Gotta Knit

Gotta Knit (14 East 34th Street; 5th Floor (between 5th Avenue & Madison Avenue) New York City, NY 10016 (212) 989-3030 http://www.gottaknit.net/) has a very soothing atmosphere. I made my appointment for Wednesday and canceled 3 hours after I was supposed to be there (I had forgotten a half-day at my daughter’s school). I must have sounded a bit frantic (can’t-keep-track-of-anything-anymore-panicked-that-I’ll forget-something-so-sorry-that-I-didn’t-call-earlier-voice), because Laura (one of the owners) said very calmly, “It’s fine. Come anytime. We are here.”

So I went Friday morning, and met Goldie, the other owner, who was just as warm and friendly, and just as relaxed. It turns out that both Goldie and Laura used to work in the medical profession. Laura was a podiatrist, Goldie a nurse who specialized in reconstructive-jaw-surgery-recovery (it has a really fancy name, which I jumbled down on a piece of paper and can’t read now). Anyway, their prior professions made sense given their soothing demeanors.

When I entered the store, Goldie was just teaching a short haired blond woman to knit. The student seemed to be picking up rather quickly. She was sitting in front of a pile of very soft orange alpaca. Goldie explained that recently there have been more customers who have either lost their jobs or quit them. "People come in to relax in between stations in their life. Knitting makes them feel better." We sat down at the table, which was actually two tables put together: a teardrop shaped one and a rectangle one. It looked beautiful and anchored the room nicely.

I told Goldie that I had visited the store over the summer to pick up some yarn for a short vacation. She had occupied my very antsy then-three-year-old with a fascinating tool called a pom pom maker. “I have to bring one home,” I said. “My daughter will be thrilled!”

"It's here," Goldie said and brought it to the table.

Me: When did you open the store?

Goldie: Laura was one of two opening partners eleven years ago. The store opened on Sixth Avenue between 12th and 13th, and moved up here last year. I joined the team as a part time employee about 10 years ago and became a partner seven years ago. I was a private nurse, but when the services I provided were folded into the ICUs, I no longer had clients. I asked to work at Gotta Knit because it was flexible (I have three children) and because I loved the atmosphere here. It’s very upbeat and positive.

Me: How did you chose this location?

Goldie: We found it online. We were in the village and wanted to try a different location after ten years. We were in an old building in a second floor walkup. Many times I had to run downstairs to a waiting taxi to show people yarns from the store. Here, we have an elevator. The elderly and people in wheelchairs can come in so easily. It’s much better. We get a lot of tourists here, too. We are surrounded by hotels and very close to Madison Square Garden.

Me: Who is your staff?

Goldie: Laura and I each get 2 days off, but one of us is here every day. We are open seven days a week, but we will close on Sundays in May, June, July, and August.

Me: What do you look for when you buy yarn?

Goldie: Quality. It has to wear well. We are very finicky. If I can comb it with my fingers and fibers come off, then it’s no good. Softness, workability, color--certain yarns have certain purposes. Sock yarn should be machine washable. We carry a lot or Artyarns. Their sequin yarn is one of our biggest sellers. It’s almost a problem that it sells out so fast. We can’t keep it in the selves (she smiled). One of our clients sends it to her relatives in India. And we carry our own line of yarns. We work with a mill, which dyes and spins our wool and cotton yarns. (The store also carries a number of mixed fibers and some synthetic blends).

Me: What kinds of classes do you offer?

Goldie: Shirley Padden Bernstein comes in every few months. There has hardly been a Vogue Knitting magazine without one of her designs in it. She’s on the cover very often. Nicky Epstein has taught here, and Iris Shrier, the owner of Artyarns, teaches here as well.

We also teach socks on 2 circulars, Laura teaches how to design your own design, I teach the circle jacket that you saw in the front (picture at the end of this post). We specialize in helping you with your designs. We believe you should go from the fiber to the pattern, not the other way around. We encourage people to chose their yarn first, then we will look for a pattern together to fit the yarn, or we will design one for them.

Me: What yarn is your sweater made of?

Goldie: I made it out of Symphony by Prism. We have a Prism trunk show once a year.

Me: It’s very pretty.

Goldie: We also teach corporate classes, and we host birthday parties for kids and adults. We teach kids from seven on up, but we teach mostly private, not group classes. We also worked on “A Tale of Two Cities” on Broadway. We did all the knitting for it and taught the stars how to look like they were really knitting on stage. It was really fun to be backstage and be part of all that excitement! And we are writing a Fox TV blog about how businesses are doing in this economic climate. If you register on our website we will send you information about everything that comes up.

