Thursday, February 06, 2014

Knitting Nirvana

Every time a new knitting magazine comes in the mail, I flip through it, looking at the articles and patterns, but also at the ads. I tell myself every time, “I’ll have to check out the website for this ad,” but I never remember once I put down the magazine.

With the arrival of my  most recent magazine, I decided I’d do it differently. So, I grabbed a pad of paper and pencil, and wrote down the website addresses of all the ads I wanted to check out as I flipped through the magazine. They were all interesting to various degrees, but I hit the knitter’s jackpot with this one:

www.theshawlpinstore.com

OMG. A store with hundreds of gorgeous shawl pins! I looked through every page, making notes of the dozens I liked best (making notes—yes, I can be taught). I finally, agonizingly whittled down the list to my four favorites, and ordered them. Here they are:

IMG_0261

From L-R, the first one is a Steampunk shawl pin; #2 is a lace-weight shawl pin; #3 is art deco; and #4 is western. Here are a couple of slightly better pictures:

IMG_0262

IMG_0263

Gorgeous, eh?

The service was awesome. I ordered on a Sunday, my order shipped Monday, and it was delivered on Thursday. The pins were in gauzy drawstring bags, each one slipped into a zipper plastic bag. They were padded by Styrofoam packing peanuts in the box, and arrived unscathed.

If you like to wear shawl pins on your shawls, cowls, cardigans or even hats, The Shawl Pin Store is the place for you. Check it out!

Chicken Soup for the Soul: My Hilarious, Heroic, Human Dog

I have a tale in this recent Chicken Soup for the Soul books: https://smile.amazon.com/Chicken-Soup-Soul-Hilarious-Companionship/dp/16115907...