New York Minknit

I saw on thew New York Ravelry group that Stitches East was closing. I never actually went inside this store, so I can’t tell you anything about it. I did try to go once when I was visiting the MoMA, but it was closed. Adam took a picture for me (above) and I peeked in, but I don’t know anything about the store. It was in a sort of unusual mini-shopping mall inside an office building (below). These kinds of mini-malls are, I think, kind of rare in the U.S., though I have seen them in other countries. Hong Kong has a few like this, and Paris has their passages, which are, of course,  fabulous and Parisian, and immortalized by Walter Benjamin. (When I was a freshman in college, I sat through an entire class baffled by who Valtah Benhameen was, and it wasn’t until the end of the class that I suddenly made the connection between Walter Benjamin and his German pronunciation.) Milan actually has a mall kind of like this too. I wouldn’t be surprised if the original architect had been aiming for a Parisian passage feeling, but the result (at least on a weekend) is that it’s kind of weird and dreary. I think if it was connected to a train station, like most mini-malls are, if would make more sense, but it’s in a bit of an odd spot. I’m sorry though that this store is closing–the economy is smushing down on the yarn business, I guess.