EXPLORING THE TOP NEEDLEPOINT STORES IN NYC 🪡 (how to start, what to do & where to go)

Welcome to episode 1 of the crawl. [music] Today's topic in city or location would be at needlepoint stores around New York City. I'm only doing Manhattan. We have four stores to see today. I am so happy. If y'all are new here, do not forget to subscribe and comment down below [music] where you guys are tuning in from and welcome to our new series. We are on our way to the Upper East Side [music] for stop number one Annie and Company. This is a full-service needlework and knitting store. I've been here before. The only one I haven't been to today is Penny Lane because that's new. It's a very [music] very big store. It also has knitting and I'm you know like a needlepoint girl, but that could be a pro if you're into both. So we're going to start in the Upper East Side and then kind of like make our way back down all the way to Penny Lane. >> [music] >> We're here at Annie and Company. It is a needlepoint full-service really needlework and knitting store. It's been in the city since 2002. So it's very established. It's definitely I think it's the biggest. I haven't seen Penny Lane yet. My last experience here it's definitely a bit more traditional and less like trendy canvases, but they had an insane fiber selection. >> [music] [music] >> I just want to say I think the canvas selection has improved a ton since I was last year, maybe 2 years ago. Lots of What's the Stitch, which is a really good beginner-friendly canvas. We will get into that shortly. You and I are going to go kit, which just means like pick out the fibers or threads. I'm in the middle of stitching the September dolly, which is a TV personality dolly. Love the bob. I picture for the background. It's going to be like the green uh kind of like the wallpaper I have in my studio room for the podcast for House Guest. That was inspired by Ina Garten's like early 2000s wallpaper, and I want to recreate this for my TV personality dolly. I can't wait. I'm like Cute, trendy canvases. I'm seeing lots of like What's [music] the Stitch little bag charms here. I think their New York stuff is really cute, too. Like that one. I love the cards. This Uptown Girl one, I'm obsessed with that one. I like oh, it's Sophie Stitches. I love her. She's so sweet. That one's really cute. I kind of want to stitch that even though I like don't really have that much of a connection to New York, but I think it's really cute. They have an incredible thread selection. This store is a dream if you have experience, I think, in needlepoint because it's like everything you could ever want. It could be overwhelming as a beginner, which we'll get to. If you are a beginner, DMC is a great place to start. They have a ton of DMC. I use it for cording on all my ornaments. Very velvet is my favorite. [music] This is a specialty thread. It's beautiful and perfect. Silk and ivory, that's a good green, but it It's going to be tough. I could also do Vineyard Silk, though. I'm really just looking for the right greens. Like look at this. See, like trendy. They have like cooler canvases. For so long needlepoint was definitely an older hobby, and a lot of like newer stitchers have come in who are younger, so a lot of the canvases have just been like geared younger and they have definitely See, what's the stitch? Our girl Emma. Okay, I got to find what I want. Pepper Pot, here we go. I'm literally looking at my [music] YouTube thumbnails for this. Okay, let's see. I think these are [music] perfect. So, I'm going with Pepper Pot Honeydew and I don't even know how to pronounce those, but [music] this is going to be perfect for the wallpaper background. Yay. >> [music] [music] >> We're walking from Annie's to Rita's. It's only about 10 blocks south. So, if you guys are like planning a day or planning a little crawl or want to go to both stores, they're only 10 minutes away from each other. It's like a 15-minute walk, so it's not bad. Obviously, Rita's is a very, very iconic New York City needlepoint store. It has been in the city since I think 1973. It was started by a woman named Rita, who came from Eastern Europe to Paris, then to New York. It's been in a couple different locations. It's definitely like the long-standing, I think, New York City institution, if you will, for needlepoint. It's a really small shop, but it feels like you were in a movie. Anyway, it's really, really cute. I love everything in there. It feels like you were in like an early 2000s rom-com when you were shopping the store, especially on like a cold, like a winter day. It's just so cute. They also do sell my brand, Friend of Mine, in here, which is really exciting. So, anyway, let's go in. >> [music] [music] >> Good news, y'all. Friend