lagging behind

We're really sorry, guys, that the blog's been so... well... boring recenty. The Blogger and I have been extremely busy as of late with also sorts of things, like:

• revamping the website in general,
• photographing (and color correcting) all the new goodies we've received,
• organizing the sock club,
• battling demon slime monsters,
• and building a new, super-high-tech, web site.

All in all, it's been an exciting couple of weeks. To start with, we've had two very successful No Mean Feet nights in a row, with all sorts of knitters coming in to show off their socks:

Then we had the International Quilt Market Trade Show from May 16 - 18 at the Portland Convention Center. Now, some people might think that since it was a quilting show, it wouldn't affect us. Ha! We were happily overrun with visitors from all over the world: Spain, Japan, and Canada were the most memorably represented. Especially since we were visited by the Ladies of Scent - the creators and owners of Soak Wash. I made The Blogger and Fearless Leader pose with Jacqueline and Patricia for a photo, as proof:

(Left to right: The Blogger, Jacqueline, Fearless Leader, and Patricia)

It was so cool meeting the ladies behind such a fantastically inventive and fun fiber-based company. They were very friendly and showed us some of the new projects their working on. They were frighteningly good sellers, too, since they also managed to talk us into buying a starter pack of their Labels of Love (not available online yet, sorry!). Which added another product to be photographed onto The List. See? We have been busy.

In fact, we've been so busy, we broke one of the cardinal rules of blogging. We forgot to get a picture of a knitter and her blog address. The guilt! A lovely lady came into the store to show off a project she had knit with ShibuiKnits Sock she had bought from us. She had made the Mamluke Socks (by Nancy Bush) for an expecting mother and had worked out a matching hat for the expected one:

It was an amazing amount of work. The original sock pattern is based off traditional Middle Eastern mosaic and knitting motifs - including, quite especially, the word "Allah" in Arabic in bands around the ankle and toes. Our intrepid knitter had tweeked the stitch patterns to fit onto a baby's hat and had included the "Allah" band around the brim:

Aside from being completely awe-inspiring and beautiful, I was stuck by the connection this project had with thousands of others from the past. Traditionally, friends and relatives of expectant mothers would make all sorts of prayer-infused gifts to protect her and her unborn child through the pregnancy and birth. The pairing of the two gifts seemed perfectly synchronized and poetic.

And, of course, The Blogger and I were so enthralled by the FO's we forgot to get all the info you all'd want to learn more about the project :( Sorry! Hopefully, our talented gift-knitter will leave a comment with more details.

Sadly enough, that's not everything that's keep us from you. I couldn't recount half of it, to be honest. May has been a very colorful blur. But The Blogger and I do know that we owe you several posts - like this month's Rock Star Knitter and a couple of True Plies. We'll try and post those as soon as we get the chance.

Honestly.

Oh! And before I forget, again, to post this - the deadline for Gratis Knits: Summer 2008 is on June 1. The Submission Guidelines are here. And, really, guys, it doesn't have to be a complicated pattern - our most popular ones have been the simplest. To be perfectly honest, I'd looove to see a summery headband or kerchief pattern come across our inbox...