Summer is in full swing in NYC and we've had an eventful few days. I've returned to the shop from a brief stint in the hospital. Though it's not ideal to hobble around the shop in a leg brace I'm managing in part because of all of the love and cards and flowers I've received. Thank you pencil friends! Here are some high points from the week: 

We're especially excited because we have lots of cool new things this week.   From Portugal we received a fresh box of Emilio Braga notebooks in new colors. We also have the new Blackwing Volumes pencil and the Mitsu-bishi 4B Penmanship pencil (which we're totally obsessed with!). 

If you've been one of the many people who have inquired about this you'll be pleased to hear that we now stock Blum eraser caps/point protectors. The eraser is better than your average pink school topper and the extra length on the pencil holder part of it does indeed make for a pretty good point protector. We're still searching for a truly excellent eraser cap but until then these are more than enough to satisfy your frantic erasing needs. 

More about the Mitsu-bishi Penmanship pencil though--it's super dark, super slick, super pretty and just an all-around winner for all of you soft pencil people. You can find it here but if you come into the shop this weekend it's likely that either Caitlin or I will point it out to you before you even have the chance to ask for it. 

Today we received a mysterious FedEx envelope from Japan which contained a copy of Madame Figaro in which we found our shop (pictured above)! We're delighted but also sad because we can't read what it says. 

If you're in the shop in the coming weeks you might notice a few new faces. We've hired some extra help for the summer and we'll be sure to post profiles for everyone on our team soon. 

Happy weekend!

CW

PS. Expect more regular blog posts. Caitlin and I made a list of things you need to know about including pencil grading by brand (because not all HBs are created equal), situational pencil recommendations and the best pages from our test books. Let us know if there's anything you want us to write about!