Invasion of Claudia (now with more photos!)

Did I tell you that Claudia came to visit me in the first week of November? She arrived in New York on Halloween night, and had all the fun of riding into Manhattan on a train filled with crazily attired Halloween revelers. New York at its best, I'm sure! :)

a 'Shroom Burger and fries from the Shake Shack in Madison Square Park

(if you can call a deep-fried, cheese-stuffed portobello mushroom a "burger", that is)

Over the five days that she stayed with me, we visited six different yarn shops, hit up a few button and ribbon shops, ate some really good food, went to Michael's (aka: "a little piece of [craft] heaven") twice, had Tim Horton's timbits (they're better in Canada), found Claudia a new job (now we just need the work visa!), and joined my knitting group for its monthly meeting. On a Wednesday. The day that is not a Tuesday, even if it takes me a 25-minute subway ride to notice the difference. :) (I blame the fact that I had Monday and Tuesday off as Uni-imposed holidays, which messed up my ability to keep track of the days!).

Claudia's new job description

Wilma visiting Michael's in Providence.... the front of which looks exactly like the 3 Michael's shops in Ottawa! :)

Of all the yarn stores we went to*, Claudia and I liked Downtown Yarns in the East Village the best. The store was small, but very well stocked with lovely yarns, and the two women working there were very friendly but equally happy to let you just peruse the yarns on your own, if that's what you prefer. And to make it even better, there was the most gorgeous dog sleeping under one of the tables, and they wouldn't let us leave the store until we'd helped ourselves to some candy! I don't think you can get too much better than that! :)

this one needs no explanation! :)

Times square on the Wednesday that was really a Tuesday

After five days, Claudia had cleared out half the yarn in the city, so she went on to Providence to wreak havoc on their yarn supplies.Based on her adventures, I now have strict instructions to drive up to the Webs store in Northampton to visit the madness of yarn that is their sales floor and discounted yarn room! I think I'm going to have to plan a trip for the spring - I think it will take me at least that long to work through my current stash, and make room for some yummy new yarns! ;)

The ferris wheel inside the Times Square Toys 'R Us

I met up with Claudia on her way back through town to the airport, and we finished the week off in proper style - a yummy brunch at Kitchenette, followed by the most amazingly PINK cake I've ever seen. And oh my, was it good! :)
* The yarn stores we went to, in case you're wondering, were Yarntopia, Lion Brand Studio (they have a line of studio/mail-order only yarns which are really nice!), Wool Gathering, School Products (which has a husband-parking corner!), Knitty City (our second-favourite, I think - we went twice!), and the of course the fabulous Downtown Yarns. Since I've moved here, I've also been to Purl a few times. But Knitty City seems to be the one I go to most often - in the overall ranking of location, selection, and friendliness of the staff, its my overall pick. Of course there are still many more yarn shops that I still have to visit, should anyone be wanting to go visit them with me! :)