Flying Fingers Yarn Shop

Flying Fingers Yarn Shop
15 Main Street, Tarrytown, New York 10591
(914) 631-4113 (877) 359-4648

Field trip! I recently discovered something called the Yarn Bus. Which led me to Flying Fingers Yarn Shop in Tarrytown, NY about 40 minutes from Grand Central Station. A magical little shop set in the picturesque little town known for historic Sleepy Hollow. This shop is floor to ceiling, chock full, every nook and cranny, a veritable explosion of yarn. All hand curated by Flying Finger’s shop owner, Elise Goldschlag. This little yarn shop houses a distinctive collection of handcrafted yarns from all over the country and beyond.

It’s The Yarn Bus!
The Flying Fingers Yarn Bus will take Manhattanites from New York straight to their shop up in Tarrytown. Free! I didn’t take it myself but loved the idea. Especially because it’s so handy. You can save on a subway or train ride and take advantage of non-Manhattan prices while getting outta “Dodge”! Perfect. If you can catch the Yarn Bus, it’s no different than heading down to Brooklyn General. You can avoid all the stuff you don’t find appealing about New York yarn shops too. Like prices, crowds, and meager selections. They’ve made getting there easy, so what do you have to lose? The Yarn Bus runs on Saturdays and Sundays and makes roundtrips twice a day. Making a reservation is required so do call ahead. The Flying Fingers Blog also chronicles the Yarn Bus’s travels across country.

Yarn & Supplies
So what’s good about this shop? It’s all about the yarn and lots of it. In this shop the yarns are all about texture. I’m way into texture but not when it gets too much into the “novelty” style but the yarn selection does a wonderful job of providing unique without getting into the tacky zone. The selection in general leans heavily towards texture and variegated as well as some unique fibers. I saw a papery flat one on a rack and a whole banister of Colinette with just the most amazing textures even the Mid Century Modernist/Purl Soho shopper could appreciate.

So Flying Fingers seem to know their yarns but what about tools/notions, service, hours, and most importantly prices? While I was there I decided to get materials for my first sock project. And settled on a Cherry Tree Hill – Sockittome Pattern, $5 which I am going to turn into knee socks and this gorgeous hand-painted emerald fingering weight by Mountain Colors Yarn in Spruce from the Bearfoot Collection. 350 yard 100 gram hanks, $23. And my first set of Size 1s. DPNs. Clover Takumis, $7.75. A quick google showed that these prices were very competitive! I inquired if they had a ball winder, much of their stock came in hanks! They did and wound my 2 hanks of sock yarn and made sure to stuff in the tags too.

Here’s a laundry list of yarn brands and tools:

Louet
Manos del Uruguay
Tahki, Filatura di Crosa
Blue Sky Alpaca
Karabella
Classic Elite
Brown Sheep
Southwest Trading Co.
Mountain Colors Yarn
Cherry Tree Hill
Colinette

Brittany Needles (Birch Wood)
Lantern Moon (Coconut Palm, Rosewood)
Clover Takumi (Bamboo)
Skacel Addi Turbos and Naturas (Metal, Bamboo)
Susan Bates (Plastic, Aluminum)
Crystal Palace (Plastic, Jumbos)

I found it to be a nice selection of tools. Aluminum, Bamboo, Palm and in a wide array of sizes too. They had a wonderful array of jumbo DPNS too! I don’t find that often. The tools are mostly knitting but there was a nice selection of Boye and Brittany Hooks with their signature rook-style caps. They also have a nice selection of buttons, books, and a pattern section in their upstairs nook. Another thing I liked is there were lots of samples hanging around the shop. Great for ideas.

Roundup
Worth checking out especially if you can get a ride on the Yarn Bus! It’s a free roundtrip ride so you will save on the $18 ticket. Get out of the city for half a day for a yarn excursion and an easy day trip. If you’re especially frugal you can take advantage of non-Manhattan prices with a bonus jaunt through a picturesque little town on the Hudson. Another bonus is you can get a bird’s eye view of the mythical “local yarn shop”. LYS’s are few and far between here. New York yarn shops usually lack that feel.

The shop is open Tues – Sun. Closed Mondays. You can also take the Hudson Line on the Metro-North Railroad from Grand Central Station to the Tarrytown stop. It’s about a 40 minute ride and 15 minute walk from the train station. Or take the Yarn Bus. Saturday or Sunday. It leaves from Chelsea, Penn Station, Bloomies and more – morning and midday! Check out their site for schedules and stops.

SCOOP!
Elise and her son Dillon (who also knits!) and teenage daughter Miranda (super cute!) popped into the store while I was there and sometimes help out too!

Elise’s personal stash is more than a dozen boxes of vintage or discontinued yarn from almost 20 years ago. Swoon.

There’s a separate warehouse of inventory too. So if you see something you like but there’s not enough. Just ask, they might have more!

The Yarn Bus was built with the help of the creator of the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.

The mannequin in the window and their informal mascot is called Lulu!

Sleepy Hollow – Tarrytown Visitors Guide
Check out the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery www.sleepyhollowcemetery.org
Or Philipsburg Manor www.hudsonvalley.org
The New York Times has nice day trip suggestions. www.nytimes.com/2009/10/15/nyregion/18stop.html
Go antiquing on Main Streetm