Tammy! She has a picture of me taking a picture of her. Bag of purchases at her feet. shhhhhh.

That’s an activity I highly recommend!  Tammy, the blogger behind Life and Yarn or Yarn and Life took the train to NYC and we met at Grand Central Station. Her birthday is Wednesday (swing by her place and leave her a birthday comment!) so that was another justification for buying some yarn. Like any of us needs a justification for buying yarn. Tammy had a couple: her birthday, and the obvious need for souvenir yarn from every yarn shop we visited. Even though I swore, I swore, I swore I tell you, that I wouldn’t buy any yarn, (looking shamefacedly down at my feet) I succumbed.

Tammy’s primary mission was to visit Purl Soho, which was very high on my list too. OH what a lovely store. I wanted a dozen of everything. The displays were great, the yarn was priced on the skein, the people who worked there were just-right helpful, and the stock….o the stock. VERY NICE. In fact, I had to do this. I HAD TO! I COULDN”T HELP IT!

Cascade Eco Duo, in vanilla. Just one skein, I had a little discipline.

Cascade Eco Duo, in hazelnut

don't you want to rub them against your cheek? 70% baby alpaca, 30% merino

huddling together in my Tibetan singing bowl - so peaceful and soft

SORRY. I know you’ll understand my need to take so many photos of two little skeins of yarn. Y’all, this yarn is amazing. So soft, the colors so rich. And what’s that orange book-looking thing in the top right corner of the bottom photo? Dang if I didn’t pick up Susan Anderson’s itty bitty toys. I HAD TO! My daughter Katie is gearing up to get ready to have children, and you know, a lot of the little toys were in my faves and queue, for when you know, grandbabies start coming.

After an exhausting (wallet exhausting) visit at Purl, we walked around the corner to Balthazars for lunch. Tiny table, but good bistro food. Plus – and this was a huge plus – it was cool. Today’s a little bit steamy here in Manhattan. I had a salad nicoise, the tuna was done perfectly. Which means the cook just kind of waved it near the stove, threatened it, really. We chatted, we got to know each other a little bit more, and we relaxed in the cool. I had a blast.

Then we trucked uptown a ways, to midtown, to stop in at School Products and Habu. I just have to echo what others – Jared Flood comes to mind – have said about School Products. You can find some amazing things in that store. Huge cones of merino and of cashmere. All kinds of yarns from Italy. Silk, camel, yak, cotton, and often at incredible prices. If you ever come to town, make the effort to go to School Products. Like so many stores in midtown, it’s just in an office building, there’s no sign out front, so you have to know exactly where you’re going. I’ll be back. Just as she’d done at Purl, Tammy bought a few things at School Products – some absolutely gorgeous yarn that just looked like autumn in her hand. She’s going to Webs tomorrow, so she may not get photos of her stash up right away, but do check out her blog for pictures.

Then we wandered our way to Habu, and after one false start in the building, the guy at the front desk downstairs redirected us to the right place. It’s a pretty small showroom, and if you’ve been there before, they closed the little back hallway that used to have additional yarns. Still, the patient looker will find all kinds of great treasures. I love hearing the looms in the other room softly making their loomy sounds. Tammy did a little damage here, too.

We’d planned to walk back to Grand Central Station, but blisters on feet led us to take the subway instead. And with an ending hug to match our opening hug, our day together came to an end. It was great fun, and we’ll try to coordinate ourselves at Rhinebeck in the fall.

Let me know if you’re coming to town – it’s fun meeting in person! And now I’m off to fondle my yarn. You know what I’m talking about.

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