Yarn Crawl: Purl Soho

Back in June (I'm a slow poster, obvi) I did a yarn crawl in NYC.  I only had a short time in the city, so I just hit up three places.  The first was Purl Soho.

I've followed their blog for a while and really liked the suggested projects they post.  They also have a mix of knitting, sewing and stitch-craft, which I thought would be fun to check out.

I was not disappointed.  They have a wide range of mostly high end yarns, but also a lot of Cascade for the budget customers (I think I count as a budget customer...my overall yarn consumption is high, but each ball is relatively inexpensive).  A lot of the brands, I had never heard of before...I always think that maybe I should keep a journal of yarns so I would know what I like or don't like for the future.  But then I think about what I like best (solid colored, worsted, long-lasting wool) and realize that I am not ever going to be the girl that buys fancy yarn, so it doesn't really matter.



I especially liked that they had LOTS of large samples knit up in many of their yarns.  You could thumb through the table of them like wallpaper samples.  A nice way to see what they fabric would be like.

 

See the samples on the table in the front?



What I really wanted from them was ginormous Big Stitch yarn, but it is alpaca and ended up being WAY more than I wanted to pay for it.  (I am still trying to come up with a good idea for spinning uber-fat yarn that does not look too much like roving....many plies maybe?)

Instead I asked if they had anything local.  Since sheep aren't very common in the city, I expected something from local dyers or spinners or maybe an upstate NY brand.  Instead they directed me to Jared Flood's Brooklyn Tweed Loft (Fingering Weight).  I got some.

I hate it.

I shouldn't hate it.  It is American sourced wool.  Jared Flood is an amazing designer.  I like men who knit.  But the colors are not bright enough, the yarn breaks too easily (I'm kind of a tight knitter, so this causes problems for me) and it kind of looks and feels like dryer lint.

However, I am hopeful for the finished product, so I am going to knit a shawl with it for the Revellenic Games (formerly the Ravelympics).  We shall see.