Yarn Adventures: Vogue Knitting Live New York 2020

Our knitty year kicked off in style last weekend with a girls’ trip to Vogue Knitting Live in New York where we got high on yarn fumes, ate yummy food and filled up our creative tanks. 

As soon as we landed at JFK, we headed straight over to the mYak party in the West Village to sip on Prosecco, snack on delicious local cheeses (we were a bit hungry after the flight) and, of course, check out all the samples on display. We also managed to catch up with many of A Yarn Story’s lovely friends including Aimée Gille of La Bien Aimée, Jonna and Sini from Laine magazine, designers Carol Feller, Susanne Sommer, Gretha Mensen and the wonderful Olga Buraya-Kefelian of Olgajazzy fame too. 

This was just the start of our two (and a bit) packed days of workshops, fashion shows, talks and the all-important marketplace, held over several floors at the New York Marriott Marquis. Needless to say the buzz of this year’s 10th-anniversary event was electric! 

Fuelled by a hearty American breakfast we hit the stalls, first making sure to visit all our favourites starting with Magpie Fibers and Spincycle Yarns where I promptly walked away with a sweater quantity of Magpie’s new Nest yarn for Thea Colman’s Gin & Juice cardigan and one coveted skein of Spincycle’s ‘Metamorphic’. A beautiful souvenir skein of sock yarn in the show special ‘Times Square’ colourway from Neighborhood Fiber Company may have jumped right into my bag as well. We also swung by our friends at Townhouse Yarns and picked out yarn for the shop (coming in March).

Meanwhile, Aleks was finding design inspiration everywhere picking up skeins for swatching from mYak, Neighborhood Fiber Company and Magpie Fibers as well as some dreamy soft skeins from Long Island Yarn And Farm for a selfish project. Davina discovered the perfect sweater by Geraldine Yang (aka The Wandering Flock) in the designer’s own yarn and, of course, picked up skeins of sock yarn by Spun Right Round and Less Traveled Yarn, as she is never not knitting socks. 

We were also in awe of Forever Yarns and their beautiful samples of Karelia by Midori Hirose and Veer by Eri. Meanwhile, there were plenty of new favourites to be found including La Bien Aimée’s Helix, Neighborhood Fiber Company’s colourful Suri Alpaca and Kokon Yarn’s chunky mohair.

And, of course, we were sure to wear our favourite designs. I gathered plenty of compliments for my EastLondonKnits Miara jumper designed by Renée Callahan knitted in Walcot Yarns’ Opus. While Aleks’ very own Seli jumper and Daavi hat also caused a stir.

But it wasn’t all yarn, the force was also strong on the accessories front, and we had the biggest crush on Cohana and its gorgeous Japanese-made waxed-canvas tool totes and matching knick-knack bags, as found at Brooklyn Haberdashery’s stall. We also couldn’t resist trying on Twig & Horn’s super-cool camo crossbody project bags…

Non-knitty shenanigans including a visit to Japanese bookstore Kinokuniya, where we tried not to buy all the stationery (and failed miserably), cocktails at the Algonquin, and an hour or three browsing the wonderland that is Mood Designer Fabrics on 37th Street. A trip to Marimekko was also on the itinerary (as well as the Lego store next door), followed by lunch at Eataly. 

I could go on and on about the food we ate, but most importantly I had a Mexican food fix – I really miss proper tacos and endless chips and guacamole… Oh, and passion fruit margaritas are now a thing and I’m into it. 

We packed a lot into a few days and, while the yarn and food and everything else was fantastic, the best part was getting to spend time with good yarny friends. It’s so inspiring to travel with others and see how they experience the world and being surrounded by so much creativity is truly invigorating.