Me: What got you into yarns?

Goldie: We both have a passion for knitting. Laura got into it in podiatry school. I started at 12. The mother of a friend taught me.

Me: How do you think the economy has affected knitting?

Goldie: It’s hard to say. This is the beginning of the slow season so it is hard to tell if things are slowing down a little because of the season or because of the economy. In general more people come in who are not working. Some people come because they were laid off, like the woman I was teaching when you came in. They try to do something productive with their time so they feel better about their situation.

Goldie walked through the store and showed me all the samples, including one made for Artyarns, which Laura designed with their newest yarn, “Splash”.

Then my friend Kristin walked in to pick me up. She has just started knitting and was very impressed with the place, especially the sequined Artyarn (which can make you seriously addicted!) and the sheared beaver gloves and hat that were displayed along with the circle jacket that Goldie teaches. The gloves were so soft we could not stop touching them!

I checked to make sure I had the pom pom maker before Kristin and I headed out. Sadly, the pom pom maker was all I could afford at the end of the month, so I had to leave the Artyarn behind this time. But Anna was totally thrilled. We spent the weekend making lots of pom poms :-).

Yarntopia

My life has been a little hectic lately, or maybe I’m just not so with it these days… Last Tuesday I forgot my cell phone on a bus while picking up my daughter from school. It all got very complicated because we don’t have a landline at home and my husband was out of town. To wake us all up on time for school the next day, I ended up using the kitchen timer and slept with the door open so I would hear it. Anyway, my phone was found, I went to pick it up the next day, and I realized that I had 1 ½ hours before Anna’s school was finished. I have been having a bit of a creative crisis this week so my first thought was to go to the park and air out. My next thought was: Yarntopia is in walking distance from here (I was at 133rd street)! As I walked down to Amsterdam and 108th looking for the store, I spotted a beautiful dress in the window of a store on the corner.

Wow, I thought. When I am done at Yarntopia, I am going to check out this clothing store. Then I looked again, and I realized the dress was knitted and crocheted. Oops! I was standing right in front of Yarntopia (974 Amserdam Avenue (SW corner of 108th Street, NY, NY 10025, 212-316-9276 http://www.yarntopianyc.com/).

I walked in and asked the woman behind the counter if she was Dona. She was wearing another dress that I wish I had.

“I know who you are,” Dona said. “I have read your blog.” Now this was a first, and I was very flattered. Then she scolded me for not having come to her store sooner, since I do live in the neighborhood. Well, it’s actually forty blocks away, but she certainly had a point! A proud Harlem knitter should be more supportive of a Harlem yarn store. We got to talking about our days, and Dona told me that she had been in such a rush in the morning that she had actually walked out of her house wearing two different colored shoes of the same make. “I was walking here and people were looking at my feet funny,” she said. “I am used to people looking at these shoes because they are kind of different, but then I looked down and saw that I had grabbed a brown one and a purple one.”

“I used to do that intentionally!” I said. I instantly liked Dona. She is my age, but she reminds me of myself twenty years ago. Not to say that I have become an old fart, but I think my edge is a little bit dimmed these days (perhaps due to lack of sleep). Donna begged me not to put the shoes in my blog, but I couldn’t help it. I thought it looked cool, and I was so relieved to discover that I am not the only one who is frazzled enough to lose cell phones on buses.

I asked Dona how she got started and she told me that she used to be a psychiatric social worker, taking care of severely mentally ill former homeless people who were trying to reintegrate themselves into society. “I worked for a company called Pathways to Housing. The company kept the case load low so we could really develop a relationship with our clients. I started to work on my clinical social work degree but dropped out and opened the yarn store.“ What a change!

When I looked at my clock I wished I had made an appointment, as I usually do. Time was getting tight so I took a look around the store.

Yarntopia carries a wide variety of yarns: three-colored Misti Alpaca, various Malabrigo yarns, Noro Silk Garden, Blue Sky (I especially loved a Blue Sky alpaca/silk blend), LouLou, and Artyarn. You can find anything from cotton to angora; silk, merino, alpaca, cashmere, mohair—you name it. The sockyarnwall itself is something to behold. I severely stretched my yarn budget this month, so I had to be conservative, but I could not keep my hands off this beautiful silk Artyarn:

The colors were simply too beautiful! I looked at my phone again. The time frame had drifted from “calmly getting to my daughter’s school" to “I will have to rush like crazy and get there breathless”, so I asked Dona my seven questions as I ran up and down the store taking a few more pictures:

Me: When did you open the store?

