Knitting in the Big City

Loopy Yarns

Of course no road trip is complete without finding a local yarn store and bringing home some more yarn!

We spent a long weekend in Chicago last month and I only had time to visit one yarn store - Loopy Yarns. The store is within walking distance of "the Loop" in downtown Chicago, well that is if you like to walk (which I do). Otherwise the store is a hop, skip, and a jump away from a Red line train stop..

What I really liked is that the store carries a sizeable selection of non-wool fiber (cotton, silk, corn, soy, hemp, etc) and those cubbyholes are clearly marked. As always I try to buy yarns or colorways I can't find at my regular yarn haunts:

Meilenweit Meeting - soft green, grey and bits of cream and navy.

Regia Crazy Color - definitely reminds of fall since all the colors from Indian Corn are here.

AMAIZing (SWTC) - made from 100 per cent corn fiber. Atlantis blue. Maybe a scarf or small shawl?

Soxx Appeal - new for Fall by Knit one Crochet Two. Very soft and very stretchy but not quite like Fixation. Again, Indian summer colors.

Though I love the yarn – however my absolute favorite purchase is this:

the Sock Blockers by Fiber Trends

This is an item I see every now and then online and think " That would be nice but I think I'd rather buy fiber". I don't even know of a NYC yarn store that carries sock blockers so when I saw them at Loopy I scooped them into my basket. Now its like – how did I live without them?!

DC Weekend

After Ian blogged about going to a Nationals game I figure I’d ask him how long he thinks it would take to go from RFK Stadium to Knit Happens by the Metro system. After all he’s in cahoots with Wendy and Lucy, Knit Happens can’t be foreign to him! Well there must have been a misunderstanding somewhere since he gave me directions for the Metro, but no time estimate. Saturday’s game took forever and all I wanted to do was get back to the hotel to shower and change before meeting our friends for dinner . As for Sunday’s game we left in the middle on the 8th inning, with the Yankees in the lead, so that we could catch the 5pm Acela train. I did insist on sitting in the quiet car after hearing the Yanks lost.

The games were exciting but disappointing for Yankee fans. Clearly the Nationals need a smaller stadium for their fan base but since RFK was filled with at minimum 50% Yankee fans, I sorta felt right at home. I’ve been to Oakland A’s stadium and its just bad for baseball watching. However the conversion from football to baseball at RFK is not bad. The seats in centerfield are interesting since you are not at ground level – I found it hard to judge exactly where those fly balls were going. And one of the ladies room was about the size of my apartment (and I’ve got decent space for city living).

Alas a trip to Knit Happens was not meant to be. In addition to the fact that the games went on at precisely the same time as the store hours, I was quite wary of getting stuck on the Metro after Saturday’s ride out to the stadium. Apparently there is track work on the Orange line which resulted in two 10 minute delays while trains crossed in front of ours. The train was packed like sardines and 90% of the people got off at RFK and we all walked the same direction to exit. Thirty seconds later another train pulled in and proceeded to disembark 90% of its passengers. Will someone tell the Metro that this created a fire hazard and a very, very unsafe condition for the passengers?

As for the Acela it was a fast and smooth ride. I did work on my Trek Along With Me sock. But that photo is stuck in my new cellphone. Here a photo of it's current state:

Neutral except for the peach that’s starting to appear.

However, this is not the colorway I wanted to work with! I pulled out the chosen skein and set it aside… and of course I can’t find it now! So just before we walk out the door I grab a skein of Trekking out of the Stash. I guess I make two pairs for the knitalong, which isn’t the worse thing in the world is it?

London Explosions

London has special meaning for my husband and myself - In the 15 years we've known each we have made 15-20 trips to London. Sadly, I have traveled through each of the 6 subway stations that was bombed and I am quite familiar with the area where the bus explosion took place.

It was very upsetting to hear first thing in the morning but the Londoners I know are very resilient. Our friends live and work outside of London and I believe they are fine.

Londoners lived with IRA terror for years. The only summer visit we made was in the mid 1990s, specifically for some concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium. I remember sitting on the tube while a "suspicious package" was being checked out. One of the main things I remember from my early London trips were that there are no trash receptacles in the tube station. As for my post 9/11 visits I do remember thinking someone can leave a bag behind in the luggage holding area by the door. Being New Yorkers we always sat with our luggage but plenty of people drop there bag by the door and go sit at the other end of the carriage.

