy the finished garment, or the kit to make it yourself. The store opened with a buzz. One week after its U.S. debut, The New York Times included it in their Fashion Pulse slideshow.

I went to visit Wool and the Gang last week, and found two very nice women in their twenties sitting at a large white table, which filled almost the entire room. They turned out to be the designers for the store. On the table, to my great delight, were two large jars full of brightly colored European candy, the kind that sticks to your teeth when you chew it. I grabbed a handful (they said it was o.k.) and sat down to digest the candy (and the store). A wall drew me in with cartoon-like drawings of a girl knitting.

She is sitting on the floor, trying to wrap her mind around what her fingers are supposed to do. When the girl gets stuck, she grabs her computer and watches an instructional video. A lightbulb appears over her head, and then she continues happily.
"This explains our concept," Aurelie, one of the two designers, told me. "We want people to lose the fear of trying something new. When they come into our store and look at the wall, they see that knitting is done in four easy steps. If you get stuck, you go on the Internet and watch one of the videos we provide … The generation we are trying to attract is one of pure consumers who have lost touch with what it means to make something with their own hands."

We discussed the location, Peru, where the yarn and the store samples come from. All the store samples are made by hand by women in a village named Puno. Aurelie and Jade (the other designer in the store) design the samples and create the patterns. The patterns are then given to the women in the village. "We only have around six samples of our designs in the store at a time," Aurelie explained. I asked her if this was their first store, and she told me that they also sold at Barneys, The Smile, and Net A Porter, but this was the only actual store (aside from one in Japan that also opened recently). The company was started by two women, one Swiss (Lisa Sabrier) and one British (Caroline Main). They first started a website and sold kits in Paris. In order to find out how to reach the young consumer generation they want to convert to knitting, they hired a consulting firm to research what puts people at ease with trying something unknown and potentially difficult. They came up with their concept of easy pieces, poppy colors, and well-documented instructions.

After I got home, I did some of my own research on the store. I came across a whole thread on Ravelry dedicated to Wool and the Gang. Many people have taken exception to the prices of the kits and the garments, especially because the pieces are pretty easy to knit. I usually don't get into discussions like these on my blog, but in this case I'll make an exception because the topic of pricing knitting is very close to my heart. Up front I want to say that as a designer who wants to be paid adequately for my time, facing what regular clothing stores are charging for cheap knockoffs of originally hand-knitted items, I find it very hard to imagine making a living in this field. Given the amount charged by these stores that mass produce in countries where people are not adequately compensated for their work and then sell these samples for “dumping” prices, a person thinking about charging even minimum wage to make a hand-knitted piece (plus materials costs and design) doesn't really stand a chance. In my opinion, knitwear is hugely underpriced on the market right now. Adding to this that Wool And The Gang follow Fair Trade practices, which they attest to on their site, I am not so sure the argument that their prices are too expensive holds.

One of their kits is sold for 75 Euros. It contains 2 balls of Peruvian wool, one set of knitting needles, one pattern, and one set of threading needles. Let's say (and I am approximating here) the two balls of yarn were sold at 10 Euros each, the pattern at 5, the needles 15, the packaging 5 Euros. So far we are talking "normal" prices. The company hired a firm to do research to explore their target group. A graphics artist developed drawings, designers were hired to design the pieces (they are actually paid employees and not the owners of the store--at "regular" yarn stores, the designs are often created by the owners for little or no compensation to themselves), the store has to pay rent in Soho... It’s easy to figure out where the “missing” 30 Euros go!

I have recently come across a number of posts on Ravelry in which prices are discussed in relation to knitting. One blog by the designer Annie Modesitt talks about her frustration at how little knitwear designers are compensated by some of the established knitting magazines (often signing away all of their rights upon publication).

So after this long diatribe, I do want to make a plea here: please let us all take in how much work knitting is and not allow prices to be dictated by the people who run large chains of stores that dump knitting on the market at cheap prices.

Do I sound like I’m on a soap box? I guess I am.

On that note, I wish Wool and the Gang lots of luck. May they produce a whole new generation of knitters, accustomed to Fair Trade pricing, who will then become clients of us hand-knit designers and pay fair prices for our work!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-25T21:25:00.003-05:00

So... I was hoping to post tonight, but life--once again--is not on my side. What was I thinking, assuming that I was going to have time to blog on Thanksgiving? Somehow it completely escaped me that I am cooking!

...And there was this:

Anna and I went to see the balloons being blown up on 81st street. It's a time honored tradition, but it has gotten so huge that there is hardly any space to walk and people get herded by a massive police force (which my daughter flirted with extensively). We had fun for the first half and both hated the second half where the mass of people just pushed us by balloons and out of their sight. We barely made it to the grocery store to get dinner together for tomorrow.

I actually did sit down to blog tonight (as you can see), but I got into this huge rant in my head about something knitting related. I got all worked up over some "principle" stuff (more about that next week) and just could not let it go...

...before I knew it, it was 9 p.m. and spinach/cashew/bacon stuffing was calling and potatoes want to be cooked.

Long post, short message: I'll see you all on Monday.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

Gotham Fine Yarn

2009-11-18T21:38:00.010-05:00

Rebecca, the owner of the newly opened Gotham Fine Yarns (148 Orchard Street, betw. Rivington & Stanton, New York, NY 10002, phone: 646.863.3504, http://www.gothamfineyarn.com/), is by far the youngest owner of any New York yarn store. She opened in the middle of October in a district that used to be a garment center. Today this part of the Lower East Side is a very trendy hangout, still home to Katz’s Deli (where Sally had her fake orgasm). The Tenement Museum lets us know how people used to live when this neighborhood was in its heyday. Arthur Miller grew up here (his father was in the fur business).

Stanton street between Clinton and Attorney has a soft spot in my heart because it houses the first apartment I lived in after moving here from Germany. I moved in during the night of the Tompkins Square riots and saw the helicopters fly over my rooftop.

Last Friday, I walked through a neighborhood much more peaceful than it was back in the eighties. American Apparel has taken over the corner where I used to buy my bagels with melted cheese. Giant snowflakes hung between the street lamps. Since Gotham is open until 8 p.m, I was out in the dark during one of those nice fall drizzles that make you think of upcoming cozy winter nights. I found Gotham easily. It is so new that the awning isn’t up yet, but the handknit sweaters in the window gave it away…

Inside, I found a young woman teaching another young woman how to knit at a cozy, large wooden table in the back of the store. I recognized Rebecca as the owner because of the way she said hello. While they were talking, I looked around the store and found a lot of very nice yarn. Having followed some of her comments on Ravelry, where Rebecca is known as “yarndarling”, I knew that she originally wanted to carry only environmentally conscious yarns. I found many of those, and lots of other very nice yarns as well. When I asked her, she explained to me that she had thoroughly looked into carrying only organic yarns, but found that they were often a little more rough than chemically dyed and treated yarns, and so she decided to carry a bigger variety. We got into a long conversation, so I decided it was time to whip out my book and start to write things down.

Me: How long have you been open?

Rebecca: This is my fourth week.

Me: Why did you choose this location?

Rebecca: I love to hang out in this neighborhood at night, and I thought if I worked here, I’d be down here a lot. Then I found out that this neighborhood had a lot of yarn stores 20-30 years ago (Lionbrand used to have its offices around the corner). A lot of people have come in and said that it’s great to see a yarn store here again. They used to come to this neighborhood for yarn with their mothers when they were little.

Me: How do you choose your yarns?

(Ella Rae sockyarn)
Rebecca: Yardage, price, colors—basically value. Mostly everything I carry is under $10 a skein. It invites people to explore more. I carry about 20 different companies. Malabrigo, Ella Rae, Debbie Bliss, Araucania, Louet… the details are listed on my website (http://www.gothamfineyarn.com/).

(Louet alpaca)
Me: Who makes your samples?
Rebecca: Mostly me, but sometimes I get samples from the company. I only put out the ones I like, though.

Me: What made you want to open a yarn store?

(Debbie Bliss camel)
Rebecca: I’ve always wanted to have my own store. With the economy being what it is right now, I was able to negotiate a number of costs down, but yarn is generally a business you can start with very low capital. I planned it for 6-8 months. Then I had dinner with a couple of friends in the neighborhood and saw the empty store, and I kind of had the feeling that this was it. I called the landlady the next day and signed the lease soon after.

Me: What kinds of classes do you teach here?

Rebecca: I offer four classes at the moment. There is a sock class (taught by one of the Ravelry moderators); by the end of the class you can make five different kinds of socks. The others are basic beginners classes that I will teach. I will cover knit, purl, casting on and binding off. I teach a number of basic scarves (some with pockets) and how to finish a piece (sewing).

(Louet Kidlin mohair)
Me: This is an extra question. Since I saw you on the Ravelry forums, I am curious how much Ravelry helped you with figuring out your business.

Rebecca: Ravelry is great! The support, the idea that people out there cared enough to get back to me to answer questions I put into the forums, really helped me. A lot of people have been very supportive. I use it now to look up a pattern when I have a Raveler in the store. They can get the wool here, I give them the links, and they can download the pattern themselves. Many people have come in and introduced themselves by their Ravelry names. There’s also a Whole Foods knitting group that meets at the one on Houston street. They love that they can come in here and buy yarn and then go grocery shopping around the corner.

(Ella Rae)
Me: And my last question, although maybe this is not something you can answer. How do you think the economy has affected the knitting world?

Rebecca: I can answer that. It has made my having a business possible.

It was now 8 p.m. Time for Rebecca to be released into the wild, and time for me to turn in at home…

Good luck to you!

Lana Fabrics--Knitting Supplies

2009-11-09T21:29:00.021-05:00

Lana Fabrics (909 Kings Highway, Brooklyn, NY, (718) 339 8940, F to King’s Highway; B, Q to King’s Highway) is all the way out in Coney Island, near the last stop for the F, B, or Q train. I took B train out, reading a book and drinking coffee. After a few very hectic weeks, the quiet hour was very welcome. It was a beautiful fall day with a light breeze coming in from the water, smelling ever so slightly like sea salt. I walked on King’s highway for about 4 minutes past stores filled with Russian delicatessen, lots of high heels, and fur collars on anything from sweatshirt hoodies to jean jackets.

Lana’s Fabrics is a medium size shop filled floor to ceiling with fabrics, ribbons, buttons, zippers, and one hallway full of yarn. It feels a bit like a balloon that is blown up so much it might pop at any minute—but instead of helium, it’s bursting with very useful stuff. Narrow aisles lead through the different sections of the store. One entire aisle is full of yarns of various discount brands (Bernat, Ordell, Patens). Although the store does not sell many brands, it has a wide selection of different fibers and colors.

A number of patrons were looking for last minute costume items for Halloween. The store seemed quite busy. I found Lana, who has been running Lana Fabrics for nearly forty years, and her grandson Joe, who has been helping her lately. Both of them were very friendly and helpful. Joe was interested in exploring other yarn companies, which the store might carry in the future. I was intrigued by this grandmother and grandson team. They were very in tune with each other, and Joe was involved in every aspect of his grandmother’s business. Both of them live in the building, which belongs to his grandmother. Lana, Joe told me, is from a tiny village outside Honkong, called Canton. We talked a little about the economy and how most of the small businesses that are surviving do so because they own the buildings they are in and are not dependent on outside leases. After chatting for a while, I asked them both my seven questions.

Me: How long has your store been here?

Lana: 38 years, since 1972.

Joe: My grandmother used to be a seamstress, but then she started selling notions, then notions and yarn. At some point she decided just to do the store.

Me: What do you look for when you are buying yarn?

Joe: We sell Bernat, Ordell and Patents. We have been working with all three companies for years. We have people who ask for angora and more expensive fabrics, but they don't want to pay the prices.

Me: Who is your staff?

Lana: Me and my grandson.

Me: Do you teach classes?

Joe: No, not at this time. We don’t have the space.

Me: Who makes your store samples?

Joe: We don't have store samples.

Me: Do you think the recession has made people knit more or less?

Joe: It's come back. Knitting has become bigger lately.

We chatted a little more. After I took my pictures, I walked back to the subway, stopping only for moments in a number of very tempting stores... If I hadn't been expected elsewhere, I might have swung over to the amusement park and taken a couple of rides on the roller coaster, or taken a stroll on the boardwalk...

(picture from http://blog.ratestogo.com/thrilling-amusement-parks/)
But life being what it is, I did not have the time :-(.

The Yarn Tree

2009-10-28T21:16:00.016-04:00

(image taken from Yarn Tree website)
This week I went to the Yarn Tree in Williamsburg (347 Bedford Avenue, between South 3rd and South 4th St, Brooklyn, NY 11211, phone: 718.384.8030, http://www.theyarntree.com/). I got out at the Bedford Avenue stop on the L train and walked along Bedford Avenue to South 4th Street. I arrived at the Yarn Tree in a bit of a bad mood. I was tired; I thought, "What's the point of all this work I am doing anyway? Knitting! Who cares about knitting? Couldn't I come up with something more important to do?" My brain was rambling a sort of general existential diatribe that always pesters me when I have had too little sleep.

When I got to the yarn tree, the first thing I saw was the dog in the window. I opened the door and was greeted by a happily wagging tail, which instantly made me feel better.

Then my eyes caught a hanging skein of yarn that looked exactly like the 13 kilograms (29 pounds) of yarn I had just ordered from a German mill: devastated by their decision to discontinue the yarn, I had bought up their entire remaining natural-colored stash. I asked Linda (the owner) where she had gotten the yarn, and she told me she had ordered it from a mill in England. I was so relieved. I love this yarn, and now I knew I could get it again.

My mood thus improved, I explored the store and took pictures. Linda was busy helping customers. The store is separated into two rooms, one filled with yarns, and one filled with fibers. The yarn room is for knitters; the fiber room, for spinners. Both were full of fascinating things I had not seen before, such as these hand spindles:

When Linda had a moment we sat down and I asked her my seven questions.

Me: How long has the store been here?

Linda: We just celebrated our 8th anniversary.

Me: How did you choose this location?

Linda: I've lived in the neighborhood for 18 years. I am a weaver. My fellow loomers and I had lost our studio, and I had to find a place to put my looms. I first had one side of this store, then the person next door moved and I took over her space as well. At South 2nd Street we have another space where we teach; our focus has always been on teaching.

Me: What got you into yarns?

Linda: I have been working in textiles for a long time. I was a costume designer for Matthew Barney's "Cremaster Cycle". Towards the end (I had this space already) I was on location, teaching the principals how to do a five-finger-walking-braid as a magic spell. We were shooting a close up when I asked an assistant to get me some fresh yarn because I didn't like the way the yarn looked in the shot. Someone from the Guggenheim saw me do it and said: "That woman knows her yarn." Matthew answered, "Yes, she does know her yarn!" It stayed with me, and I woke up that night thinking "I'll open a yarn store!" I had very little capital, so I bought yarn form anybody who would sell very small quantities. This led me to very small companies, people who were just starting out... I started with one shelf. Now it's much bigger.

Me: How do you choose your yarns?

(Blue Sky Cotton)
Linda: I stock only natural fibers, no synthetic blends. I don't carry metal needles, only bamboo and wood. I want to support small dyers, farms, and mills. Blue Sky used to be small but it has grown to be a large company. I still carry them. Schaeffer in Upstate New York is an indie dyer that I carry. They do wools and blends and mercerized cotton. She names them after memorable women. Frog Tree is a not-for-profit. In the last four years they have given away 1/4 million dollars.

(Schaeffer Mercerized Cotton)
Me: Given the dog in the store, I love that you carry a yarn called "Wag Tail".

Me: Who is your staff?

Linda: I am the owner. I have one instructor for embroidery, one for spinning, one for felting, one for crochet, and one part-time employee. People often complain that stores close between 5 and 6 p.m., so I chose to be open late instead. It made sense and I didn't mind working later. Our hours are from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., except Saturdays and Sundays, when we are open from 12 noon to 7 p.m. We are a teaching facility, so a lot of people like to come after work to take classes. The store is always open during class time. That way, if anyone needs anything, it's right here. We also sell meat from a small farm (pork, lamb sausages…). It’s high quality meat and very good (I walked home with a good chunk from their freezer in my bag).

Me: What classes do you teach?

Linda: We teach all levels of knitting, crochet, embroidery, wet- and dry needle felting, 3 + levels of weaving, natural dye and low impact dye. Shibory workshops...

Me: What’s Shibory?

Linda: It’s like the piece that hangs on the wall over there…

Me: Wow! That is beautiful!

Me: Who makes your store samples?

Linda: I design them and make them.

Me: Do you think people are knitting more or less in the recession?

Linda: Overall, I think it's less than in the first four years of my business. I think the economy has an impact because knitting is expensive. But in the last 9 months we are finding new knitters...

Me: There were some things you mentioned before that I am curious about. You said you travel a lot.

Linda: Yes, I took three trips in the last year. I traveled to Rwanda, where I taught genocide victims to identify dyeing plants, how to gather them, and to make dye from them. I was there for ten days. They had sheep, and I taught them how to dye and weave. They are baking bread for a living, but now they are learning how to dye as well. They are all HIV positive, but they said, "We are having fun." That's what is important to me.

Me: What were your other two trips?

Linda: I went to Southern India, where I worked with specially abeled youth. I taught them how to work with cochineal, which is an insect that gives a red dye from the acid in its stomach. I was in Munar for about one week and taught thirty kids.

Me: And the third trip?

Linda: I went to Mexico. We had raised funds to bring books to children. We had conducted a few fund raisers at the shop, and collected enough to buy books, shoes, and uniforms. We went to Mexico as a group to present the gifts. This year I'll be going to Honduras. I'll consult with two villages in the coffee region to see what they could make with their hands that they could bring as additional products to the market place. I'll also go to rural Ghana. There is a group of people who make beautiful baskets out of garish colors--not natural dyes. I want to teach them how to identify plants and make natural dyes. When they dye naturally, they will be able to make a product that can sell on the American market.

Needless to say, when I left Linda I was full of thoughts. As a knitter who also cares deeply about things that go on in this world, I was very inspired by her. Knitting (and dyeing, weaving, all things fiber related), I learned once again (I actually learned this before...), is what we make of it. It can be light and fun and playful, and it can be deep and thoughtful. It can help cities, countries, people--it can give them a reprieve from the vagaries of life, bring joy, improve their economies... All those things.

Thank you, Linda, for showing me new ways to connect to the world through fiber, and for changing the color of my day :-)

Happy 5,000 Visitors!

2009-10-20T10:58:00.016-04:00

Hello Everyone!

Thank you all for coming and reading my blog. I hope you are enjoying it as much as I am... If you have any suggestions or want me write about something in particular, please let me know...

:-)

Brooklyn General

2009-10-14T19:37:00.022-04:00

Brooklyn General (128 Union Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231, btwn Columbia & Hicks, phone: 718.237.7753, fas: 718.237.4688, http://www.brooklyngeneral.com/) is located in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn. I took the F train from Manhattan to Carroll Street, got out at the back end of the train, and walked west on Union Street through Carroll Gardens. It turned out to be a fairly long walk by lots of pretty brownstones.

Union Street is in the part of Carroll Gardens that turns into a wonderland from Halloween to Christmas. The brownstones have little patches of garden out front that turn into Ghostlands and Christmasworlds with moving sculptures and tons of lights (and sometimes even noises). It's a huge attraction for the surrounding neighborhoods. Kids and adults alike dress up and walk through the streets enjoying all the holiday hullaballoo together.

After about 5 minutes of walking, I reached the highway bridge that crosses from Carroll Gardens into Red Hook. The store was on the next block. I entered and found an abundance of beautiful, high quality yarns. (Very much worth the walk!)

Brooklyn General carries many yarns that I love: Fiber Company's Road to China, Malabrigo, Blue Sky, Botanical Shades, Manos, and many more. The store also carries fabrics, notions, sewing patterns, felt, some clothing, and dolls. I would describe the feel of the store as "Knitty City meets Purl."

A very nice woman at the cash register (whose name, I am ashamed to admit, I did not ask) told me about the store policy of carrying entirely natural fibers. Only a few yarns have traces of synthetics (namely the sock yarns: a little bit of nylon can add a lot of durability). In the coming weeks, many of the yarns will be available through an internet store as well (on the website).

(photo from their website)
Brooklyn General is owned by Catherine Clark and Katie Metzger. Catherine is also a midwife and works across the street. They used to run the store out of a tiny space adjacent to the midwifery. Everyone was very happy there, but when the space became available across the street, the two grabbed the opportunity and gained lots of room for new yarns and fabrics...

When I took my pictures, I noticed that people seem to enjoy hanging out in this store. The back is very roomy, with a comfortable couch and a large table. Yarn shelves separate the area from the front, creating a sense of privacy. A large selection of books begs to be explored. I was very tempted to stay and hang out, but I had to get going, so I browsed a little, leaving with two skeins of worsted Malabrigo for my nephew's birthday. When I got home, I emailed my questions to Catherine, who answered promptly.

Me: When did you open your store?

