I was in the city today so I decided to head over to Purl SoHo since a) I needed yarn and b) I’ve never been to the new location. I was a bit early – I got to SoHo at 11; they open at 12. Well there had to be something to pass the time – its NY after all! I squinted down the block and there was a sign for a gallery so I headed over. I am so glad I did! There were these neat little robots made out of voltage meters, found, and new objects. And then Snoopy! I got a little special spot for Snoops, as I like to call him. One of my teaching toys when I was a little tyke was a Snoopy doll that had one shoe that tied, one that buttoned and then his jacket zippered and opened to reveal the primary colors on the inside. Anyway, the gallery was selling original cells from the comic strip. Another wall revealed a painter whom I have not heard of but was immediately smitten in wonder. Daniel Merriam. He is a fantasy/surrealist painter whose work is just majestic and fantastic. The canvases are huge and so you get completely lost in these wondrous worlds of castles and lives – big swooping swirls and complicated petite castles, just wonderful.
After that, a little salad lunch and Purl SoHo was open. I hadn’t been in a yarn store in so long. Michael’s arts and crafts is just not the same. Yes, they have yarn (but not enough and it’s the same yarn in every store) and yes, they are great for just about everything but it’s not the same. Walking into a yarn store is peaceful. All the yarns and colors reaching to the ceiling and walking around just touching the yarn and thinking of all the wonderful things that could be from all that glorious yarn!
I myself was looking for yarn for a set of pillows I want to make using some fabric swatches my mom had lying around for awhile so I shall be calling these pillows the “Mom Swatch Pillows”. Ha. Oy. Anyway, the swatches are pretty good sized and she had two so one side of the pillows will be the fabric and the other side will be knit. I found a really pretty creamy white shade of Blue Sky Alpacas worsted cotton yarn. When I touched it and loved it and then saw the company, I wasn’t surprised. I have a bunch of skeins in a nice, soft, gray wool that are also from Blue Sky. The yarn they produce is really quite lovely. I knit a quick swatch when I got home to see how it looked and am very happy! It is the perfect shade of cream for the fabric and is much more special than the yarn I had found at Michael’s. On a side note, don’t think for a second that I don’t go drooling around that store just covered end to end with crafty goodness but as I said – you can visit a Michael’s anywhere and the yarn will be the same. If you want the piece or project to be extra special, stores that are devoted completely to yarn are the way to go!
While I was good on this trip, like all trips to the craft or yarn store, you never buy just what you went in there to buy. No. It just doesn’t work that way. I bought a new hand spindle. The one I have is heavier and I think that may be part of my issue in getting my yarn to spin the way I want. That and I need a lot more practice spinning but I think this will help a lot. I also bought a little journal/ledger type book because I certainly don’t have enough of those laying around (cough. cough.). I’ve already used it a number of times so I guess that means it was a good buy! …or so I shall continue to tell myself!