So, I’m sitting here on Thursday when the phone rings. It’s Annemarie, calling to see if I am going to StitchDC Georgetown for their Twinkle party. I hadn’t actually heard about it, but I am not exactly known for, um, turning down a trip to a yarn store. We made plans to grab dinner and then head over to StitchDC. We even convinced the boys to join us. Not surprisingly, Kris brought his camera. :D

I’ll get to the pics in a minute, but first I have to share this totally random happening. We were walking from the Foggy Bottom Metro stop over to McFadden’s Pub (where we were having dinner), and at one corner, this stylishly dressed woman (Black wrap, great sunglasses, awesome boots…) was on her cellphone, and said something about being lost. Annemarie, being, well, Annemarie, asked where she was trying to go. She slipped off her sunglasses and told us she was looking for the Park Hyatt. We figured out where she needed to go, and the entire time, I’m thinking, “Is that…? No… Seriously, I think it is!” When she walked away, I looked at Kris, and before I could say a word, he said, “Yes. That was who you think it is.” It was Alicia Coppola, who is a total “that girl” actress - she’s been in a million things. Her imdb page doesn’t have any pictures, but if you watch NCIS, she was a recurring character on there, and she was a fairly memorable character on an episode of CSI (her dog killed a guy, and she stole his liver and ate it because she had porphyria.) She’s a very attractive woman, made more distinctive-looking by the fact that she has freckles. And honestly, she’s prettier (and a little shorter) in person. So, yeah. Random celebrity sighting!

So, we ate (McFadden’s is a cute place - good bar food), and grabbed a cab over to StitchDC. We chatted with the other knitters there, fondled the new Twinkle yarns (very, very soft squishy wool, a lovely cotton/silk blend, and a nice mohair/silk blend - and some great colors.), and laughed at Kris and John being goofy.

And then we had random event #2 of the night. One of the women looks at me and says, “You’re Trillian… um…72?” I said, “Trillian42, yeah.” She seriously recognized me from the blog! I about shit! We started chatting, and it turned out to be Ava from “When a Door Closes…“, which I have blogrolled! She was there with Olga from “Knit Creations of a Curious Mind” (which I now have blogrolled), and we had a great time hanging out with them, and of course enabling one another. I’m hoping to get a chance to meet up with them again at Maryland Sheep and Wool in May.

OK, and now on to the pictures. Kris kept himself nicely busy, as you can see. :D Smaller ones here, click if you want to see them bigger. And yes, there are a LOT of them.

The boys were hanging out on the sidewalk, so Annemarie was taunting them with Lorna’s Laces roving in Black Purl.

I love this shot of the sign against the gorgeous sky.

Annemarie, professional yarn snuggler, with Lorna’s Laces Helen’s Lace in Bittersweet.

The wall of yarn behind the cash register:

Annemarie, trying to tempt me with Alchemy Synchronicity.

And enabling me to buy the gorgeous green Twinkle wool. No, I didn’t buy it. I picked a *gasp* different color.

The aforementioned lovely Ava and Olga! See ladies - I told you he’d keep the lapfuls of yarn out of the picture ;)




The adorable (although blogless) Jess, who made the event a LOT of fun.

Artsygal, she of the gorgeous laceweight seen here, has branched out into sock yarn. Unfortunately for my checkbook, she’s got some GORGEOUS colors.

Here we have “Iris”:

And here, “Laffy Taffy”:

Aren’t they beautiful?

And yes, I am aware that the colors in “Laffy Taffy” are remarkably like those in Adam’s “Printed Circuit Board” from last week’s pr0n. What can I say? I’m consistent in my color choices. :D

Kim had a blog contest recently, and I won a prize! She sent me this fabulous hank of (wait for it…) handdyed sock yarn from Lone Star Arts. The color is called “Burn”, and I love the vibrance of it. So does Kris - he has claimed it for socks for him.

Yes, that’s right - I’m hooked on Dancing with the Stars. Me, the queen of anti-reality tv, hooked on a reality show. I even mocked my Mom a little last year for voting for Emmitt Smith. I’ll take some ketchup with those words, please.

Anyway, just for shits & giggles, I thought I’d start blogging my thoughts about each week’s episode, along with the judges’ scores, and my prediction for who will go, with a followup to see if I was right. (Hint - I was wrong for the first one). I realize that no one may have any interest in this but me, but hey, it’s my friggin’ blog. :D For those who are interested, the official home page is here.