Catherine: In 2003

Me: How did you choose this location?

Catherine: We live in the neighborhood. In fact, I live across the street. When Frank's Department Store became available, we couldn't resist the old "general store" appeal. We always wanted our shop to be like the Olsen's store in "Little House on the Prairie".

Me: Who is your staff?

Catherine: We have several part time staff: Heather Love, Laura Cromwell, Jennifer Divina, Esther Rosenberg. Katie Metzger runs the fabric side of the shop, and I run the yarn and fiber side of the shop.

Me: How do you choose your yarns?

Catherine: I choose my yarns with my heart (and certainly not my head!). If I love something, I will stock it. I choose only natural fibers because I love the way they feel and smell.

Me: Who makes your store samples?

Catherine: I make most of the store samples.

Me: Do you offer classes, and if yes, which ones?

Catherine: We offer many classes, too many to list. They are on our website.

Me: What got you into yarns?

Catherine: I have been knitting since I was 5 years old. I don't think being a midwife really has much to do with the yarn business, but there are many overlapping aspects to my two careers. Helping women is the primary mission of both businesses. In addition, I often have customers that become my clients and vise versa. Sometimes I will see a client for a visit and then run to the shop to do some work, and I end up helping the same woman in the shop.

Me: Do you think people are knitting more or less since the recession?

Catherine: It seems people are knitting more since the recession. I think people want to occupy their time with handwork rather than go out to dinner. Even though you need to spend money for supplies, you have the process as well as the final product .

After I left the store, I walked back east on Union street to Court street. Court Street houses my favorite bakery, Sweet Melissa, which catered our wedding desserts: madeleines and chocolate covered strawberries. Sweet Melissa is known for its chocolate, pistachio, and hazelnut madeleines (as well as many other things). I would kill for them, so I decided spontaneously to celebrate our anniversary. When I came home I put the bag in front of Adam.
"Happy anniversary," I said.
"But it's not our anniversary."
"Well," I said," it is the 10th anniversary of our being together on a September 21st--so there! Happy September 21st Anniversary!"
We both laughed and enjoyed our madeleines. Later, as I was falling asleep, I thought up a perfect trip:

First, I'd take the IKEA ferry from Battery Park in Manhattan (I think it's still free) over to Red Hook, then I'd walk the couple of blocks north on Columbia Street to Brooklyn General (rather than walking from the subway). I'd go yarn shopping at Brooklyn General, then walk over to Court Street (hopefully during Halloween or after Thanksgiving). Then I'd go to Sweet Melissa and grab a bunch of madeleines. Full and happy, I'd head back home on the F train.

I hope I have time to do that, soon! :-)

New York Yarn Crawl

2009-10-08T12:34:00.007-04:00

The New York Yarn Crawl starts this Friday, October 9th and runs through Monday, October 12th! It's a great fun event that features many different New York yarn shops. Free instructions, book readings (see the Stitch Therapy post below), and much more... Check out their website.

Happy crawling everyone!

Stitch Therapy

2009-10-07T21:20:00.025-04:00

UPDATE:
Since November 1st, 2009, Stitch Therapy has moved to its new location on 5th Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets (335 5th Avenue)--still in Brooklyn :-).

This week I went to Stitch Therapy (176 Lincoln Place
Between 7th & 8th Avenues Brooklyn, NY 11217, 718.398.2020, http://www.stitchtherapybrooklyn.com/), in Park Slope. The store is right off of 7th Avenue, across from a lovely little coffee shop. The walk from the 7th Avenue B train stop was very short, but also very sweet. I love this neighborhood, with all of its brownstone buildings and churches on every block. I entered the store and spotted the owner immediately. Maxcine was standing behind the counter, bent over the computer with two other women. They were passionately discussing something, but ended the conversation abruptly to help me and another woman who was walking in right behind me. I asked Maxcine if it was okay to take pictures and started photographing the store, which was not so easy because it was very busy. Stitch Therapy is a small space, but it is filled with a very nice selection of high quality yarns. I was really impressed with the softness of Prime Alpaca, which is not a brand I have seen before. “That yarn is the softest and the cheapest yarn I have in the store,” Maxcine said. “It has very long yardage and is extremely good quality." I had a hard time putting it down.

Another shelf that magically attracted me was the Punta yarn shelf. I had not seen their lace weight yarn yet. It is very soft, and the colors are truly beautiful. Behind me, Brandy, the store manager, was helping out a few different customers. She was very bubbly and knew her stuff. Maxcine was busy getting ready for an event on Saturday, part of the New York Yarn Crawl. The event at Stitch Therapy is a book reading of the book “The Adventures of Miss Flitt", A 19th Century Mystery in Four Parts, written by Beth Hahn. The book includes a story, knitwear design (patterns), and water colors, and it looked rather beautiful. The reading will take place at 4 p.m. on Saturday, October 10th.

When Maxcine had a moment, I asked her my seven (or rather eight) questions.

Me: How long has this store been here?

Maxcine: 5 years.

Me: How did you choose this location?

Maxcine: There was a store here called Crystal Clover, which I liked a lot. I walked around this whole neighborhood looking for a good location for my shop. One day, I saw that there were boxes in the windows of the store, and I found out that they were moving out. I somehow thought that was kind of meant to be. Before Crystal Clover, the building housed another store named Three Peddlers. I had gone shopping there a lot, so I thought this was a really nice place to start my business. However, we are moving at the end of the month to a new location on 5th Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets (335 5th Avenue).

Me: Who is your staff?

Maxcine: Well, there’s me and there's Brandy, who is my manager. She was here when the store opened, worked part-time during grad school, and has returned full-time for now. Brandy can knit anything I can knit. She can tell any of the customers anything I would be able to tell them. I have two teachers: Kim teaches beginning knitters, although I should probably call that “The Comic Knitting Styles of Kim.” She is so funny. I am always in stitches during her class. Tony, who writes the blog “The Yarn Monkey”, teaches our knitting learning circle. It’s not really a coffee clatsch, it’s serious knitting and instruction. We also periodically teach a series of free workshops (the yarn is purchased here and the classes are free). One very successful workshop was in the entrelac pattern. Our students made all kinds of things in entrelac afterwards. Someone made a whole blanket out of it! We’ve taught 2-at-a-time magic loop, and neck-down. We’ll also be offering a Mommy and Me evening and a men’s night.

Me: How do you choose your yarns?

Maxcine: My mother is a seamstress, so quality is very important to me. I look for softness, price, and purity of color. I search for new fiber and new spins; I am not tied to name brands. Prime Alpaca has a great price/quality ratio. Berroco is a good yarn: it holds up over time and has a lot of yardage in a ball. I like mostly bright colors, so I carry very little dark yarn.

Me: Who makes your store samples?

Maxcine: I do, and Brandy, and my teachers if they teach classes. All samples have to meet a certain standard. They have to look like you could buy them in a store. Sometimes we get samples from manufacturers, but we don’t always use them.

Me: What got you into yarns?

Maxcine: I have been knitting since I was seven. My aunt Rose taught me, and then my mother taught me to go further. After I moved to the United States (I was born in London, with Jamaican blood), I taught my junior high school teacher how to knit in shop class.

Me: Do you think people knit more or less in this economy?

Maxcine: My knitters knit regardless. My clientele are regular knitters. My products are affordable. We put baby clothes first, fashion second, but people make all kinds of things. I focus on offering good quality for a good price, and that attracts people. We started here five years ago and have now outgrown this space. The new store will be a share with a store that offers fabrics and quilting. It has a garden in the back and more space. I think it will be a great fit!

I left the store, ready to knit all knds of new things, grabbed a coffe at the cute little coffee shop, and headed uptown to meet my family. What a nice afternoon!

Knit-A-Way

2009-09-30T09:36:00.007-04:00

When I used to live in Brooklyn, I often went to what was then called Knitting Hands, but is now Knit-A-Way (398 Atlantic Avenue. Brooklyn, NY 11217PH: (718)-797-3305 FX: (718)-797-3431, www.knitaway.com). The store, located in the "Antique Mile" on Atlantic Avenue (before Atlantic Ave and Flatbush Ave cross each other), is easy to get to by subway. The A/C/G trains are two blocks away (at Hoyt/Shermerhorn), and the Pacific Avenue stop (where the B/D/F/N/R/2/3/4/5 converge) is a five minute walk away. On this stretch, Atlantic Avenue is a fantastic mix of Middle Eastern delicacies, Middle Eastern clothing, antique furniture, custom made furniture, oriental rugs, kosher meat, fashion stores, children's boutiques, natural and organic creams, little cafes, and... yarn. I highly recommend getting out at Pacific and walking over to Knit-A-Way. You can load up on Turkish delight and merguez sausage, browse for a wedding dress, buy things for your children, and then go yarn shopping :-).

Seeta, the owner of Knit-A-Way, took over the store from the previous owner (she used to work here). When she bought the store, Seeta was first thinking of moving everything to New Jersey, but was soon begged by her regular customers to stay put. Five years later, she is still happy about this decision. The only complication for her has been her health. "About 6 months after I took over the store," she said, "I found out that I am alergic to wool." How ironic! "I had so much invested in the store already that I had to make it work." She is now stacking all the cottons in the front, and the wools in the back. On days when she has to stock her wools, friends come to help her. "I can't take the allergy medicines," she said. "They make me drowsy, so sometimes I have to step out of the store and breathe in deeply. Then I feel better!"

The store is large, and has a wide selection of affordable as well as some high-end yarns ("I take my cues from my cutomers. Cashmere is not requested very often, but if someone asks for something and I can get it, I will."). It has an extensive selection of knitting and crocheting needles and a good-size selection of books. After taking pictures, I asked Seeta my 7 questions:

Me: When did you open your store?

Seeta: I opened Knit-A-Way in July of 2004. Knitting Hands had been here since April 2001. I used to work at Knitting Hands, and took over the store from the previous owner.

Me: So I guess I don't have to ask how you chose this location.

Seeta: Actually, I was planning to move the store to Montclair, NJ, but upon inquiring I found out that there were four knitting stores there already. I thought of going to Jersey City, but customers were begging me to stay. Crime was rising in Jersey City at the time, so I stayed put. It was a good decision. Two of the Montclair stores have closed since then. I'm still open.

Me: Who is your staff?

Seeta: I am the only one. On weekends 3 helpers, who are my friends, come and volunteer. They help me stock the wool, and stay to knit themselves. I also have one instructor.

Me: How do you choose your yarns?

Seeta: Fiber content, gauge, how clearly the labels are marked (what's the fiber content, and especially are there clear washing instructions?), texture, and--of course--pricing. I carry Barocco Pure Prima, Thaki Yarns, Cascade, Karabella, Classic Elite, Wisdom, Brown Sheep, Misti Alpaca, Noro, Plymouth, Red Heart, Bernat, Peyton, Debbie Bliss, Lionbrand (not the LB collection), and more...

Me: Who makes your store samples?

Seeta: My daughter, my weekend helper friends, and sometimes the fiber companies. Samples from my instructor are for our classes.

Me: What got you into yarns?

Seeta: Working for Knitting Hands.

Me: Do you think people are knitting more or less since the recession?

Seeta: People are knitting more.

Another informal service Seeta offers to customers is to appraise their knitting skills. If you want to make money with your designs (like selling them on Etsy), Seeta will talk you through all the different options, as well as adamantly insist that you charge enough for your time and work. A while back, she found a knitting magazine that suggested a way to measure your fabric, time, and design skills to help determine how much you can really charge for your efforts. Seeta and I agreed that many people sell their things on Etsy for way too little, not taking into account the time, effort, and actual material cost. I feel very irritated when I see a scarf being offered for $20, knowing that the yarn itself cost about that much (if not more). It is hard for other knitters to compete with that kind of dumping price, but it also makes no real money for the original designer. It was nice to meet someone who feels as passionately about this subject as I do, but I was getting very hungry, so I packed my things and went to the cafe down the street for a coffee and a scone. :-) Thus nourished, I headed back to Manhattan...

Tender Buttons

2009-09-22T20:13:00.034-04:00

Looking for the website of Tender Buttons (143 East 62nd Street, New York, NY 10065, 212 758-7004, fax 212 319-8474 http://www.tenderbuttons-nyc.com/), I entered tenderbuttons.com, only to find myself on a Gertrude Stein memorial site. So the first thing I found out about Tender Buttons is that it was named after a culinary essay by Gertude Stein, which intrigued me--I like Gertrude Stein :-). When I did find the website, it confirmed my impression of the store, which is that it is a labor of love, with extreme attention to details. The website links are all adorned with buttons that move into view when the link gets activated. It is less an inventory of buttons, and more an explanation of their history and their magnificence.

Tender Buttons opened in 1964, when Diana Epstein bought an old button store on a whim from a collector. She was joined by Millicent Safro, who helped her organize the buttons into a new shop. It was originally an artist hangout, and became a proper store only over time. In 1965, it moved to its current location.

As I entered the store, the seemingly endless wall of meticulously arranged gray paper carton boxes beckoned me to dive into this world of buttons and get lost in it. Each box had its own little inscription, explaining the content and naming its price.

There were leather buttons, copper buttons, buttons made out of shells, painted buttons, woven buttons, monkey see/monkey do buttons, glass blown buttons, calder/picasso/matisse inspired buttons, old buttons, new buttons, verrry expensive buttons, and also quite affordable ones. In other words: Tender Buttons has it all. I met someone at a knitting group once, whose friend had spent a small fortune on buttons here. "But he made the sweater for his mom," my acquaintance explained, "and he wanted it to be the most beautiful it could be." Walking along the wall, I wondered which ones he ended up picking. It could have been a number of them, and yes, I was tempted to spend a small fortune, too. Perhaps on these blown-glass envelope buttons...

I passed the button wall and began staring at exquisite but completely out-of-my-reach blue stone cufflinks (my husband’s birthday is on Valentines Day--cufflinks anyone?). But the high price end in the store really IS high! They were over $5,000. I passed by a few baskets holding a tiny book. What could that be about? You guessed it: buttons. It was written by Diana Epstein, and--like the website—provides clear and intriguing insights into the land of little round things. I grabbed the book and walked on to the “Wall of Frames”. Yes, while one wall of the store is all boxes, the other is all frames of rare and antique buttons. One set in particular caught my attention:

These buttons were made exclusively for Tender Buttons. Replicas were available and affordable. They wandered into my hand immediately (I have a child in kindergarten). After I had taken all my pictures, I talked to Shelly (who sat behind the counter) for a while, about the Internet, and blogs, and topics unrelated. I got the feeling that the staff is very friendly, but that the atmosphere can, at times, feel a bit fast-paced. One can, however, spend oodles of time browsing, discovering little gems, unhindered by anyone. It’s a bit like a museum, except that you can, and want to, buy everything.

I limited myself to my little book and those beautiful school buttons, grabbed my little paper bag, and headed for the bus. After I found a seat, I took out my book and started reading. Just like anything else associated with this store, the book is beautifully edited down to every last detail. Even the bookmark is a button on a string.

I’ll share only a few button gems here:
- Button man (American slang for a rank and file member of the mafia)
- Taking someone down a button hole
- Button your lip
- Cute as a button
- Bursting your buttons
- Button Gwinnet was a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
- Button is also an island in Hingham, Massachusetts.
- The earliest buttons are from 2000 BC, found in Egypt.
- The first buttons made in the USA are from 1750.
- The reason why men wear buttons on the right and women were them on the left is that men used to dress themselves. Buttoning buttons (for those of us who are left-handed) on your body is easier with the buttons on the right. Women, especially those who could afford expensive buttons (and therefore tailors), were often dressed by servants. Since the servants were standing in front of them facing the garment, women’s buttons were attached on the left.
- In 17th Century Connecticut, anyone who wore gold or silver buttons was taxed.
- In WWI, the British Army spent the equivalent of $500,000 per year on paste used to polish buttons.

Tender Buttons was the perfect place to visit before I head off to Brooklyn next week, and back to pure yarn stores. I thoroughly enjoyed this excursion into yarn-related shops. I could go on and on about them, but it's time to return to spun fibers now. :-)

(These buttons have animals drawn on them in meticulous detail. The names, beginning with whatever letter the animal is drawn on, are written on the buttons.)

M&J Trimming

2009-09-15T21:06:00.022-04:00

Although I could go on indefinitely, I will cover only two more knitting-related locations in Manhattan before I head over to Brooklyn (and back to pure yarn stores). The two last stores I have chosen are both New York institutions.

M&J Trimming (1008 Sixth Ave, New York, NY 10018, 1.800.9MJTRIM, http://www.mjtrim.com/), which was founded in 1936, carries products from all over the world: ribbon from France, lace from Switzerland, Swarovski crystals from Austria, buttons from Italy...

The store has a huge inventory of trims, fringes, lace, ribbons, tassels, buttons, rhinestones, beads, buckles, clasps, and more, both online and at the New York showroom. The MJ website is an institution in and of itself. It's extremely well-organized and very much like the actual store: you really see every detail and know exactly what you are ordering.

MJ's founder, Michael Cohen, started out selling linens, but when a patron left some lace in his store as collateral for a loan, Cohen found out that there was great potential in selling trimmings: so many of his customers wanted to know where he had gotten the lace that he forgave his friend the loan and asked him to get him more lace instead. The rest is New York history.

A family business, the store was taken over in 1956 by Joel Cohen, Michael's eldest son, who made the window displays known all over town. It is now run in part by his grandson, Michael J. Cohen (the current Executive Vice President). With 5000 square feet of merchandise, it can take a good two hours to digest everything. The white ribbon wall alone can leave your head spinning!

MJ Trimmings is full of useful items and extremely well-organized. The staff is very knowlegeable and friendly. All items are on display and easily accessible. There is a whole section in the back for brides. A Bridal Specialist will present you with samples of veils and gloves. You can work off of the samples to make decisions about style, cut, color, length, lace, crystals, and edging. The customized veils and gloves are then hand crafted by MJ Bridal Designers. (I had to throw this in, because I am still--after seven years of marriage--obsessed with weddings!)

What I missed at this store is the "small store feel" of some of the other locations I've visited. MJ is a huge place, where the staff wears uniforms (MJ t-shirts, which make them easily identifiable, but also give a bit of a corporate feel to the place). It is, however, unbeatable in terms of what is available and how easy it is to find things.

And there are lots of pretty, shiny Swarovski crytals!

Tinsel Trading Company

2009-09-09T21:15:00.022-04:00

This week I went to the Tinsel Trading Company (1 West 37th StreetNew York, NY 10018, 212-730-1030 phone212-768-8823 fax, http://www.tinseltrading.com/)
It's a beautiful store. Although it has been around since 1930 (the current owner Marcia's grandfather opened the store), the old location was recently lost because the old building was torn down. The new location has an elegant kind of "roughed-up-Whole-Foods-cement-floor-feel" to it, which is simultaneously simple, and unobtrusive.

On her website, Marcia's own description of her grandfather's business starts like this: "A long time ago, on the small island known as Manhattan, there was a man who was attracted to shiny and bright, gold and silver threads. He grew up to own the most extraordinary inventory from all over the world, having never traveled outside the United States..."

Shelves line the outer walls, filled with trims, flowers, tassels, ribbons, appliques, jewelry, the Martha Stewart craft line, and more. I walked by these pretty bubble ribbons, which I immediately imagined on all kinds of garments, wondering if I might actually be able to knit with them.www.sinjeollen.com/blogimages/tt_green_bubbles.jpg" width="360" height="275" />
Marcia was in the back of the store, standing in a room right behind a shelf filled with silver ribbons.

She explained to me that some of those had been around since her grandfather owned the store. Some of them were made of copper with (if I remember this correctly) a stainless steel finish. There was a whole shelf full of old metal fabrics:

and some beautiful antique ribbon:

After talking to her for a while, I walked around the whole store to take my pictures. Just when I thought I was done, I turned around and saw this shelf:

It was filled with something I had never seen before: strings of beads attached to ribbons. The ribbons allow for the beads (glass, pearls, and wood beads) to be sewn into things, such as jeans, bags, curtains, coats, or knitted garments :-). Some of the strings looked like they might be heavy in a piece of clothing, but some of them (the wooden ones especially) actually felt very light. I imagined them as a decorative border on the bottom of a coat, or a beautiful drape around a knitted collar. I would probably attach them with snap buttons, I thought, so they can be removed for washing (although all the pearls looked like they could be washed carefully in the sink)... My mind was going into such overdrive that I had to step back. They were all so pretty, too, that it was impossible to pick just one, so I'll have to go back to the store when I have time to really browse.

The staff at Tinsel Trading was super nice. I could have stayed all day to chat with them. They also seemed to have a sense of humor, or perhaps it was a customer who had placed the two tinsel lobsters on top of each other in one of the shelves:

Thank you to "Donnag" at Ravelry, who told me about the store. I nearly skipped it, feeling like I had covered too many non-pure-yarn stores now, but I am so glad I went!

