We ♥ NYC

Some time before there were plans to close up the shop, my sister called me up and said " I have a credit with Porter airlines and my husband is all out of vacation time. Want to go to NYC for the May long weekend???"

Uhm. Yes please!

So, away we went.

And while I truly felt horrid about leaving my poor mom to deal with everything that was going down at Mary's, it did feel good to escape it all for a few days. 

Something that friends and family asked me while the shop was wrapping up was "Do you think that you're still going to love knitting as much as you do, once the store has closed down?"

And while my answer was always "Why of course! I certainly hope so! In fact... I hope even MORE so!", this trip was confirmation that being in a knitting store will always be my jam. Even if I don't have a key to the front door.

It is safe to say that the theme of this trip was 'Yarn Shops', and yarn shop, we did.

In fact... we even picked the hotel that we stayed in, based on the proximity to Purl Soho, a yarn shop that put itself on the map years ago with it's gorgeous website, projects and colour inspiration.

They got to know us at Purl. Like... for real, they did. We were in there literally five days in a row, and it amazed me that each and every day, something new would speak to me from the shelves. Something that I had completely over looked just a mere 15 hours prior. 

Pretty, pretty yarn at Purl Soho

Why this surprised me... I'm not entirely sure. Because if there is one thing I learned while at Mary's Yarns, it's that inspiration can strike at any time, and in the same space, over and over (AND OVER!) again, day after day.

 

But Purl wasn't the only yarn shop that we hit. We spent a day in Brooklyn, and managed to find our way into a sweet little spot called Brooklyn General, a place that I had caught wind of from listening to Voolenvine's podcast. VERY worth the trip over to Brooklyn if you are into trims, ribbons and of course... yarn. The people were friendly, the product worth a gander and the food surrounding the shop? Delish.

Brooklyn General

Case and point.

Brooklyn's version of a float, courtesy of Farmacie.

Now that's what I'm talking about...

And last but not least, we hit up The Loopy Mango, which I think that I can safely say is one of the 'loopiest' stores I have ever set foot in. They sell... EVERYTHING. You want it? They got it. Vintage tea pots? Yup. Moccasins? Yup. Antlers? Sure. Yarn? It's there.

Not your average yarn store...

But in our world of knitting, they are most famously known for their absolutely GIANT yarn and knitting needles.

I was tempted... SO tempted to pick a ball of this massively thick/massively soft yarn, but I refrained. Not an easy thing to do...

Using my sister for scale, I'm sure that we can all agree...
Those are some GIANT balls of yarn

But I guess that one must draw the line somewhere.

Le sigh...

So there you have it. A weekend in NYC with two yarn crazed sisters. We did well. VERY well. As in... we might have had to buy an extra bag to bring home our haul in. Er... I mean, I had to buy an extra bag. But that's OK.

The obligatory "Times Square Selfie"

If buying yarn is how I choose to cope with the closure of the shop, I'd argue that there are far worse ways.

Am I right?

Now, off I go to knit.

Findings at the Brooklyn Flea

I think I have some yarn that I need to use up.

♥