Celebrate the Light (wish I had some),
It's the darkest time of the year in this hemisphere, so it's not surprising that holidays during this season celebrate light. I love the literal and metaphorical implications behind these commemorations and I also enjoy thinking about miracles in my life and lifetime as well as those that have taken place over the ages. All this is a hokey segue into the issue that's plaguing me today: I knit a warm, cozy cowl I'm calling the Eyelet Cowl, in a color of Malabrigo Worsted that reminds me of sunshine and the soft glow of candelight, and I want to put a picture of it up here on the blog, but for the life of me I can't get a good picture of it. Here's why, it's so damn dark and gloomy outside! And the light in the store creates all these funky shadows (plus I didn't want my face in it). Ugh. So, I'm going to put up my pathetic, bad picture of it. But the good news is it's quick, it's easy, it's fun to knit and it only takes one skein of worsted weight yarn plus it's a free pattern with purchase. I'll put it up on Ravlery after the holidays are over. It really is beautiful. I think you'll want to knit several as gifts plus of course one for yourself.
I'm also including it in our special Holiday Gift Bags which are available when you purchase a gift certificate in any amount. For $25 you get one of the hot, new 24"Addi Rocket needles* in either a size 7, 8 or 9; 2 packs of Soak wool wash and the pattern for the Knit 1 Eyelet Cowl all wrapped up and ready to give in a pretty Knit 1 project bag. You can't beat that, right? The bags come in lots of fun and whimsical patterns.
There is going to be a Knit 1 holiday party on December 12. Stay tuned for details...
Hope to see all of you soon,
Lynn
*the needle will be exchangeable since gifters don't always know what size the giftee needs.
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| Eyelet Cowl |
I'm also including it in our special Holiday Gift Bags which are available when you purchase a gift certificate in any amount. For $25 you get one of the hot, new 24"Addi Rocket needles* in either a size 7, 8 or 9; 2 packs of Soak wool wash and the pattern for the Knit 1 Eyelet Cowl all wrapped up and ready to give in a pretty Knit 1 project bag. You can't beat that, right? The bags come in lots of fun and whimsical patterns.
There is going to be a Knit 1 holiday party on December 12. Stay tuned for details...
Hope to see all of you soon,
Lynn
*the needle will be exchangeable since gifters don't always know what size the giftee needs.
Shop Small with us on Saturday, November 30th. We are open from 10AM to 5PM. When you register your American Express Card online at ShopSmall.com you can get a one-time statement credit for your purchase of $10 or more! That's a pretty good deal!!
We look forward to seeing you Saturday,
Lynn
Warm Thoughts from Cool Heads
“When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.”
--Franklin D. Roosevelt
In retail one thinks a lot about the holiday season. We start to prepare in May. There's a lot of pressure; I know people who spend weeks decorating their stores and they look beautiful, as in Martha Stewart Magazine beautiful. They create these magical worlds with scents and music and lights. This gives me heart palpitations, honest. I'm enchanted the moment I walk in and then, the next moment I think CRAP! I don't have that! My store doesn't smell like gumdrops and hot cider!! Why didn't I think to knit 6000 tiny Christmas stockings? QUICK!! Where can I get the hot cider spray??? The cinnamon scented candles????!!!! CRAP! CRRRAAAAPPPPP!!!! OK! Cool, Lynn, next year I'm gonna start early and get the perfect music and candles and if I knit 2 Christmas stockings every night starting in February and, and.... and I go spiraling down into some deep dark very un-holiday-like place. Now I'm useless to myself, to my family, to my friends and to my customers. In a nutshell I feel inadequate and crabby and fat and I'm not doing that to myself this year. It feels bad, so forget it. Gift to myself: Sanity. I'm not even gonna wrap it!
I'm not saying don't shop -- please, come to the store, we have great stuff! Beautiful yarns from Shibui, Malabrigo, Dream in Color and Skacel; fun and easy projects for you or to gift; lovely and lovingly-handmade project bags with funny cotton prints that make us laugh; pretty crochet hooks that feel so wonderfully smooth; brand new Rocket needles from Addi. But we're not gonna be crazy -- no all-night hours or Black Friday Door Buster Sales and for sure -- no tiny Christmas stockings -- we're just going to be us: here to help you with your projects whether they're for you or for a gift. Or, you can just sit at the table and knit and crochet.
So this year we have a gift for you that you can't buy. I'm not sure what to call it (feel free to submit ideas). Sanity Claus?
Lynn
--Franklin D. Roosevelt
In retail one thinks a lot about the holiday season. We start to prepare in May. There's a lot of pressure; I know people who spend weeks decorating their stores and they look beautiful, as in Martha Stewart Magazine beautiful. They create these magical worlds with scents and music and lights. This gives me heart palpitations, honest. I'm enchanted the moment I walk in and then, the next moment I think CRAP! I don't have that! My store doesn't smell like gumdrops and hot cider!! Why didn't I think to knit 6000 tiny Christmas stockings? QUICK!! Where can I get the hot cider spray??? The cinnamon scented candles????!!!! CRAP! CRRRAAAAPPPPP!!!! OK! Cool, Lynn, next year I'm gonna start early and get the perfect music and candles and if I knit 2 Christmas stockings every night starting in February and, and.... and I go spiraling down into some deep dark very un-holiday-like place. Now I'm useless to myself, to my family, to my friends and to my customers. In a nutshell I feel inadequate and crabby and fat and I'm not doing that to myself this year. It feels bad, so forget it. Gift to myself: Sanity. I'm not even gonna wrap it!
I'm not saying don't shop -- please, come to the store, we have great stuff! Beautiful yarns from Shibui, Malabrigo, Dream in Color and Skacel; fun and easy projects for you or to gift; lovely and lovingly-handmade project bags with funny cotton prints that make us laugh; pretty crochet hooks that feel so wonderfully smooth; brand new Rocket needles from Addi. But we're not gonna be crazy -- no all-night hours or Black Friday Door Buster Sales and for sure -- no tiny Christmas stockings -- we're just going to be us: here to help you with your projects whether they're for you or for a gift. Or, you can just sit at the table and knit and crochet.
So this year we have a gift for you that you can't buy. I'm not sure what to call it (feel free to submit ideas). Sanity Claus?
Lynn
Ode to My Socks by Pablo Neruda (thank you, David)
Ode to My Socks
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,
Violent 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 winter.
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,
Violent 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 winter.
Thinking About Fall
I also find this time of year reflective. The High Holidays -- which occur next week -- in the Jewish faith, are a time to review relationships, forgive, take responsibility in a fresh way, renew and plan to live a fuller, more spiritual and meaningful life in the coming year.
Shana Tova,
Lynn