TOP Trimmings

2009-08-31T20:23:00.039-04:00

One other store that want to discuss before I head over to the Brooklyn knitting stores (actually, there are going to be three more), is TOP Trimmings (228 West 39th Street, New York, NY 10018, 212 302-2999 http://www.toptrimming.com/).

The store is a gold mine for knitting accessories. I found bins and bins of fantastic things:

practical things, like bra inserts (great for tank tops and sexy dresses)

zippers,

pretty little buttons,

and more buttons,

little beads,

big beads,

delicate flowers,

big flowers,

and the leather flowers Valeria used at Knitting 321 ( see the 321 post).

I found leather strips,

boas (I just threw those in for fun),

feathers (which are sewn together at the bottom creating a row),

and lots more...

I love to integrate feathers into collars on coats (they can work on sweaters, too). Feathers instantly dress up a piece, especially when they contrast in color with the knitting. I integrate feather collars into my pieces by knitting a very wide and flat rectangle in stockinnette stitch. I knit for about 2 inches, then purl one uneven row, then continue to knit stockinette stitch again for another 2 inches. The purled row creates an easy place to fold the collar. I fold the collar around the feathers and sew the folded ends of the rectangle together. This kind of collar looks very beautiful when it is attached to a coat. The feathers stand up and shine in the light. You can also add snap buttons to the collar, so that it is detachable (in case you want your coat to have a casual look as well).

TOP Trimmings is very easy to navigate, and the items they sell are quite beautiful and of very good quality. Thus, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Happy Birthday Anna!

2009-08-26T22:22:00.013-04:00

This week is running away from me! Anna celebrated her 5th Birthday on Monday (and Tuesday), and now it's back to school and uniforms, and pencils, backpacks, paper, tissues, wipes, hand sanitizer...

I will be back next week, when things have calmed down.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNA!

Archer Global Zipper & Trim

2009-08-18T06:18:00.014-04:00

We are back in New York. Goodbye cousins, we miss you!

I am still severely jetlagged. Andor and Anna are getting up at 6 a.m. every morning, and we are all a bit disoriented--but happy to be home. I was very proud of my kids for sitting still the entire time in the plane. We did not get the bulkhead, but the man in front of us didn't even know he had kids behind him, that's how quiet they were! :-)

Since I have my computer back, I now have access to the photos I took before I left for Germany.

I visited one of the coolest stores I have seen so far: Archer Global Zipper and Trim, on 39th street (244 West 39th Street, between 7th and 8th ave, New York, NY, 10018, 2nd floor, 212 354 6111, http://www.zippersandtrim.com/). I took the elevator up to the second floor and stepped into a large warehouse-looking space with lots and lots of shelves, all filled with--you guessed it--zippers!

Rory, the owner, was talking on the phone with a friend when I walked in. He is one of those great loud-mouthed New Yorkers who say exactly what they think. After he was done we talked about, well... zippers. I loved being in a place that sells only one thing, but in so many variations. I had no idea there was such a variety. Rory told me he has coil zippers, brass zippers, molded vislan, nylon, jaquard zippers, and invisible zippers (and that's not even all of them). You can order in bulk from him, but you can also buy one zipper. He will create whatever you are looking for. His shelves are full of boxes that anyone can rummage through. Rory says it's easier that way. He'd rather walk after people and clean up than have to walk along with every customer. You can spend hours browsing, looking at colors, textures, weight...

When I knit, I use zippers for jackets and coats, but sometimes also just for decoration. Besides having zippers made out of all kinds of materials, Rory also carries various decorative metal pieces for closing the zippers.

The most important thing when choosing a zipper for a knitted piece of clothing is to take a fine, flexible one, especially if you end up wearing it on your skin. Harder, sturdier zippers can pull the garment, or make it hang strangely (because they are heavy). I mostly recommend zippers for heavier yarn. In lighter yarn, a zipper can make the knitting seem stiff. The easiest zipper to integrate is probably the "invisible zipper", a very fine zipper that dissappears inside fabric and is nearly undetectable from the outside. With some coats, especially a floor length knitted coat, zippers can have a stabilizing effect. They will keep the wool in shape. In that case I would recomend a sturdier kind.

It was really nice to be in a store that has very outspoken staff. Everyone was joking and teasing each other. I could not stop laughing. The staff is very experienced and will help you with anything you need (unless they are working on large orders--then they might ask you to come back on a different day). In a separate part of the store, Rory also sells belt buckles, steamers, sewing utensils and many other things. To find out all of the items, you really have to go to the store--it's pretty eclectic.

Rory told me he started on Lower Broadway, working for one of those old garment stores that I wrote about a few weeks ago (see P&S Fabrics). He used to work thirteen hour days when he first started out, in a company that produced sportswear. "They worked me to the bone," he said, "but it was great training. I learned everything I know in that store." After the garment center moved away from Broadway, Rory continued to work in the industry. His last job was in a zipper store that no longer exists. When it closed, he started his own business on 39th street.

Thanks again to Greg from Stitch and Bitch Cafe. This was another one of his recommendations. :-)

Berlin, Week 3

2009-08-11T17:26:00.031-04:00

...Once again, we have done many things...

We stayed in an old, restored castle at the East Sea with 3 adults and 6 kids (ages 9, 6, 5, 4, 2, and 3 weeks). It was a wondrous chaos of adjusting to another new environment (not so easy for Anna), beach days (very fun for everyone), and fantastic seafood ("lecker"!). After 3 days I wondered by what factor conflicts multiply when 3 adults try to take care of 6 children under 10 in 2 confined spaces (cars). I have not found an answer to this question. Andor regressed to biting, which he'd completely stopped. There were a number of heated "yes!" "no!" exchanges between the cousins, and two major meltdowns (different kids).

But we also flew kites.

We had a birthday party with candles, cake and gifts for our cousin Adele.

As the good knitting aunt that I am, I gave yarn and knitting needles. I found a very nice merino yarn at the knitting shop in Berlin (see below). I picked merino because it is very durable, doesn't pill but it has some elasticity and is less rough on the skin than regular wool. When I started to knit (however many years ago), my mother got me acrylic for my first project. I did not like the texture--nor the feel of it in my hands. I didn't get excited about knitting until I found a yarn that I loved and a pattern for a sweater I really wanted to wear. I try to remember that whenever I get something for a beginner: don't get "the cheap, practical thing", get the exciting thing!

I taught Adele to knit in the car (she was very good at it).

After 3 nights and 4 days, we came back to Berlin as 3 very exhausted adults with the first traces of severe grumpiness... In other words: a true family vacation ;-)

Before we left I visited a wonderful yarn shop named Loops. It is located on a tree lined street named Woertherstrasse, which looks like this:

I entered the street on my sister's bicycle (Andor in the kid's seat because he creates too much chaos to be left at home alone with his cousins).

Loops carries a number of different yarns. The most well known to me were Colinette, and the recently added Malabrigo. The owner was not there when I visited the store, and I had Andor with me, so my conversation time was limited. I am going to send her an e-mail to find out more details about her yarns and I will add them later. What I was looking for was yarn from a company called: Seehawer & Siebert

I love this yarn because it is very thick, but also very light. A thin thread of wool is twisted around a very softly spun thread of the same wool. It keeps the yarn light, the wool durable and the texture very interesting. Unfortunately, the company is discontinuing the yarn. The only color they are still carrying is light brown. When the owner of Loops called me on the phone with the bad news I nearly cried. I wanted bright orange...

But there is no time for sorrow (too much to do). Now that we are back in Berlin, we have to start packing and resting up for our 13 hour trip back... This time I'll try to travel in bulkhead so Andor doesn't kick the man in front of him again for eight hours straight ;-)

Berlin, Week 2

2009-08-03T18:33:00.015-04:00

I am still hoping to get some time to write about--or visit--some Berlin knitting stores.

So far we have:

petted some deer and ridden motorcycles (for kids)...

...gone horseback riding on a pony farm...

...ridden bicycles in the park and enjoyed trampoline jumping with our cousin Eddi (the one who is flying)...

The closest I have come to yarn, is looking at Llamas and Alpacas at the petting zoo :-)

The only knitting related activity I have had time for is writing down the pattern for my leaf shawl/vest/sweater while driving in the car (my sister is at the wheel).

Compared to New York, I am both shocked and relieved how inexpensively we can amuse ourselves here (deer petting is free, 5 minutes of motorcycle riding is 50 cents!). And while Andor has exhibited some truly wild 2-year-old behavior (like throwing things off of a 4th floor balcony or pulling the cat's tail more times than I'd like to count), all in all we couldn't wish for a better summer :-)

In Germany

2009-07-27T15:26:00.007-04:00

The kids and I got safely to Germany--or rather safely AFTER Andor jumped on the conveyor belt and nearly fell into the black abyss with all the bags that were going to the airplanes. Thanks to a very quick babysitter (who helped bring us to the airport) he is still happily alive... Whew!

I uploaded pictures for 3 store posts before I left, but I forgot to mail myself the titles of the pictures (silly me). Of course I don't remember them now, so I have to wait til my husband has time to send them to me.

Running after the kids all day, and three simultaneous jetlags, is leaving me very tired, so I don't know how frequently I'll be able to post while we are here. Today we were in a great sand-paved park and Anna came "home" knowing how to ride a bicycle without help or training wheels! Hurray.

Very proud mama signing off...

:-)

Leather Impact

2009-07-20T21:41:00.013-04:00

This week I went to Leather Impact (256 W 38th St, New York, NY 10018, Cross Streets: Between 8th Ave and 7th Ave leatherimpact.com, (212) 302-2332 ), a very high-end leather store right in the middle of the fashion district. Why leather? Because Leather Impact has the most beautiful leather bands...

I use leather bands to tie knitted coats together, like this one:

I made this coat a few years ago, and my search for the perfect leather band brought me to this store. In order to close the coat, the leather had to be tied every time it was worn, so I was very particular about quality. Leather impact has an entire wall of spools filled with the most gorgeous colored leather straps imaginable. The quality is great, and the leather lasts for years without wearing out.

Aside from hides of various kinds and straps of all lengths, Leather Impact used to sell collars. I bought a vintage Eskimo jacket a few years back--our pugs (which have since happily moved upstate to a large garden) chewed the beautiful, luscious collar off after I left my coat unattended for a day. My husband was shocked. "That brand new coat, what are you going to do with it now?" It did look pathetic. "No problem," I said. I jumped in the train and rode up to Leather Impact, where I found rows of the same kinds of collars. Triumphant, I returned in the afternoon. I brought my coat to a tailor and had him sew it in for 10 bucks. A 20 dollar investment made my coat look better than it had when I first bought it. Although I did not see any collars when I went in this time, I did find this:

My mind immediately started thinking about what kind of knitted piece might be able to carry of the gold fringe...

One thing that I feel compelled to say here, although I don't want to get into an extended argument, is that I don't believe in animal cruelty. I know leather is a complicated subject, and I know there are some terrible things being done to animals, BUT, I do eat meat, and since I support that industry, even if I try to buy only "happy meat," I feel it would be hypocritical to criticize leather. I'd much rather see the skin that is left over from cows used for clothes than thrown out to rot in a landfill.

I have recently read that a lot of wool sheep are treated abominably as well. It will not stop me from knitting, but I will try to buy wool from animals that have been treated well. I believe in supporting small farms that try to make a difference (i.e., small mills and dyers), just like I try to support fair trade coffee plantations and organic farms.

To read about cruelty to wool sheep, you can go here: www.savethesheep.com.

Leather Impact was founded in 1999 by a man named Francois. His mission was to find very high quality leather of many kinds. Francois died in 2002, leaving the business in the hands of his son, Dimitri, who now runs it together with his partner, Marina. The store works with about 10 tanneries, seeking out the best items in each location. Custom dyes are available upon request. Some of the leather is printed or painted. For knitters especially, the lamb skin begs to be cut into strips and used as luscious collars:

The nice thing about this store is that they sell to large companies, but also take the small folk seriously. You can by one leather band, or one yard of leather, or you can by 12 hides, or 120. The staff is very friendly and patient. Personally, the smell of leather makes me a little intoxicated, kind of like the smell of really good coffee... I left in a bit of a haze and wobbled along on my bicycle for a couple of blocks before I found my bearings.

Happy 3,000 Visitors!

2009-07-14T15:00:00.006-04:00

3,000 visitors. How exciting!

Thank you all so much for staying with my blog, helping me out when I need it, and reading every week!

(picture by bakerella)

I really appreciate it!

Daytona Trimming

2009-07-13T21:55:00.015-04:00

I had so much fun exploring my new playground between 35th and 39th Streets and 7th and 8th Aves. ! Greg, from Stitch and Bitch, was nice enough to give me the names of a few stores, so I looked them up. The first one I visited was Daytona Trimming (251 west 39th St. NY, NY 10018, Telephone(212)354-1716, Fax(212)391-0716 e-mail daytrim@worldnet.att.net, http://www.daytonatrim.com/).

I had never seen so many ribbons in my life!

Yet more ribbons!

and yet even more ribbons!

What can I say, I got intoxicated (or perhaps beribboned)!

Just in case you were wondering: here's what ribbons are used for (from Wikipedia): A ribbon or riband is a thin band of flexible material, typically cloth but also plastic or sometimes metal, used primarily for binding and tying. Cloth ribbons, which most commonly include silk, are often used in connection with dress, but also applied for innumerable useful ornamental and symbolic purposes; cultures around the world use this device in their hair, around the body, or even as ornamentation on animals, buildings, and other areas. Ribbon is also sometimes used as a package sealer, on par with twine. A typewriter uses a cloth or plastic ribbon to hold the ink.

They also sell lots of buttons...

Daytona has been in business since 1946. Now that is longevity, especially in New York! It is one of the oldest and most established fashion buisnesses in the fashion district, and carries ribbons, jacquards, fringe, bead trims, sequin trims, lace cords, rhinestone trims, feather boas, sewing needles, sewing thread, knitting needles of many kinds, wool & sew on... I was so blinded by all the ribbons that I somehow completely overlooked the yarn (silly me), but there are some very nice pictures of it on the daytona website...

There is also a whole section of sewing patterns, which I always find practical for knitting as well.

When I was there, the store was very busy with lots of different kinds of people, some fashion students, some very focused pattern searchers, a few giddy kids in a "candy store"-- I felt right at home. On the way down I had thought for a second how crazy it is that I use my time away from my kids riding my bike to fashion land, but walking around and seeing all the exciting things around me (trimming stores, button stores, zipper stores...), I thought that if I were away from them at all, this is where I would want to be!

Thanks Greg, for the tip.

Vardhman Inc. (formerly known as Unique Knitcraft)

2009-07-07T20:48:00.008-04:00

I had gone to Vardhman (269 West 39th Street, between 7th and 8th Ave, New York, NY 10018, 212-840-6950, http://www.vardhman.us/) a few weeks back, but initially decided not to write about it. I was still reviewing pure yarn stores, and I had expected to find a "unique knitting store", because I was looking for a store called "Unique Knitcraft" (the previous name of the store before it moved--it changed its name when it stopped being a retailer for knitted sweaters and became a supply store, but it is still listed that way on a few Ravelry lists).

When I walked in, I found the yarn to be a marginal part of the store, upstairs--away from the main space. I have to admit I was a little dissapointed. I dropped the review, and mentioned it in a Ravelry thread. One woman took offense. She said the store had a rather wide selection of yarns, and she thought it deserved its space.

I let that sink in. Maybe I was being a bit dismissive to ignore the store purely because it carried other things besides yarn. Knitters get their yarns in all kinds of places, and Vardhman is a place where you can get a many different kinds of yarn for very little.

When I looked for the pictures I had taken, I realized that my camera had jammed. I hadn't downloaded them, and fixing the camera would cost more than the darn thing was worth, so I went back this week (new camera in hand) and took new pictures. Being in the store for a second time made me realize how wrong I had been to discard it in the first place.

There is one wall of neon acrylics, but the store also carries alpaca and silk by various discount and non-discount brands. The obligatory Red Heart and Lion Brand are mixed in with Universal, Rosetti, Patons, Lily, Skaacel, Ironstone, and yarn from a German company called Schoeller+Stahl, which makes a very nice cotton. I found Fibra Natura baby merino, Eden Silk, Alpine, and a very nice cotton yarn with sequins, which I grabbed to take home. A couple of baskets of machine knitting spools showed that the store caters to more than hand crafters. The "needle wall" was also quite impressive. Plastic, metal, and bamboo needles of all kinds mingled together. One staff member pointed out that they carry every single color of DMC needlepoint ribbons.

Downstairs, Vardhmans carries all the "accessories" one can imagine: walls of buttons, trimmings, zippers, scissors, rulers, boas, sequined ribbons...

If all of this sounds familiar, it is. Vardhman is a smaller version of P+S Fabrics (without the fabrics). It is a treasure trove for people on a budget, as well as for people who are shopping for finishing touches for their knitted, crocheted, or sewn creations. It's right in the middle of the fashion district, so it can be integrated into a long afternoon of treasure hunting for "fashion stuff", which is what I did. I thanked the staff for letting me take pictures (again), stepped out onto the street, and went treasure hunting in the surrounding area... (more on that next week :-)

P+S Fabrics

2009-06-29T21:58:00.032-04:00

When I first moved to New York, Broadway was full of old fabric stores--one after the other. You could get lost in them for hours, or even days. One by one they gave way to boutiques: Guess, Mango, Scoop, shoe stores that sell Timberlands and Uggs... Even Canal Jeans Company closed its doors in 2002 (it has since opened back up in Brooklyn). Since I don't go to lower Broadway often, I still expect to see stores in their old locations--Pearl River, or the American Indian store that has moved at least twice. I get very confused when I suddenly see something on the other side of the street, momentarily questioning if I am going North or South. That's why I really enjoyed walking into P+S Fabrics (360 Broadway, New York, NY 10013, USA
Phone: (212) 226-1534) today, finding a little piece of the old Broadway that I used to love.

(the cash register)
Away from the hustle and bustle of tourists outside, I found some true New York characters at P+S, starting with its manager, Mark. I asked Mark if I could take pictures of the store, and he said, "Sure, no problem." (He himself was rather camera shy.) P+S has an elaborate yarn corner that stretches out on three walls.
.
The yarns are mostly discount, Lionbrand (basic Lionbrand, not LB collection) and Bernat, but the store is looking to expand it's selection and will be adding a few more companies from Italy and Austria. P+S is a great place for beginners who want to try their way without breaking the bank.

Aside from yarns--and fabrics, as the name suggests--you can find all kinds of useful things here: boas (synthetic and feather), a huge selection of buttons, needles of any kind (crochet, knitting, sewing, needlepoint...), pattern books, pins, memory wire (to make jewelry), beads, bag handles, fabric dye, shoulder pads, velcro in any width, zippers, pipe cleaners, felt, self-sticking felt letters, and ribbons...

...fabric paint, elastic sewing thread, needlepoint hoops, scissors, tassles, lace hems, and a huge selection of sewing threads...

Downstairs I found more fabric, upholstry, pillows, and foam. P+S is also affiliated with a store in Brooklyn that sells sewing machines.

When I finished browsing, I spent some time at the cash register, waiting to ask Mark a couple of questions. The store was pretty busy. Most of the customers were trying to bargain down the already reasonable prices. Not a problem. Although Mark was very clear on what he was willing to do (or rather not willing to do), he gave each offer consideration. At some point, one staff member approached him while he was on the phone and asked what fabric she was holding. Mark ended his call gently, saying "Wir sprechen spaeter" (Yiddish for "We'll talk later," which I understood because it is the same in German). He grabbed the cloth, lit a lighter, burnt a corner of the fabric, sniffed it, said "silk," and then handed it back to the woman. When I asked to pay for a spool of thread with my card (I had foolishly handed all my cash to my husband earlier), he waved me off and said, "Pay next time."

This is how I remember New York, and this is what I have always loved about the city. You can still find these little enclaves, almost like little kingdoms with their own rules. I asked Mark how long the store had been there, and he told me, "About 25 years." The P+S stands for Palatchik and Spiegel, two partners who originally started the store together. It has always carried fabrics and looks like it will continue to do so for another 25 years or more... As I left I wondered if I might walk out and suddenly find myself 15 years younger, on the old Broadway, in some movie where time is turned back inside of a fabric store. But the banner hanging above the exit jerked me out of my fantasy:

So I stepped back out to the stream of people, and made my way back home for dinner...

I'm featured on the Lionbrand Blog!

2009-06-25T21:24:00.016-04:00

Hi Everyone,

I have two announcements:

Very exciting news! Lionbrand Studio just featured me on their blog. I used their yarn for my friend's wedding present, and brought it into the store to show it off. Patty, the Lionbrand manager, took some pictures of me in the sweater (it's a bit short on me, but the pictures show off the pattern nicely), and the store just blogged about it...

Please go and visit, it's beautifully presented.

Here is my friend Erin on her wedding day:

(The picures were taken late at night)

I also wanted to share a very beautiful design by Tanis Gray that I just finished. This is Anna with Tanis' Bartlett Cowl. I used her original pattern, but I changed the yarn and color. Because of the yarn change I added a couple of stripes to make it longer. I think Anna looks glorious, and now she can't wait for the fall so she can wear it!

