Concrete Jungle Where Dreams are Made...

Yes, that's right, New York. Everyone sings about it, from Jay Z to Frank Sinatra. So with such illustrious figures paying homage to the city that apparently never sleeps, who are we NOT to go there and see what it has to offer?

We arrived in New York on 28th and 7th Ave, right smack in the Fashion District, on the steps of FIT. Has there ever been another sign so telling and appropriate? Immediately upon our arrival we set off to work. A wee bit of shopping in Soho. Now this isn't fun, regular shopping, no it was work shopping, an entirely different breed of monster. Our task was to gather ideas and get inspired by what we saw in the stores. We hit Free People, Top Shop, and All Saints (one of my favorite British stores that has now crossed over to the US). Needless to say Cara loved my favorite store, All Saints (not sure if you knew this but we've come to realize in the past couple of months that we are indeed, the same person), and we got some great ideas to build on for our own collection.

The next day we hit the Met to see the Alexander McQueen exhibit, Savage Beauty. The lines were hellish and after waiting outside of the museum before it opened and waiting again inside in the admissions line, the entry into the exhibit itself was still another 2 and 1/2 hour line. We ended buying a Met membership to skip the queue! Mr. McQueen never one to disappoint, was amazing. It sounds like such an understatement to say that, but I've been sitting here for l5 minutes trying to think of a word to describe it other than, awesome, amazing, fantastic, etc. The rest of the day consisted of Cara and I running around the city to our various yarn appointments. But let me stop yapping and let the pictures below do the talking!

To see all our pictures check out charlotte's label's page at facebook.com/isobelandcleo.

Shopping List:
Free People
All Saints
Top Shop
The Met: Savage Beauty Exhibit
The Yarn Company
Tender Buttons
Silk City Fibers
Karabella
Habu Textiles
Lion Brand Studio
Shareen Vintage

Downtown Yarns
String
Beads of Paradise

x
charlotte

a piece from the McQueen exhibit

a piece from the McQueen exhibit

the Yarn Co, on the upper west side. this was a favorite new yarn store discovery

Tender Buttons. Amazing store, there is also one in Chicago across from Barneys

silk city fibers, a yarn company that we use alot

Cara pontificating over yarns in Habu

yarn at habu. I love how they package it!

Charlotte became so overwhelmed she just had to lay over all the yarns

at lion brand yarns

Happy Accidents Make Sweet New Designs!

There I was last week, knitting away on my Brother knitting machine, and I was livid. I mean I was in a really foul mood. My crush was doing my head in as per usual, I mean, does he like me or not, what gives? I thought all that vacillation ended in high school. Then I came into the studio only to find that somehow overnight my knitting machine had stopped working. Which, unfortunately is still the case, but luckily I have 6, so I just popped a new one on the table and kept working. I was DETERMINED not to let ANYTHING get in my way. I had come to knit all day and nothing was going to stop me. Except for running out of yarn. Oh yes. Even seasoned knitters like myself, inevitably have a project where the yarn we ordered just isn't enough. It happened to me so much in the past that I had gotten to the point where I was overestimating too much. At one point I returned over $500 bucks of yarn back to Webs. I preceded this return with a apologetic "heads up" email to their customer service department. Well, unfortunately the yarn I was using for this particular project that I was doing was a from a remnant order and I had no chance in hell of getting more of it. What was a girl to do? I decided to bind off and this was what I was left with:

a happy accident

This accident was so happy I decided to make another one in a tape yarn that I got at Silk City Fibers warehouse sale (see blog post below for more info on that). And now we've got a new style over here at Union Textiles: The Float Capelet. Both style are available to buy on Etsy, just click the pictures for the links.

x
charlotte

I've got the money, You got the STUFF?

So. I have a problem. Anyone is knows me KNOWS I have an addiction. And even though Cara isn't around right now to confirm this about herself, I don't think that she'd be upset if I told you she's got a little problem too.

We have a LOT of yarn. We could probably start our own yarn shop. It'd be a place that sold remnants, like the remnant section at the fabric shop. Hmm. Maybe we should do that? Anyway. I thought if I'd tell you about my favorite dealers AND why I buy from them.

See what I mean. That's mostly my yarn. Cara's doesn't even fit in the studio.

So without further ado here is the list. And this is not exhaustive nor final. This list changes ALOT (see earlier blog post about my ADHD).

1. flock, nantucket island, massachusetts
why I love it:
- the owner Shelia, is freaking HILARIOUS. Worth going in just to talk to her alone.
- For such a small space, Shelia has a beautiful selection of yarns. My favorites? Check out the hand painted mohairs and the chunky thick/thin novelty yarns (see pic below).

an awesome novelty yarn at Flock

2. downtown yarns, nyc
this place is literally crammed from floor to ceiling with yarn. and in a place where good space is hard and expensive to come by, there's no surprise why. the staff here are really helpful and even went so far as to ship my favorite yarn to me in Nantucket, even though they don't have a mail order or e-commerce business. favorite yarns: best bet for recycled sari silks.

3. silk city fibers, paterson, new jersey
This place is a godsend. I thought I had died and gone to yarn heaven. Albeit a cold and large warehouse heaven, but I didn't care. The majority of these yarns are on cones for machine knitters and weavers, which is so hard to find (see my plea below). Anyway, I left Philadelphia at 4 am and took a taxi and a train to NYC, where I then walked to the Port Authority bus station. I then took 2 buses to get to New Jersey where the hold their monthly warehouse sale. This place is just that good. I nearly dropped $900 and obviously had to reign it in to a more reasonable amount. Like $600. And the owner gave me and my rolling duffle bag which I thankfully decided to bring, a ride all the way back into NYC. Clearly great customer service!

4. fabulous yarns, tivoli, ny
This place is on here because of their FABULOUS discounts. Sure, they may not have the flashest website, or the the most streamlined e-shop, but for a struggling knitwear designer like myself, I'm much more concerned with finding a good deal and awesome yarn. They over free shipping on orders over $100. The automatically DEDUCT 10% off EVERY ORDER. And then they offer a 5% off code, which when used with their volume discounts can save you 20-30% depending on how much you spend. 30% off? That's a better deal than I got as a retail employee off my own store merchandise!

5. a quarter stitch, the french quarter, new orleans, la
i just LOVE the shop. I think it may be near perfect. The staff is ridiculously nice and friendly. The yarn is all amazing, most of it is hard to find novelty, which I love blending with other everyday yarns to get awesome texture and combinations. I also love how it's set up. It's not organized within an inch of it's life. It has personality. The yarns sit in baskets all over the store, and it's lovely to rummage through them all. And it's in the french quarter in new orleans, need I say more?

through the window at A Quarter Stitch.

6. webs, northampton, ma
this may not be the biggest revelation on the list of my favorite yarn shops, but webs carries yarns on cones, which is oh-so-nice for us machine knitters. They also do good novelty yarns and have their own label, Vally Yarns which is sold at very reasonable prices. Webs also offers volume discounts on orders over $60, but no free shipping.

Those are some of my favorite places, but if you have any to share, please add them in the comments! I would love to know where I can get more yarn on cones!

x,
charlotte