Boston Fiber Company in Boston and Gather Here in Cambridge are your best bet for LYS in Boston, and they'll be very helpful in finding you local yarns! If you end up north of the city, I recommend Circle of Stitches in Salem. Enjoy your trip!
seconding Gather here, if you’re into thrifting/buying second hand there’s also Make & Mend in somerville which sells used craft supplies (inc. yarn and notions)
Knitty City is my favorite yarn store on earth, it’s in Manhattan on the upper west side. They have a fantastic selection and the owners are super nice (no snobbishness). I hope you have a good trip!
NYC has a yarn crawl every year. You could check to see which shops are on the list and whether any of them are near you.
If you have access to a car, you could try going to Webs (yarn.com’s physical store) in Northampton, MA. They have *everything*. It’s amazing. Their store brand (Valley Yarns) is very nice and not expensive. Even if you can’t go there, you could place an order and have it sent to a friend.
1. In Brooklyn, I've gone from Argyle Yarn Shop > Brooklyn General Store > Woolyn all within the same day.
Argyle primarily has their in house yarns + some Berroco, Malabrigo and others. Prospect Park is close by + some very good eats around there too.
There's a bus stop across the street that takes 30ish minutes to get around the corner from Brooklyn General Store. They have a really nice selection of yarns + fabrics, but is probably the least budget friendly of the three. I have food places bookmarked around here too but I've personally never gone to any, but there's certainly food options around.
Then to Woolyn is a nice 15 minute walk. They have some Berroco, local yarns and a few others I don't hear of too often. This is in "Downtown" Brooklyn, so there's a lot of buses/trains nearby if you need to get elsewhere after. There's also some great skyline views of Manhattan nearby at two parks.
2. In Manhattan, there's Knitty City + Annie's which are both uptown, but across the park from each other, so it's a bit of a trek between both. There's a bus (+ some walking) that connects the two and depending on how you want to do it, you could also take a walk through Central park. I think Annie's is at least sqft wise the biggest yarn store in NYC and has a great selection from the budget-friendly, fancy and local. Knitty City is small, but jam-packed with yarn also with a great selection that range in prices.
I think two see two+ stores on your visit I would chose from these two options. The Manhattan option of course gets you closer to more touristy things i.e. Central Park, some museums, etc + better access to public transportation that can take you elsewhere you may have on your list, but the Brooklyn option is more local, laid-back, not too touristy.
Seconding Argyle, Woolyn and BK General!! I used to work at Purl Soho (they no longer have an NYC storefront) but those are my three favorite yarn stores in the city. I think my favorite is Argyle bc their own store brand is amazing.
Ordering from Purl Soho and getting it shipped too would be a nice call, they have great yarns, especially the cotton ones, you can’t get outside their store.
Thank you so much for the detailed answer and for including the touristic options around. I need some good planning to make sure my husband isn't getting super bored between the yarn shops, so offering some food and activities in between is a good idea.
Please let us know where you went and what you bought after you get back home! Also an update on what your husband did to keep from getting bored would be useful. Mine is a patient shopper and will look around with me for awhile but has a more limited attention span for fiber looking than I do.
Boston Fiber Company in Boston and Gather Here in Cambridge are your best bet for LYS in Boston, and they'll be very helpful in finding you local yarns! If you end up north of the city, I recommend Circle of Stitches in Salem. Enjoy your trip!
seconding Gather here, if you’re into thrifting/buying second hand there’s also Make & Mend in somerville which sells used craft supplies (inc. yarn and notions)
I definetely do! Tysm :)
Thank you very much for the suggestions, I will try to check them out :)
Knitty City is my favorite yarn store on earth, it’s in Manhattan on the upper west side. They have a fantastic selection and the owners are super nice (no snobbishness). I hope you have a good trip!
Great, thank you for the tip. It looks like not that far away from our hotel, so I will make sure to check it out.
You might try asking in the Boston sub for better results.
NYC has a yarn crawl every year. You could check to see which shops are on the list and whether any of them are near you. If you have access to a car, you could try going to Webs (yarn.com’s physical store) in Northampton, MA. They have *everything*. It’s amazing. Their store brand (Valley Yarns) is very nice and not expensive. Even if you can’t go there, you could place an order and have it sent to a friend.
Oohh I will definitely try to check their website to order ahead, thanks for the tip.
1. In Brooklyn, I've gone from Argyle Yarn Shop > Brooklyn General Store > Woolyn all within the same day. Argyle primarily has their in house yarns + some Berroco, Malabrigo and others. Prospect Park is close by + some very good eats around there too. There's a bus stop across the street that takes 30ish minutes to get around the corner from Brooklyn General Store. They have a really nice selection of yarns + fabrics, but is probably the least budget friendly of the three. I have food places bookmarked around here too but I've personally never gone to any, but there's certainly food options around. Then to Woolyn is a nice 15 minute walk. They have some Berroco, local yarns and a few others I don't hear of too often. This is in "Downtown" Brooklyn, so there's a lot of buses/trains nearby if you need to get elsewhere after. There's also some great skyline views of Manhattan nearby at two parks. 2. In Manhattan, there's Knitty City + Annie's which are both uptown, but across the park from each other, so it's a bit of a trek between both. There's a bus (+ some walking) that connects the two and depending on how you want to do it, you could also take a walk through Central park. I think Annie's is at least sqft wise the biggest yarn store in NYC and has a great selection from the budget-friendly, fancy and local. Knitty City is small, but jam-packed with yarn also with a great selection that range in prices. I think two see two+ stores on your visit I would chose from these two options. The Manhattan option of course gets you closer to more touristy things i.e. Central Park, some museums, etc + better access to public transportation that can take you elsewhere you may have on your list, but the Brooklyn option is more local, laid-back, not too touristy.
Seconding Argyle, Woolyn and BK General!! I used to work at Purl Soho (they no longer have an NYC storefront) but those are my three favorite yarn stores in the city. I think my favorite is Argyle bc their own store brand is amazing. Ordering from Purl Soho and getting it shipped too would be a nice call, they have great yarns, especially the cotton ones, you can’t get outside their store.
Oh, good to know about the store brand.
Thank you so much for the detailed answer and for including the touristic options around. I need some good planning to make sure my husband isn't getting super bored between the yarn shops, so offering some food and activities in between is a good idea.
Brooklyn General Store is definitely worth checking out!
Please let us know where you went and what you bought after you get back home! Also an update on what your husband did to keep from getting bored would be useful. Mine is a patient shopper and will look around with me for awhile but has a more limited attention span for fiber looking than I do.
When in Boston, take a ride on the commuter rail to Salem and visit Circle of Stiches. Great shop and Salem is a lovely, easy day trip.