Donna: 2 years ago.

Me: What made you chose this location?

Donna: This is my neighborhood and it is severely under-served. Every other store is a Duane Read or a Chase bank. There are two pottery studios, but that’s it.

Me: Who is your staff?

Donna: I’ve been jealous when I’ve read about some of the stores you cover that have a large staff. Here it’s just me and the instructors that teach my classes. I’m open from 12 a.m.-7 p.m. six days a week, except Tuesdays and Thursdays I open till 9 p.m. , so I work a lot.

Me: I don’t know how you do it! It must be a little bit like being a mom—relentless! What do you look for when you buy yarns?

Donna: I like to have a good spread between price points, fibers, textures and weight. It is actually tricky to buy yarn. If I bought only what I love I might not have much of a spread, so I am careful to buy many different textures and fibers.

Me: What kinds of classes do you teach here?

Donna: Classes range from beginners knitting and crochet to sock, lace, and children’s classes (we teach seven years and up). We are planning a knitting camp for the summer.

Me: Who designs your store samples?

Donna: I do. I used to sell my designs to some stores on the Lower East side and to Barneys. They were doing pretty well. I had samples in some nice places and they sold well. I had to stop that when I opened the store because all my time is now invested in the store itself. But I do still make the samples and I knit custom orders.

Me: I love the turquoise dress you made. It’s really beautiful. What got you into yarns?

Donna: I have been sewing since I was a little girl. My father manufactured high-end custom furniture, so there was always some beautiful fabric in the house. I started knitting 12 years ago. By then I knew what fits the body. I love textures and color. I love putting together pallets for people. It’s so much fun. We have a “show us your masterpiece” board at the door where we collect pictures of our clients’ finished pieces. I really like talking to people about their knitting.

Me: Do you feel the recession has changed how people buy yarn?

Donna: I think more people come in with a plan now. They are searching for things that speak to them. Most people are doing smaller projects like hats, gloves, or scarves.

Before I left I put my foot in my mouth. My father used to say “you talk, then act, then think…” Well, sometimes that is actually true. I complained to Donna that there are no entirely male pattern books out there, and of course she pulled three off her shelf. One that I liked particularly is by fellow raveller Michael Del Vecchio, also known as TrickyTricot. It's called Knitting with Balls. Very cool patterns, especially the “hooded alpaca parka.” So there! I ate my words, then I ran out the door and realized that I was within walking distance of my daughter’s school. I got there on time and only slightly out of breath!


Update 5/11/2009. During my second visit, my daughter dragged me downstairs. I thought I would find a basement filled with yarn, but instead we stood in a funky party room!

"I use this for the knitting classes." Dona said. "I also rent it out for parties, and wedding showers." Anna was ready for the party, but we had to go get a cupcake she had earned herself for being so patient.

Happy 1,000 visitors!

Thank you all so much for coming and reading my blog!

I really appreciate it!

The Point

UPDATE 2: Alyssa is now working at Annie & Co. Erin is working at String.

UPDATE 1: Wednesday, April 29th: sadly, The Point has had its last day of operations today. The closing has come as a shock to many of us. I am very sad that this cozy place will no longer welcome me with its wonderful yarns, warm staff, and excellent coffees. I am leaving the review up as a tribute to the store. I loved being there and I will miss it.

This week I had the pleasure of meeting Alyssa, a very young store manager (she doesn’t like to tell her age, but suffice it to say she is little more than half of mine
--I’m 41 :-)

I thought it would be hard to find The Point (37a Bedford Street, NY, NY 10014, 212-929-0800 http://www.thepointnyc.com/), because it is located in the West Village, where every street runs at a weird angle and you never know whether you are walking West, East, North or South. But fortunately, as I walked on Carmine from Sixth to Seventh Avenue, it was plainly visible: the owner has placed two large signs outside that make it nearly impossible to miss.

I met Alyssa at 10:30 in the morning, shortly before opening time. Desperately craving a cup of coffee I was thrilled to learn that The Point is both store and café. Alyssa greeted me from behind a counter full of cupcakes and cookies. Now this is how I like to start my mornings!

