New York Minknit

Adam has become obsessed with Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series. So obsessed in fact, that he was champing at the bit for volumes 2 and 3, which no Barnes and Noble had in stock. We had to go to Forbidden Planet to find them, and inside, we saw this Dalek [which due to Adam’s other nerd hobbies–like watching Dr. Who–I recognized]. I was like “Nerd hobbies collide! Traveling sock must pose with the Dalek!”

I was actually rather sympathetic to Adam’s plight because I had been searching every Barnes and Noble and yarn store in the city for this issue of Piecework, which features an article about how to make these Finnish mittens. Somehow, every other knitter in New York had snatched them up, and I was forced to order it off the internet, but I did get a copy.

I read some article once and the now-forgotten person being profiled said to their intern, “This is New York. You can find anything.” I have held this quote firmly to my bosom, but I have news for whoever said this. There are things you cannot find here.

Traveling socks…in the snow.

I may have acquired Piecework, but I often see beautiful knitting projects on the internet, and they are–unless one is willing to pay ridiculous shipping fees–impossible to get. (Though I sometimes think most of the fun of shopping for hard to find items is the search, no? The end product isn’t even that important.) Here for you to lust after, Things I Cannot Find in New York:

1.) Germany: Sport & Strumpfwolle Color-Ringel, color 15742. I saw Elemmaciltur‘s socks and I have been lusting ever since, though my babelfish-translated email to the company garnered me a depressing response: shipping to the U.S. is incredibly expensive.

2.) Japan: Ooh! Exciting news! I just realized one of my long-time favorite Flickr projects, this Japanese shawl, is actually a pattern I have! It’s a variation of a tablecloth in Marianne Kinzel’s First Book of Modern Lace Knitting–Yarn Harlot made it into a shawl here.

But Japan continues to lure me with cute things. Look at this beautiful baby sweater! So refined, yet cute!

3.) France: I actually tracked down (and bought) this pattern via ebay, but the yarn has been discontinued, and the occasional lots that pop up on ebay.fr cost way to much to ship here, especially for a novelty acrylic yarn.

4.) U.S.: Even things in my own country continue to elude me. Like Jess Hutchison’s booklet of Unusual Toys for You to Knit and Enjoy [the ethics of copying her out-of-print booklet has been hotly debated on Ravelry–a topic, interestingly, that is discussed almost point for point in today’s The Ethicist] and Hello Yarn’s fiddlehead mitten kit (good news on that front though–Hello Yarn is going to release just the pattern soon).