Week 1 - The Foxtrot and the Cha Cha

Ian & Cheryl - He is obviously enjoying himself. Even when he wasn’t technically perfect, he sold it well. Judges: 21
Paulina & Alec - I love her. I know it’s at least partly because something about her makes me think of my very dear old friend Nikki, but I also thought she danced well. Judges: 19
Billy Ray & Karina - Two words: train and wreck. I really felt for Karina - I’m not sure she knew what to do with him on this one. Judges: 13
Leeza & Tony - Pretty middle of the road - nothing particularly memorable. Judges: 15
Joey & Kym - Too fun. LOVED them - the couple to beat, for sure. Judges: 24
Laila & Maks - First of all, DAMN is she gorgeous. And that orange dress looked amazing on her. Plus, who knew a boxer could dance like that? Judges: 23
John & Edyta - Very nice - John’s a bit like a teddybear. He dances quite well! Judges: 17
Shandi & Brian - Whichever judge referred to them as “Barbie and Ken” was right. Not bad, not outstanding. Judges: 19
Clyde & Elena - He’s likable, but he’s clearly a little uncomfortable with the whole dancing thing. Judges: 16
Heather & Jonathan - Wow… what was with that dress? What an awful color combo. She looked a little nervous, but still danced well. Judges: 18
Apolo & Julianne - You can tell he’s a little nervous, but they were great together. Plus, I’ve liked him since the Salt Lake Olympics. Judges: 21

OK, I knew they weren’t eliminating anyone until after the second round of dancing, but I wasn’t feeling good for Billy Ray and Karina after week 1. That was just not pretty.

Week 2 - The Mambo and the Quick Step

Apolo & Julianne - He really seemed to relax and enjoy this a little more. Judges: 26
Shandi & Brian - Wow. That was the boringest, least sexy Mambo ever. Lose the pageant walk and move those hips!! Judges: 20
Clyde & Elena - Clyde looked like he was getting into it and having a little more fun this time. Judges: 18
Leeza & Tony - Not bad, but not great either. I don’t dislike her, but I doubt she’ll be around for long. Judges: 21
Ian & Cheryl - Lots of fun, enjoyable to watch. Cheryl makes me think of someone I used to know at the theatre I worked at years ago - she always seemed to think that if she had LOTS ! OF! ENERGY! that everyone would somehow “catch” it from her. Mostly, she annoyed me, so I have a feeling I’m going to be watching Cheryl through that lens. Judges: 22
Paulina & Alec - She’s really adorable. She looks fabulous, and I really loved her this week, especially because she went for it on the death drop. Judges: 21
Billy Ray & Karina - THAT was an improvement! I think if he can overcome the debacle of the chacha, he will make some serious progress. Judges: 21
Heather & Jonathan - Kick ASS outfit! She looked fantastic, and WOW that was some awesome dancing. Girl can shake it! (See, Shandi - THAT’s what your hips should be doing.) Judges: 24
John & Edyta - They’ve got great chemistry, and I love seeing someone who’s a little older out there working it. Judges: 21
Laila & Maks - OK, that thing about Joey and Kym being the couple to beat? Laila and Maks just upped the ante. A LOT. That was smokin’! Judges: 27
Joey & Kym - And they brought their A-game again! I know Joey did a lot of dancing with *NSync, but this is really, really good. Judges: 24

Ok, so after dance number 2, I’m guessing that Shandi is going to be in trouble, along with Billy Ray and possibly Leeza.

Elimination Show:

WTF? Paulina and Alec got booted? That is so wrong. (Although I was right about Shandi being in trouble.)

In knitting news (assuming you’ve gotten this far, that is), I’m almost done with the Counterpoint scarf. I am loving the yarn (Classic Elite Lush), and I think she’s really going to like it. I’ll get Kris to take some pics as soon as it is totally finished. The illusion reads pretty well - I’m going to have to play with that some more in the future.

Oh, and we did the photo shoot for Flash Your Stash ‘07 the other day. The idea was totally Kris’s, and I think you’ll like it. Remember, folks: FYS April 1!!

This one’s been going around.

Look at the list of (100) books below. Bold the ones you’ve read. Italicize the ones you want to read. Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in. Movies don’t count.

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

45 out of 100 read. Looks like my “classics” phase in high school paid off. :D

No, not actual nekkid pics of Adam. :D But, lovely pics of his equally lovely yarn, available at his shop.