:-)

Stitch And Bitch Cafe

2009-06-22T21:11:00.015-04:00

Stitch & Bitch Café (147 W 35th Street, New York, NY 10001, Suite 807, (212) 268-4321 http://www.sewfastseweasy.com/) is located on the 8th floor of a fashion district building. I had a hard time finding it at first, because I was looking for an actual café on street level. I stood in the building staring incredulously at my piece of paper until a very friendly woman exited the elevator and used her blackberry to help me research where I needed to go. It turns out that Stitch & Bitch Café does not mean coffee and cake, but a virtual café, which is how the store started.

Greg, a partner at Sew Fast Sew Easy, which runs Stitch & Bitch Café, explained to me that the Café at the end of the name was a leftover from the time when the store was in a different location and everyone hung out and worked on either sewing or knitting projects. It was also the name of an online guest book. There was a conflict with knitting author Debbie Stroller over the use of the name, which has since been resolved. At some point, the company moved into its new office, massively increased its sewing space, and—over time—reduced its knitting and crochet space to one long shelf in the entrance room.

Although it is a small corner of yarn, the quality is very good (Punta Del Este wool, Aspen wool, Classic Elite cotton/bamboo, and Twinkle Handknits virgin wool). The selection shrinks in the summer and grows in the fall, so I saw it in the “small season”. (They also sell knitting, crocheting, and sewing needles, sewing machines, string, felt, and many other useful things for both sewing and knitting.)

Although it is not primarily a yarns store, Stitch and Bitch Cafe has a lot to offer its knitting customers. Greg showed me the sewing machines, gushing about the classes, and the principle that any $500 designer skirt can cost $50 if you make it yourself. The store has slightly altered some patterns of well known designers to make them accessible to regular sewers. This principle is very helpful for knitters as well. When I design, I often go through fashion magazines and imagine how some of the dresses would look knitted. I frequently look through my closet and measure clothes I have that I love in order to replicate them with yarn.

Sew Fast Sew Easy has published three books: All You Need To Know When You Start To Sew, Sew On, and Rip It. Rip It explains how to take existing pieces of clothing and turn them into new ones that are more trendy. There is a beautiful wrap around dress in the book Sew On which can easily be used as a pattern for knitters. Instead of cutting the fabric to the right proportions, you just have to do a little math to knit the fabric in its final shape. I love the possibilities. Greg's enthusiasm was contagious. We talked excitedly about zipper shops and accessory stores in the area. He told me that one of his students made it all the way to the fashion show of Project Runway…

I walked out, wondering if I had enough time to squeeze a sewing class into my hectic schedule. Unfortunately, the answer at this time is NO. My knitting time is the only luxury I can afford right now. My main projects are 2 and 4 years old. Anna is moving up to kindergarten in two days. I can’t believe she has already completed her first year in a regular school! My goal this week is not to cry when she walks down the aisle… :-)

Mahattan Yarn Wrap Up

2009-06-16T22:45:00.014-04:00

Whew! It looks like I finished reviewing all the Manhattan yarn stores (although I will include Knit New York when it opens again). It’s been really fun so far, and I have learned a ton! When I started this project, I was unaware of many American (and Canadian) yarns.

I did not know Artyarns (picture above), or Koigu, or Prism… It has been such a journey of discovery. I have met diverse and interesting women (and two men). I am amazed by all this creativity in our New York yarn community, from yarn store owners, to “yarn painters”, to spinners, fiber artists, knitwear designers, yarn editors, writers..., and of course to all the knitters out there, who have chosen to create a niche for themselves in this world of yarn that seems so small from the outside, yet so large when you are involved in it. I know now that you can actually make a living as a fiber artist. I have been blown away by Xenobia Bailey and Nick Cave. I have had moments of wanting to open a yarn store (only moments—it seems way too time intensive for my current life situation). At other times I wanted to go back to school so I could learn quilting, and crocheting, and sewing, and spinning, and dyeing yarn… Mostly, however, I am so impressed by these individual women (and men) who own or rent these tiny pieces of Manhattan where they try to realize their visions and display their yarns for us to enjoy and purchase. Each of their stores is as different as their personalities, but all of them are united in a mutual love of yarns.

As of next week, I will write about stores that are related to knitting but don’t carry yarns exclusively. When we knit, we often need buttons, zippers, collars, or other embellishments. We need to finish our garments, and some of the finishing tools can be found in stores that carry little or no yarn. For the adventurous knitter who wants to design his/her own stuff, or for anyone who is using a pattern that calls for embellishments, I will cover these stores before I move on to Brooklyn. My selection is only a small sample. I chose a few places that I really like (such as Tender Buttons and M&J Trimming), but please e-mail me (or leave a comment) if you have a personal favorite. :-)

If I have forgotten any Manhattan yarn stores (other than stores like P+S, and Stitch & Bitch Cafe, which carry yarn as a side-product, and which I will cover as of next week), please let me know…

Thank you all so much for coming.

I will also launch my own knitwear site soon (at the latest in September), with patterns for men, women, kids, and accessories, some simple and some more complicated.

:-)

Habu Textiles

2009-06-08T19:45:00.033-04:00

What a great weekend! My husband and I traveled to Lexington, Kentucky to attend the wedding of two dear friends from Brooklyn (the groom’s father was hosting). The wedding, which was beautiful, was held on a horse farm--need I say more?

It turned out to be quite a knitting trip as well. I was surprised to find out that it is actually o.k. again to knit on an airplane (at least on domestic flights). Our plane took off two hours late on wet ground. This was our first trip without the kids EVER (they were at home with a babysitter), and we were flying together, so I was panicked that something could happen to us. First I thought We are not going to lift off and we’ll land in the river. Once we did lift off, I thought Now birds are going to hit the engines. When I saw the fog outside our window I thought And we won’t see them coming. When I finally had the presence of mind to pull out my knitting, I calmed down considerably. We landed in Lexington, safely, welcomed by incredibly loud birds which turned out to be a tape of bird predators, so the birds get scared away from the planes. Someone told me once that the company that makes these super-loud tapes sold them to China, but when they tried them out, the birds were still flocking around the planes--until somebody did some thinking and figured out that the natural predators in China are not the same as in the USA (duh). So they had to change the tapes to scare the Chinese birds in Chinese. …Anyway, let me get back to knitting.

I had gone to visit Habu Textiles (135 West 29th Street, Suite 804, New York, NY 10001, 212.239.3546 telephone, 212.239.4173 fax, habu@habutextiles.com, http://www.habutextiles.com/) before we left, knowing that I wanted to blog about them today. I have been to Habu before, and it is one of my favorite stores. I had tried to get a hold of Takako, the owner, but she travels a lot. Since I am nearly finished with Manhattan, I decided to chance it and walk in between last-minute trip preparations on Wednesday. I missed Takako, but a very friendly staff member showed me around and asked me to e-mail my questions to Takako, who responded within hours :-).

Walking into Habu feels like entering a Japanese temple of yarn. Everything in the front room is displayed low on the floor in baskets of various sizes. The yarns displayed here look like little flowers growing out of the ground. Bundles of mohair, linen, cotton, paper, and many other fibers (Habu was one of the first stores to carry stainless steel yarn) mingle, most of them adorned with Habu’s own brown-paper wrappers (I found one basket of Fiber Company yarn as well).

But the pretty looking baskets are just the beginning. When you go to Habu for the first time, a person emerges from the side room, which is sectioned off by a curtain that hides some very busy people who seem to be handling some kind of yarn related machinery. The person comes in and tells you to go to the hallway in the back and look at the samples. The hallway is one long wall behind the basket room, where skeins of different sizes hang from little hooks. Each skein is different from the next, and each has a label, identifying the fiber, the yardage, and the price.

You spend as much time as you like (it can take a while) looking at and touching all the interesting textures in front of you. You can find anything here, from linen that feels like paper to actual paper that feels like yarn, to stainless steel wool, or even more exotic things. Once you have figured out what you want, you go back to the curtain and wave at the friendly person you talked to earlier. You tell them what you like, or ask questions if you need to. Since the store can be busy with wholesale orders (many designers order yarn and have it shipped directly to the factory), it can sometimes take a while to get someone’s attention, but don’t despair: you are surrounded by beautiful things, such as these antique hand spindles.

Even though the store is not large, I had a hard time putting down my camera. At some point I simply had to tell myself to put it down and leave to get the rest of the stuff we needed for the wedding. I could easily have spent another hour here (and lots and lots of money, which I don’t have right now). I am trying to save up for my website, so I could not go crazy…
I sent Takako my e-mail from the airport. When we got to our hotel in Lexington (2 hours later), I had received her answer.

Me: When did you open your store?

Takako: In 1999

Me: How did you choose your store's location?

Takako: I had a friend, who had an art gallery. She left years ago, but I stayed. It is very close to subways and is a part of garment district, which seems to attract the kind of customers we need.

Me: What got you into yarns?

Takako: I am a weaver. Materials has been always my passion.

Me: When you purchase yarns, what do you look for?

Takako: That is hard to say, but there is always that "extra" charm. I do like subtle beautiful yarns, but do think that "something" must show... This is very intuitive thing...

Me: What kinds of yarns do you carry?

Takako: Many... over 300 kinds. including paper, ramie, stainless steel, silver, etc. etc.

Me: Who is your staff?

Takako: I have 8 part and full time staff.

Me: Who makes your store samples?

Takako: A couple of my staff at home.

Me: Do you feel that people knit more or less since the recession?

Takako: I think people are knitting more!

Me: One other thing I was wondering is about the yarns with your labels on them. Are they Habu yarns? Do they all come from the same mill? Are they all Japanese?

Takako: The label is our design. We deal with 7-8 different mills, and we wind them here in the back room!

The wedding was fantastic, filled with music and musicians (one of them my husband) who played up a storm. I also met a sheep breeder/dyer/spinner, Janice Hemsley, who breeds Leicester Longwool sheep, which were first brought to this country by George Washington. We chatted at the rehearsal dinner about Leicester sheep and Moreno sheep, and how the king of Portugal actually had jurisdiction over who was to receive his prized merinos. Janice told me that there was a heard of merinos that had been handed from Portugal to Spain, then to Germany, and finally to historic Williamstown, in Virginia. The next day, she brought me a bag full or beautiful hand-sheared/hand-dyed/handspun yarn. I came home a happy person, and was greeted by two children, overwhelmed with emotions, who were very relieved that we were back.

But the highlight was getting the bride ready on her wedding day, and seeing her wear the sweater/shawl/vest I made for her...

It's knitted as a square that functions as a shawl, with buttoned armholes so it can be transformed into a vest, and with button-in sleeves that turn it into a jacket... The jacket closes with a shawl pin.

Knitting 321

2009-06-02T22:42:00.019-04:00

We are back in Manhattan now. Anna has recuperated and is back to her usual self. Thankfully, we got home without any messy incidents on the train. Whew! One week later, a new camera in my bag, I am ready to head back out into the world of yarns. I was going to blog yesterday (Monday), as I usually do, so I went to Knitting 321 (321 East 75th Street, New York, NY 10021, Phone: 212-772-2020, Fax: 212-772-2077 http://www.knitting321.com/), only to see that it is closed Sundays and Mondays. Oops--that’s what I get for not calling ahead :-). One day delayed, I managed to eke out a 1 ½ hour window for myself. I took the M3 downtown and hopped off at East 75th street, walking and walking and walking, until I found myself in front of a blue awning with large letters (I’m sorry, I totally forgot to take a picture of the outside of the store). I walked down a steep staircase and entered a long, narrow store, lined with diamond shaped shelves on one side and a large table with piles of magazines on it on the other. I introduced myself to Valeria, who was chatting with three loyal customers.

(picture taken from her website)
The three women, who seemed to know each other (and Valeria) very well, were knitting at the table. They chimed in at my questions, got up and showed me store samples, and shared their individual projects: a very pretty cotton baby blanket, a very sexy black glitter sweater with arm cutouts, and a project not yet conceived. All patterns were created by Valeria (the third woman had just chosen her yarn and was making a gauge before she was measured for the perfect fit). Valeria told me that most patterns in knitting magazines look great in the pictures, but end up being too wide because the yarn stretches over time. She takes this into consideration when creating patterns for her customers. Her extensive design background is very helpful for this. “I worked on 7th Avenue for many, many years. If I had made anything that did not fit when it came back from the factory, I would have lost my job immediately,” she explained.

321 is clearly a neighborhood store. “My customers shop at Bergdorf Goodman,” Valeria explained. “Some of them are top executives. They knit a lot, and they want me to make them patterns for sweaters that look like they could have been bought at Bergdorf, but can be made at home. I don’t really compete with other knitting stores--I compete with Bergdorf Goodman.” She pulled out a sample of a sweater a woman had made. “This woman only knew how to knit,” she said (not purl). “So she knitted the sweater in only knit stitches, and I did the finishing for her.” The sweater (where was my head today, I forgot to take a picture of that, too), was made out of a shiny gold-woven yarn. Beige leather flowers adorned the shoulder, and beautiful crocheted embroidery made it look as though indeed, you could have bought it at the above-mentioned store. “I bought the leather flowers and wanted to make a bag out of it, but my customers said this has to be a sweater." The three women nodded.
“We told her,” one of them said. “Why waste those beautiful things on a bag? Put them on a sweater!”

My little window of time was getting smaller, so I asked Valeria my seven questions:
Me: When did you open the store?

Valeria: Seven years ago, in April of 2002.

Me: What made you choose this location?

Valeria: I live around here.

Me: Who is your staff?

Valeria: I have part time help on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, but the rest of the time I am here alone.

Me: What made you get into yarns?

Valeria: I have always worked with yarns and color. I designed fashion and sportswear. We made everything from scratch. We would choose a color palette and design a complete line around it: pants, blazers, skirts… it all had to fit together. [She sighed.] 7th Avenue is not what it used to be, so I thought about what I could do as a second career.

Me: What do you look for when you purchase yarns?

Valeria: Color and quality. I buy what I like. I custom order colors from Prism and other companies. I know what my customers like. The key to everything is quality. You have to make a good product.

Me: I assume I don’t have to ask who makes your store samples.

Valeria: I make them, and I have a knitter.
One of the women chimed in: “Valeria is a fabulous finisher.” I believe that, having seen the sample sweater with the leather flowers.
“But,” Valeria resumed, “I only finish what was purchased here. It is so much work to finish. I don’t finish other stores’ products.”

Me: Do you offer classes?

Valeria: I teach classes in knitting and crocheting one on one in the mornings, but I am totally booked up until the end of August. If you asked me right now to teach you, I would have to ask you to come back in September. I design for all my customers. They buy the yarn, make a gauge, I measure them and write their patterns. [She held up a handwritten piece of paper.] This is a pattern. I write everything by hand. People can follow it and not have to think once about what they are doing. All my patterns look like this. [She smiled.] What I make fits!

Me: Do you think people knit more or less since the recession?

Valeria: That is a hard question to answer. I think things are not as busy as they were when I first opened. In the last two years things have gotten a bit more quiet.
“But,” one of the women said, “people are much more serious about their knitting than they used to be. All the mitten makers and blanket knitters have fallen away. The customers that are still knitting are very serious about their projects.” The other woman agreed.

I had some time left, so I took out my camera to take pictures of the store. 321 carries Karabella, Schulana, Katia, Noro, Punta yarns, Alchemy, and Prism. “This is one of the yarns I asked them to make,” Valeria said and pulled out a red, variegated yarn. It was stunningly vibrant.
“You have to take a picture of the baby blanket,” one of the woman said and got up. “Here, I know where it is.” She walked to the back of the store and pulled out a very beautiful and delicate blanket covered with hearts.
“
And this is the sampler,” she said, holding up another blanket with different stitch pattern squares.
“Show her the bag you did at the door,” the woman with the sexy black sweater said.

Valeria held it up. The bag was beautifully lined on the inside, with an inlay of something hard and flat supporting the bottom. “Oh, and you have to see this,” Valeria said and strode to the back of the store. “Here,” she pulled a jacket off its hanger. “Try it on. Its magnificent! It’s a circle jacket I just made. It is knitted entirely in one piece. “ I felt the yarn. It was very soft and, I could tell, very warm. I tried it on. It felt just as snugly as it looked.

Happy Memorial Day!

2009-05-25T20:44:00.025-04:00

I was going to blog about another yarn store this week, but my camera broke on Friday, so I could not go to take pictures before we left town...

Once again, we are in Connecticut to visit our friends for Labor Day. This is how our weekend began--four happy kids (two of them mine). Its astounds me that you can rent a big house with a huge garden and swimming pool out here for the same price as our Harlem-two-bedroom with no garden!

The rest of the weekend has not been so happy. Anna came down with the stomach flu and is too sick for the journey home, so we are still up here--waiting for her to get better... :-(

Hopefully we'll be back in the city tomorrow...

Happy Memorial Day to everyone, and Good Health to all of you!!

The Woolgathering

2009-05-19T22:31:00.013-04:00

It was another gorgeous day today, so I swung on my bike and rode through Central Park to The Woolgathering (318 East 84th Street, New York, NY 10028 Phone: 212.734.4747 www.thewoolgathering.com). I was zipping down 84th street when a woman opened a car door and nearly knocked me off my bicycle. I shrieked, and she pulled it shut at the very last second, reassuring me through the open window. “I wasn’t going to open it far.” I wondered whether this was supposed to console me or reassure her, and I got to the store a bit rattled and in need of comfort. Just the right time to visit some yarn! When I entered Woolgathering, I almost thought I had gone to Downtown Yarns by accident. It has the same long, narrow feel with high ceilings, and similar shelves on the wall. A ladder leans on the yarn shelves just like at Downtown. I looked around to see if there was a big golden retriever lying around, but instead I found a bull mastiff hanging on the wall.

I asked for the owner, but Diane, who was sitting at an antique wooden table with a happily knitting customer, told me that Sylvia had just left for the day (this seems to be my lot lately). The happy knitter, who was making a baby blanket for a friend, chimed in: “You can ask Diane anything you need. She is an expert knitter. Any question you have, she can answer it for you.” They chuckled.
“Sylvia makes it a point to tell people that she loves knitting, but that she is by no means an expert knitter," Diane explained. "I usually answer knitting questions.” She handed me a chair.
“That’s great,” I said and pulled out my notebook. I felt instantly welcomed into the round like an old acquaintance. We chatted a bit--about identical twins who kill one another. (The woman with the baby blanket was holding a book called “The Evil Twin” when I came in. I am an identical twin, so it piqued my interest). Then we moved onto more cheerful topics, and I began to ask my seven questions.

Me: When did this store open?

Diane: The store has been here for about 20 years. Sylvia took it over about 7 years ago.

Me: What made Sylvia chose this location?

Diane: Sylvia lives around the corner. She likes to knit. When she heard that the store was available, she took a chance. Sylvia is tenacious, strong, and entrepreneurial. She also likes to support causes. She donates to all the public schools in the neighborhood, and she carries a line of bags made in Africa to help African women become economically independent. I work here because I like Sylvia. I already knew her when the store opened; we were friends.

My phone rang. It was my husband. “Where is the bus stop down here? No, Andor, don’t pick that up, that’s disgusting!” I didn’t dare ask what it was. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. I told Adam where to go and returned to my conversation, apologizing for the interruption.

Me: Who is your staff?

Diane: I am the manager. I’ve worked here for six years. I am here Monday-Friday, and Karina is here Saturdays; we are closed on Sundays. Sylvia and I are usually here together. We work with a fantastic finisher. I give her a lot of my garments because I don’t particularly like finishing (she laughed). She was here before when the store belonged to the previous owner, and she has continued to work for us.

Me: How do you guys choose yarn?

Diane: I mainly choose the yarn. I look for specific quality, cost, and “washability”. We specialize in baby items, so I like to have yarns that can survive a washing machine cycle. I also look for length (yardage). We sell some books, but we loan a lot of them to people as well. We carry a little bit of everything. Some Artyarns Cashmere (I saw a really pretty beaded Artyarns Cashmere—sigh), some Karabella, some Manos, Malabrigo, Punta, a little bit of Road to China, some Cascade, Tahki Stacy Charles, Prism, and a few others…

Me: Do you guys teach classes?

Diane: We teach classes for very beginners, but when you become a patron we help you with anything. We don’t charge for that.

Me: Who makes your store samples?

Diane: We very rarely do custom patterns. Most of our samples are from companies. I knit some of the blankets. The baby sampler came with the store (she pulled out a beige blanket with different stitch patterns on it). People really like making this blanket. It’s a really good way to practice knitting different stitches.

Me: Do you think people knit more since the recession?

Diane: People definitely knit more. Maybe they look for a bigger bargain, but they knit more--knitting is soothing.

With that thought in mind, I thanked Diane for her time and grabbed my helmet, ready to brave the New York streets again. I carefully watched for opening car doors until I arrived safely at Central Park, where I enjoyed the car-free zone even more than usual. I nearly took my hands of the handle bars, but I was afraid that the empty children’s bike seat behind me would throw off my balance. I got home safely to two fighting kids who were wearing out their Papa. Turns out they were very tired. Once they hit their mattresses, they were out like little lights.

