I tried to take an arty yet illustrative shot of my NewBeginningsProject Scarf, but it’s just too cloudy and windy out there. This is it, though, in all its glory. I wish you could touch it; it’s soft and drapey and well, silky. And it smells so good, too (I really love the smell of silk).

I did a little more California Red spinning this morning. I hope I get enough done by Sunday, so I can give it to the R who wants to knit with it. I love my Ashford, I really do. I’ve rarely felt the desire to have something BiggerBetterFaster. The possibility of K’s Real Reeves, though? It has me going. I guess I’d better find out how much money I need to save.

There was a knittin’ thing over at the library today, a sort of festival/meet-up/show-and-tell. Most of my knitting circle was there, and many more who’d heard about it through the grapevine. H, who dreamed it up and coordinated it (as she has most of the local knittin’ things), put together a nice program and collected lots of little prizes to draw for, and everyone had a lot of fun. This is the same group of knitters that has caused me to moan and groan in the past, but I have to take some of it back. I’m learning to like them, and they seem to like me. I guess we just needed to get to know each other, and I know I needed a little bit of an attitude adjustment. Today was a lot of fun, and I’m looking forward to our regular meeting tomorrow. Oh, and I won a little pair of scissors and a bar of sweet soap!

I am waiting for the weather to do something. It’s been in the sixties for two days straight, hardly dipping at night, even. I want to wear scarves! Wooly socks! Sweaters! I want to wear layers! Is that too much to ask of the end of November? Hardly! The blustery wind signals the beginning of the change, though. When I get the Weather Migraine I’ll know for sure.

Thanksgiving is in just one week! In my bookstore world, that means I’m really busy and stressed, and I’m sure that I’ll forget to order something important. Every year I have a moment when I experience a Book Failure. I turn to the staff, stricken, and tell them that they’ll have to take orders for copies of my Failure, and I am so, so sorry, but who knew that whatever it is would actually get good reviews and be featured on Oprah, or that the news of its fantastic-ness would reach us after the shipping deadline? They have learned to put up with me, to help me by searching the basement for a missing copy or twelve, and to tell me it’s okay, nobody really wants to read that book anyway.

This year will be different: I have pre-emptively mega-ordered all the books that will go out of stock before Christmas [Hey, Rachel, Random House says they are going to run out of Bedside Book of Birds!], I’ve anticipated trends by scouring the New York Times, and I’ve made sure that I consult C, the buyer and general manager, every ten minutes or so. Well, not really, but I have been working hard to prevent Book Failure. I am actually pretty good at what I do, and I do know it, which is why the staff humors me during the Holidays. Or maybe it’s because I give them gifts…