The Point NYC's Last Day

It’s amazing how fast The Point NYC went from bustling knitting cafe bursting with color to a shell of a store with white painted bricks. Less than a week earlier, The Point NYC was filled with new fibers such as corn and sugar cane and knitting supplies that arrived daily.  Knitters and other fiber enthusiasts occupied every  chair in the cafe and worked fueled by caffeine and fiber fumes.

On Wednesday evening, April 29th, the store was the location of celebration among those who considered it a quiet haven from the daily routine of their lives. It was a place where people came together and developed friendships bound together by their love of fiber.

Despite the bittersweet feelings associated with The Point’s closing, Helane, the owner, made it a celebration with wine and fresh baked cookies. The feeling of love for this unusual institution that had been nestled in New York City’s West Village filled the white space that once held wire baskets of yarn bursting with color.

The Going Out of Business Sale announced on Sunday evening was incredibly effective (based on my knitter’s perspective). Much of the inventory was picked over on Monday.

Eat, Knit and Be Happy: The Point NYC

The Carols & friend celebrating at The Point NYC

Megan K serves wine, not wool at The Point NYC

Knitted Yarns Editor Heidi in Swallowtail Shawl and Alyssa, The Point NYC manager

Knitters celebrating at The Point NYC

Doug showing off his latest WIP at The Point

Knitwear Designer & regular at The Point - Connie Chang Chinchio

Knitted Yarns Editor and The Point Staff

Yarnless Walls at The Point NYC

Lone Knitted Sweater hangs on The Point NYC's empty racks

Former Point Manager Rebecca

Wherever we wind up knitting, The Point NYC will always hold a special place in our hearts for my knitting friends and me. Thank you so much for providing this fiber haven for us.

Farewell to The Point NYC for the last time

While The Point NYC may be gone, our memories, friendships and knitting items are still tangible reminders of the good times we had.

  

The Point NYC Yarn Store

It is with great sadness that I write this post. The Point NYC on Bedford Street in New York City’s West Village is closing. The news was announced by Helene the owner on Sunday evening at their sale. It was followed by an email outlining their “Going Out of Business” sale Sunday evening. Everything in the store is 30% off. 

The Point NYC was a bright spot among the New York City yarn stores. It was a small shop with baskets of yarn hanging off of the walls with a cafe and free wifi. It was a mecca for  knitters as well as locals to stop have a snack in a colorful, creative environment. 

Knitted Yarns Editor at The Point

Knitted Hats at The Point NYC

From a yarn perspective, The Point NYC tended to have a more upscale selection of brands with a fondness for smaller producers such as Brooklyn Handspun. As a knitter, its strength was its warm, inviting environment. It was filled with tables where groups of knitters could gather on a regular basis or just drop in to look and meet new fellow knitters. This open knitting environment will be missed. 

While I have always had a project with an interesting yarn from The Point NYC on at least one set of needles, looking back, it’s not the knitting that I remember but rather the friends that I spent hours knitting with. Over the years, I’ve met a group of fellow knitters at The Point NYC who I might never have met otherwise. We have become friends and I looked forward to seeing them each week. I am filled with tears as I write this. 

Most special for me was the fact that I announced my engagement at The Point NYC with a bottle of champagne after the store closed in September 2007.

Engagement announcement at The Point NYC

Heidi and the Two Carols at The Point NYC

The Point Engagement Celebration September 2007

The Point NYC will always have a place in my heart. It was a very special environment where there was always a smiling face. I will truly miss my regular visits and the welcoming staff. Goodbye!

Overflowing basket of yarn at Rosie's Yarn Cellar in Philadelphia

When it comes to writing about fiber, I could go on and on filling miles of online space as I’m sure many of you could as well. There’s the wonderful stuff that we find at Sheep & Wool Festivals that comes from the people who raise the animals or dye  it using a wonderful palette of colors. Of course, some of this may retain its lamby smell as the Icelandic lace weight my husband influenced me to buy at last fall’s Rhinebeck Sheep & Wool Festival. (Don’t worry–I have it well wrapped in a plastic bag to keep its small contained!) 

At the other end of the spectrum are the pre-packaged balls that colorfully crowd the shelves of our favorite LYS. For me, that includes The Point NYC and Knitty City. I love the fact that The Point clusters the yarns by brand and color so that they burst out of their baskets. By contrast, the yarns in Knitty City are packed into their cubbyholes and spill into baskets on the floor. 