Yarntopia Revisited

2009-05-11T22:46:00.020-04:00

This week I went back to Yarntopia, because I had felt so rushed the first time (and missed such fantastic things as the sockyarnwall--picture above). I thought the store hadn’t gotten its due. It kept bothering me, so I decided to go back to see Dona and take some better pictures. I chose to go on the day of my daughter’s fieldtrip to the Museum of Natural History. I went with her class for the trip, and of course Anna wanted to be with me afterward and begged to be taken along. Initially I was going to send her back to school for an hour, see Dona, and pick her up afterwards, but I relented, even though I was feeling a little hesitant about a four-year-old in a yarn shop and what that might mean. When we got to Yarntopia, Dona was in the middle of planning out an elaborate laceyarnwall (right next to the sockyarnwall). A big shipment of gorgeous colors had just come in.

Anna was so well behaved and so helpful that we stayed for nearly 1½ hours (did I mention Dona is really good with kids?). “I can’t leave yet, Mommy, I have to help Dona!” Anna reshelved heaps of yarn, keeping the colors together perfectly, and handed bags and bags of yarn to Dona who was standing on a ladder. I took my pictures and sat down to knit while they worked :-) To make a long story short: please go back to the Yarntopia post and see that I CAN actually take decent pictures of the place (I also added a couple of things in the review that I forgot to mention). After we left I took Anna to "Le Monde" (our favorite pastry cafe).

Happy Mother’s Day!

School Products (Yarns)

2009-05-04T21:59:00.002-04:00

I had read about School Products Yarns (1201 Broadway Suite 301 New York NY 10001, 212-679-3516 http://www.schoolproducts.com/—the store is undergoing a name change and adding the “yarns”) on Jared Flood’s blog, so I might have known that it’s a serious yarn store, but no: I got fooled by the name. I walked in expecting to find a big store with lots and lots of school supplies and a rich array of yarns in a corner, yarns such as the ones Jared uses. NOT! I got out of the elevator and found myself in front of a glass wall with a buzzer system. A tall young man buzzed me in. He told me that Rafael (one of the two owners) was about to come in and that if I had any questions I should wait for him. Minutes later, a man in his sixties walked in and introduced himself. “Do you know Armenia?” he asked me after we shook hands. I was so flustered by the forcefulness of his voice that I totally blanked.

Rafael is from Armenia (which is a country bordered by Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Iran--I looked it up :-). He is Berta’s (the other owner’s) husband. School Products, I found out, is the oldest yarn store in Manhattan (since Lion Brand just opened the studio, I am not counting them as an “old store”). School Products is sixty years old and it did start out as a place to purchase school supplies with a hefty yarn corner. Since the yarn corner was the most popular part, it grew as the rest of the store shrank, so now the store is just one huge space filled with yarns. Berta and Rafael took over the business twenty years ago and have been running the store ever since.

Rafael told me that Berta has worked as a technical knitwear developer for Donna Karan, Anna Sui, Ralph Lauren, and Calvin Klein, as well as Banana Republic and Gap. She also started a yarn company called Karabella Yarns, which carries high quality yarns of many kinds: mohair (lace and mid-weight), alpaca, cashmere, cotton, and metallic yarn… She handed the company over to her son, who now runs it. School Products carries the entire line, as well as all of Berta’s designs, specially created for Karabella. Berta’s most recent accomplishment is a book called Runway Knits, which was published in 2007. I got the book. The dresses, shawls and sweaters are pretty spectacular!

Since I had taken my pictures before Rafael walked in, I had some time to let him lead me around. He showed me large spools of yarn, pointing out that the store served both hand and machine knitters. Only then did I realize that I had never even thought of machine knitters as needing yarn—so silly! School Products sells many knitting machine ready spools of yarn, which are less expensive than the balls in the shelves, and can of course be used to knit by hand as well, thus creating an instant discount :-). The store sells more than just Karabella: Koigu, Brown Sheep, Luxor, and a number of hand dyers and spinners. Rafael and Berta also buy out yarn mills that are closing and sell the yarn at a huge discount. It’s definitely a treasure trove for the creative. You come to this store to find something great-- I found this:

500 grams of handspun silk, thinner than lace weight for $35. I have no idea what I am going to do with it, but it made me take it home... Other cool things to know are that the store carries yak, baby camel, and silk cashmere, yarns you don’t get everywhere. Designers come here as well as tourists to browse and haggle (Rafael can be flexible with prices if the volume is right). The store also carries a vast array of knitting supplies, both for machine and hand knitters. There is a book corner at the end of the store, where one could get lost for a number of hours. But Yoga was calling, so I asked Rafael my seven questions before I headed into the subway to go stand upside down on a slippery mat:

Me: When did School Products open?

Rafael: In 1947. We are the oldest yarn store In New York. We took over twenty years ago.

Me: How did you choose this location?

Rafael: The original store was here.

Me: How do you choose your yarns?

Rafael: We carry the whole line of Karabella, which is mostly Italian with some Argentinian. We also carry other companies. Except for a staple of yarns like Koigu and Luxor, we have a number of changing yarns. You can find something different every time you come here. We have served the fashion industry and FIT for many years. The store is known all over the US. We have special deals and high end fibers like silk and cashmere, baby camel and yak. We sell to many machine knitters.

Me: What kinds of classes do you teach?

Rafael: We have very professional help that can give you instructions. We carry over 500 Karabella patterns, which were all designed by Berta, plus 200 individual patterns for our high end fabrics. Berta is in the store every Monday.

Me: I guess I don’t have to ask who knits the store samples.

Rafael: Berta does.

Me: What got you into yarns?

Rafael: Berta’s experience. She worked for many years in the fashion industry.

Me: Do you feel that people are knitting less or more in this economy?

Rafael: The same, but people are more careful with their budgets. People are still knitting a lot, but they try to spend less.

Annie and Co

2009-04-27T21:42:00.002-04:00

I went to Annie & Co, Knitting and Needlepoint (1325 Madison Ave--at 93rd street--New York, NY 10128 NEEDLEPOINT: Phone Toll Free 888-806-7200, 212-360-7266 Fax 212-360-0417 KNITTING: Phone Toll Free 877-289-5648, 212-289-2944 Fax 212-289-2941, http://www.annieandco.com/) on the first really nice and warm day last week. I was so happy about the weather that I took my bicycle and rode through Central Park down to Madison Avenue. Riding through Central Park is one of my favorite things to do. The streets were free of cars and the air was so clean, I felt I was drinking it. When I got to Madison Avenue, I was surprised to find myself in front of a lovely brownstone placed between two larger buildings. I had read on yelp.com that Annie’s was very small. Annie’s Needlepoint is on the 2nd floor, Annie’s Knitting on the ground floor. The person who wrote on yelp must have been very confused, because Annie’s fills the entire bottom floor, and it is huge.

I had been playing phone tag with Annie. She had spoken onto my answering machine with a very lovely, welcoming voice, so I was looking forward to meeting her. When I called that day, her staff told me that she was still in and out due to some health issues, but that I should chance it. To my great disappointment, I missed her by accident (while I was downstairs, she was upstairs, and when I went upstairs, she had stepped out for lunch). So I am sorry to say that I didn’t meet her :-(

I was, however, very impressed with the store. The inventory has a broad range. Artyarns mingle with Karabella, Rowan, Misti Alpaca, Malabrigo (lace and silky merino). The entire front of the store is filled with various kinds of Colinette. I saw Brown Sheep, Great Adirondacs, Jade Saphire, and Tilly Tomas, which like some of the Artyarns has little beaded pearls. A wall filled with knitting needles stopped me in my tracks. They looked like a wall installation, perhaps a piece by Beuys…

Since Annie was not in, I sat down with Katy, the manager.

Me: When did you guys open.

Katy: We are very new--we opened in August of 2007. Annie’s Needlepoint has been here for seven years. This floor used to be a handbag store, but it moved to a new location and the owner offered Annie the space. She gladly took it and expanded to yarns.

Me: Who is your staff?

Katy: I am the manager. We have two full time employees: Elizabeth and Guggie. Marlene, Mathew, Marcia, and Claudine are here part time.

Me: How do you guys choose your yarns?

Katy: It’s a team effort. We all talk about what we like. We like to have yarns that appear in pattern books, and it is important that we can reorder easily. We look at fiber content, color, and itchiness. We like to add new things and are starting to carry smaller companies.

Me: What kinds of classes do you teach?

Katy: Mostly beginners knitting and beginners crochet. We did a class on knitted wire jewelry. We mostly do private lessons, though. Anna of Mochi Mochi Land will be teaching knitted toys in May. As people ask we look into scheduling things that are requested.

Me: Who knits your store samples?

Katy: Some are provided by the yarn companies, and some by the employees. Some are also made by customers. Because we are so new, most are from the companies, but not all of them.

Me: Since I can’t ask Annie, what got you into knitting?

Katy: I learned to knit at six. Then I crocheted. I have sewed since I was twelve, and have been doing fiber things longer than I can remember. I used to make costumes for children’s theater. I have been knitting consistently for fifteen years.

Me: Do you feel people are knitting more or less since the recession?

Katy: I feel they are knitting more. People are watching their money, but they are still making things. It seems that people are getting more creative now. There’s a little bit of a difference in how much people are purchasing, but not a huge one. Babies are still being born. People who knit with cashmere might switch to scarves instead of sweaters. Altogether I’d say there are fewer sweaters being made.

We ended the interview, and I tried to find some yarn for the edge of a mitten I have been working on, but I was so overwhelmed by the options that I ended up leaving empty handed, except for the charted Barbara Walker stitch pattern book that I had been looking for for weeks! Afterwards I went upstairs to look at Annie’s Needlepoint. Although I know next to nothing about needlepoint, I was amazed by the images hanging from the wall, and the ribbons (is that what they are called?) looked really beautiful in their shelves.

A large table in the middle looked very inviting. I was imagining women sitting around it knitting and needlepointing together.

The staff upstairs was very welcoming. The only upsetting thing was that I had missed Annie by 5 minutes.

So I swung back onto my bike and picked up a very happy child at school. She loves riding the bike as much as I do.
:-)

String

2009-04-20T20:48:00.023-04:00

UPDATE 4/28/2010
STRING has moved to a new location:

33 E. 65th Street, New York, NY 10065, (212) 288 9276

First day of school after Easter vacation. I thought my daughter would be excited to see her friends, but no, she refused to get dressed, told me she could not put on her own socks, found a nearly invisible scratch and declared it was hurting so much she could not wear socks or shoes at all... After carrying her out into the rain (without socks or shoes or a coat)--her clothes stuffed into the bag that was hanging over my other shoulder--she pounded me on the head in angry sorrow... When we got to the school, her teacher told me this is not abnormal. Of course, my husband got to pick up a cheerful child after a full day of playing with her friends. I couldn't get her because I went to String (please check above for new location, (212) 288 yarn, http://www.stringyarns.com/).

I almost wish I hadn’t gone, only because this store could be my ruin. I met Linda, the owner, a very warm woman whose gold framed John Lennon sun glasses went perfectly with the elegant necklace she wore. She showed me around, and I realized that I had entered a kind of “caviar bar for knitters.” Each yarn was more exquisite than the last. I had never seen so much cashmere in my life, nor touched this much :-). I have to admit, I did not know how light it is. Cashmere from a clothing store is not like cashmere you buy in a yarn store. Yarn store cashmere is much thicker, so I expected it to be heavy.

String specializes in high-end yarns, especially cashmere (in case you haven’t noticed). Linda buys the cashmere in Italy and gives it to Koigu, which dyes it into its recognizable color scheme. Artyarns, and Prism, supply some fibers to her store (some exclusively), like a cashmere and silk blend. Cashmere by Koigu? Artyarns in silk and cashmere? I thought I had gone to heaven. One company (I forget which) has dyed it in neon colors. But String also carries its own brand of cashmere. After our tour through the high-end yarns, I thought I should probably order a very tall glass of champagne (Moet perhaps?). I also thought I might move into the store.

String is located on the parlor floor of a brownstone (think very high ceilings). It looks as if it used to be someone’s apartment and feels as if you are visiting someone in their home. The back room has a round table placed in front of a marble fireplace, which I assume works, but won’t actually be turned on for obvious reasons. Samples made from Artyarns’ sequin yarn hang next to canary yellow cashmere sweaters. Children’s sweaters and dresses are placed on glass tables in the front.

Although String specializes in high-end cashmere, it also carries more “mainstream” yarns (if not to say less expensive): a nice mix of cotton/silk blends, Rowan mohair and Sublime as well as Debbie Bliss, and Blue Sky Royal Alpaca. I’m still on a yarn diet so I couldn’t go wild, but I grabbed a beautiful pink/purple/red/orange Koigu skein to make my daughter some mittens for her “show and tell” on Friday. I talked to Linda a little about her past in information technology (she worked in IT for 35 years, I for 10). She gave me a book she wrote, aptly titled “Luxury Knitting,” which only made me more determined to save some money for yarn fast. The book is filled with information on the fibers she specializes in (how to judge silk or cashmere, what to make from it, how to price it…) and has some very beautiful designs.

Before I ran back out into the rain, I asked Linda my seven questions:

Me: When did you open your store?

Linda: In 2002. We first opened on Madison between 78th and 79th and moved here about two years ago.

Me: What made you choose this location?

Linda: I wanted to be on the Upper East Side. I wanted to attract a clientele that would appreciate exquisite yarns, but I also wanted to be available for the tourists who visit the many museums up here.

Me: Who is your staff?

Linda: Lidia has been here since we opened. She is a very accomplished knitwear designer and designs our store samples. She makes patterns and adjusts sizes for people who bring in their own. She’s also an expert at finishing. She can look at any sweater and figure out how it was made. Before she worked here, she was working in the fashion district. Becky is a recent college grad. She works in the store. She has knitted for many years, worked in knitting stores before and recently interned at Vogue Knitting. Some part time staff are students who are studying design. Lisa has published in Vogue Knitting and Sauniell is a published designer who is a grad student at FIT. I have an incredible staff as you can see. I like to hire people who know what they are doing. I offer a high end product, so I believe the people who work here should reflect that, too.

Me: What do you care about when you buy yarn?

Linda: Quality. I collaborate with companies that make very high quality products. I also carry yarn from some very small companies, like handspun cashmere from Tanglewood Fiber Creations. Prism, Artyarns, and Koigu create cashmeres, silk blends, and Angora for us. But I also make sure to carry yarns that people expect to find in any regular yarn store.

Me: What kinds of classes do you teach?

Linda: We do not teach group classes. But we teach people one on one who have never knit, or who never knit lace, or who just need a refresher. If you have a question you can sit here any time and ask Lidia to help you. We are available to help you alter patterns and we give our patterns out for free with the purchase of the yarn. We host some workshops. When certain questions come up regularly from our customers, we tailor workshops to those topics. But we also have community evenings where people can mingle, like the “new moms” night we had recently. We had an OBGYN here who answered questions about being a first time mom, while everyone was knitting.

Me: Who makes your store samples?

Linda: Lidia does, and I make some. We get some samples with the yarns, but most of the samples are made by us.

Me: What got you into yarns?

Linda: I have been into yarns forever. I used to say I wanted to open a knitting store. I said it for many years, and then finally my husband said I should do it now, or never. So I retired and opened the store.

Me: Do you think people are knitting more or less during the recession?

Linda: I think people are going through their stashes more, and some people have “downgraded”. Those who used to buy pure yarns are now knitting more with blends. That said, this past December was the best December I have had since I opened the store, so I would definitely say it has increased.

Happy Easter Everyone!

2009-04-13T20:59:00.006-04:00

This week we were very busy in Connecticut:

Lion Brand

2009-04-06T22:24:00.030-04:00

Once again, I stand corrected. Initially, I thought I might skip Lion Brand Studio (34 W. 15th StreetNew York, NY 10011 Phone: 212-243-9070 http://www.lionbrandyarnstudio.com/) altogether, given that it is not really a “yarn store”, but a company that produces yarn, and--I thought--a chain of some sort. I was expecting a kind of “Woolworth quality”, which in Germany means acrylics and other plastics in garish colors. The window, a knitted New York cityscape designed by Robyn Love--complete with pigeons, taxis, and a crocheted King Kong--finally drew me in, and I decided to get over myself and step into the studio.

(Mayor Bloomberg knitting)

(NYC skyskape)
I was in for a shock. Right behind the entrance was a beautiful display crocheted and knitted out of organic cotton (the yarn of the month). The theme was spring showers. Blue crocheted rain was dripping off of umbrellas into a knitted stream, onto amigurumi birds in a wash basin.

I asked for the manager and met Patty Lyons. She told me that the studio does carry acrylics, but that most of its inventory is natural. In fact, the store itself is made of replenishable (bamboo floor) or recycled (the counter) materials. It is lit only by low-energy light bulbs. “David insisted on being eco- friendly,” she said.

Patty introduced me to David Blumenthal, the current CEO and third generation of Blumenthals to operate the business. The company has been around since 1878 and started on Orchard Street on the Lower East Side. Originally it produced yarns and shipped them out to other stores. After many years on the Lower East Side, the office moved to 15th street, where it is today. The CEO office used to be on the ground floor, but as more space became available in the building, the family bought one floor, then another, and finally the entire building. Today it houses the CEO offices, the design team, and the studio, which opened November 2008. Some of the company, including sales (if I wrote that down right), is now in NJ.

After David went back upstairs, Patty showed me around the store some more. She brought me to a corner with two computers, where customers can download free knitting patterns. The archives are extensive and can be accessed by any computer from their website as well (there are also some patterns that are not free, such as some beautiful Nicky Epstein items). We walked by a table where one of the instructors was teaching a beginners amigurumi class. “This,” Patty said, “Is our new LB Collection.”

I was looking at boxes filled with cashmere, stainless steel, cotton-bamboo, organic wool, and merino. There were no mixed colors, but the palette was quite beautiful. “It took two years to get the cashmere made,” Patty explained. “It’s Italian cashmere, not the cheaper one from China.” Given that, the low price was impressive! “It’s the Lion Brand philosophy,” Patty said, “to keep things affordable but to produce good quality at the same time.” She told me that there were over 50 yarns produced by Lion Brand, but only about 25 in the store. “The rest can be seen on these paper sticks over here,” she said. “You can order them and we will ship them straight to your house, even if you order just one ball.”

Another thing that was unusual, and is I guess the luxury of a company that produces its own yarn, was the Sample Wall.

The sample wall was also thought up by David, who wanted his customers to be able to try out the product before they buy it. Any customer can come in and wrap up a sample of any yarn they want. They can borrow a pair of knitting needles and sit and knit a swatch to find the right size needle and to try out the yarn. The store offers an extensive class schedule, including weaving and knitting with a machine. In addition to classes taught in-house, the website has free online instructions.

Once a month (at the beginning of the month) Lion Brand hosts Knit Flicks: a movie and knitting/crocheting night. Each movie that is screened has to contain at least one scene where someone knits. At the end of each month, the store is closed to women for Men’s Night. No women, not even women staff are allowed in the store...

“David loves fiber artists,” Patty continued. Aside from allowing artists such as Robyn to show their work in the window, the store gives over a large red brick wall to a different fiber artist ever couple of months. Well-known knitters such as Nicky Epstein are invited to talk about their craft (and their lives), and to show their designs. Martha Stuart has worked with the store a number of times, and the night before I came, Vogue Knitting held its Spring Fashion show at the studio.

Before I left, I asked Patty my seven questions:

Me: When did the store open?

Patty: Last November (2008).

Me: How was the location chosen?

Patty: The company was in the building already.

Me: Who is your staff?

Patty: David Blumenthal is the CEO. I am the manager, James is the assistant manager, Will teaches, and Tracy helps out with the store and teaches crocheting. Claire and Michelle knit samples and sell yarn, and are available for pattern questions. Anyone who works here has to know how to knit and crochet. Since it is a large company, there are designers and various other departments, including sales and advertising.

Me: What is important to LB when they make yarns?

Patty: We are definitely very concerned with the environment. Quality and a good value is important to us. We will always offer acrylics, but the newer yarns are more and more natural. It allows a large price range although we try to keep the entire line affordable.

Me: What kinds of classes do you teach?

Patty: We have an online tutorial that is free, and we teach a great number of classes here. Our schedule can be found online.

Me: Who makes the store samples?

Patty: The design team and some of the floor staff.

Me: I guess “What got you into yarns?” is not a necessary question since the company has been around for so many years… Well, what got YOU into yarns?

Patty: I was a stage manager. There’s a lot of downtime, so it lent itself to knitting. At some point I realized I liked knitting more than theater.

Me: Do you think things have changed because of the economy?

Patty: I think they have changed a lot, particularly here, because our yarn is so reasonable. I think people feel a connection to their family and it is something that is relaxing. When you make something with your own hands, it just is much more personal.

