New York Minknit

Samurai Kabuto front

Originally uploaded by truegod.

(1) The sweater is stuck until my colleague, a knitting guru, is able to look at the bind off for the neck.

(2) Kim’s hat is stalled because I am running out of yarn, despite the fact that the owner of Seaport Yarn felt that one skein would be enough because:

(a) Kim claims her head is 23″ around

(b) Kim wants her hat to fit like a bowl and not like a cond*m. (I don’t want my blog to come up under that word. Not cause I’m a prude, but this is a knitting blog, you know.)

Though I fear the hat will still be snugger than she wishes, it has ended up being quite a big hat, and so the options are (i) a stripe in another color or (ii) me getting another skein of this yarn.

Kim! What kind of hat do you want? Stripe? If you don’t answer soon, I will knit you the hat in the photo instead. It is a samurai hat with a dragon on top.

Purl Soho, (www.purlsoho.com), a really beautiful yarn store where I got my Manos del Uruguay for My So-Called Scarf, just opened an equally beautiful fabric store down the street called Purl Patchwork. It is literally the cutest store ever! Check out another blogger’s photos on her flickr stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/disdressed/sets/72057594083640613/ (Thanks H-Dub for pointing me to these photos!)

I ran into Joelle Hoverson, the owner (and author of Last-Minute Knitted Gifts, and former Martha alum) outside, and she was telling me the store just opened on Monday. It truly is beautiful, and Molly, friend of Maddy (a hilarious blogger and a college friend), is going to be the manager.

 It’s a scoop! You, my dear 3 readers, have gotten the newest info on Purl Patchwork! So so so so cute. I would totally take up quilting if I had a sewing machine.

 Check out the beautiful knitted quilts on Mason-Dixon knitting.

Purl Patchwork
Location: 147 Sullivan Street, New York NY 10012 [map]
Phone: 212-420-8798

So I am currently knitting the turtleneck on my sweater and I came across a problem.

First part of the problem: I had some stitches on holders, and then I had to pick up some around the neck to knit up. I looked in the Montse Stanley book and old Montse made all sorts of sniffy comments about the foolishness of people who keep their neckband stitches live on a holder instead of binding off (it makes one part flat and another part raised blah blah blah)

But the problem is that I had already kept some live (as per the pattern instructions) and though I could bind them off, old Maggie Rhigetti, of Sweater Design in Plain English (and Knitting in Plain English), makes all sorts of sniffy comments about foolish people who bind off for the neckline and then end up with a too tight neck.

 Well, Maggie and Montse can go duel it out in the master knitter ring next time they see each other (if they are alive) because BOTH OF YOU ARE UNHELPFUL!!! What I needed to know is how the hell do you pick up and slide the live stitches on and then pick up again?!?! Internet searches were not really helpful, so I guessed. I picked up (according to the photos on an article on Knitty, mixed with some Montse advice), and then I knit the live stitches (who the hell knows if this is the right thing to do), and it seems to be going okay.

 Kim’s hat has been placed on pause because I need those needles (the balene #9 in 16″) to knit the turtleneck and the armholes. Soon, both the sweater and the hat will be done. Hallelujah!!

Kate from Knit Lit started a craftster and flickr threads to try and figure out the Ferragamo bag, and a knitter named Marjan figured it out! Check out Marjan’s Flickr stream and Kate promises to put up the instructions soon. Awesome!

On Saturday, I conned Adam into going to Seaport Yarn with me. I totally loved this store. It’s like the office that Catherine Keener and John Cusak work in in Being John Malkovitch. You go to this totally nondescript office building near South Street Seaport, and then you take the elevator (with an empty spooky lobby, with a lone guard who ignores you) to the fifth floor.

Once you’re there, you see this weird paper sign up that says “Seaport Yarn.” I expected to be led to a strange tunnel which would hurtle me into John Malkovitch’s mind at any momment. Instead, I would up in this really weird waiting lounge, like one for a sad dentist, circa 1985, complete with extremely bad (and strange) wall art, and receptionist area. I said, “Um, is this a yarn store?” And a woman said yes, and then when I entered, I went into this weird labyrinth of office rooms (still complete with office furniture in many cases) with yarn everywhere. It was like the yarn twilight zone. Only one person could really be in the hallway between the rooms at anytime, and if you moved too fast, you would knock over a bunch of yarn (like me).

Adam overheard the owner say that that they might be evicted because the building is being turned into condos (and I’ve read that she used to run a consulting business out of the office originally). Anyway, I loved it. It was a totally opposite experience than all of the twee-er-than-thou yarn shops in Manhattan, and it really did have an enormous selection of yarn, all at reasonable prices.

 

Photo by Francisco.

This is F-Ro’s birthday gift last year, hence my need to keep up the crafty theme. In case you’re wondering, it’s a homemade care bear (or a store-bought one that had a tummy transplant and embroidery-tattoed paws) with chilis, because Francisco and I think it is hilarious that every time big corporations want to make something Hispanic they put a whole bunch of chili peppers on it and then some upside down exclamation points and words like “caliente!” or “ole” (the latter being, as he pointed out, Spanish, and not Mexican or South American.)

In return, he gave me a gong for my birthday.

Photograph by baba lu.

Here’s F-Ro wearing the first hat I ever knit. I didn’t use a pattern–I just winged it using some number 8 circular needles and sport-weight wool-ease. The top is a little messed up, due to the lack of pattern, but all in all, I think it fits pretty well!