Apr 27 2008
In Transit
Three years in a row: our springtime excursion to New York is becoming somewhat of a tradition! We only stayed for two days this year - Kris was in conferences, and I was out and about taking in the beautiful spring weather and sights, and meeting up with some old and new friends.Thank goodness for alternate work schedules and post-doc appointments! Without these things, I would have missed meeting with two special people. On Thursday, I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Connie. We have corresponded for months, and I have admired her amazing parade of designs in several of the recent knitting publications… she designed the beautiful Printed Silk Cardigan that I knit for my sister, and her newest design was just previewed for the Interweave Knits Summer 2008 issue. We had a lovely Thai lunch, and headed to a local cafe where we knit, talked about yarn and her design process, and sipped on some coffee. In the mid-afternoon, Erin called us to meet up. We met her at Habu Textiles.
Habu’s selection was quite tempting, but I remembered the kit that I bought during last year’s trip, and resisted the urge to get more.
Erin had plans for a bag, so we headed over to Mood Fabrics, made famous by Project Runway. We didn’t have any celebrity sightings, but we enjoyed going through the store and looking at their HUGE selection. There were three large floors stacked floor to ceiling with fabric bolts of every imaginable fabric.
Connie and I were in awe - since neither of us regularly sew, we were overwhelmed by just how much variety there was! In the end, Erin chose a great corduroy. Stay tuned to her blog for plans and progress! After that stop, we headed over to School Products, one of my favorite NYC yarn shops. We got a little turned around, but luckily Connie’s husband (via cellphone) helped us find our way to the shop! I picked up a lovely cone… more details in the next post.
A few hours later, Kris called to say that his meetings were complete, and he walked down to West Village to meet us at The Point. We sat around the table, ate some delicious snacks from their cafe (Connie got the most beautiful cupcake - I wish I had a photo!), and I flipped through some of the new books on display. Erin played with our wide-angle lens (we have the same camera, so our lens fit on her camera) and the infamous baskets-of-yarn-wall. It was about this time that some strange wind blew through the city, and set me sneezing and sniffling. My allergies got worse throughout the evening, but how could I let them get me down while I was having fun?
Connie headed back home after our time at The Point. I was so happy to meet her and to learn more about her “real life” as well as her knitting and designs. She was such a great help to me while I was knitting the cardigan, and meeting her was a real joy! Thank you, C!
After a fun dinner at Cowgirl in the West Village (yummy margaritas and some good veggie options too!), we headed back to Times Square for some night photography. Of course, there were hundreds of other people there doing the same thing, but we still had a lot of fun.
The next morning, I went to Bryant Park to check out the new location of one of my other favorite NYC stops: Kinokuniya Japanese bookstore. Their needle craft (knitting, crochet, embroidery) book collection is larger than any other book store I have been to, and I decided to take my time and go through the books.
Sitting on the floor, I poured over dozens of patterns and stitch directories. Even without reading the language, it is relatively simple to understand the schematics and charts outlined in the books. I am hoping that when I cast on for one of these projects, it will be intuitive. If not, I can ask my Japanese friend to help me with some translations…
It was the perfect day for photography, so when Erin met me for lunch, we decided to head towards Central Park for a photo afternoon. On the way, we stopped by Gotta Knit! a great yarn shop on 34th Street, and talked to Goldie, the owner. I bought a beautiful skein of yarn… more details to come.
Central Park was filled with people, but Erin and I had plans for some improvisational photography, and we didn’t let the crowds stop us. With her handy camera remote and my wide-angle lens, we got some great action photos!
We did about 20 cartwheels before finally getting the middle shot with both of our legs in the Y position. The funny thing? there were several groups of people sitting within a few feet of us, but no one even looked twice when we did all the jumping and cartwheeling!
Kris and I were completely beat after the busy two days in the city. Once we got home (after a two-hour Amtrak delay) we broke off some aloe for the sunburn, and went right to bed. It was a short and sweet trip!
















