“It’s nice that you have a café,” I said.

“Yes,” she replied. “I think it takes the pressure off for some people. The café encourages a communal atmosphere. It’s nice for me to see people that I have seen sitting by themselves many times, and one day they are sitting at the table talking to someone else who usually comes in alone. We have a lot of customers who come for coffee first and buy yarn later. No one feels obligated.”

Once I had my low dosage morning caffeine (decaf please--I am a caffeine wimp), I was able to sit and look around.
“Wow,” I said. “Who designed this place?” In the front of the store, the yarn is displayed in metal baskets that are fixed to the walls. In the back of the store, the skeins hang from wire hooks, sort of like meat at a butcher shop.

“We hired a designer for that,” Alyssa said. “It’s cool, isn’t it?” She told me that the owner, Helane, opened The Point a few years ago. “She used to be here a lot more often, but she has a full time job at Macy’s and travels a lot.” I asked why Helane runs a business on top of having a full time job. Alyssa said Helane opened the store a couple of years after September 11th. “She lives down near Ground Zero. Knitting made her feel grounded during that time. Afterwards she wished that other people would have access to something so therapeutic as well, so she opened the shop.”

A couple of customers knocked on the door and Alyssa let them in. While she was helping them, I looked around the store some more. I saw Silky Malabrigo, Alchemy, Misti Alpaca, Baby Twist, Debbi e Bliss, Knit One Crochet Two… The store carries a wide variety, which surprised me because the baskets make the place look so airy that I had expected to find a much smaller selection. There were many knitted samples folded and draped on a shelf, and one sample of a beautifully knitted and crocheted jacket draped over a mannequin.

“That’s our Pattern of the Month,” Alyssa returned to me. It was designed by Matthew Gnagy. “We sell the yarn for the pattern at 10% off--the pattern comes with the yarn. Each month we have a different theme.”

We sat down again and I began to ask my seven questions:

Me: When did The Point open?

Alyssa: Four years ago this month.

Me: What made Helane chose this location?

Alyssa: I think she used to live in this neighborhood. The West Village has her heart.

Me: Who is the staff?

Alyssa: Let me see: There’s me, and Erin, our assistant manager, who runs the blog as well. She is fantastic. The store would fall apart without her. Lea has been here the longest (2 ½ years). Megan is one of our instructors. She teaches crocheting and spinning. She made the elephant in the window.

ME: That elephant is amazing! Who buys the yarn and what is important to you guys?

Alyssa: Helane and I meet with vendors. We try to carry diverse pallets (a little bit of everything except for acrylics). We have a small amount of cashmere at our high price point, but we carry a large amount of moderately priced yarns and some cheap ones as well. We like to support small vendors. I try to find yarns that our clients will enjoy and avoid those that pill. We carry Knit One Crochet Two, which uses recycled textile and garment waste. I am a vegan and recycling is important to me. Our cupcakes are vegan too (and we have soy milk).

ME: What kinds of classes do you teach here?

Alyssa: We teach spindle spinning, yarn dyeing, beginning knitting (3 times a week) and crochet (2 times a week). Our classes are mostly in the evenings and weekends. Barbara has been teaching knitting for 50 years. She teaches finishing classes, Tunisian crochet, gloves that fit, and how to fix mistakes. Megan teaches yarn dyeing, crochet, and spinning. Hanna teaches intro to lace free form, knitting and crochet, and alternatives to double point. Kiara teaches beginning knitting and baby items.

We have workshops, too. In April Jared Flood will be here twice (April 10th and 24th) teaching his Girasole, and Tanis Gray will teach her Bartlett Cowl (April 3rd) and Hawthorn Hat (April 17th). In March Joyce Goodman was here teaching knitting with wire.

ME: Wow, I am totally star struck with Jared Flood. Did you see Tanis’ blue alpaca scarf? It was on the cover of the last Vogue Knitting. I was completely floored by it. I really wish I had the time to come down for these things, but I have no freedom because my kids are so little. The most time away from them I get is to do these interviews.

ME: What got you into yarns? I guess I will ask you, because Helane is not here.

Alyssa: I grew up in a yarn store. My mom runs one outside of Buffalo. I used to knit the store samples and started helping out when I was very young (now her young age made sense to me).

ME: Have you seen anything change since the economy tanked?

