Knit York City (part 2 -shop 'til you drop!)

I feel as though I have enough New York fodder for several posts, but I'm going to do my best to try and cram it all into this ONE. There's an F.O on the horizon that I'm getting excited about (please God let it fit!).

Right now it looks like this:

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I started piecing it together last night but realized after knitting all the ribbing down the front and around the neck hole that I had forgotten to insert button holes. DUH. So now I'll have to rip all that out again tonight and *hopefully* get most of it sewn together. I think that may be a bit ambitious though what with oodles of Xmas related crap still to do. Nevertheless I'm hoping for a big FO this weekend. This will mark the first time I've ever knit a sweater in a size small, which yarn-wise is a blessing. I blocked out the pieces the other day to the stated measurements in the pattern and it still looks HUGE. I really don't know what the deal is with this thing. I get that it's supposed to be a bit flowy, but still. I'm kinda worried. I'm hoping a final blocking will rectify that situation. And speaking of things that are enormous, and maybe I'm crazy but I'm also planning to throw my Drops 103-1 jacket into a hot wash (and possibly the dryer) this weekend. Is that nuts? It needs a serious shrinking and it is partly acrylic so I'm hoping this will work out. At present it is totally unwearable, so I think it's worth taking the chance.

Ok well I've already blathered on enough that I feel like this post is too long and I haven't even started yet. I have verbal diarhea this morning.

Without further adieu my happy fibre freaks, here's the yarn I bought in NYC:



Click HERE and scroll the image if you want the deets on what everything is.

I love the little heart-shaped stitch markers and "kooly koala" zippered critter case,

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that I got from this place:



I totally just stumbled on to it on our way out for happy hour one evening...it was literally just a few doors down from our hotel. A very cute place, with food/counter service so you could sit and eat and knit. Lots of people at little tables that would periodically call out for the staff to come and help them if they were having trouble knitting. Very cute, and the staff there were really nice. They have a library of knitting books for patrons to reference and use if need be. A small place, with lots of nice yarns and a WALL of Cascade Magnum.



1.5 stitches to the inch?! A beast. I picked up a purple hank there too just for the hell of it. You can see that one here. I only bought the one skein though and am thinking that I will probably crank out a couple more of Twinkle's Aspen hat with it.

I definitely spent a lot of money at School Products. That place is awesome. I probably spent about $130 dollars there, which to me is a lot given that I'm buying with no "plan" or project in mind per se, but it's alleviated when you realize "I just bought what would be the equivalent of about 500 bucks worth of cashmere anywhere else". So for that reason, School Products gets a SERIOUS thumbs up from me!



A close-up of the stuff I bought at School Products can be seen here.

In that same neighborhood was Habu. Right through this door...

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Habu is gorgeous, in that simplicity of style that is common to Japanese apparel and interiors. But to me it's still a novelty ---stainless steel and silver yarns etc. I love the way it all looks, but I don't know if I'd enjoy knitting with it. And the price --woo doggie!

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately for my pocket book) they were actually seriously low on stock in most things, so apart from the visit, I took a pass on actually buying anything there. I think their popular knit-kits might be the way to go with them.

A couple interior shots of Habu for you:





And given that I have knit so many things out of last minute knitted gifts, I felt it only natural that I need go to its mother ship, Purl Soho. The woman who served me was actually the book's author, Joelle Hoverson. This is also a very pretty little store in an upscale area.



This shop was pretty much too rich for my blood. Though I didn't manage to get out of there with out buying some Blue Sky alpacas worsted hand dyes first. Total impulse buy. At the very least I should have bought two if I *had* to buy, but I didn't. Plus it was PACKED in there so I was feeling like I just needed to get the hell out:

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I felt bad for the BF. He couldn't hack it so he mostly just sat outside on the "husband bench" with some other dude. Surely it's not always like that in there? Even working in there would be difficult I think. There was nowhere to move and one person at the center table was just endlessly ball winding for people.

There was also a fair bit of yarn and knitted items available for sale at the Bust Craftacular as well. The ladies from Traveling Rhinos were totally awesome and had some great yarn for sale too. Again, why can't I be a millionaire?! Look how cute they are!



I threatened to put this photo of them on the internerd and well, mission accomplished! They were actually directly across from the Amy Sedaris table, so that was kinda handy.

Wanna see everything I bought at the craftsale? Well you don't really have a choice. And really, if you've gotten this far in my post you're in it for the long haul.



Click HERE and scroll the image if you want to know exactly what I bought and from whom. I think my favourite stuff is the jewelery, which you can see here in more detail --the storm cloud and "diamond" necklaces will no doubt be in heavy rotation. There seriously was SO MUCH MORE that I could have bought there, and I defintely plan to go back next year. For all you Blythe fans, did I also mention that Gina Garan was there as well as a whole table of Blythe dolls, and accesories and those uber cute little felted ones that I've had my eye on for some time. But gah, it's just one more expensive thing that I should probably avoid "collecting" if at all possible.

Anyway, I should probably quit while I'm ahead lest I'm actually forced by blogger to publish this post as some kind of novella. Imagine If I had a second blog devoted to all the clothing & record shopping and eating and drinking I did while I was there?! ai yi yi. And now California in less than a month. Did I also mention how broke and in debt I am right now too? At least I'm loving life I guess. Anyone knowing of any great yarn stores in the San Diego, Orange County, L.A, san Luis Obispo area, by all means, please indulge me!

Phew! (wipes brow), I think I'm sweating now--- so I'm signing off. I'm starting to grow nostalgic for my life in New York a few days ago...