Me: Thanks, I’ve got to run!

I grabbed some beautiful buttons, some cashmere, and my umbrella, and headed back uptown. I felt very small (at 6 foot 1, that is quite an accomplishment), and from now on I will watch my cynical brain and gather a little bit more information before I form my opinions :-)

Gotta Knit

2009-03-30T08:38:00.026-04:00

Gotta Knit (14 East 34th Street; 5th Floor (between 5th Avenue & Madison Avenue) New York City, NY 10016 (212) 989-3030 http://www.gottaknit.net/) has a very soothing atmosphere. I made my appointment for Wednesday and canceled 3 hours after I was supposed to be there (I had forgotten a half-day at my daughter’s school). I must have sounded a bit frantic (can’t-keep-track-of-anything-anymore-panicked-that-I’ll forget-something-so-sorry-that-I-didn’t-call-earlier-voice), because Laura (one of the owners) said very calmly, “It’s fine. Come anytime. We are here.”

So I went Friday morning, and met Goldie, the other owner, who was just as warm and friendly, and just as relaxed. It turns out that both Goldie and Laura used to work in the medical profession. Laura was a podiatrist, Goldie a nurse who specialized in reconstructive-jaw-surgery-recovery (it has a really fancy name, which I jumbled down on a piece of paper and can’t read now). Anyway, their prior professions made sense given their soothing demeanors.

When I entered the store, Goldie was just teaching a short haired blond woman to knit. The student seemed to be picking up rather quickly. She was sitting in front of a pile of very soft orange alpaca. Goldie explained that recently there have been more customers who have either lost their jobs or quit them. "People come in to relax in between stations in their life. Knitting makes them feel better." We sat down at the table, which was actually two tables put together: a teardrop shaped one and a rectangle one. It looked beautiful and anchored the room nicely.

I told Goldie that I had visited the store over the summer to pick up some yarn for a short vacation. She had occupied my very antsy then-three-year-old with a fascinating tool called a pom pom maker. “I have to bring one home,” I said. “My daughter will be thrilled!”

"It's here," Goldie said and brought it to the table.

Me: When did you open the store?

Goldie: Laura was one of two opening partners eleven years ago. The store opened on Sixth Avenue between 12th and 13th, and moved up here last year. I joined the team as a part time employee about 10 years ago and became a partner seven years ago. I was a private nurse, but when the services I provided were folded into the ICUs, I no longer had clients. I asked to work at Gotta Knit because it was flexible (I have three children) and because I loved the atmosphere here. It’s very upbeat and positive.

Me: How did you chose this location?

Goldie: We found it online. We were in the village and wanted to try a different location after ten years. We were in an old building in a second floor walkup. Many times I had to run downstairs to a waiting taxi to show people yarns from the store. Here, we have an elevator. The elderly and people in wheelchairs can come in so easily. It’s much better. We get a lot of tourists here, too. We are surrounded by hotels and very close to Madison Square Garden.

Me: Who is your staff?

Goldie: Laura and I each get 2 days off, but one of us is here every day. We are open seven days a week, but we will close on Sundays in May, June, July, and August.

Me: What do you look for when you buy yarn?

Goldie: Quality. It has to wear well. We are very finicky. If I can comb it with my fingers and fibers come off, then it’s no good. Softness, workability, color--certain yarns have certain purposes. Sock yarn should be machine washable. We carry a lot or Artyarns. Their sequin yarn is one of our biggest sellers. It’s almost a problem that it sells out so fast. We can’t keep it in the selves (she smiled). One of our clients sends it to her relatives in India. And we carry our own line of yarns. We work with a mill, which dyes and spins our wool and cotton yarns. (The store also carries a number of mixed fibers and some synthetic blends).

Me: What kinds of classes do you offer?

Goldie: Shirley Padden Bernstein comes in every few months. There has hardly been a Vogue Knitting magazine without one of her designs in it. She’s on the cover very often. Nicky Epstein has taught here, and Iris Shrier, the owner of Artyarns, teaches here as well.

We also teach socks on 2 circulars, Laura teaches how to design your own design, I teach the circle jacket that you saw in the front (picture at the end of this post). We specialize in helping you with your designs. We believe you should go from the fiber to the pattern, not the other way around. We encourage people to chose their yarn first, then we will look for a pattern together to fit the yarn, or we will design one for them.

Me: What yarn is your sweater made of?

Goldie: I made it out of Symphony by Prism. We have a Prism trunk show once a year.

Me: It’s very pretty.

Goldie: We also teach corporate classes, and we host birthday parties for kids and adults. We teach kids from seven on up, but we teach mostly private, not group classes. We also worked on “A Tale of Two Cities” on Broadway. We did all the knitting for it and taught the stars how to look like they were really knitting on stage. It was really fun to be backstage and be part of all that excitement! And we are writing a Fox TV blog about how businesses are doing in this economic climate. If you register on our website we will send you information about everything that comes up.

Me: What got you into yarns?

Goldie: We both have a passion for knitting. Laura got into it in podiatry school. I started at 12. The mother of a friend taught me.

Me: How do you think the economy has affected knitting?

Goldie: It’s hard to say. This is the beginning of the slow season so it is hard to tell if things are slowing down a little because of the season or because of the economy. In general more people come in who are not working. Some people come because they were laid off, like the woman I was teaching when you came in. They try to do something productive with their time so they feel better about their situation.

Goldie walked through the store and showed me all the samples, including one made for Artyarns, which Laura designed with their newest yarn, “Splash”.

Then my friend Kristin walked in to pick me up. She has just started knitting and was very impressed with the place, especially the sequined Artyarn (which can make you seriously addicted!) and the sheared beaver gloves and hat that were displayed along with the circle jacket that Goldie teaches. The gloves were so soft we could not stop touching them!

I checked to make sure I had the pom pom maker before Kristin and I headed out. Sadly, the pom pom maker was all I could afford at the end of the month, so I had to leave the Artyarn behind this time. But Anna was totally thrilled. We spent the weekend making lots of pom poms :-).

Yarntopia

2009-03-23T22:42:00.038-04:00

My life has been a little hectic lately, or maybe I’m just not so with it these days… Last Tuesday I forgot my cell phone on a bus while picking up my daughter from school. It all got very complicated because we don’t have a landline at home and my husband was out of town. To wake us all up on time for school the next day, I ended up using the kitchen timer and slept with the door open so I would hear it. Anyway, my phone was found, I went to pick it up the next day, and I realized that I had 1 ½ hours before Anna’s school was finished. I have been having a bit of a creative crisis this week so my first thought was to go to the park and air out. My next thought was: Yarntopia is in walking distance from here (I was at 133rd street)! As I walked down to Amsterdam and 108th looking for the store, I spotted a beautiful dress in the window of a store on the corner.

Wow, I thought. When I am done at Yarntopia, I am going to check out this clothing store. Then I looked again, and I realized the dress was knitted and crocheted. Oops! I was standing right in front of Yarntopia (974 Amserdam Avenue (SW corner of 108th Street, NY, NY 10025, 212-316-9276 http://www.yarntopianyc.com/).

I walked in and asked the woman behind the counter if she was Dona. She was wearing another dress that I wish I had.

“I know who you are,” Dona said. “I have read your blog.” Now this was a first, and I was very flattered. Then she scolded me for not having come to her store sooner, since I do live in the neighborhood. Well, it’s actually forty blocks away, but she certainly had a point! A proud Harlem knitter should be more supportive of a Harlem yarn store. We got to talking about our days, and Dona told me that she had been in such a rush in the morning that she had actually walked out of her house wearing two different colored shoes of the same make. “I was walking here and people were looking at my feet funny,” she said. “I am used to people looking at these shoes because they are kind of different, but then I looked down and saw that I had grabbed a brown one and a purple one.”

“I used to do that intentionally!” I said. I instantly liked Dona. She is my age, but she reminds me of myself twenty years ago. Not to say that I have become an old fart, but I think my edge is a little bit dimmed these days (perhaps due to lack of sleep). Donna begged me not to put the shoes in my blog, but I couldn’t help it. I thought it looked cool, and I was so relieved to discover that I am not the only one who is frazzled enough to lose cell phones on buses.

I asked Dona how she got started and she told me that she used to be a psychiatric social worker, taking care of severely mentally ill former homeless people who were trying to reintegrate themselves into society. “I worked for a company called Pathways to Housing. The company kept the case load low so we could really develop a relationship with our clients. I started to work on my clinical social work degree but dropped out and opened the yarn store.“ What a change!

When I looked at my clock I wished I had made an appointment, as I usually do. Time was getting tight so I took a look around the store.

Yarntopia carries a wide variety of yarns: three-colored Misti Alpaca, various Malabrigo yarns, Noro Silk Garden, Blue Sky (I especially loved a Blue Sky alpaca/silk blend), LouLou, and Artyarn. You can find anything from cotton to angora; silk, merino, alpaca, cashmere, mohair—you name it. The sockyarnwall itself is something to behold. I severely stretched my yarn budget this month, so I had to be conservative, but I could not keep my hands off this beautiful silk Artyarn:

The colors were simply too beautiful! I looked at my phone again. The time frame had drifted from “calmly getting to my daughter’s school" to “I will have to rush like crazy and get there breathless”, so I asked Dona my seven questions as I ran up and down the store taking a few more pictures:

Me: When did you open the store?

Donna: 2 years ago.

Me: What made you chose this location?

Donna: This is my neighborhood and it is severely under-served. Every other store is a Duane Read or a Chase bank. There are two pottery studios, but that’s it.

Me: Who is your staff?

Donna: I’ve been jealous when I’ve read about some of the stores you cover that have a large staff. Here it’s just me and the instructors that teach my classes. I’m open from 12 a.m.-7 p.m. six days a week, except Tuesdays and Thursdays I open till 9 p.m. , so I work a lot.

Me: I don’t know how you do it! It must be a little bit like being a mom—relentless! What do you look for when you buy yarns?

Donna: I like to have a good spread between price points, fibers, textures and weight. It is actually tricky to buy yarn. If I bought only what I love I might not have much of a spread, so I am careful to buy many different textures and fibers.

Me: What kinds of classes do you teach here?

Donna: Classes range from beginners knitting and crochet to sock, lace, and children’s classes (we teach seven years and up). We are planning a knitting camp for the summer.

Me: Who designs your store samples?

Donna: I do. I used to sell my designs to some stores on the Lower East side and to Barneys. They were doing pretty well. I had samples in some nice places and they sold well. I had to stop that when I opened the store because all my time is now invested in the store itself. But I do still make the samples and I knit custom orders.

Me: I love the turquoise dress you made. It’s really beautiful. What got you into yarns?

Donna: I have been sewing since I was a little girl. My father manufactured high-end custom furniture, so there was always some beautiful fabric in the house. I started knitting 12 years ago. By then I knew what fits the body. I love textures and color. I love putting together pallets for people. It’s so much fun. We have a “show us your masterpiece” board at the door where we collect pictures of our clients’ finished pieces. I really like talking to people about their knitting.

Me: Do you feel the recession has changed how people buy yarn?

Donna: I think more people come in with a plan now. They are searching for things that speak to them. Most people are doing smaller projects like hats, gloves, or scarves.

Before I left I put my foot in my mouth. My father used to say “you talk, then act, then think…” Well, sometimes that is actually true. I complained to Donna that there are no entirely male pattern books out there, and of course she pulled three off her shelf. One that I liked particularly is by fellow raveller Michael Del Vecchio, also known as TrickyTricot. It's called Knitting with Balls. Very cool patterns, especially the “hooded alpaca parka.” So there! I ate my words, then I ran out the door and realized that I was within walking distance of my daughter’s school. I got there on time and only slightly out of breath!

Update 5/11/2009. During my second visit, my daughter dragged me downstairs. I thought I would find a basement filled with yarn, but instead we stood in a funky party room!

"I use this for the knitting classes." Dona said. "I also rent it out for parties, and wedding showers." Anna was ready for the party, but we had to go get a cupcake she had earned herself for being so patient.

Happy 1,000 visitors!

2009-03-20T21:43:00.007-04:00

Thank you all so much for coming and reading my blog!

I really appreciate it!

The Point

2009-03-16T22:43:00.036-04:00

UPDATE 2: Alyssa is now working at Annie & Co. Erin is working at String.

UPDATE 1: Wednesday, April 29th: sadly, The Point has had its last day of operations today. The closing has come as a shock to many of us. I am very sad that this cozy place will no longer welcome me with its wonderful yarns, warm staff, and excellent coffees. I am leaving the review up as a tribute to the store. I loved being there and I will miss it.

This week I had the pleasure of meeting Alyssa, a very young store manager (she doesn’t like to tell her age, but suffice it to say she is little more than half of mine
--I’m 41 :-)

I thought it would be hard to find The Point (37a Bedford Street, NY, NY 10014, 212-929-0800 http://www.thepointnyc.com/), because it is located in the West Village, where every street runs at a weird angle and you never know whether you are walking West, East, North or South. But fortunately, as I walked on Carmine from Sixth to Seventh Avenue, it was plainly visible: the owner has placed two large signs outside that make it nearly impossible to miss.

I met Alyssa at 10:30 in the morning, shortly before opening time. Desperately craving a cup of coffee I was thrilled to learn that The Point is both store and café. Alyssa greeted me from behind a counter full of cupcakes and cookies. Now this is how I like to start my mornings!

“It’s nice that you have a café,” I said.

“Yes,” she replied. “I think it takes the pressure off for some people. The café encourages a communal atmosphere. It’s nice for me to see people that I have seen sitting by themselves many times, and one day they are sitting at the table talking to someone else who usually comes in alone. We have a lot of customers who come for coffee first and buy yarn later. No one feels obligated.”

Once I had my low dosage morning caffeine (decaf please--I am a caffeine wimp), I was able to sit and look around.
“Wow,” I said. “Who designed this place?” In the front of the store, the yarn is displayed in metal baskets that are fixed to the walls. In the back of the store, the skeins hang from wire hooks, sort of like meat at a butcher shop.

“We hired a designer for that,” Alyssa said. “It’s cool, isn’t it?” She told me that the owner, Helane, opened The Point a few years ago. “She used to be here a lot more often, but she has a full time job at Macy’s and travels a lot.” I asked why Helane runs a business on top of having a full time job. Alyssa said Helane opened the store a couple of years after September 11th. “She lives down near Ground Zero. Knitting made her feel grounded during that time. Afterwards she wished that other people would have access to something so therapeutic as well, so she opened the shop.”

A couple of customers knocked on the door and Alyssa let them in. While she was helping them, I looked around the store some more. I saw Silky Malabrigo, Alchemy, Misti Alpaca, Baby Twist, Debbi e Bliss, Knit One Crochet Two… The store carries a wide variety, which surprised me because the baskets make the place look so airy that I had expected to find a much smaller selection. There were many knitted samples folded and draped on a shelf, and one sample of a beautifully knitted and crocheted jacket draped over a mannequin.

“That’s our Pattern of the Month,” Alyssa returned to me. It was designed by Matthew Gnagy. “We sell the yarn for the pattern at 10% off--the pattern comes with the yarn. Each month we have a different theme.”

We sat down again and I began to ask my seven questions:

Me: When did The Point open?

Alyssa: Four years ago this month.

Me: What made Helane chose this location?

Alyssa: I think she used to live in this neighborhood. The West Village has her heart.

Me: Who is the staff?

Alyssa: Let me see: There’s me, and Erin, our assistant manager, who runs the blog as well. She is fantastic. The store would fall apart without her. Lea has been here the longest (2 ½ years). Megan is one of our instructors. She teaches crocheting and spinning. She made the elephant in the window.

ME: That elephant is amazing! Who buys the yarn and what is important to you guys?

Alyssa: Helane and I meet with vendors. We try to carry diverse pallets (a little bit of everything except for acrylics). We have a small amount of cashmere at our high price point, but we carry a large amount of moderately priced yarns and some cheap ones as well. We like to support small vendors. I try to find yarns that our clients will enjoy and avoid those that pill. We carry Knit One Crochet Two, which uses recycled textile and garment waste. I am a vegan and recycling is important to me. Our cupcakes are vegan too (and we have soy milk).

ME: What kinds of classes do you teach here?

Alyssa: We teach spindle spinning, yarn dyeing, beginning knitting (3 times a week) and crochet (2 times a week). Our classes are mostly in the evenings and weekends. Barbara has been teaching knitting for 50 years. She teaches finishing classes, Tunisian crochet, gloves that fit, and how to fix mistakes. Megan teaches yarn dyeing, crochet, and spinning. Hanna teaches intro to lace free form, knitting and crochet, and alternatives to double point. Kiara teaches beginning knitting and baby items.

We have workshops, too. In April Jared Flood will be here twice (April 10th and 24th) teaching his Girasole, and Tanis Gray will teach her Bartlett Cowl (April 3rd) and Hawthorn Hat (April 17th). In March Joyce Goodman was here teaching knitting with wire.

ME: Wow, I am totally star struck with Jared Flood. Did you see Tanis’ blue alpaca scarf? It was on the cover of the last Vogue Knitting. I was completely floored by it. I really wish I had the time to come down for these things, but I have no freedom because my kids are so little. The most time away from them I get is to do these interviews.

ME: What got you into yarns? I guess I will ask you, because Helane is not here.

Alyssa: I grew up in a yarn store. My mom runs one outside of Buffalo. I used to knit the store samples and started helping out when I was very young (now her young age made sense to me).

ME: Have you seen anything change since the economy tanked?

Alyssa: There is definitely a difference. A lot more people come into the store now to hang out during the week. It usually slows down after Christmas, but this year it didn’t. People also seem more cautious with what they buy. Book sales have gone up a lot.

It was 12 already, so I thanked Alyssa for the wonderful morning and headed to my favorite bagel place up the street: Bagels on the Square. My husband and I used to stop there to pick up bagels and cream cheese on our way to the airport to avoid the airplane food (once in the pouring rain—the driver nearly killed us!). I chose two: apple cinnamon and scallion deluxe, eating the latter for lunch and the former for desert. It brought back very nice memories.

Purl

2009-03-09T22:29:00.028-04:00

UPDATE 4/28/2010

Purl has MOVED to a new, HUGE Space!
459 Broome Street, New York, NY 10013
(212) 420-8796

Purl (137 Sullivan Street, New York, NY 10012, phone: (212)420-8796, http://www.purlsoho.com/), and its sister (fabric) store Patchwork (please see above for new address--phone: (212) 420-8798) are located on a small cozy block between Houston and Prince. Their store fronts are easily identifiable as belonging together since they are both painted the same baby blue. Both stores have exquisitely beautiful handmade items in the windows.

(Purl)

(Patchwork)
Since I had picked up Sabrina Gschwandtner’s book “Knit Knit” at Knitty City, I did not come unprepared. Knit Knit has three pages dedicated to Purl’s owner, Joelle.

(original photo from Knit Knit)
Joelle, I had read, studied painting before she became a yarn store owner. Fresh out of college she financed her painting studio by working at Martha Stewart, and later as a freelance stylist. While at Martha Stewart, Joelle became impressed with handmade things, and also learned how to knit, eventually writing her own knitting book, “Last Minute Gifts.” Knitting increasingly took over Joelle’s life until she sat in her painting studio thinking about her knitting. When her passion for knitting took over her painting life, she decided it was time to make a change. She invested the money saved from her freelance gigs and put it into what has become Purl. “When I first took my father to see it,” she told me, “he looked around and said, ‘Please tell me you’re kidding!’. The ceiling was caving in and the floor was covered with dirt and debris. I got on my hands and knees and scrubbed away to show my father the beautiful floor under all the dirt. He could not believe I wanted to put money into such a dump.” Three contractors later, Joelle finally found someone who was willing to preserve the beauty of the original floor. “For some reason no one thought it was possible.” Her tenacity paid off. Purl’s beautiful mosaic floor gives it charm and draws you in. In a city where things constantly get replaced, an old stone floor can feel very comforting.

Another thing that is special about Purl is Joelle’s way of displaying yarn. All of her yarns are grouped by color. “We have an elaborate manual on how to put them together,” she laughed. I could believe it: the result is stunningly beautiful. Purls (and Patchwork's)walls, covered with shelves custom designed by a carpenter friend, are an artwork in their own right.

(Purl)

(Patchwork)
Joelle runs both Purl and Patchwork with two partners, her sister Jennifer (who maintains the web page and writes the blog), and Page, a ceramicist and former stylist friend at Martha Stewart who became a partner a few months ago.

When Page and I sat down in their “office”, a coffee place across the street that was as small as it was cozy, we immediately started talking about a very emotional subject. I had come from dropping off my daughter at pre-k. She had refused to get dressed in the morning and I had told her that if we did not get to school on time, she could not go to the art show at her school that afternoon (the show had some of her artwork in it). We did get there late. I got to Purl two hours after I dropped her off, carrying two heavy bags full of “compensation”, so my daughter (or perhaps I) wouldn’t feel so terrible about her punishment.
Page has a three-year-old daughter herself. “I can’t begin to tell you how many times I have threatened her with something I have regretted instantly,” she said. “It’s the problem with toddlers: they usually take you up on it!” It’s true, I thought. Young children have the power to grab the pit of your stomach and turn it into knots in seconds!

