I spent a fair bit of time poking around the various books at hand and Patterncentral.com and Google, searching for… I wasn’t sure what but page after page, those weren’t it.
Till I stumbled across the picture of the pink one here. Hey. Color Transplants R Us. That’s IT! That’s what my subconscious was trying to push out of the memory banks. I’ve seen that before but I couldn’t tell you how long it’s been.
During the few years of my life I wasn’t knitting much, I was making smocked gowns and dresses for my own babies, and that round patterning around the neck, called a bishop style, was something I made over and over. A knitted sweater that echoes that, a generation later? Perfect.
I hadn’t ever realized till I took the photo just now that the reverse holds true too: I designed a smocked dress back then for Michelle with a sheep front and center.
Meantime, today was my monthly trek to Los Gatos to buy birdseed. There in front of my car as I parked was a signboard for a shop at the far end of the plaza–where I had never been nor really looked. A chocolatier? There is? Okay, that’s worth checking out.
You walk in and there’s an intricate haunted house at the front with figures and jackolanterns and all kinds of detail. And it’s chocolate. All chocolate. All made in-house by hand. We are talking someone who plays with chocolate like I play with baby alpaca and silk.
I decided to try just one piece to test the place out, just one framboise.
Oh. My. Goodness. Change the metaphor to qiviut and silk. Richard exclaimed later, You didn’t get ME one? But I had no idea till she rang it up what it was going to cost vs the amount of cash I had on hand for an impulsive try-out.
To give you an idea, I later got in and out of Trader Joe’s without buying a single chocolate thing. Not even a plain good dark Valrhona bar. It would only have been a comedown.
The one thing I regret? I didn’t eat it till after I’d left and the woman didn’t get to see my whole face light up. She certainly earned that. I’ll have to go back, and Richard needs to come too.
Okay, right about here a good essay would pull the knitting and smocking together with the chocolate shop. Does that sentence count?
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Of course it counts. And how lucky you are Richard appreciates fine chocolate.
Comment by Channon 10.22.10 @ 6:12 amForget the good essay, Just put in the address of the chocolatier.
Comment by Sherry in Idaho 10.22.10 @ 6:22 amI love smocked dresses on little girls. My daughters had several “Polly Flinders”…beautiful but not like handmade.
Chocolate…….sounds wonderful!
Comment by Joansie 10.22.10 @ 6:23 amchocolate shop? in the same center as the bird seed place? REALLY?? when did that go in? I want to go there too!!
Comment by Bev 10.22.10 @ 9:02 am“…and THAT’S the rest of the story….”
Uh, we all have our limitations. You’re asking a lot w/knitting-smocking-chocolate. I defy anyone to do better.
Comment by LynnM 10.22.10 @ 11:30 amTheir chocolate is exquisite. And I am not much of a chocolate eater.
Comment by Gigi 10.22.10 @ 11:34 amOh darn…you HAVE to go back and buy some chocolate for the dh…hardship in the extreme! LOL…personally, I have to wonder if that was a set-up? 😉 Which smocked sweater did you choose, anyway?
Comment by Ruth 10.22.10 @ 2:15 pmHehe, you’re making the Belgian come out inside me. How the village next to my parents’ has the largest chocolate factory in the world (you used to smell it on the east wind), how I did chocolate runs for my mates in the UK (€15 for a kg, those were the days!) from the finest chocolatier in the area. I’m sure the lady didn’t need to see your face to know she made you a happy bunny, she knows what she’s doing 🙂
Comment by tinebeest 10.22.10 @ 2:56 pmThe knitting, the smocking, and the chocolate shop automatically come together. It’s all about a person who takes delight in creating just the right smocked dress, or just the right knitted sweater, or just the right chocolate. Faces light up in delight as a result.
Comment by RobinM 10.22.10 @ 5:32 pmThis is all very interesting, but I’m sure by now you’re wondering, “What does this have to do with flying airplanes?”
Sorry, inside joke for Alison.
Comment by LauraN 10.22.10 @ 6:36 pmLeave a comment
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