July is trending into summer's dog days and we're wearing sweaters. Our tomatoes hang fat and stubbornly green on the vine. Clouds are low and filled with moisture ready to unleash dainty rains or cataclysms of hail, depending on the mood.

All this cool weather does put one in the mind to knit.

1. The fall knitting magazines are pouring in: Vogue, Knit Simple and soon, Interweave Knits.

2. Posh is closing, which leaves the neighborhood without an LYS. I'm inconsolable. Even the sale, which starts tomorrow, offers only the slightest balm.

3. Wondering if the polls on healthcare reflect the country's attitude that our new President who swept into office on a message of change has become too indebted to the status quo?

4. Are shawls the new socks?

5. Read Linda Castrone's wonderful new blog, A Year in the Vineyards, about following a wine from grape to bottle.

6. Are berets the new socks?

7. If you've never had Roberta's Chocolates in Denver...all I have to say is: Life is short.

8. Received this little toy for my birthday: The SodaStream, which allows you to make sparkling water at home. Very green compared to buying cases of agua con gas from Italia.

Ciao.