In between are the cones of various yarns and mill ends that I buy at Silk City Fibers. They come in a wide variety of contents and the colors may not always be my first choice but they’re well priced and always become wonderful cherished items. At the core of my stash, there are some large cones of wonderful materials including mill ends of cashmere and cashmere blends (which I plan to make into amazing shawls since some of it is laceweight), some thick Chunky in Sweet Potato orange from which I’ve promised to make my husband a sweater (although he insists that a pair of socks would be much better), 2 pounds of black (yes you read that correctly) lace weight Italian linen which I will either make a shawl and/or mix it with a grey and white linen mix to make my After Dark Nightie #2 and a matching bathrobe from the first Mason Dixon Knits book. 

Alas, there’s too much yarn and not enough time to knit it all!  That said, I believe that it’s important to let the fiber tell you what it wants to be . It’s not that the fibers actually talk (that would be silly!) Rather, I find that it’s necessary to test some swatches and see what type of pattern works best for the yarn. For example, the spring sweater that I’m working on required several swatches to see what stitch would work best. I am lucky that I don’t find the math required to adapt a pattern to be a chore (although I would argue anyone can do this math but that’s for another blog post). Further, I am flexible and find beauty in a wide variety of fibers! 

I am a HUGE fan of fiber festivals. They are wonderful outdoor activities that allow knitters to mingle with other lovers of yarn producing livestock, spinners and dyers. The Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival in May and the New York State Sheep & Wool Festival (known as the Rhinebeck Sheep & Wool Festival) in October are the two that I attend. While they encompass a wide range of activities, I generally spend my precious time there focused on stash enhancement.

Calmly taking in the NY State Sheep & Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, NY

Lastly, there are fiber farms. While I have only visited one, it was a wonderful experience that happened during the first trip my husband and I took back in the summer of 2005. Based on a brief entry in our guidebook, we drove from Lennox, MA to the middle of the state to Tregellys Farm. The owner was an incredibly friend chap who spent time talking about the farm and its wonderful assortment of animals including the heirloom equivalents of livestock. They also had camels and yaks.

Tregellys Fiber Farm in Hawley, MA

Llamas at Tregellys Farm (Of course, they may be alpacas?)

Fiber producing yaks at Tregellys Farm in Hadley MA

Boyfriend (now husband) & Camel at Tregellys Farm

Fiber producing llamas at Tregellys Farm in Hadley MA

To celebrate its 4th birthday, The Point NYC had a sale. In addition to baskets of specially marked yarns in wonderfully lush colors, everything else was 20% off. I used this sale to treat myself to some wonderful Malabrigo 100% Merino Sock Yarn which I had been craving since it first hit The Point’s shelves. At the time, I had just started knitting (and reknitting) my Swallowtail Shawl so that I couldn’t indulge myself in yet more shawl related stash. 

Unfortunately, the lush sock yarn has been flying out of the store so that there were only 7 skeins left by the time that I arrived at the sale. Despite the fact that I vowed to myself that I wouldn’t make another black shawl after finishing the Shetland Lace Scarf for my mom, I found myself magically drawn to the black Malabrigo Sock Yarn. The problem was that there were 3 skeins of black, 2 white and 1 brown skein. So black it was. 

It has 440 yards and Alyssa the manager commented that she was able to make the fountain pen shawl from the Spring 2009 Interweave with about 750 yards (and she used the Malabrigo!)  

Since I am in the midst of making the Estonian Lace Inspired shawl from Brooklyn Handspun and the Ribbon Lace Shawl in grey angora and silk lace weight, I will have to wait to start this project. Fortunately, a black shawl is useful 12 months of the year.

Malabrigo Superwash Merino Sock Yarn in Black

Get out your knitting needles and start knitting if you want to hold on to your marbles. According to recent research, knitting helps reduce the risks of mental impairment by as much as 30-50%. Knitting helps the cognitive processes and challenges the knitting to be mentally involved. Thanks to The Point’s newletter for forwarding this link regarding the positive effects of knitting.

Amigurumi French Style

Amigurumi are small crocheted animals. Making these small creatures is a fad that has made it’s way across the Pacific. Not all of the animals have real counterparts.  

This month, their presence keeps expanding at my favorite knitting store, The Point.  Many of the creators tend to be young girls who pick lush colored yarn to make their own variations. Here are some of the latest additions which have taken up residence on the shelves of the store.

