June Progress & News

Did I blink and miss June?!

Exploring Manhattan - Purl Soho & Friends

A couple of weeks ago I met up for the first time with Sarah Craig from Confessions Of A Fabric Addict when she was on a trip to Manhattan.  We spoken via the internet for several years, I love her blog and the charity quilt work she does is amazing.  I'm a regular at her Friday Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? linky party and it was great to finally meet in person. 

Linblomman - Embroidery Linen Yarn

I have a friend, let's call her Jacqui, and she always shares with me anything crafty she thinks I might be interested in.  Back in August she shared a Purl Soho email about a 'new' 50-year-old linen yarn Linblomman and as soon as I saw it I knew I wanted it.  Yes, I wanted it, I didn't need it, I just wanted it.  I actually sent Jacqui an email asking her to stop sending me scrummy stuff to look at, it's just too much temptation.  

Five weeks on I still wanted that embroidery yarn and in my book that's no longer a whim to be ignored, but a wish to be acted upon.  Purl Soho have been out of stock for a few weeks but after having brunch today in Noho with my besties Em and Amy I took a chance and nipped into the store. 

I couldn't believe my luck, the Purl Soho staff were putting sales labels on newly arrived boxes in front of me as I asked tentatively about its availability.  It was obviously meant to be so I bought one box of each of the three colourways: Neon; Pastel; and Flora & Fauna.

The story behind this linen yarn is that it was made in the 1960s in Sweden, the factory closed down and the yarn, hidden away in a haberdashery stock room, has been rediscovered fairly recently.  It is just as beautiful and strong now as it was then.

Linblomman (Swedish: The Flax Flower) is distributed by Linladan (Swedish: flax barn) 

Wondering where you can get this yarn in the US?  There 's only two US stockists:

Purl Soho - in store, NYC and online (read about one of my visits to Purl Soho here); and 

Bolt, Portland, OR - in store (read about my visit to Bolt here).

UK stockists are listed here on the Linladan website and if you're lucky enough to be attending The Knitting & Stitching Show 

at Ally Pally next week, Linladan will be there too.

So what am I going to do with my beautiful linen threads? 

Admire them? 

Stroke them?

 Stash them away for another fifty years?  

No ... I'm going to use them.

Remember those Dropcloth Samplers designed by my friend Rebecca Ringquist that I bought in Bolt, Portland (a Linblomman supplier, how did I miss these yarns in the store that day???!!!)?  Well, I'm taking the samplers and yarns on a plane journey with me next week when I head back to Britain to celebrate my daughter Flicky's 21st birthday.  I don't know what I'm more excited about, seeing some of my kids or using my newest crafty acquisitions ;D

And Jacqui, keep sharing those crafty temptations, you're absolutely right, why should you suffer alone?!!! x

Clicking on an image will take you to a new page of crafty goodness :)

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This post contains Amazon and Craftsy affiliate links for which I am paid compensation on click-through purchases (at no additional cost to you). Otherwise, the post is for informational purposes only and all opinions are my own.

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Uncredited reproduction of all content, text and images on this site is prohibited. All content, text and images must be credited to Chris Dodsley @made by ChrissieD and include a link back to this site.

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Exploring Soho - Purl Soho, NYC

This is Purl Soho - a 'must visit' destination for most sewists, knitters and crafters visiting Manhattan.  

Maybe you follow their blog The Purl Bee - it's inspirational, packed full of beautiful makes to get your creative juices flowing and their website is equally delicious to drool over.

Magazine photo shoot worthy but, although it's on my doorstep, I only seem to go to the store when crafty friends visit and then I play tourist for the day and drop by with them.  Here're photos from one such visit for you to drool over too.

Purl Soho is open Mon-Fri 12-7 and Sat/Sun 12-6 at 459 Broome Street, Soho, Manhattan (212) 420 8796.  Click through to see classes on offer.

For details of other fabric, yarn, trim and notion stores that I've visited around the world along with the NYC stores I love, exhibitions and events I've attended and wonderful people I've been lucky to meet click the links below or in my sidebar :D

Disclaimer: This post is for informational purposes only, no payment or commission is received on click-throughs and opinions are my own.

     

A Crafty Person's Guide to Shopping In Manhattan

Ever wondered where to shop for fabric, wool, trims and notions on your trip to Manhattan, NYC?