Alyssa: There is definitely a difference. A lot more people come into the store now to hang out during the week. It usually slows down after Christmas, but this year it didn’t. People also seem more cautious with what they buy. Book sales have gone up a lot.

It was 12 already, so I thanked Alyssa for the wonderful morning and headed to my favorite bagel place up the street: Bagels on the Square. My husband and I used to stop there to pick up bagels and cream cheese on our way to the airport to avoid the airplane food (once in the pouring rain—the driver nearly killed us!). I chose two: apple cinnamon and scallion deluxe, eating the latter for lunch and the former for desert. It brought back very nice memories.

Purl

UPDATE 4/28/2010

Purl has MOVED to a new, HUGE Space!
459 Broome Street, New York, NY 10013
(212) 420-8796



Purl (137 Sullivan Street, New York, NY 10012, phone: (212)420-8796, http://www.purlsoho.com/), and its sister (fabric) store Patchwork (please see above for new address--phone: (212) 420-8798) are located on a small cozy block between Houston and Prince. Their store fronts are easily identifiable as belonging together since they are both painted the same baby blue. Both stores have exquisitely beautiful handmade items in the windows.

(Purl)

(Patchwork)
Since I had picked up Sabrina Gschwandtner’s book “Knit Knit” at Knitty City, I did not come unprepared. Knit Knit has three pages dedicated to Purl’s owner, Joelle.

(original photo from Knit Knit)
Joelle, I had read, studied painting before she became a yarn store owner. Fresh out of college she financed her painting studio by working at Martha Stewart, and later as a freelance stylist. While at Martha Stewart, Joelle became impressed with handmade things, and also learned how to knit, eventually writing her own knitting book, “Last Minute Gifts.” Knitting increasingly took over Joelle’s life until she sat in her painting studio thinking about her knitting. When her passion for knitting took over her painting life, she decided it was time to make a change. She invested the money saved from her freelance gigs and put it into what has become Purl. “When I first took my father to see it,” she told me, “he looked around and said, ‘Please tell me you’re kidding!’. The ceiling was caving in and the floor was covered with dirt and debris. I got on my hands and knees and scrubbed away to show my father the beautiful floor under all the dirt. He could not believe I wanted to put money into such a dump.” Three contractors later, Joelle finally found someone who was willing to preserve the beauty of the original floor. “For some reason no one thought it was possible.” Her tenacity paid off. Purl’s beautiful mosaic floor gives it charm and draws you in. In a city where things constantly get replaced, an old stone floor can feel very comforting.

Another thing that is special about Purl is Joelle’s way of displaying yarn. All of her yarns are grouped by color. “We have an elaborate manual on how to put them together,” she laughed. I could believe it: the result is stunningly beautiful. Purls (and Patchwork's)walls, covered with shelves custom designed by a carpenter friend, are an artwork in their own right.

(Purl)

(Patchwork)
Joelle runs both Purl and Patchwork with two partners, her sister Jennifer (who maintains the web page and writes the blog), and Page, a ceramicist and former stylist friend at Martha Stewart who became a partner a few months ago.

When Page and I sat down in their “office”, a coffee place across the street that was as small as it was cozy, we immediately started talking about a very emotional subject. I had come from dropping off my daughter at pre-k. She had refused to get dressed in the morning and I had told her that if we did not get to school on time, she could not go to the art show at her school that afternoon (the show had some of her artwork in it). We did get there late. I got to Purl two hours after I dropped her off, carrying two heavy bags full of “compensation”, so my daughter (or perhaps I) wouldn’t feel so terrible about her punishment.
Page has a three-year-old daughter herself. “I can’t begin to tell you how many times I have threatened her with something I have regretted instantly,” she said. “It’s the problem with toddlers: they usually take you up on it!” It’s true, I thought. Young children have the power to grab the pit of your stomach and turn it into knots in seconds!

Joelle joined us, and we moved on to the actual topic of the day: Purl.

I told Page and Joelle that I have been amazed how emotional people seem to be about yarn stores. I shared with them some of the responses I have gotten on my blog and some comments I’ve read on the internet. People get really invested in their yarn relationships! “Oh, please tell me what you have found about us,” Joelle said quickly. I assured her that I had not seen anything negative about Purl . “Thank God,” she sighed. “It’s my biggest priority to make my clients happy.” She told me how hard it is to establish a good store/client relationship.

