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moist

I have enough yarn. For now.

For the second day in a row I have entered a LYS and thought, “There is nothing in here I really need/want.” On Thursday, in Knitty City, no less.

Don’t take that the wrong way. If you come to NYC and want to hit the yarn shops, Knitty City is a must see (and buy something.) And don’t think I left empty-handed, though two hanks of Claudia Hand-painted linen, a single set of Lantern Moon 4.5 mm/US #7’s and a bottle of unscented Eucalan, is fairly empty-handed for me.

Backing up, after I spent and hour and a half at the DVM yesterday re-registering the expired registration on my barely-used car—oddly, I was the only one in line constructively using the time to get some knitting done—I went all the way up to the Upper West Side to check out Knitty City. A busy shop. Lots of good yarn. Huge book and pattern section.

I probably would have spent more, but there were a few moments where I felt like I was in the staff’s way, like I feel at Met Food when stocking the shelves is more important than my actually buying toilet paper or canned tomatoes, but then I’m not used to busy yarn stores.

But yarn is not a necessity, nor is there only one option for buying it, and I do like to have my existence acknowledged once before I plop $90 of goods down on the counter.

Go to the men’s dress shirt section of the flagship Bloomingdales in Manhattan and three solicitous salespeople will mysteriously appear at your side the moment you even spy a low-end shirt you might think about buying. Higher prices should give you better service. And at Bloomie’s they do.

The woman behind the counter, the owner maybe, made me reconsider my leaning-negative first impression. She was pleasant and friendly, if not forward, which I appreciate, and tried to engage me.

Maybe it is just because this is the first LYS I’ve ever been to where no one asked if there was something they could help me find. Maybe this is the first store where they didn’t think I was going to shoplift something. Probably not. Perhaps this is the one shop where male knitters are common and don’t need minding (you know what I mean.)

I will go back. My impressions were probably clouded by the DMV. And I got a really good chocolate malt on Amsterdam Ave. practically across the street.

The Upper East Side

Where I went on Friday. I hit two LYS’s with plans for a third. I won’t name the first, but the elitism really put me off—me, the one who goes to Bloomingdales. The owner and staff were friendly and the yarns quite nice, but elitist. I bought yarn anyway. Really expensive yarn. It was my BD present (another one), and someone will get a really nice scarf.

I don’t like the Upper East Side. It makes me feel crass without feeling inferior.

The second shop, The Woolgather, was nice and attractive, with some good yarns and friendly staff, but not so much as to warrant the 45-minute trip from Boerum Hill (Brooklyn) to get there just to browse. If you’re on the East Side and north of 14th, it’s a good place to stop. Or if you need Addi circs or Crystal Palace straights, they have almost every size you could want.

New York was muggy and the next store on my list was ten blocks away and uphill, and the likelihood of seeing a yarn I could not live without was small, so I went home.

Practical Considerations

Every yarn that currently appeals to me is sport-weight or finer. Given the speed I knit and the expected number of stitches per inch, a little yarn will go a long way, and I have no little amount of yarn already. Every skein of lace-weight could represent another month or two of my life. When I saw some attractive Isager lace-weight at Knitty City, I did stop to think, “When will I get to that?” Then I bought the sport-weight linen I was already holding.

Vanna’s Choice is not Rose’s

First time the Little Monster has turned her nose up at yarn, even when waved in front of her nose. Others may disagree, and I respect that (somewhat), but I really dislike this yarn. Stiff, abrasive, worsted—okay, I’m not into worsted lately, but AARGH. Given an hour or so, one could saw through prison bars with this stuff. I’m no fan of Vanna, but I see her in a room with the manufacturers’ reps, presented with several bad options—steel wool, barbed wire, cotton— and she says “I choose that one”, pointing to the acrylic.

For some reason, I have not made it to Lion Brand Studios this week. There’s always tomorrow.

To be honest, at 6.00 mm or 6.5 mm instead of the recommended 5.5 mm, it is workable, if not delightful. The color is okay, too.