I was checking out some moblog photos that got posted on Flickr . Cameraphone photos have been posted showing people exiting the dark train tunnels . Sadly it shows me that as a daily subway rider I must find a way of locating my emergency bag by touch - why carrying around a small flashlight, a handkerchief and some first aid supplies if the lights go out and I cannot see where they are in my tote?

And while I know the trapped tube riders will say this is not true I must say that London Transport has done an amazing job getting the word out to its above ground customers. They are using old tech methods - each tube station has a large hand written sign explaining why there is no service, with a number to call for more information and the Transport for London website itself is bringing up one page of essential information. Let's hope that the MTA/New York City Transit communications departments are taking notes - for once it would be good to see them utilize effective ideas from other agencies - not come up with excuses as to why that can't figure out how to tell the customers what the heck is going on!

Royal Albert Hall

Right across from the gleaming Prince Albert Memorial in Kensington Park is one of the Prince's last endeavors for England - Royal Albert Hall. RAH is my absolute favorite concert venue. Great acoustics, intimate, with most of the armless, swivel seats. No fighting for the armrest (which guys usually think they are entitled to have) and you can swivel to one side to let people walk by. There was a recent renovation and once it was done RAH began to offer tours. Our tour guide, Christy, was very enthusiastic, probably even more than usual since she was attending that night's Cream concert. She was also happy to find out that we were visiting from New York, "My favorite city!". She must have been here a while because she was acquainted with places that typical tourists wouldn't know about, like the borough of Queens and historic Brooklyn Heights. The tour itself is quite nice. The highlight is being allowed into the Queen's private rooms (yes, we did check out the loo) and getting a peak at the Royal box (nothing fancy here).

It must have been a day for royalty. As we took pictures by the grand stairs that lead up to RAH "in the back" we caught a glimpse of Prince Charles. The Royal College is across the street from RAH and we saw that some faculty were costumed in colorful robes and such. We noticed unusual police activity and then we saw a motorcycle policeman followed by two black cars. Someone near us said "The Prince".

We saw him get out of the car and I said "Oh, its Prince Philip" but and we watched I could see indeed it was Prince Charles. The faculty ushered him into he college and that was it. A one minute brush with royalty. Unfortunately it was too short a time to be captured even with a digital camera. Sorry.

London

We had gorgeous weather! Everyday it was cloudy at first and perhaps a sprinkling of rain and then BAM sun and temperatures in the 70s. Very odd for London in May.

For the last 14 years every time we go to London we make sure to have the following meals: a British Breakfast, a pub lunch (w/beer), fish and chips, Indian, and Chinese. While we like trying different places for all these meals it was only with Chinese that we found a favorite place that we would eat at whenever we were in town.

Now my favorite Chinese restaurant is gone! It was all boarded up and there was no sign saying what happened. It was called The Garden and it was located by the Hippodrome in Leicester Square. Not a tourist trap, it had a take out bakery on the first floor and dining on the second floor. The menu was not extensive but the food is closer to authentic Chinese than most places visitors would try. So we went to a new place that opened across the street, Cafe de Hong Kong. This place capitalizes on the "bubble tea" trend. We were ready not to like it but once we tried the roast duck entree as well as chicken in garlic sauce dish we had found a new place. Now I need to find a good bakery!

Sadly a similar thing happened with our little grocery stores on Gloucester Road. The were 3 small shops that stay open late went is handy when you are hungry after going to a concert or the theater. They were The Grocery, Harts and Cullens. It was quite nice - if Harts didn't have the Aero chocolate bar I wanted, we would go visit the other two. Now the Grocery is empty, Harts has been replaced by a Tesco Express and Cullens is a thrift store. I don't like the Tesco Express, its boring and it doesn't have my Aero bars.

Across the Pond

I'm taking a week off from blogging - Instead I will be occupied by these two things:

Cream reunion concert

Yarn shopping at Liberty of London

When I was in London last year I picked up Rowan and Jaeger pattern books, Rowan Calmer (which, at the time, I hadn't seen in the NYC stores) and Rowan Denim, and several INOX circular needles. Everything barely made it into my carry-on. I imagine it'll be the same this time around even with the awful exchange rate (One pound will cost $1.90!).

Current circumstances pretty much dictate that I'm stressed out even with the act of getting ready to go on vacation - I'm hoping that being on vacation will relax me!