Shangri - Lion

All of you New York knitters – I found something very unusual tonight. We hear people in other parts of the country asking each other about yarn snobbery. We hear talk of “Lion Brand” and “unnatural fibers” and perhaps we wonder what they speak of. People come to our fair city and they have yarn crawls. They go to Purl for the Lobster Pot Cashmere, the Point for the rainbow of Lorna’s, Habu for the funky stuff. We have no shortage of fancy-pants yarn.

But lets say I want to knit a little sweater for a friend’s 2 year old son. Do I want to buy 8 balls of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, or perhaps $100 worth of Koigu? Hooo, no. I want something cute, cheap, and machine washable. I want the Lion Brand Wool Ease. But where? Where is that mystery haven of cheap and squeaky yarn?

My secret goal, always, is to spend less on yarn than I would on the sweater, were I to buy it at, say, the Gap. Is this possible in Manhattan?

Oh yes. Yes it is.



There is Patons Kroy sock yarn (on sale!).



A bargain bin with skeins the size of my head!



And, my favorite, enough Patons classic merino to make 80,000 felted clogs.



I was lucky to escape with only enough for 2 or 3 more pairs.



(And $30 worth of notions and tulle, for a very different sparkly little project that I’ll blog about soon.)

But where? Where is this mecca of cheap ass yarn? Why, its PS Fabrics.



You can find it at 355 Broadway, about 3 blocks south of Canal Street. Grrrr.