HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Can you figure out who this Shutter Bug is? I'll give you some hints. She made this outfit. That is her husband's camera in her hands. And she won Most Creative Costume at Fashion Career College on Thursday.




Answer: judi patuti!

Spud & Cloe

Yummmm! Two bags of almost every color in Sweater by Spud & Chloe. I received this bunch of pleasure on Tuesday and I already reordered the teal blue, firecracker and chipmunk this morning. My mind is whirling, thinking of projects for every color. but I must resist until I finish the three store samples I have underway with other gorgeous yarns. Man, there are just not enough hours in this day!

Namaste!

We just got in the latest Namaste bags and I set up this display, highlighting the red one, which is their latest color. The picture seems so cluttered to me and as I analyzed it, I realized all that's going on there! We have red and green Namaste bags (which may suggest Christmas to some) in close proximity to judi patuti's Henry Alexander's Skull fabric (which definitely says Halloween) and on the table, is a Thanskgiving day placemat and apron! What a conflict of seasons! Well, I guess what we're saying is that we're ready for all of 'em!

Also fresh off the UPS truck are the Namaste Mini Clutches that are darling. Removeable, adjustable shoulder strap, magnetic clasp, and 3 sections. Best of all, they fit beautifully in Hermosa's exterior pocket. Pretty cool!

Yarn? What Yarn?

I've had young knitters before, but this little guy Micah, at 7 months old, is definitely the youngest. At first he denied his interest in yarn.



But while his mom and friend shopped, he began playing with the yarn. Within a few minutes, it looked like he had taught himself to finger knit. His mom was not necessarily pleased to discover this. And Micah was definitely not interested in giving up the yarn!




The inevitable tug-of-war ensued, a game I have witnessed many times in my shop. Micah thought that was even more fun than knitting.

Obviously, he didn't get the seriousness of the matter.

Well, that's a 7-month old for you.

Stocking Star

Dorothea was in our Christmas stocking class 2 weeks ago and she surprised me yesterday by presenting her completed stocking (before Class 2 on heel turning and toe shaping even took place)! Her stocking was made challenging by the frequent color changes, which aren't so easy when you're knitting in the round. She mastered the technique of "jogless striping" from Class 1 and as you can tell from this picture, she's rightfully pleased with the outcome. She's on her second stocking now using the same organic O-Wool from Vermont. This time she's knitting the stocking pictured below on the right in red and white, which sort of makes me think you can't make just one of these! Due to the popularity of this class, we've scheduled another one for November 28th and December 5th.

Cowabunga!

I hate to be one of those pet owners that thinks their pet is the cutest thing alive. And, I hate plastering my pet's picture all over the internet, but honestly, you have to admit, Scoutie Rose is a pretty cute dog. She is adopted from the streets of Rosarito, Baja. Having been on the kill list (via electrocution), she is pretty grateful to be alive. And she loves Dog Beach in Del Mar where we first took her when we got her at 1 year old. She is never freer or happier than when she is running on the beach. This video, taken this afternoon at low tide and 72 degrees, demonstrates that she is part dolphin as well as a fully indoctrinated Southern California pup! In the still picture, she found an abandoned tennis ball and hid it among the rocks and she wasn't about to leave without it.

Ode to My Socks

As I finished this sock, I remembered this tender poem by Pablo Neruda and the appreciation and reverence many men have for hand-knitted items:

Ode to My Socks
by Pablo Neruda (translated by Robert Bly)

Mara Mori brought me
a pair of socks
which she knitted herself
with her sheepherder's hands,
two socks as soft as rabbits.
I slipped my feet into them
as if they were two cases
knitted with threads of twilight and goatskin,
Violet socks,
my feet were two fish made of wool,
two long sharks
sea blue, shot through
by one golden thread,
two immense blackbirds,
two cannons,
my feet were honored in this way
by these heavenly socks.
They were so handsome for the first time
my feet seemed to me unacceptable
like two decrepit firemen,
firemen unworthy of that woven fire,
of those glowing socks.

Nevertheless, I resisted the sharp temptation
to save them somewhere as schoolboys
keep fireflies,
as learned men collect
sacred texts,
I resisted the mad impulse to put them
in a golden cage and each day give them
birdseed and pieces of pink melon.
Like explorers in the jungle
who hand over the very rare green deer
to the spit and eat it with remorse,
I stretched out my feet and pulled on
the magnificent socks and then my shoes.

The moral of my ode is this:
beauty is twice beauty
and what is good is doubly good
when it is a matter of two socks
made of wool in the winter.