Knitty City - New Year's Eve 2006

Deciding we couldn't walk any more, we took the subway down to Grand Central and the 42nd St shuttle to 8th Ave back to the hotel. We still had a bit of walking from 42nd to 44th in the subway. This time we were treated to a sight we'd never see if we had not been here at this time.
Security in Times Square is tight for NY's eve as you would well know. Guests at hotels here are given ID's to facilitate their comings and goings with security and NYPD. The intersecting and affected streets are sectioned off early in the morning.
We stumbled off our shuttle and shuffled to the 44th exit when we saw them assembling in the subway.
Hundreds of NYPD
assembled and ready to go.
Impressive but unnerving at the same time.
It was about half past 3 in the afternoon.
As we surfaced at 44th and 8th, we knew why.
Our intersection were already packed with people queueing to get in to Times Square.
It was while shuffling and jostling in the crowd that I realised I needed to check the days that Knitty City was going to be shut for due to New Year's. I thought I had enough time. When we got back to our room, I rang Knitty City and they were going to shut at 5pm til the 3rd of Jan. Eeeeeeek!
Thus my mad solo dash out again. I wasn't having my crew with me while running to a yarn store!
Here is Knitty City






The name of the lovely owner of Knitty City escapes me this minute. We had a nice chat and the store was filled with people getting their knitting needs for the long weekend. If I could have my own yarn store, I'd like it to be as warm and inviting as Knitty City. I was impressed with the variety of yarns at this store ranging from lovely affordable yarns at USD 6 to over USD 30. This was where I spotted Wagtail yarns. For us Aussies, Wagtails is not available at our own retail stores. This is unfortunate but a reflection of our discount shoppers here as we scour the bargain bins at Spotlight. Do we wonder why Aussie LYSs and the yarn industry can't survive?
Looking for yarns that were not available in Australia, I picked up some balls of Frog Tree merino (so lovely and soft) and some Sheep Shop Yarn skeins. I was also fascinated with my first look at the South American yarns on this trip - Rio De La Plata, Manos and Malabrigo. Beautiful kettle dyed colours - they were not as soft as I had thought they might be.
(Post-note: I do want to try some of Malabrigo's later offerings of 2007 as I hear these are softer).
My first LYS visit and I love Knitty City!