900mHz Sock yarn in “Printed Circuit Board” - I saw this colorway in Adam’s etsy shop ages ago, but had trouble getting my etsy account open to pick it up then. Happily, he posted some of it a couple of weeks ago in his new shop, so I was able to grab it. I mean, is there any color more appropriate for socks for my computer geek hubby? :D



(FOUR pictures of it - can you tell Kris likes it? He was also very tickled by the name - nice work, Adam!)

And 1500mHz Sport Sock in “Caramel Stout” - Yeah… I haven’t yet decided if this will be for Kris, too, or if I’m keeping this one. :)

It’s soft and squishy, and is going to make some AWESOME socks. And Adam’s colors are fantastic - rich and vibrant.

Dammit, Adam, you’re going to make me go broke! :D

Stolen from the lovely Ali:

You Are Aphrodite!

A total shining star with a ton of admirers And no wonder: you live life to the fullest! When things get bad, you can easily take off to a happier place But occasionally, you need to deal with problems head on

(Anyone else a fan of “How I Met Your Mother“? Barney’s game of “Haaaaaave you met Ted?” Anyone?)

So, on my StitchDC trip, I finally scored a copy of the elusive No Sheep For You by the oh-so-fabulous Amy Singer. In flipping through it, I found this:

(Photo ganked from here, the blog of the amazing woman who knit the original) (And by “ganked”, I mean copied and uploaded to my Photobucket, not hotlinked. I know better than to steal bandwidth)

Is that not one of the most beautiful sweaters you have ever seen? The cables… the neckline… Ah… I’m in lust. Did I mention it is done in Rowan Calmer, possibly one of the softest, snuggliest, bounciest cotton-blend yarns ever? Yeah.

So, my search began. I was looking for a deal on Calmer. And I lucked into one. CucumberpatchUK had some, including an awesome deal on one color:

That would be color #486 “Tangerine”, which is now waiting patiently to become my very own Morrigan. I got it for $3.99 a ball. (Let me say that again - $3.99 a ball for Rowan Calmer. I adore CucumberpatchUK) I cannot wait.

But, I will wait. I will be a good girl and finish the Fair Isle Cardigan before I start on the beauty that is Morrigan.

Incidentally, Morrigan is far from the only pattern in this book that I WILL be making. In fact, I plan on doing quite a few of them. This is a superb collection of patterns, not to mention Amy’s awesome work on the characteristics of all sorts of non-animal-based fibers (ok, silkworms are animals… mostly non-animal-based).

Some more goodies from my trip to Stitch DC two weeks ago.

Laines du Nord Mulberry Silk in “Berry Multi”:

No clue what it is going to be, but isn’t it gorgeous? I thought about making a silk Branching Out, but I realized that the colors are very similar to the bamboo one I already did. So, any other suggestions are welcomed.

Classic Elite Lush in Black and White, which will be a “Congratulations for getting into NYU’s Musical Theatre Graduate Program” gift for my dear friend Hillary - a Counterpoint scarf.

Have a Happy St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow! Don’t forget to wear your green, or you might get pinched! ;)

Presenting the answer for those of us who knew better than to do Knit From Your Stash 2007:

This one I’m pretty sure I can stick with. Off to Little Knits! …and Knit Picks! …and WEBS! …and StitchDC! …and All About Yarn!

:D

Some of the goodies from my trip to Stitch DC last weekend.

Some Hemp for Knitting Allhemp6 in “Lilac”, which will be combined with the same in “Deep Sea” (a nice deep blue) to make “The Bag” from No Sheep for You.

And finally, some Hemp for Knitting Allhemp3 in “Sprout”, which will be combined with the same in “Foggy” (a light silvery-gray) for I have no idea what. :D

And if you are wondering why I have so much of the Allhemp… I bought the Deep Sea at Stitch DC’s Super Bowl Sunday sale last year, with no real plan for it. The more I thought about it, I decided I needed more to do something other than a scarf. So, I picked up the “Foggy” on another trip to Stitch DC. Unfortunately, I’m an idiot and bought the other weight. Hence picking up some of each weight this time to actually DO something with it. And bless Zib (who has been internetless for FAR too long, we miss her!), she has a beautiful bag pattern in NSFY that calls for the Allhemp6! So, one question answered, anyway.

Oh, and if you haven’t seen it yet, the new Spring Knitty is up! I’ve only briefly peeked at it (busy couple of days around here), but there is some great stuff. I already know I’ll be making the bmp socks for Kris at some point. All his coworkers will be jealous. :D