New York Minknit

(My parents have these weird Polaroids from the ’70s, where some sort of chemical reaction between the photo album and the photos must have occured, that have the same tint as the photo above. Digital photography–even capturing the weird light of Polaroids gone wrong.)

It’s overcast and rainy in New York, hence the weird coloring of the shawl. (It’s actually much greener–closer to the color in this photo.) I’m almost done with the first skein and I think I might need to take a little break. The shawl was sufficently interesting that I knit it all summer, but now that I have another whole skein to go, I’ve slowed down a bit.

Spring/ugly socks are close to being finished, but my recent revelation that one sock is much too short and needs to be re-knit, has also dampened my enthusiasm for them.

In short, I have become a grouchy knitter.

In response to the comments on the post below, I did know that Lion Brand has some new, cuter patterns available, but unfortunately, none were at the store. Seriously, they had ordered these brand-new fugly fugly brochures that must have dated from the early ’80s (and the insides from the ’50s or so–in some ways, a godsend. Imagine if they taught you how to make an ’80s-sweater instead!)

Fashion Design Books

Address: 250 West 27th St.
Phone: 212-633-96446
Website: www.fashiondesignboks.com

Adam spotted the re-opening of this store the other day. This is the campus bookstore for F.I.T. (the Fashion Institute of Technology). They have a large wall of yarn, all made by…

LION BRAND YARN!!!

At first, I was a little excited because I thought they might have Cotton-Ease, this hard-to-find Lion Brand yarn. But they don’t, though they do have fun fur and lots of other somewhat weird novelty yarn.

I’m really disappointed in this store. How could a fashion college have such a terrible selection of yarn? They even have these brand-spanking new Lion Brand booklets that are straight from the 1970s. It’s one thing when you’re a weird creepy sewing/yarn store from way back (very popular in the outer boroughs) and have dusty, faded brochures that were never sold; it’s another thing when you ORDER new Lion Brand learn-to-knit brochures that still teach you how to make horrendous acrylic slippers. Knitting has evolved so much since the selection here, and for a fashion college to renovate and choose to trap its knitting section in 1982 is really a shame.

I think Lion Brand has been trying to evolve a little bit, but they’re still trapped by their loyal fun-fur-loving customers. (What’s weird is that the Lion Brand HQ is right near Union Square–I used to walk by it all the time at lunch–and yet it hasn’t really evolved as a brand. Though I have to admire the intensity of this.

Knit.1 used to be sponsored by Lion Brand, and they had some cute patterns, and they still use a decent amount of Lion Brand. Anyway, if you work near F.I.T. or go to F.I.T., this might be good if you absolutely need something, but since School Products is pretty close by, I would suggest going there instead.

Downtown Yarns

Address: 45 Avenue A

NY, NY 10009

Phone: (212) 995-5991

Webpage: www.downtownyarns.com

This is a cute little yarn store in the East Village. I’m pretty sure that Stitch and Bitch was shot here. It has homey library-like shelving, which one of the employees said the owner buys at upstate antique stores. I’ve been in here a couple of times while waiting to eat dinner in the neighborhood and the staff here is really nice. I’ve never bought anything here, but I think the owner has a good eye for color and texture, and there’s a good selection of yarns here. In the photo I’m handling some Katia Jamaica cotton–here’s a cute baby kimono that someone made with the yarn.

I think this yarn store is a little bit like Purl, but it carries a larger selection of more inexpensive brands, I think.

Here are some traveling project shots in the new Greek and Roman Galleries. I was predisposed to dislike these galleries because they replaced the old cafeteria, which was beautiful and a nice spot for homework reading in college. The new cafeteria is depressing and underground, and has none of the glamour of the old cafeteria. The new galleries are nice, I just miss the cafeteria.

 (The gimmick with these photos is that the galleries have two statues of Hercules, a young Hercules and an old Hercules. The young Hercules is holding the hide of a slain lion and the old Hercules is wearing the lion as a hooded cape. I am trying to pose my knitting like the lion skin. The fourth picture is just a picture of me holding the shawl near a noseless bust.)

 The old cafeteria was where the kids bathed in The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Also, I recently learned, it was decorated by Dorothy Draper, which might be why it was kind of old-lady fabulous. Here’s a photo of

me at the Dorothy Draper show at the Museum of City of New York earlier this year.

On a somewhat random tangent, as I come upon my tenth anniversary of moving to New York, I’ve been thinking a lot about how it’s easy to be angry at the city. Sometimes, it’s hard to live here, and it can be frustrating and kind of a trial. But I’ve also been thinking about how much I wanted to live in New York as a kid. Books like that Mixed-Up Files book gave me such a glamorous notion of the city, and on a regular basis, it still feels like a treat. I remember a couple of weeks after graduating college, I went to the Met to hang out, and then, feeling a little depressed due to my then-unemployed state, I went to Payard to have lunch at the bar. My lunch was so nice and posh, my bartender so dashingly good-looking, and my newly met lunch companion so flamboyant and generous that I felt quite cheered up.

I loved Crazy Aunt Purl’s post today, and it reminded me of that story. Sometimes, in an effort to save for the future, I forget the niceness of now. Thanks New York, for putting the New York in the New York Minknit.