Monday 7 January 2008

Paper

The knitting continues apace, with A's scarf being finished and currently blocking - seems dry but probably only surface dry so I will leave it until tomorrow for end weaving. Discussions with the girls during the course of the day (we work, really) have inspired me to consider casting on a scarf with my German handspun, on the grounds that it's very chunky, and if I use it quickly it will inspire me that I am using up stash. Will ball-wind it later this evening and muse on a suitable stitch pattern - I'm thinking Mistake Rib but might consult my Vogue Stitchionary first.

My lunchtime today consisted of getting extremely wet as I was caught in a downpour whilst seeking pretty stationery on Bond Street - I was headed to Smythson, on the grounds that if you've left Christmas thank you cards until 7 January, you'd better make up for it by sending smart ones. I got these, which please me greatly. Smythson is a terribly nice shop, very upper crust - I overheard one Mayfair auntie/grandma/godmother quizzing a small boy, not more than ten, as to whether he had enough writing paper. He'll probably only draw on it in crayon, but what the hell, hey? They package things beautifully, in such a gorgeous Nile blue, darker than Tiffany, less green than Fortnum & Mason - that whole colour family is just so classy, don't you think? Sadly the bag, all tied with navy grosgrain ribbon, and I got soaking wet immediately afterwards so that rather ruined things. Still, they made me happy. Is it bad though, that the fact that Samantha Cameron, David's wife, is their artistic director makes me look ever so slightly more favourably on him politically? I'm so shallow. (Disclaimer: this factor will not actually influence my final decision in the event of a real general election.)

Anyway, there was a point to all of this, aside from showing off my new paper goods. In the New Bond Street shop is a mini-museum (Smythsonian?) showing the history of the company, which is fascinating and tiny enough to poke around even in your lunch hour. I came across this rather charming advertisement:


That's right, a combined walking stick and silk project bag - the lady is embroidering, but I'm sure some of the users of such a thing would have been knitters. I want one!  And only 31/6, bargain.

P.S. For when I don't need notecards in a hurry, I'm going to be ordering from Paperplain, who I found online today. Really, I'd like to have sent these to my relatives, though I'm not sure they'd have found them funny.  These will be what I'm actually ordering, or these, or, oh dear...

1 comment:

stash haus said...

Thanks for all the links - it was fun to see what had you so tempted.