Joelle joined us, and we moved on to the actual topic of the day: Purl.

I told Page and Joelle that I have been amazed how emotional people seem to be about yarn stores. I shared with them some of the responses I have gotten on my blog and some comments I’ve read on the internet. People get really invested in their yarn relationships! “Oh, please tell me what you have found about us,” Joelle said quickly. I assured her that I had not seen anything negative about Purl . “Thank God,” she sighed. “It’s my biggest priority to make my clients happy.” She told me how hard it is to establish a good store/client relationship.

It is hard, I thought, but why? Why do we get so stirred up when we enter a yarn store? Perhaps it has to do with how vulnerable and insecure we feel when we bring our fragile creative selves into an unfamiliar environment. Many of us who express ourselves creatively with yarn, especially those who are just beginning to learn the craft, feel exposed and in great need of reassurance. Yarn shop owners (and their staff) can really become substitute parents.

Page and Joelle seem to be very gentle parents with beautiful taste. After we had finished our coffees, Joelle took me back to the store and showed me some of her yarns. She pulled them out of the shelves carefully as if she were holding precious pieces of china. Purl carries only natural fibers. Bamboo blends are stacked next to silk and mohair blends; cashmere, merino, and alpaca cuddle up next to each other. One entire box was filled with the most beautifully colored organic cotton. “Did you know that cotton comes in six different natural colors?” Joelle asked. I had no idea!

I picked up a luscious turquoise ball of Road to China, and lingered near the window, where I found a yarn from a company called Andy’s Merino, which produces the brightest canary yellow I have ever seen. “Isn’t this beautiful?” Joelle said. “I am making a blanket out of it for my next book.”

It was time for me to go, so I grabbed three skeins (Koigu, Road to China, and Andy’s Merino--I had to restrict myself) and headed back up to Harlem. On the way out I ran into Page one more time. “Be easy on your daughter,” she said. “I think sometimes we have to give in.” I left the store feeling comforted and warm.

In the subway I read through our interview:

Me: When did you open your store?

Joelle: I opened Purl in 2002. The website went up in 2003, and Patchwork opened in 2006.

Me: What made you chose this location?

Joelle: I always loved this neighborhood. Soho used to be amazing, filled with independent little design stores with somebody sewing in the back room. This part of Soho still feels that way to me. The building Purl is in was a disaster, so it was affordable.

Me: Who is your staff?

Joelle and Page: We have a pretty large staff. Jennifer runs the web page and writes the blog. There is Faye, who has worked here since high school. Lea has been with us for several years--she is a dancer. Finlay (who worked on the Obama campaign) and Gretta (an amazing knitter) joined us recently. Calia has started teaching classes. She has a very bubbly energy. There was George, who worked for us forever, but he recently moved to Hawaii. At Patchwork there is Nikki, a bassoonist, who was at Purl for a long time until she began to manage Patchwork. Eva has been here for 1 ½ years. She studies painting restoration. Karle is a costume designer. She knows tons about fabric. Sophie works 2 days a week (she also works at Ohm—the yoga studio). They are all lovely people!

Me: When you buy yarn, what is important to you?

Joelle: The way it feels, the color, and the texture. I want it to be as natural as it can be (not overly manufactured)--something that is really good quality. I don’t carry a lot of discount yarns. I look for classic, timeless yarns. Color is a big thing for me.

Me: What kinds of classes do you teach at Purl and Patchwork?

Joelle and Page: Mostly beginning, occasionally crochet, some pattern help and finishing. You can bring your pattern and we will help you. We do it when the store is closed. Next door we have quilting classes and beginners sewing. All our classes are listed on the website, but we also have a list of them in the store.

Me: Who makes your store samples?

Joelle: We used to have store samples, but they were stolen too often. Now we just have swatches. It works a lot better.

Me: They got stolen? That’s shocking! Something that takes so much work and someone just takes it…

Me: What got you into yarns?

Joelle: It was a more portable form of creativity than painting. When I worked at Martha Stewart, they did a story about knitting. There was all this yarn out on the table--beautiful fibers—I’m very into materials, but I didn’t even know yarns could be that beautiful. My grandmother knitted mostly with acrylic, so I wasn’t used to associating beauty with yarns.

Page: I used to collect yarn before I could knit. For me it was also the portability. I was a ceramicist and that is not very portable (she laughed).

Me: Do you think the economy has been good for knitting?

Page: I don’t think it has been either good or bad. People who used to knit might get back into it now, but we don’t see much of a difference yet.

Monday-Night-Exhaustion...

2009-03-02T21:46:00.004-05:00

I have been trying to write my newest review, but due to lack of sleep (the kids have been sick and fidgety at night for at least a week), and due to the Knitty summer submission deadline today, I just cannot get my thoughts together. I am fried! So please forgive me and come back next week. I have to get some SLEEP :-)

I did get my submission in, though, all i's dotted and t's crossed. So this has felt like a great, great day.

Happy snow everyone in New York!

See you next week.

:-)

Knitty City

2009-02-22T13:24:00.026-05:00

I have to thank Pearl and Phyllis from Knitty City for opening up a whole new world to me. Knitty City (208 West 79th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam, (212) 787-5896 http://www.knittycity.com/) sits near a very windy corner on the Upper West Side. The day I went there it was pouring like it hadn’t in years. I fled into the store, away from the weather. I felt like a mess: my coat was soaked, my hair stuck to my head, and I was totally rattled. Cold, windy weather is just not my thing… So I was thankful to be surrounded by warm, fuzzy yarns. I took a peek around the store while Pearl got something sorted out, and I saw many things I loved: silky Malabrigo, three-colored Misti Alpaca, cuddly soft kid-mohair by Rowan, and lots of Colinette. One table in the front had a bowl with jewelry-embellished Artyarn. If I only had the money…

When Pearl came over she introduced me to Phyllis, who writes the newsletter and maintains the store’s website.

We sat down at a small round table in the front of the store while some staff members gave knitting advice at another, larger table in the back.

Pearl had to leave shortly, so we were a bit rushed. She started by telling me that she had envisioned the store to feel as if you were in her studio or home: “inviting, with carefully chosen mismatched chairs, to work against a kind of school-room feel.” “I like artists,” Pearl continued. “My focus here is on books about knitting, and especially about knitters, but not just regular knitters.”

“We really love fiber artists,” Phyllis chimed in. “Do you know Xenobia Bailey?” I shook my head. I actually didn’t know that there even was such a thing as a knitting artist, someone who would actually be exhibited in a major museum (like Xenobia Bailey). I only knew Faith Ringgold, a quilting artist, but I had always thought she was unique. Knitty City was hosting a store party for Xenobia. “She makes tea, too!” The evening was going to be filled with tea. Everyone was to bring her favorite cup, and the store would serve up Xenobia’s wonderful African imported flavors while she talked about her work.

Phyllis continued. “There’s also Kathy Goldner(author of the Knitting Out Loud audio books), and Sabrina Gschwandtner, who wrote the book Knit Knit--do you know it?" I didn’t. "It’s right here. Sabrina will be here February 21st." I leafed through the book and saw knitted mushrooms, tiny knitted boots, and gigantic knitting needles held by two actual bulldozers. Given my frame of mind that day, this was about all the information I could handle, so I asked Pearl and Phyllis my seven questions (or rather six, because I forgot one) before Pearl ran out the door.

Me: When did you open your store?

Pearl: We opened in January, 3 years ago. We actually knitted a cake for our anniversary. Did you see it in the window?

Me: How did you choose this location?

Pearl: I knew people in the building who told me the space was available. I feel this is a great community for knitting. People in this neighborhood love books, and we carry a good selection (she even carries a Japanese book—written in Japanese—with thousands of graphed stitch patterns).

Me: Who are your staff?

Pearl: We have a large staff. (I can attest to that. When I was there, there were at least 5 people working in the store.) Some of them were with us from day one. Very few people have left. I think it’s about 10-11 people.

Phyllis: I write the newsletter and maintain the website, and Aryn [photo above] is in charge of the Ravelry group. We also have a Google group that has over 1400 members. We want the store to be an artistic resource. We book people who are fiber artists, writers of knitting books, and sometimes artists from other fields who knit.

Me: What kind of classes do you teach?

Pearl: We teach beginning knit workshops, beginning crochet, sock classes, lace classes, knitting for babies…there will also be a double knitting workshop with Alasdair Post-Quinn (where you learn to knit so that both sides of your knitting look great).

Phyllis: Our website has a detailed calendar.

Me: Who makes your store samples?

Pearl: Everyone contributes--mostly people who work here. They get the yarn for free and take home the sample after it has been displayed. Sometimes yarn companies send us samples as well.

Me: What got you into yarns?

Pearl: I had enough of a stash thirty years ago to open a store. I started with Barbara Walker’s book when I was pregnant, and made an afghan out of all these squares. I actually had just gone back to making those squares when I opened the store, except this time I didn’t make an afghan out of them. We’ve had great customers. Word of mouth has been great for us!

My phone rang. It was my husband: “Honey, are you coming to yoga class today? It’s already 12:15. Where are you?” WHAT? I dashed out the door into the pouring rain and grabbed a bus (that is, after I scooped up a bunch of yarn, needles and a bar of chocolate, which I was very thankful for).

When I got home that evening my head was still spinning from all the art talk. I started surfing on the net and discovered some truly mind-boggling work. Xenobia Bailey for one is an amazing artist, and so are her friends. Her blog led me to Nick Cave (not the musician, but the dancer/fiber artist), and my world is not the same anymore. Go visit Xenobia’s blog, or look at this youtube video, and you’ll know what I mean…

So thank you Pearl and Phyllis, for this wonderful new world I am entering.

p.s: I am sorry that I did not get to post this piece before some of the events mentioned here (blame it on my kids :-) ), but for those of you who would like to meet Xenobia Bailey, she will be celebrating her birthday at Knitty City in a few weeks…

There is also a reading coming up with Franklin Habit, author if "It Itches, a stash of knitting cartoons", which promises lots of laughter.

The Yarn Company

2009-02-16T21:25:00.018-05:00

I was apprehensive about visiting the Yarn Company on the Upper West Side (2274 Broadway @ 82nd St. 2nd floor New York, NY, 10024 212-787-7878 http://www.theyarnco.com/). Researching on the internet I had come across a number of old posts that were not very flattering to the store. When I brought this up with someone who knew the store well, she said, "Yes, they had a reputation for being unfriendly, but that's no longer the case." I walked up the long staircase, not knowing what to expect.

What I found was a large table of women, laughing, chatting, and knitting; above them lots and lots of sweaters hanging from the ceiling. Two women sat in the back room talking to a yarn supplier. Color charts were strewn around the table. I introduced myself. Julie smiled and asked me to wait five minutes while she and her business partner, Jordana, finished their order. I took pictures of the store and looked at the yarns and the samples hanging from the ceiling.

There were so many sweaters: small ones, big ones, thin ones, thick ones...

The window sills were filled with yarn from a company called "Naturwolle" (German for 'natural yarn'). Shelves with various kinds of yarns lined the walls (except for one wall full of books). I was stopped by a basket of multicolored angora (I only know angora in solids). I took out one of the skeins and held it in my hands. It felt just as soft as it looked.

"Isn't that amazing?" Julie appeared behind me. "It's such good quality." It felt like I was petting a rabbit. Julie saw me look up at all the hangers. "We specialize in making patterns for our customers," she explained. "You can come in with an idea and we will help you realize it. We'll take your measurements, plan the yarn with you, and take you through the process of making whatever you like. You can knit your sweater here (she pointed at the table of women behind us) or come back any time you need help." I knew Julie and her partner Jordana had published a series of knitting books: The Yarn Girls' Guide to... I liked their books for the simplicity and the cheerful pictures. They are great for beginners. What impressed me was that the samples in their books (as well as the store samples) were not some outlandish display of the authors' knitting abilities, but rather inviting, "do-able" pieces. The knits in the books are very pretty and very well-executed, but not intimidating. Neither was Julia or Jordana.

Granted, the store has a fast pace, which can feel intimidating, but overall the atmosphere at The Yarn Company is very inviting. After I talked to Julie, Jordana spent some time with me. Jordana teaches knitting at PS 87, a nearby public school, to a class of 1st graders, every Friday. The kids learn how to knit with very large needles and make a simple project. Jordana sits with them, guiding each of them through their scarf or purse, and helps when stitches drop. "There are more and more kids coming into the store lately," she said. "It seems like knitting is catching on with a much younger generation." The store has even been rented out for birthday parties recently, where five or six kids sit around the table, and learn how to knit. "The boys really like it, too. We see a lot more parents buying supplies to teach their kids as well."

The yarn supplier had packed up to go, so the three of us sat down for my seven questions:

Me: When did you open the store?

Jordana: We opened in July '97.

Me: What made you chose this location?

Jordana: This store was a yarn store before. It has been a yarn store for 3 generations of owners. I used to work here right after college. I studied law and worked as a lawyer for one year, but then the store came up for sale and Julie and I decided to buy it.

Julie: We met in college, and when this opportunity came, we decided to take it.

Me: When you buy yarn, what is important to you?

Julie: We mostly carry natural fibers. We care about quality, what appeals to our sensibilities, and that we have a nice mix of solids and multi-colored yarn.

Me: What kinds of classes do you teach?

Jordana: We teach beginners and finishing classes. We don't really teach advanced classes. All you really need to know is the basics. After that you can just come in and we work with you individually.

Me: Who is your staff? How long have they been working here?

Julie: Petra has worked here since the previous owner. She teaches some of the classes and keeps the store organized. Then there is Jen, who writes knitting patterns, Leslie, Malow, and Mercedes, who knits many of our samples and helps people with finishing. She's almost always here at the table helping someone out.

Me: Who makes your store samples?

Jordana: Mostly Mercedes, but we all chip in.

Me: What got you into yarns?

Julie: We learned how to knit in college, and loved it.

Me: Do people knit more or less during a recession?

Jordana: There was a huge spike in knitting about four years ago. It has tapered off in the last year or so, but things are still going strong.

I asked Jordana if I could join her during one of her class lessons at PS 87; we made plans to meet the following week. I left, feeling relieved that they were both so nice, and happy to have found another great knitting resource.

Seaport Yarn

2009-02-09T21:42:00.027-05:00

Andrea Waller founded Seaport Yarn
(181 Broadway Fifth Floor (use the elevator)
New York, NY 10007 phone:1-800-347-2662)
in 2002 inside an apartment building that housed her market research company. The building was residential, so she was not allowed to post any advertisement or even signs inside or outside of the building for people to find her. What a way to start a business! "In the beginning," Andrea said, "things were kind of crazy. We had all the yarn in the different offices where we were doing our market research." This reminds me of a remark by one of my husband’s friends, who said he worked for a "drinking firm with a consulting problem." Andrea had a market research company with a yarn problem :-) ; these days it’s more like a knitting store with a market research problem. Although Andrea maintains some high end market research clients like Mayor Bloomberg (“we did some work for the Bloomberg campaign”), she now houses her yarn shop in a properly zoned building, on the fifth floor, with lots of space and shelves and shelves of yarn; one entire wall is dedicated to sock yarn alone.

Andrea is no stranger to hard times. She was profoundly affected by September 11th. Her business has always been near the World Trade Center, now Ground Zero. While I was at her store, a fire truck drove by outside, siren blaring. “Do you smell smoke?” Andrea asked, looking around alarmed. She quickly apologized. “Since 2001, my sense of smell is off. I constantly think I am smelling smoke. It makes me so nervous.” I experienced Andrea as a very compassionate person who cares deeply about people who struggle, although she was quick to tell me that some people consider her difficult (“I just have a low tolerance for people who are rude, so I am rude right back”).

Andrea makes it a point to support small businesses: a spinner who is just starting out, a small company selling a yarn no one has heard of… If she likes the quality, she’ll buy it and sell it in her shop. She’ll even give business advice. She told one spinner to name all her yarns after smells because her company name conjured up the smell of pine. “When I got the first package from her after that conversation, I unpacked the yarn and thought I smelled something. She had actually put some coffee and some vanilla in the package. We were all just sitting there sniffing… :-)” Andrea loves strange and obscure yarns. She carries buffalo, yak, milk- and corn yarn (see my blog entry on January 13th for details). She’ll try out any gadget that strikes her, like Kollage’s square knitting and crocheting needles (mentioned in Vogue Knitting’s most recent issue). Knitwear designers can order yarn through her at a discount. “It’s not wholesale, but I try to give them a break on the price.” But it's also fun to hang out with her. Andrea is a treasure trove of information and she loves to share it. After nearly two hours of chatting about yarns, downtown, and life in New York, I finally asked Andrea my seven (or rather eight) questions:

Me: When did you start your business?

Andrea: I’ve been in this area on and off since 1997, but I started the yarn store in 2002.

Me: What made you choose this location?

Andrea: I stayed downtown because I had been here already. I thought having a yarn store down here would bring some business into an area that needed it, but I also thought it would give people who work down here a chance to go somewhere for their lunch break and relax. We are right around the corner from Century 21 and down the street from J+R computers. I thought people would be able to combine errands. You can go and shop for electronics and then come and sit on our comfy couch.

Me: Who is your staff?

Andrea: Lauren has been here 6 months and Susan and Claire 4-5 years. I have some online partners, LaJuana, John (who played bass guitar with David Bowie), and “Little John”, who is also a rock musician. They work in Portland and maintain the website. We still do market research, just a lot less, and we sell a lot more yarn now.

Me: What do you look for when you buy yarn?

Andrea: I look for quality versus price. I search for unique things, things that I don’t see every day. I carry Debbie Bliss, Blue Sky Alpaca, Punta Del Este, but also Pinewood, Blue Heron (a small hand-dyer from Maryland), and Kollage…

Me: What kind of classes do you teach?

Andrea: We teach beginning, intermediate, and advanced beginner classes. We have a sock class. Most of our classes are at night. Our classes are taught by Claire and Naomi (both ex-presidents of the Big Apple Knitters Guild).

Me: Who knits your store samples?

Andrea: Our staff, although some of the yarn companies send store samples.

Me: What made you open a yarn store?

Andrea: I learned how to knit from my grandmother when I was a kid. I’ve been doing it ever since. I just love it.

Me: How do you think the recession is affecting people?

Andrea: I think people are finally getting to their stashes. People are making more things and giving hand-made presents to save money. A lot of people can’t afford expensive luxury items.

Ooops! I realized I was running late to pick my daughter from pre-k, so I grabbed a pair of square needles and some Pinewood silk and wool yarn and jumped in the subway to head up to Harlem.

Downtown Yarns

2009-02-02T21:00:00.039-05:00

When I walked into Downtown Yarns (at 45 Avenue A between 3rd and 4th), I was struck by the beautiful, knitted snowflakes in the window. I was so mesmerized by them that I nearly tripped over the fluffy Golden Retriever lying behind the door. Oh! Now I understood the sign in the door: Please pick up your dog- Frankie thanks you! "Hello," I greeted the bundle of golden hair. "You must be Frankie."

"Can I help you?" A warm face at the end of the long narrow store was peaking over the counter. Rita, the owner, was in the process of ordering wool. I told her I was the woman who had called about the blog, and that I wanted to review New York knitting stores. "Right," she said. "Why don't you hang up your coat." She motioned me to step behind the counter. "Do you want some coffee?"

Wow, I thought. It must be nice to work here.

Since Rita was busy on the phone, I began by exploring the store and taking pictures. The store is long and narrow with very high ceilings. Yarn shelves reach from the floor to the ceiling, adorned by open skeins dangling loosely from hooks on the adjacent walls. I was impressed by the craftsmanship of the knitted samples; whimsical lace dresses hung next to jackets, coats, hats, and a number of dinosaurs. Knitted dinosaurs?

"That's a pteradactyl," Rita said and smiled. "We had a dinosaur theme recently. The window was full of them." Two people walked in the door, one carrying a Yorkshire Terrier who seemed very familiar with the surroundings. Leti, one of Rita's part time staff, helped the woman solve a pattern problem. The other woman showed her finished hat to Rita, who admired it greatly. I used the time to explore the yarn in the store. Rita carries almost entirely natural fibers: Misti Alpaca in various thickness, Chunky Malabrigo, and bright pink Colinette Point Five. Classic Cotton in vibrant colors, and a whole shelf full of kid mohair. A librarian ladder leans on a shelf filled with a blend of undyed alpaca and wool. "I'm done," Rita said. "Do you want to ask me some questions?" So we moved on to the interview part of my visit.

Me: When did you open your store?

Rita: In 2001.

Me: What made you choose this location?

Rita: I live upstairs--and I love this neighborhood.

Me: When you buy yarn, what is important to you?

Rita: Quality and value. I always ask myself: is it worth the money?

Me: What kinds of classes do you offer?

