So Glad To Be Back!

Hello All!! We're back from "the Continent" it was fun, it was long and it was hot, hot, hot. Wow, about the only thing air conditioned in our three week stay was our room. Yikes!! And the weather was 92-104 the whole time.

I searched for knitting stores, but unfortunately, Europe is not having the knitting resurgence that the US is right now. Knit shops are very, very few and far between! If you have the good fortune to find one, the store will carry lots of crafts and just a few balls of yarn. Such a pitty!!

Anny Blatt!!
I did find the Anny Blatt store in the Marais district of Paris. I love that section of town and did lots and lots of shopping there. Tiny, twisty cobble stone roads, lined with little shops jammed together owned by some new and very interesting designers. Turns out that US fashion editors frequent the Marais in search of the next fashion trends. So did we!! Hot July meant we found a treasure trove of sales, not many Fall things were out yet.

Gelato!!!
But I've got to rave about the most artistic, delicious gelato on the planet sur la Marais! We waited in a line down the block and it was totally worth it! Ymmmmmm!!!!!

The Santa Fe Satchel
So here's another view of the "Santa Fe Satchel" in Interweave Knits Fall issue which might give you an idea of the scale of the bag. It was the third in the series.

The Rodeo Gal git alont bag was first, cover of Knitter's Winter,

second wasThe Sedona Blanket Bag for the Skacel Collection. The Marta McCall patterns are coming!! We'll have an unveiling in November. I'm currently knitting my fingers to the bone. Lots of exciting stuff on the way. Stay tuned for some sneak previews!!

A tale from Hollywood:

I thought I'd also regale you with a short story each blog from my "Show Biz" days. Long, long ago and far, far away when I first started to work, I worked for several legends, Bob Hope being one of them. I was his "chief of staff" at his home in Tuluca Lake in the early '80's and had quite a few staffers reporting to me. At that point Bob was doing a NBC Special about every month, so we were busy, busy, busy. Writers on staff were constantly calling with updated jokes. Those guys worked around the clock, not only writing jokes for performances, but "banter" for parties and dinners that Mr. Hope would attend. I used to taunt them with: When Mr. Hope "goes" you know you'll be buried with him, so you can write banter for heaven. Rightfully, they didn't think I was very funny--alas!

Hope was a night owl though, I always assumed it was due to his vaudeville schedule. My day, however, would start at 8:00AM (Bob would sleep until 11:00 or so), I was to leave at 5:00Pm, go home and have dinner and return at 10:00PM to take dictation (remember that!!) until about 2:00AM. The hours were totally nuts, but I was young. This was during the Reagan White House and I was amazed at how often the President called!! Usually wanting a joke or two for a speech he was giving or to set up a golf date. To balance out the political scale, Tipp O'Neill called just about as often.

Dolores Hope had recently built "the big house" in Palm Springs (I understand it is still used by pilots as an aerial land mark) she lived there. Bob would visit occasionally. I guess that's the way to have a happy marriage last multiple decades!

More next time! Joan Rivers was another boss of mine and definitely a laugh a minute!! And Frank Sinatra, too!! Yes, he did have blue eyes!!

Corrections:
As promised, the corrections for the "Children of Lir" stole in the Martha Waterman's Traditional Knitted Shawls and Lace. The problems are on rows 1, 3, and 7.

Row 1 should read: K3, yo(this is missing), K2togb, (k2tog, yo) twice, k1, yo, dbl dcr, yo, k1, (yo, K2togb) twice, k2tog, yo, k3.

Row 3 should read: K2, (yo, K2togb) twice (k2tog, yo) twice, k3, (yo, k2togb) twice, (k2tog, yo) twice, k2.

Row 7 is missing a YO: k1, (k2tog, yo) twice, k3, yo, k2togb, yo, dbl dcr, yo(this is missing), k2tog, yo, k3, (yo, k2togb) twice, k1.

If you have the book, print this out and put it in it. It took a couple hours on a layover to figure out what exactly was wrong, but I've now corrected it. Phew!!