Adventures in Soho and a FO

I had the best morning yesterday. I got called for a test group and went into Manhattan at 9 a.m.

The testing was remarkably relaxing, so I came out of there in a good mood and a few bucks richer.

After that I decided to hop on the subway and go down to Purl Soho, since I hadn't seen their new space yet. It was closed, of course, so I took a leisurely walk through Soho to Whole Foods up on Houston (which is, I think, the awesomest Whole Foods ever) taking pictures of some of the gorgeous architecture and architectural details.


I'm not usually a fan of Soho. On good days it makes me feel... well... violent. Between the snottiness (and expensiveness and pretentiousness and...) of the stores and their employees and the hordes of people in the area, I end up feeling remarkably out of place. However at 10 a.m. it is quiet, mostly empty except for a few Bronx born freight workers (with whom I get along famously) and a few club kids staggering home after a long night out. And yes, a few walk of shamers. Heh.


I got to spend lots of time staring up at buildings and taking pictures. Additionally, I found an amazing little cafe/hut in a leanto up against a huge building. Cafe Angelique, I think it was called. AWESOME coffee, and totally amazing cupcakes. Which I used to supplement my, um, breakfast.


At Bowery and Houston, I saw this really awesome grafitti wall.


After I went to Whole Foods I sat in Eleanor Roosevelt Park (subtitled Rat Park due to the HUGE numbers of rodents running around there) and knitted on my Dierdre (see below). Had some engaging conversations with some of the homeless guys there about knitting, and listened to the school kids play in the playground nearby.

Purl Soho's space was beautiful. The staff this time around was quite friendly and helpful. However, I just can't get into that store. I like their blog, I like some of the projects they put out there. The prices are insanely high and their yarn selection is lacking. I can't determine how they've organized their yarns, as it doesn't seem to be by weight, fiber content, brand or color. So that confuses me a wee bit. Also, they pack their shelves very tightly and none of the labels show, so in order to find anything you have to ask for help, or risk yanking out an entire shelf full of yarn to determine what you are looking at.

I did get to look at Shelter, Jared Flood's new yarn line. The colors are muted and lovely, and the yarn looks awesome in the skein. In terms of feel, it's a pretty rough yarn and it had quite a bit of vegetable matter in it. I would put it on a similar level to Noro Kureyon in terms of how it felt to my hand, however I think it will soften considerably with washing and blocking.

So in terms of my actual projects, here's Dierdre (rav link), finished:

Yarn: sweetgeorgia cashluxe fine
Needle: US 4 (3.5 mm)
Size: 56 by 24 inches


The yarn is a dream to work with. Feels really amazing, isn't splitty, absolutely awesome. The fabric is quite drapey, although honestly I used a much larger needle than the pattern called for, so that added to the drapey-ness.

I am not so sure that I like the color. I think I'm starting to become anti-variegated yarn. Or at least, if the yarn is variegated, I want it to be all in the same tones.


It's a lovely pattern, and a super fast knit, providing that you don't have a kitten who has suddenly developed a taste for cashmere and chews through a large length of yarn.


It's also fast if you manage to get all the yarn overs in the right place and you don't have to rip out more than half the shawl to fix an oops.