Lots of you contact me asking for advice and I love to help so I've put together a page on my blog just for this - not a huge list, simply my favourites.  You can find it in my header tabs or you can click through to the page here

WHERE TO SHOP IN NYC

I hope you find it useful, let me know and let me know also if there's any other sections you'd like to see added to the page.

If you drop into The City Quilter be sure to ask for me and say "hi"!!!

Where To Shop For Yarn In Manhattan - Lion Brand Yarn Studio

Don't know about you but much of my life is spent waiting: for the subway; for appointments; to meet people; and for my plane to board, take off, fly and land, so I like to fill these moments crocheting granny squares that are so portable and versatile.  I've just finished my latest project so I needed more wool to start something new to occupy me on yet another flight that I'm taking next week.

I usually stock up on wool at Manhattan's Vogue Knitting Live or at Smiley's Yarns Manhattan Sale but with neither on the horizon I'd have to visit a real live wool shop.  My first thought "Purl Soho", my second "small bank loan"; checking out their website proved me right - a pattern caught my eye and the kits for it were a whopping $195-$780.  I put my thinking cap on - there had to be a way to make this blanket, or something similar a whole lot cheaper than that, for a start it didn't actually need to be made of Koigu Premium Merino!

I'd heard of another wool shop in Manhattan - Lion Brand Yarn Studio - but never visited.  Checking out their website I spotted just the right wool for the job and headed over with Flicky last Sunday afternoon.  Here're some photos of the Manhattan gem that I've discovered (apologies up front as they're poor quality from my phone).

We're here - 34 West 15th between 5th/6th.  You can't see it in this photo but that's a crochet and knitted 'under the sea' window display, just fabulous.  Check out those yarn bombed door handles too!  

  The store entrance - lots of themed projects on display here 'made in America'.

A Wool Wall

There're lots of interactive activities all around the store - you can trial yarns and try your hand at knitting and crochet.

At the back of the store, there's lots of notions and accessories - wool bags, gadgets, books, etc.  I succeeded in resisting a wool winder - I've wound by hand my whole life, did I really need it?

 Needles and Hooks!

 The staff were super friendly and helpful, nothing was too much trouble and they even offered to take this piccie of Flicky and me.

Great displays using benches, steps, boxes, and baskets - it all looks amazing while still being customer friendly.

 Found it - that's what I'm here for!

 A 'Martha Stewart' area.

 Another scrummy Wool Wall.

 Baskets of goodies.

 Beautiful silks.

 I love how they've used these old drawers to display the wool.

There're a large centre table and chairs for you to sit to plan your projects and knit/crochet a while.  I was amazed at how comfortable I felt in the store and even more telling - Flicky loved it - pulling out a chair she sat at the table to wait while I wandered happily around.  When I finally came back she told me something weird had happened, then she picked up a nearby knitting sampler and proceeded to knit some more of it ... I taught her to knit on a rainy afternoon when she was 12 but she didn't take to it and it's never been mentioned since, turns out it's like riding a bike, you never forget how!!!

The staff chatted with us and told us that on Tuesday evenings, 5.30 pm to 6.30 pm there's a Crochet Doctor in the store offering free help and advice for your projects and there's the same on Wednesday evenings for Knitters.  In fact, there's lots of free events - Thursday nights there's a knit/crochet meet up and the last Thursday of the month is Film night 'Flicks with Sticks' - how great does that sound?!

There's a full schedule of classes too that you can read about here.

Here're the goodies that I brought home with me.  That yarn bag with a thread feed hole will be very useful when I'm on the plane - did I ever tell you about the time I was flying out of Paris and my ball of wool rolled down the plane during take off?  My husband was horrified and kept tugging at the strand of wool still in my hand to try to bring it back but, of course, the more he tugged the further the ball rolled - I giggled through the whole event but he was not amused!  Hopefully, this bag will ensure we never have an episode like that again ;)

The best thing about the day, apart from discovering a wonderful new store and staff that I feel so at home to drop in on again, was the slight glimmer of hope that maybe one day my daughter will allow her deeply suppressed crafty side to surface and we can make things together!!!

For details of other fabric, yarn, trim and notion stores that I've visited around the world along with the NYC stores I love, exhibitions and events I've attended and wonderful people I've been lucky to meet click the links below or in my sidebar :D

Disclaimer: This post is for informational purposes only, no payment or commission is received on click-throughs and opinions are my own.