of mine was actually sold out at Rita's, which is just incredible. If you guys ever want Friend of Mine at your LNS, which we'll get into that lingo soon shortly at the very end of the video. Uh if you guys ever want Friend of Mine at your stores, just ask. Just ask them. We've a very easy sign-up portal on our website. Anyway, Rita's really feels like you were in a Meg Ryan movie. It feels like you were in the early 2000s in every beautiful, perfect way. Everyone there was so nice, so kind. I met so many of you guys. Like it's just such a good like happy, lively vibe in that store. We're going to do a little intro to a needlepoint store. We're currently on our way to West Village and In Needles, so we have a little bit of time and I wanted to give you guys like if you were going to a needlepoint store for the very first time, this is what you should do. Most needlepoint stores are nice. There are of course some that are a little bit more intimidating and you know, sometimes I will be honest like they cannot always be the friendliest. Most of them are so nice. The whole needlepoint community is the best and they're really, really kind. I would find an LNS in your area recommended by someone that has said like they're very nice because I find that sometimes you can go to an LNS and then if you go to the wrong one, it'll just kind of scare you. There's so many amazing, kind, good ones. Like if you guys are in New York City, I think any of the ones that I've shared today would be good for you. But if you're new to needlepoint, what you want to do is you want to find a 13 mesh canvas that has like two to three colors. I will put some on the screen of what I think are good beginner ones, and I will link some of the Friend of Mine ones that I think would be good beginner ones. I will say if you were at a needlepoint store, a lot of the What's the Stitch, like her stuff is everywhere in my stuff, and because hers are sayings and they're typically straight lines, two to three colors, and like 13 mesh, hers are pretty much always good for beginners, so I would recommend that. From Friend of Mine, I can also link the ones that I think are the best, like our Brokering Housewife is great, our Serial Hobbyist is great, depending on what we have in stock, but that's core that we're consistently like restocking. Between 13 and 18 mesh, all that means is that a 13 mesh hole is bigger, 18 mesh hole is smaller, 13 mesh is easier to use because it's bigger, there's less actual stitching making it easier, and you like run through the project quicker. With 18 mesh, you're able to do a lot more detail. I'm an 18 mesh girl through and through. I love an 18 mesh scene, but like 18 mesh and 13 mesh, that's the difference. So you're going to need the canvas, you're going to need the fibers, you're going to need the needles, and that's it. If you go into a store and you tell them that you are a beginner, they should be able to help you, and you can also ask them like, "Oh, can you help me kit this?" And like I mentioned earlier, kitting just means like finding the right fibers for your project. There are different thread lines that work for different mesh sizes, and that is really where it's a good place to like go to an L&S and talk to them, but I'm going to have on the screen what fibers and thread lines are recommended for what mesh. All of this sounds really confusing at the beginning. I swear it is not as overwhelming as it sounds. So again, top to bottom, you need a 13 mesh canvas, two to three colors, try to do as many like straight lines as possible, nothing too intimidating or crazy. You need the fibers, you need scissors and needles. I actually didn't start off on that, I started off on like an 18 mesh 4 by 4 round that was really none of the way that they would recommend you to like actually learn. So keep that in mind, like that's just what's recommended. I didn't even do that and I turned out totally fine. If you can, take a class from your LNS, which just means local needlepoint shop. I would really recommend that because not only is it really helpful to have like hands-on experience and knowledge and like there's people who know so much that you can learn from, but it's also a really great way to like get your foot in the door with like the community of needlepoint because that's like so much of the fun of it. So, that's like my little spiel of like what to do if you are a beginner at a needlepoint shop. >> [music] [music] >> Now, we are in West Village. We are right across the street from West Village Knitten Needle. It's a very small store, but it's very cute. Again, it gives more of like Meg Ryan vibes, less like Annie's where it's like a massive, massive, massive store. Um, it's really cute. I also just love