Yarn Shopping in NYC
Exploring my old home's yarn offerings
Look, if you read my February Project Update, you will know that my mission to knit down my stash yarn this year has been made more difficult by the fact that I’ve added a bunch of stuff to my stash. Not helpful.
It would have been tempting to put myself on a yarn-buying ban, however I knew that with a trip to NYC on the books and the chance to explore American-made and dyed yarns that are not easily available in Britain, that would have been highly unrealistic.
Instead, I consulted my knitting circle (my sister and brother-in-law) and they suggested some rules when it comes to buying in NYC. Here is what I came up with:
Every yarn bought must have a pattern assigned to it from the jump
Small quantities only (they need to be able to fit in my suitcase)
Focus on American-made (or even better NYC-based) brands that are difficult to get in the UK without incurring large shipping or customs fees
With those rules in mind, I hit the ground in NYC and went shopping.
Annie & Company Needlepoint and Knitting
1763 Second Avenue, Manhattan
The website for this yarn and needlepoint store in the Upper East Side (my old neighborhood) isn’t robust, so I wasn’t entirely sure what I would find here. In fact, the only reason I went is because I had a couple extra hours to kill before going to meet my friend for lunch due to an early jet lag start to my morning. However, I’m so glad I hopped on the Q train and made the trip!
The shop is divided pretty neatly into two sections: one for knitting and one for needlepoint. As I’m not a needlepoint person, I can’t say anything about their stock except that it looked like there was a lot of it and it was beautiful. On the knitting side, things are divided into yarn weights, which made it very easy for me to make a beeline for the fingering weight and sock section.
My sister Justine had asked me to keep an eye out for NYC-based yarn dyers, so I sent her several photos of the what was in stock. Being the colorful woman she is, she immediately honed in on Yarn Over New York’s Broadway sparkle sock yarn in a neon rainbow color (Coriolis) and Baah Yarn’s La Jolla 100% superwash merino in a traditional rainbow (Sweet Emotion). Not being as colorful a lady, I picked out a skein of La Jolla in a white base with red, yellow, and blue speckling (Call of the Wild.)
Acquisitions:
1 skein of Broadway by Yarn Over New York in Coriolis (for Justine)
1 skein of La Jolla by Baah Yarn in Sweet Emotion (for Justine)
1 skein of La Jolla by Baah Yarn in Call of the Wild
One of these is not like the other ones.
Knitty City
208 West 78th Street, Manhattan
While looking for yarn shop recommendations on Reddit, I saw this described as the “cornerstone” of NYC knitting, and it certainly felt that way when I was living in New York.
I picked up knitting as an adult after a very long break when I was living on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. I was a young television news producer (i.e. overworked and underpaid), and taking the crosstown bus from my apartment to this shop always felt like such an escape. I still have a couple of projects I made from Rowan yarn that I bought at Knitty City including an outrageous pair of variegated blue opera-length gloves with individual fingers. (“Never again,” she whispers to herself…)
As soon as I knew that I was going to be coming to New York again, I knew I wanted to make a stop off at Knitty City. And so, after lunch on the Upper West Side with my friend Laura, we trooped over to the shop. Laura is not a knitter, but she is one of those wonderful people who is happy to come along for the ride so she browsed and squished yarn while I went straight to the fingering weight and sock section and dove in.
After seeing the amount of color and sparkle in Justine’s Yarn Over New York skein, I suspected that the brand might not be quite for me so I focused instead on Hu Made and Murky Depths, both New York-based makers. To say I was successful in finding some good stuff would be an understatement. I walked away with several sock skeins including a Murky Depths variegated that moves from a grey-brown to a deep blush, which isn’t something I’d normally pick but I love; a skein of Emma’s Yarn’s Beautifully Basic in a pastel rainbow called Salt Water Taffy; and a sweater’s quantity of Hu Made’s Made Twist in a white and grey variegated colorway. (Those rules I mentioned earlier kind of helped, kind of didn’t.)
I plan to make some socks with the single skeins and use the Hu Made’s Made Twist for a jumper, possibly a deep-v like Ozetta’s Moon Set Tee with long sleeves.
Acquisitions:
1 skein of Deep Sock by Murky Depths in Withered (grey-brown to deep blush variegated)
1 skein of Deep Sock by Murky Depths in Ironclad Beetle (blue tonal)
1 skein of Beautifully Basic by Emma’s Yarn in Salt Water Taffy (white base with pink and blue variegation)
4 skeins of Made Twist by Hu Made in Agnes Grey (white with grey variegation)
Woolyn
105 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn
I had a free day on Thursday so, after lunch with my dear friend Sonia, I headed to Brooklyn for a little yarn shopping. Woolyn was my first stop as I walked down from Brooklyn Heights to Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens. The shop was lovely, with a lot of beautiful yarn. Earlier on my trip, I found out that I’ve been approved to test knit The Knit Purl Girl’s Feather Sweater pattern, which requires mohair so I thought for a brief moment about purchasing some mohair skeins from Murky Depths. However, none of the colors jumped out at me, and I decided to repurpose some Knitting for Olive Soft Silk Mohair in my stash back at home.
Acquisitions: Nothing!
Brooklyn General Store
128 Union Street, Brooklyn
After Woolyn, I walked south down Henry Street in the direction of the Brooklyn General Store. One of the wonderful, sometimes amusing things about having lived in NYC for almost a decade about seven years ago is that from time to time I stumble across bits of my life I’d forgotten about. Well, it turns out that this shop is almost exactly one block away from an ex-boyfriend’s old flat (it is the classic NYC story of great apartment, pretty rotten boyfriend). If I had realized that at the time I probably would have spent all of my virtually nonexistent money at Brooklyn General Store. Instead, I returned to the neighborhood many years older, happily married, and on a mission to buy yarn.
Brooklyn General Store was, hands down, my favorite shop I visited on this trip. The selection of yarn is amazing, and I was pretty overwhelmed for choice. I suspect that if this had been my first stop rather than my last, I would have picked up a lot more than I did. Between Magpie Fibers, Farmers Daughter, Fox Fibers, Sea Change Fibers, and Ritual Dyes, I was spoiled for choice. However, it was the ample sale section (30% off) that caught my eye and I went home with some La Bien Amiée Cashmerino.
Acquisitions:
3 skeins of La Bien Amiée Cashmerino in San Ho (light blue with gold variegation)
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how a knitter who is attempting to knit down her stash ends up with many more skeins of yarn and many more projects for her 2024 list.