Rittenhouse Needlepoint, or Men Like Needle Arts Too.

Huzzah, I have a job! I am the new office/sales assistant at Rittenhouse Needlepoint, a very cute and strictly needlepoint shop ("No, I'm sorry, we don't carry knitting supplies. Would you like to try our free beginner's class on Saturdays?") My primary responsibilities are helping old ladies turn their stitched yarmulkes into three-dimensional objects and maintaining the ambitious online store. The owners have mecca-like plans for the website, and somebody needs to reorganize the 20,000 items listed for sale before these plans were clearly laid out. This mostly means labeling Christmas stockings as such and separating luggage tags from mini purses, etc.

The shop is super thorough and I want to bathe in the skeins of pure silk. There are two owners, with a remarkably charming poodle, three other people in the office and store, an in-house needlepointer, two girls in the finishing department, and two painters. (Truly serious needlepoint canvases are hand painted and made in very small quantity. This is not a hobby for the penny-poor.) Unfortunately, the longer I work here, the more I want to needlepoint. I keep finding cute scissors, thread organizers, and acorn-shaped needle magnets that I covet covet covet. At least, I'm sure, I'll wind up with the below beginner's kit. It's the perfect thing to stitch and hang in the kitchen, commemorating the strange time in my life when I lived in Philadelphia and worked at a needlepoint shop.

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A pleasing surprise about the world of needlepoint is that it's full of hidden kitsch gems. Rosey Grier's Needlepoint for Men is a perfect example. Mr. Grier is quite the Renaissance Man. New York Giant, actor, recording artist, minister - I'll let Wikipedia explain: 
After Grier's professional sports career he worked as a bodyguard for Robert Kennedy during the 1968 presidential campaign and was guarding the senator's wife, Ethel Kennedy, during the Robert F. Kennedy assassination. Although unable to prevent that killing, Grier took control of the gun and subdued the shooter, Sirhan Sirhan.

This man is awesome, and he needlepoints. This gem reminds me of my favorite Chop Suey find: Leonard Nimoy's Warmed by Love. I'd never expect any other job to live up to Chop Suey standards, but maybe this one has a shot.

Rocket ships
Are exciting
But so are roses
On a birthday


Computers are exciting
But so is a sunset


And logic
Will never replace
Love.


Sometimes I wonder
Where I belong
In the future
Or
In the past


I guess I'm just
An old-fashioned
Spaceman.