It is hard, I thought, but why? Why do we get so stirred up when we enter a yarn store? Perhaps it has to do with how vulnerable and insecure we feel when we bring our fragile creative selves into an unfamiliar environment. Many of us who express ourselves creatively with yarn, especially those who are just beginning to learn the craft, feel exposed and in great need of reassurance. Yarn shop owners (and their staff) can really become substitute parents.

Page and Joelle seem to be very gentle parents with beautiful taste. After we had finished our coffees, Joelle took me back to the store and showed me some of her yarns. She pulled them out of the shelves carefully as if she were holding precious pieces of china. Purl carries only natural fibers. Bamboo blends are stacked next to silk and mohair blends; cashmere, merino, and alpaca cuddle up next to each other. One entire box was filled with the most beautifully colored organic cotton. “Did you know that cotton comes in six different natural colors?” Joelle asked. I had no idea!

I picked up a luscious turquoise ball of Road to China, and lingered near the window, where I found a yarn from a company called Andy’s Merino, which produces the brightest canary yellow I have ever seen. “Isn’t this beautiful?” Joelle said. “I am making a blanket out of it for my next book.”

It was time for me to go, so I grabbed three skeins (Koigu, Road to China, and Andy’s Merino--I had to restrict myself) and headed back up to Harlem. On the way out I ran into Page one more time. “Be easy on your daughter,” she said. “I think sometimes we have to give in.” I left the store feeling comforted and warm.

In the subway I read through our interview:

Me: When did you open your store?

Joelle: I opened Purl in 2002. The website went up in 2003, and Patchwork opened in 2006.

Me: What made you chose this location?

Joelle: I always loved this neighborhood. Soho used to be amazing, filled with independent little design stores with somebody sewing in the back room. This part of Soho still feels that way to me. The building Purl is in was a disaster, so it was affordable.

Me: Who is your staff?

Joelle and Page: We have a pretty large staff. Jennifer runs the web page and writes the blog. There is Faye, who has worked here since high school. Lea has been with us for several years--she is a dancer. Finlay (who worked on the Obama campaign) and Gretta (an amazing knitter) joined us recently. Calia has started teaching classes. She has a very bubbly energy. There was George, who worked for us forever, but he recently moved to Hawaii. At Patchwork there is Nikki, a bassoonist, who was at Purl for a long time until she began to manage Patchwork. Eva has been here for 1 ½ years. She studies painting restoration. Karle is a costume designer. She knows tons about fabric. Sophie works 2 days a week (she also works at Ohm—the yoga studio). They are all lovely people!

Me: When you buy yarn, what is important to you?

Joelle: The way it feels, the color, and the texture. I want it to be as natural as it can be (not overly manufactured)--something that is really good quality. I don’t carry a lot of discount yarns. I look for classic, timeless yarns. Color is a big thing for me.

Me: What kinds of classes do you teach at Purl and Patchwork?

Joelle and Page: Mostly beginning, occasionally crochet, some pattern help and finishing. You can bring your pattern and we will help you. We do it when the store is closed. Next door we have quilting classes and beginners sewing. All our classes are listed on the website, but we also have a list of them in the store.

Me: Who makes your store samples?

Joelle: We used to have store samples, but they were stolen too often. Now we just have swatches. It works a lot better.

Me: They got stolen? That’s shocking! Something that takes so much work and someone just takes it…

Me: What got you into yarns?

Joelle: It was a more portable form of creativity than painting. When I worked at Martha Stewart, they did a story about knitting. There was all this yarn out on the table--beautiful fibers—I’m very into materials, but I didn’t even know yarns could be that beautiful. My grandmother knitted mostly with acrylic, so I wasn’t used to associating beauty with yarns.

Page: I used to collect yarn before I could knit. For me it was also the portability. I was a ceramicist and that is not very portable (she laughed).

Me: Do you think the economy has been good for knitting?

Page: I don’t think it has been either good or bad. People who used to knit might get back into it now, but we don’t see much of a difference yet.

Monday-Night-Exhaustion...

I have been trying to write my newest review, but due to lack of sleep (the kids have been sick and fidgety at night for at least a week), and due to the Knitty summer submission deadline today, I just cannot get my thoughts together. I am fried! So please forgive me and come back next week. I have to get some SLEEP :-)

I did get my submission in, though, all i's dotted and t's crossed. So this has felt like a great, great day.

Happy snow everyone in New York!

See you next week.

:-)