the West Village, so it's just like kind of a perfect store. >> [music] [music] >> So, West Village Needle is definitely like the smallest because it's a small store already and they also have knitting. So, it depends on your vibe. I'm obviously a needlepoint girl, so I can't speak to the knitting portion. They had really, really cute canvases. They obviously have less of everything because it is so small, but they have really, really good canvases and the location's great. I didn't talk much to the worker, so I don't know like that general vibe there, but the canvases are very cute. >> [music] [music] >> Our last stop of the day is the new Penny Linn New York City store. I'm so excited to come see it. Every time I've been in the city and had any time to go see it, it's been a Monday. Most needlepoint stores are closed on Mondays, just so you guys know. So, anyways, I'm really excited to go in and see it. I've obviously been to the Connecticut store, but this just looks beautiful. Something that I really like that Penny Linn does and I've noticed a lot of other stores are kind of starting to do this [music] as well. I don't know if they were the first ones, but they do do it where they make notes next to whatever thread line it is on the wall of what type of canvas, [music] meaning like 18 or 13 mesh, this thread like performs best with, which I thought was really, >> [music] >> really nice. They have everything at the store. I would say like Annie's and Penny Linn are definitely the biggest [music] stores and have the most amount of stuff. Penny Linn has, of course, this is exclusively needlepoint, so they have a ton, [music] a ton, a ton of like other accessories and things. They also have a lot of their like New York exclusives. Like they're really, really, really stocked [music] in the store, which is really cute. I was going to say really cute. Really nice. Sorry, guys. I'm also watching this video and I was like distracted by a [music] canvas. Anyway, it's a really great store. >> [music] [music] >> I'm back in New York City to give you all my official thoughts and tell you where I think you should go in the city. You really cannot go wrong with any of the stores. All the shops are great and they're just so cute and they have such great canvases. My personal favorite is Rita's and that's just because it feels like you are in a Meg Ryan movie. They're also very nice in there. I always love the canvases. They're pretty well stocked at all times. Like it's just such a great shop. Annie's is great especially if you are like an experienced stitcher. If you are a little bit older, I feel like you would love Annie's the most. Now if I was living there and I'm like I'm on the Upper East Side or on the Upper West Side, I'd just like basically I like I would go to Annie's all the time cuz they've got great specialty fibers. >> [music] >> Annie's is just the best. And I do want to say like they have definitely upped their [music] like canvas designs since I was there last probably 2 years ago and they have a lot of cute like trendy things. They have quite literally anything. So if you are working on a really big project [music] and you need specific fibers, I would go to Annie's or Penny Lane. So if you are like a TikTok stitcher girl, you started in the recent years, you're Gen Z and millennial and you like needlepoint, you know Penny Lane. Penny Lane is like a great scene in the city. They also are so stocked. They have so much stuff there. They also have a lot of like needlepoint adjacent stuff and more so like accessories for needlepoint whereas Annie's is really needlepoint and knitting. Obviously Penny Lane is pretty much the same size if not bigger. Actually, I feel like they're like comparable, I would say. But Penny Lane definitely has like the most amount of accessories. If you are like younger, trendier, kind of into that vibe, Penny Lane is the store for you. West Village Needle is definitely the smallest and definitely has the least amount of stuff, but I will say the canvas selection is really, really cool. So, if you want more elevated canvas, I would go there. But honestly, like you can't go wrong with any of them. But if you are looking for like specialty fibers, you need to be going to Penny Lane or Annie's. If you were just kind of like wanting to go for the vibe, slash like you're good with just like kind of like simple basic stuff, West Village or Rita's. But Rita's is my number one. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed it and welcome to episode one of the crawl. In two weeks, we are back with Chrissy doing a cookbook tour around New York City. We had the best day ever recording this. Let me know in the comments below where you want us to go and what you want us to tour.