Rita: Different people, who I just think are good teachers, teach different classes; some knit, some crochet. Some work here and some don't. We have a website where you can find more information: http://www.downtownyarns.com/.

Me: Who is your staff and how long have they been here?

Rita: A lot of people work here, most of them part time. We have many different temperaments and expertises in the store. Some of us spin, some design store samples, some crochet, some are great finishers... The first criteria is that the staff are really nice.

Me: I guess that answers my next question: who makes the store samples?

Rita: We all kind of do. Irina did the pteradactyl. She does a lot of the dresses. She is very, very good. And Leti here is a fabulous designer." Leti blushed and smiled.

Me: What got you into yarns?

Rita: I've knit all my life. I was a florist for 17 years, but it was too stressful. The yarn shop is a good fit for me. It's like play. Wool is just as pretty as flowers, but it doesn't go bad.

Me: This is a question just for me. I don't know yet if I will include it. Do you think people are knitting more or less in the recession?

Rita:I think that's hard to say yet. It's still cold out and people generally knit more in the winter, so we'll probably have to wait til the spring to know more about that.

Me: Thanks, those were all my questions.

I hung out a little bit more, just because I liked the atmosphere so much. Then I bought some chunky Misti Alpaca to make a scarf for my husband. I carefully stepped over Frankie, petted her on the head and headed back uptown to my kids.

What a great morning. I'll be coming back here!

UPDATE February 9th:

Rita just contacted me to tell me she has a new window installation.

Her newest theme is felted boots. I just love it! Everyone in the store knitted and felted a pair of boots, and a shoe artist is going to create soles for each pair. The finished, felted boots can be worn outside as regular shoes. Rita gives out the pattern with the purchase of the yarn. I'll be getting mine next week!

Etsy Treasure Trove And Happy 200!

2009-01-28T20:24:00.008-05:00

Today I am celebrating more than 200 visitors! What a great gift to have all of you come. Thank you so much for reading, leaving comments, and following my tangled thoughts :-)

Today I wanted to talk about Etsy. For those of you who don't know it (which might not be all that many of you), Etsy is a website with the address http://www.etsy/. At Etsy all hand made goods come together, and are sold to hand-made-goods-loving customers, which--it turns out--are many. In this downtrodden economy, Etsy did record sales this Christmas. One thing Etsy is great for, besides many other things, is buying reasonably priced, (you guessed it) handspun, yarns. Some of these yarns are quite beautiful, so today I am goinng to introduce you to a few of these people--or rather to their shops.

Inauguration and Other Animals

2009-01-21T21:46:00.009-05:00

Well, what can I say, what I did yesterday is probably what most people did yesterday: I watched the 44th President of the United States take office. I was amazed by the masses of people gathered in front of the White House, 1-2 million they say (I was just a little jealous that I was sitting in front of a TV--four hours away). I especially loved Rev. Joseph Lowery's speech: "...when black will not be asked to give back, brown can stick around, yella will be mella, the red man can get ahead man, and white will embrace what is right..." I hope I'm quoting it right. I believe many other people were more eloquent last night than I can hope to be, but I do feel very warm and fuzzy. Which brings me back to my blog.

I finished my husband's cap!

The cap matches his scarf rather nicely, I think. :-) (I made that for Christmas.) So far the alpaca has held up well. It's not losing shape, and its not fuzzing, either--and all of Adam's curls fit into it--amazing!

But lets move on to more animals:

Camel (Camel):

Camel is very similar to alpaca, although not as soft. It is not hugely common in knitting stores. Camel is often spun in its natural color, which is rather pretty. I would use camel for most of the same things as alpaca, but since alpaca is so much softer, I prefer it. Camel is not a good beginner’s yarn.

Buffalo:

Buffalo is not unlike camel yarn, in that it is taken off the animal in warm, fuzzy bushels. The natural color is darker, so it does not lend itself to much dyeing. I would not use it as my first yarn, because it is rather expensive compared to easier to use kinds.

the site to go for for buffalo yarn is

A nice camel yarn is:

I think that wraps up most of the natural yarns I know. Next I'll dedicate one whole day to Etsy spinners, then one more blog about synthetics, and then I'll move on to New York yarn shops!

Is it cold enough out there?

2009-01-16T20:06:00.001-05:00

Today it was -5 degrees Farenheit here in New York. It is the kind of weather where your hands and face hurt within seconds and you cry "cold-tears". Just the right time to pull out some soft alpaca and knit a hat for my beloved husband, who has been poking me in the arm every day: "I neeeed a hat, honey!" I got this unbelievably soft Blue Sky alpaca at the Yarn Company on the Upper West Side. Two days ago, I visited with the owners of The Yarn Company, Julie and Jordana, two spunky, driven New Yorkers. They met in college, and, although they both studied something else, bought The Yarn Company together when it was up for sale in 1997, and have been partners ever since (but more on that in February). The only other thing I'll mention now is that they publish knitting books, which was very helpful, because one of their patterns is a basic, simple, beautiful winter hat! How did they know? :-)

So today's yarn is alpaca:

Alpaca is one of my favorite yarns. When it is spun pure, it is very soft but also thick. It is almost like knitting thick angora. I love alpaca for men’s sweaters and scarves. In particular it is great for large, bulky sweaters that are worn instead of jackets. The yarn is naturally beige, light brown, dark brown, gray, or black. Alpaca can be very heavy. Coats or longer pieces of clothing made out of it can sag. As with angora, alpaca can come apart when pulled too hard, so try to knit loosely and don’t put too much pressure on your yarn while you are knitting. Do not use alpaca for your first project

Baby Aplaca:

An exception to the sagging nature of alpaca is baby alpaca. Today there are a number of companies that spin really nice baby alpaca. Since it is more forgiving, you can use baby alpaca pretty early on—perhaps not on your first project, but definitely on your second.

Llama (Llama):

Llama and alpaca are nearly identical. Do not use llama for your first project.

Two great alpaca companies are:

and

Yarn made out of WHAT?

2009-01-13T20:19:00.002-05:00

What a day! Although I am going to write about my visit in detail in February, I am just too excited to wait. I visited with Andrea Waller at Seaport Yarn in the Financial District today. She was so nice and welcoming and wonderful, and she educated me on some fascinating things about yarns. I thought I had heard it all, researched it all, and knew it all, but nooooo. What a surprise.

There is yarn made out of milk?

I'm still in shock. It's not really milk, but two byproducts of milk: curds and whey. There is a company that mixes whey and curds with cotton or wool to make yarn.

(Read up on curds and whey here if you don't know what they are.) "Creamy Yarn" is made out of 80% milk and 20% cotton; "Half and Half" is 50% milk and 50% wool. I held it in my hand. Especially the Half and Half was unbelievably soft.

Andrea also had corn yarn, which was surprising but not nearly as shocking.

Corn yarn is made out of the husks of corn, which is somewhat imaginable, I think.

The company making these exotic (or should we rather say "domestic") yarns is
Check them out if you don't believe me, or check them out anyway. :-)

More on my visit in February when I will give Seaport Yarns its due space. As always, thank you so much for visiting.

Tantrums, Rabbits, and Cashmere

2009-01-09T19:55:00.001-05:00

I took my four-year-old daughter to pick up my two-year-old son from daycare today. She threw herself on the floor because she did not get to open the door first on the way out. I finally had to pick her up and carry her out; she continued to lie on the street. My son wanted to ride her toddler bicycle "by myself, Mama." Anna was fine with that because she got to sit in Andor's stroller. So I am pushing a stroller with my right hand and trying to steer my son on a much-too-big bicycle with my left. Every time I steer him away from the street he yells "No Mama! No pull! Push in back!" How do you explain to a two-year-old that he cannot steer by himself? That we made it home was a minor miracle. When we got to our gate, an empathetic neighbor looked at me and said, "That looks hard!" It was. :-)

In the meantime I have a cold that I cannot shake. Every time I think it's gone it reappears again. I've been wanting to visit knitting shops all this week, but instead I had to stay home and rest :-(. At least I made some appointments for next week. I'll be visiting Seaport Yarns on Lower Broadway on Tuesday and The Yarn Company on the Upper West Side on Wednesday. So far I am very excited about how welcoming everyone has been. I'll be posting the results in February. For now I'm still hooked on yarns, so let's continue:

Angora (rabbit):

ruby-eyed English Angora Rabbit (can you see the ruby eyes?)

Angora is probably the softest yarn on the market. Colors can look like they mix where they touch each other because the hair is so soft. I would not recommend it for lace patterns because the yarn is so fuzzy you won’t see the holes that make up the lace, but cables can look very pretty, though. Angora often pills a lot, and the yarn can break when it is pulled too hard. The individual hairs that make the yarn are not very long and sometimes untwist. It is best used when knitted with loose stitches; however, the knitting needle size should correspond to the thickness of the yarn. Don’t use this yarn for your first project. It is not as durable or as forgiving as cotton or wool when unraveled.

Chiengora (dog--from the French "chien"):

Chiengora is very unusual. It is yarn made out of dog hair. Collies, Sheepdogs, Afghans, Chow Chows, Lhasa Apsos, and Poodles are among the dog breeds used for chiengora yarn. I have not knitted with this yarn, but I assume it has the same attributes as angora. So wait and do not use this for your first project.

Cashmere (cashmere goat):

Cashmere is a very luxurious yarn--very soft, smooth, and not fuzzy like mohair or angora. Cashmere is often spun very thin, so it is perfect for mittens or socks (in combination with another very thin strand of wool to run along for support, especially in the heels). Cashmere can also be used for sweaters, linings, hats, gloves, and baby clothes—but be cautious as it does not like to be washed frequently). Cashmere is expensive and very delicate. Do not use this for your first project.

Angora can be a nightmare to knit with or a pleasure. If you don't get it from the right company, you might end up working with strands that break all the time. It's a yarn that Malabrigo does rather well. I'll research this over the next week or so and post another company if I find one. What can I say, I just love Malabrigo

If you want Chiengora from your own dog, try
I personally have never worked with Chiengora. My assumption is, that longer haired dogs like Collies make very good chiengora, which would have the same attributes as angora, but be less distructible because the hair is longer and can hold together better.

Vandalism and Mohair

2009-01-06T18:19:00.004-05:00

Is it just my perception, or are boys more prone to vandalism than girls? My (two-year-old) son draws on walls with crayons; flushes things down the toilet; throws forks (he no longer gets metal utensils), food, and other things; bites and pulls hair (his sister only pulled hair). And why does he run after his sister with a giant straw screaming "Poooooke!" ? My sister's sons have scratched strangers' cars with rocks and cut pack-and-plays open with scissors (not sure where they found the scissors).

Needless to say, I hide my knitting in a box with a lock and key. Wouldn't want that to get flushed down the toilet! :-)

So here we go:

Mohair (Angora Goat):

Mohair is very durable, but it can be a little scratchy on the skin. This yarn has a wiry quality, and the long fibers make it look fuzzy. It is incredibly light and slightly transparent when knitted; this effect can be enhanced by knitting with larger needles. Unlike angora (rabbit), mohair looks great when knitted with larger needles. The hairs are very long and the yarn is very durable. Mohair is great for throws and blankets because it is so snuggly warm and because blankets don’t lie directly on the skin. Mohair is really hard to unravel (it sticks together), so don’t use it as your very first yarn. If it is pulled too often, the fibers start to fall out and the yarn loses some of its lusciousness.

Kid Mohair (Baby Angora Goat):

This yarn has the same qualities as mohair, but it feels much softer. It is more expensive but has a very long running length (the length of the thread in a ball of yarn), so you might need to buy fewer balls for a sweater than with other yarn, especially if you knit with larger needles. Kid mohair is great for baby blankets, sweaters, and scarves. It can be used to line hats (very warm ones) or sweaters. I would not recommend it for socks because it doesn’t breathe well in enclosed spaces—shoes or boots, that is. But as outerwear it breathes well, and is great for fall or spring months. Kid mohair, like mohair, is really hard to unravel (it sticks together), so don’t use it as your very first yarn.

I usually only use Kid Mohair, because I find regular Mohair a little too scratchy. My favorite company for Kid Mohair is:

This is one of their pictures.
Isn't it beautiful?

Back to School--Wool

2009-01-04T21:40:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow, my kids are going back to school (and daycare). I thought having them home for two weeks would feel really looong, but it went by so quickly. No more staying up late and sleeping in in the mornings. 7 a.m., ouch! Who invented that? Why can't we all start our days at 9? It's almost 10 p.m. now, so if I want to get any sleep tonight, I better get going...

Wool (Sheep):

(I got this gorgeous image from Utah State University's website, I hope they don't mind :-) )

I love wool. It's almost worth writing a whole book about it. There are so many companies out there spinning and dying beautiful merino and regular lambs wool--a few are truly exceptional. But more of that later... First, let's talk about the basics:

www.sheep101.info lists way over 100 breeds on the website. Not all of them are bred for wool. I won't go into detail about each breed, but simply say that there is wool, and there is merino...

Wool is incredibly durable. It is warm and can be spun in varying thicknesses. Machine spun, it is usually totally smooth. When handspun, its thickness can vary throughout the same ball of yarn, giving it a very attractive, uneven look. Natural wool appears in black, brown, and beige. The beige wool is highly absorbent and ideal for dyeing. Wool is sold in many colors, sometimes within the same ball of yarn. It can be smooth or scratchy, and may contain traces of hay. Sometimes wool is spun with little knobs to give it a three-dimensional, knobby feel.

Of all the yarns, wool is probably the most versatile. Thin wool (like lace) knitted with thicker needles can be used for summer throws, skirts, dresses, tank tops, and shirts. Thicker wool knitted more densely can make great sweaters and ponchos for spring or fall. Very thick wool works well for winter socks, hats, mittens, heavy sweaters, and coats. Wool is used so often that some people refer to all yarns as “wool.” When knitting with a different, less durable yarn, a very thin strand of wool can be pulled along to give the other yarn more durability. Wool is a great yarn for beginning knitters.

Merino Wool (Merino Sheep):

Spanish Merino is the most luxurious kind of Merino wool. The Spanish were so protective of it at one time, that only the Soverign of Spain himself was permitted to send sheep out of the country. Merino wool is known to be much softer than regular wool. Other than that there is no difference. Merino wool is a great yarn for beginning knitters. It is as durable as regular wool, but softer.

My favorite companies are Merino yarn companies. I will only name a few here, although the list could be substantially longer:
Malabrigo

Colinette

and Morehouse Farms, are probably my three favorite yarn companies at the moment. Check out all their sites. It's worth it.

More AboutYarn...

2009-01-02T23:47:00.001-05:00

Hello again!

Today I spent supervising two four-year-olds (my daughter and her friend) and one two-year old (my son) for four hours. Its so cold outside that we can't leave the house. This time of year always makes me think that we are insane to live in New York with kids. They simply don't get to go outside for four months of the year. When they come home from "school" it's already dark out. This is why Santa Claus brought us a trampoline this year (a small round one), so everyone in our household can burn some much needed energy (and steam) and we don't *&@#$ each other...

But back to yarns :-).

Linen (flax plant):

Linen is a yarn harvested from flax fibers. It is highly absorbent and a good conductor of heat. Linen is a perfect yarn for summer months. It is durable, easy to knit, and breathes well. However, it is not the softest yarn on the body. Therefore, cotton is more popular and more widely available. I usually prefer cotton myself.

There is also Hemp, which I have seen once as a yarn, it's made out of cannabis (yummy :-), just kidding--I am a responsible parent! ;-) ).

They make so many things out of Hemp now: paper, biodegradable plastic, food, and cosmetics (according to Wikipedia). In China it is even mixed into cement... As a yarn I thought it was rather scratchy, so I haven't used it. Things might have changed by now, though, so if you find it, feel free to give it a try.

Bamboo

is relatively new to the market. If you manage to get a really good quality, it can feel and knit kind of like silk, except it is much much cheaper. Bamboo also has the benefit of being a fully renewable resource. It is the environmentally safest thing out there. If you can buy bamboo anything for your household (chairs, placemats, furniture... I highly recommend it).

Silk (caterpillars, mulberry silkworm):

It looks gross, I know...

Silk is a very interesting fabric. It is retrieved from the cocoons of the mulberry silkworm, so unlike all the other animal-harvested yarns, it is not harvested from hair or fur but is actually produced by the insect. It is literally a year-round yarn: it breathes in the summer and insulates in the winter. One problem with silk is that it is entirely un-elastic; it has the tendency to stay in whatever shape it was stretched to. Elbows and knees can be a problem as the yarn just keeps getting stretched and does not return to its original shape. Washing it is a problem, too, because wet silk responds to a mere touch but does not retract when it dries. You might knit a short and wide sweater, but find that it is long and narrow after you wash it in the sink. I always dry clean silk for that reason. It is a wonderful yarn that is very shiny and very smooth on the skin. It looks great in lace patterns and maintains its shape better when used in that way. Another trick to keep silk in shape is to knit along a very thin strand of wool or cotton in the same color (like sock yarn) to strengthen the silk. Silk is great for short summer dresses and tank tops, but it is also great for winter mittens, undershirts, and scarves. It is not cheap, however, so even undershirts should serve some kind of decorative purpose (perhaps peak out from underneath something else). Silk is extremely durable. It can hurt your fingers if you knit too tightly because it is so strong. It is nearly impossible to rip, and it is definitely a good beginner’s yarn (although it is not cheap).

A really nice yarn company for silk is Schulana. It's a Swiss company, but I bought their yarn in a yarnshop in New York. I got a wonderful natural cotton/silk blend (tey also make really nice cotton). There website is: http://www.schulana.ch/. Obviously, for most people the German will be hard to read. In the US, the company is distributed by http://www.skacelknitting.com/, the same people who make those incredibly fast round knitting needles...

For Bamboo, try Sarah's Yarns

Thanks for visiting!

:-)

Sinje

All About Yarn

2009-01-01T22:47:00.003-05:00

Rita of Downtown Yarns

I had such a great time today. I went downtown (Manhattan) to a small neighborhood yarn shop called Downtown Yarns. I hung out with Rita, the owner, for one hour and "asked a hole in her stomach" (that's a German saying...). She was very patient with me. I told her that I am about to start writing a blog about knitting stores in New York. I am going to review the stores in detail, with information about the owners and their staff. Rita was most obliging and, it turns out, she is an identical twin, like me :-). I wrote a lot of stuff down and took a bunch of pictures. Then I went home to take care of my kids (Andor, 2 and Anna, 4). When I looked over my notes in the evening, it occurred to me that I should probably write a little bit about the products the stores carry before I review the stores. That's why I will begin this blog with descriptions of different types of yarn, of spinning, and of different yarn companies that I love. Before you start hitting the road for yarns, it's really good to know what to look for. I will explain what it is like to knit with each yarn, and how best to take care of it. This month I will also interview Meera Kothari, an avid knitter and spinner, who is the owner of the shop Knit Knack in Maplewood, NJ. We will talk about yarn, spinning, and her favorite yarn companies...

So here goes:

There are lots of different natural yarns. They come from all kinds of places. Some are made from plants, some out of protein, and some from animals. The most widely known plant yarn is:

Cotton

Cotton is a purely plant-based yarn (some cotton yarns have soybean protein fiber or ramie added). It is a very smooth yarn, ideal for baby and children’s clothing because of its durability. Cotton comes in a number of varieties. The cheapest cotton is “potholder yarn,” a smooth, evenly-twisted cotton that is great for—you guessed it—potholders, but can be used for sweaters and shirts as well. More elaborate kinds of cotton are Bouclé, Cablé, unevenly spun cotton, and mercerized cotton. Cotton can be used for any kind of sweater, for hats, for scarves, and for mittens. It can be washed often and generally retains its shape when treated right. Cotton feels good on the body. It breathes well and comes in various levels of thickness, although perhaps not as many as wool. Cotton is great for socks, although it might not keep your feet as warm as wool in the cold winter months. Since cotton is a plant-based yarn, there is a difference between organic and non-organic cotton. Organic cotton is raised with an awareness of the impact heavy pesticides and fertilizers have on the environment. Most often organic cotton is also “fair trade,” which means they pay the cotton workers decent wages. Of course, with all yarns there are chemical dyeing and plant-based dyeing processes. “Organic cotton” does not mean that the yarn is pure and free of chemicals; chemicals might have been added during the dyeing process. Cotton is a great yarn for beginning knitters.

For some really beautiful cotton yarn, check out
Araucania Yarns.

They have a nice blend of colors and produce very good quality yarns. You can contact them to find out where and how they sell. Or just visit your local yarn shop and ask to see some natural cotton. :-)

That's enough for one day, more tomorrow... Thanks for stopping by!

Welcome to my Blog!

2008-12-29T12:30:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!

This blog will be active as of January, 2009. I will cover one topic each month, starting with lots of information about yarn and in depth reviews of New York knitting shops. In February I'll move on to knitting techniques and simple patterns for beginning and intermediate knitters. Towards the later part of the year I'll introduce more complicated patterns.

Thank you so much for checking in, please come back soon.

:-)

Sinje ("Zinnia").