Amigurumi Mexican Style

Baby whale amigurumi

Saturday afternoon project

Since I haven’t been bitten by the crocheting bug, none of these creatures are mine. I just think that they’re cute!

Submitted by Knitted Yarns Editor-in-Chief

St. Valentine's Day Roses

Valentine’s Day brings out the red-filled joy in all of us.  Roses are a standby for many men and here are the wonderful buds that the manager of The Point received. We were lucky that she left them out for everyone to enjoy.

The Point dress its window with Valentine’s frivolity.  The focal point was a large pink elephant crocheted by Megan, one of the shop’s instructors. The elephant with its wavy lashes,  frilly skirt and knitting is totally huggable. 

Crocheted pink elephant with monkey

To show it’s love, The Point offered patrons a special 20% discount on yarn! I treated myself to a hank of Ella Rae’s Lace Merino in blues and greens. 

Color is a critical component of any knitting project. It’s what attracts us as knitters. It’s part of the inspiration and joy. Walk into any yarn store and the first thing that strikes you is the colors of the yarn despite the fact that most stores are organized by fiber type and brand. Tess’ Designs in Portland, ME is one of the few shops that’s organized by color, At Sheep and Wool Festivals, it’s the colors that pull us from one stall to another. 

Color is at the center of the eye candy that draws us to a specific yarn. Here’s a selection of colors from The Point in New York City.

Green, blue and purple hanks

Orange, yellow & red hanks

Multi-colored twisted hanks of yarn

Pink, berry & purple yarn

Light green & light blue yarn

Valentine's pink & red yarn

Manos in light blue, purple & mixed colors

Manos yarn in oranges and brick red

Each knitter has colors that attract her. I tend to be attracted to reds and pinks family . I have to push myself to buy a variety of yarn from other parts of the color spectrum. I find that I can knit with the most wonderful yarn but if the project’s a color that I don’t like, I find it difficult to push myself to finish the item. 

How does color effect your ability to knit?

Submitted by Knitted Yarns Editor-in-Chief

While I didn’t have a lot of time to stop by The Point this week, I was able to get a photo of Georgia’s first repeat of the Estonian Lace in magnificent purple. Other knitting friends have been joining us on this lace journey. 

Estonian Lace Repeat in Purple

Looking at several repeats, we thought that the Estonian lace pattern for the center of the shawl looked a lot like a cathedral. Initially, I thought that the loopy line looked like a serpent. What do you think?

For your copy of the free Estonian Lace Scarf Inspired Shawl instructions, click here.

Entry submitted by Heidi Cohen, Editor in Chief of Knitted Yarns

Once I decided that I was going to buy a wedding dress, one of my friends sent me an email with a dress buying plan of action. You must realize that I was in the home stretch with less than 3 months to go! Her advise was to focus on conisgnment shops and sample sales. Fortunately, one of my knitting friends forwarded me an issue of Top Button where I saw a sale at Mark Ingram, a high end boutique.

As with all things bridal an appointment was required. I got there and joined the action. One thing that I loved about going to this sample sale is that thre were other women who were shopping for their dresses on their own! I tried on about 4 dresses. Three of them were designed by Jenny Packham who is British and whose work appears in New York Magazines’ Weddings.

Think art deco movie star. It is champagne with incredible beading that looks grey. The dress is champagne colored silk satin with glass beads and rhinestones. I am lucky that it fits perfectly except for the hem!

As a result, I decided that I might need a cover up and the white Lilies of the Field isn’t going to work. UGH!

Therefore, I went on a search of my LYS to find the appropriate colored laceweight yarn. I tried Knitty City, The Point, Annie’s and The Yarn Connection. After consulting and bringing several options back to check against the dress, none of them work.

Finally, I decided to return to Sarah’s Yarns with the photo of the dress (where the color is off but it’s better than nothing!) Sarah and I looked at a couple of dye lots of Zepher. Seeing the colors made a HUGE difference. I bought a steel grey.

Since the dress is highly beaded, I am adapting  a lace detail from Victorian Lace Today which consists of interlocking diamonds and integrated this design into the Lily of the Valley frame. Due to time and minimizing frilliness, I am only knitting the center with a garter stitch frame. I will fini sh it with a single crocheted border. Time isn’t my friend at this point because I’m on the clock. I project that I will need 400 rows of lace knitting.