The lovely Aimee of Fairie Knits (who I will be meeting at SAFF!  Yay!) is doing the Walk to Cure Lupus, and she needs your help.  Her goal is to raise $5000, and she’s about halfway there.  So, if you can spare a couple of bucks, go help a fellow yarnie do some good.

What’s in it for you?  A kick-ass array of prizes from an amazing bunch of knitters.  WendyKnits patterns…  Turtledaddy sock blockers… Signed copies of books from the Yarn Harlot and Crazy Aunt Purl… gorgeous bags and yarn…  Seriously – she has some amazing prizes.  Go look!  And then donate what you can.

The walk is this Saturday, so don’t wait!  Help her out!

It wasn’t enough that I got a TON of birthday wishes via email, blog comments, and my very own threads at the Knittyboard and Ravelry, but I also got lovely thoughtful gifts.

I don’t have a picture of it, but Kiddossk sent me a little surprise from the Fat Witch Bakery (tell me that’s not the best name ever) – an assorted box of their Brownie, Walnut, and Blonde Babies, and a bag of hot cocoa mix. Let me tell you, these are some of the most incredible brownies EVER. And keep in mind, I usually make the Barefoot Contessa’s “start with a pound of butter” brownies – I know good brownies. Thank you, sweetie – it was a lovely surprise. And yes, I did share with Kris. He got one.

While I was at my regular Thursday knitting meetup today, the lovely (although blogless) Kathy gave me a huge box of assorted teas – I totally didn’t expect that, and it was so sweet of her! I will smile every time I have a cup.

Today, an envelope arrived from my Crafty Sister herself, Ms. Turtlegirl. Now, I knew this was coming, mostly because I’ve been getting daily text messages from her asking if it had arrived yet. (In her defense, she mailed it LAST Wednesday from Charlotte. My mother mailed my card from Las Vegas on Thursday, and it arrived on Monday. So I see why she was anxious). I opened it up to find these:

(Oh, and if you are curious, the markers are from Seahorse Designs over at Etsy. She’s got some fun stuff over there!)

When I pulled off the wrapping, I found this, which just tickled me so much that I had to take a picture:

I was going to write a big long post about the weekend, and recap everything, but then I thought about it. It’s about as much fun to read a blog post like that as being forced to sit through your neighbor’s vacation slides. And I was having too much fun to ever get my camera out, so I don’t even have pictures to show you! Instead, I’m listing all the people who were there (and if I miss you, it’s not intentional! I’m still wiped from the weekend – just leave me a note and I’ll add you) with links to those with blogs and (hopefully) pictures.

Just know that is was an amazing weekend, we laughed ourselves silly, and are already planning to do it again next year. Very possibly in DC. Very possibly organized by yours truly. *Gulp*

The PFK’ers, at least vaguely in the order of their appearance (from my perspective):
Stephie
Roxy
kiddossk
Artsygal
mruiters
Sharon
knittingkitty
Stariel
PinkSkatingGirl
Buttercup
AKKnitter
lunastrixae
js-ATC
Amyknitty
MBT
Sobe

I miss you all already, and I can’t wait for Stitches, or Rhinebeck, or SAFF, or SeaSocks, or whenever I get to see you again. And if you are ever in DC, PLEASE call me.

And before we get to the WIPs for the week – that title. There was enough silliness going on that we decided Friday night that the quotables needed to be written down so we didn’t forget them. The lovely knittingkitty had that job. There were many times through the weekend where someone said something, and it was immediately followed by laughter and a cry of “Emma! Write that down!”

Anyway, we were walking from Rosie’s Yarn Cellar to lunch. (OH MY GOD, Rosie’s. The space is small, but it doesn’t have that overcrowded feeling that small stores can have, even with all of us stuffed in there. And the ladies who run the place are total gems. Really, really nifty. I am definitely going to stop and see them at Stitches East.) At one point, a few people made it across a street before the light changed, and some of us were on the other side. When the light changed, we started across. There were two women who had been waiting on the other side and were now crossing toward us. Erica commented to Stephie that she almost said something to one of them, thinking they were part of the group and were going the wrong way. Steph’s response? That would be the title of this post.

OK, back to your regularly scheduled WIP Wednesday post, with a little SP9 action to boot!

First – the Chevron Scarf. Still chugging along. I just started the second ball of each color.

The Tess Ribbon Clapotis – I’m just about done with hank #2 of 3 (you can see what’s left of it in this picture, so that gives you an idea)

And a newcomer to the WIP list – my Charlotte’s Web Shawl.

This is something I’ve been planning to do for ages. It came up in various conversations that Chris, Shannon, and Cristi were also all planning to do it, so we decided to have our own little Knit-Along for it once MS3 was finished. Chris and I cast on together at Loop on Saturday, and this is how far I am. The way the pattern works, you do 16 rows in color A, 16 rows of alternating 2 rows of Color A with 2 rows of color B, 16 rows of color B, 16 rows of alternating color B and color C… and so on. I’m halfway through the 16 rows of color D. The FOURTH color. People, this is one seriously addictive knit. The colors are posed there above the shawl from A-E, left to right. It’s all Koigu KPPPM, but I don’t know all of the color numbers, because I lost some of the ballbands.

Monday, as if the weekend hadn’t been awesome enough, parcel #2 from my amazing Knittyboard SP Mostly Harmless arrived. She had the nerve to call this a “small” parcel. She’s nuts!

That’s a hank of Fleece Artist Silk Rumple in a spectacular green, with a pattern for a lovely shawl, a DPN holder, a beautiful pewter shawl pin from PurlGrey (that of course will be fab with the Rumple shawl, because she’s thoughtful like that), chocolates, and a key cover thingy that is a BLACK SHEEP! How funny is that? It makes me smile every time I look at it. Thank you, sweetie! You are the best!

And a little closeup of that fabbo Silk Rumple. Seriously gorgeous stuff.

Happy Wednesday, and I’ll see you for Yarn Pr0n Friday!

Clearly, it started to affect Amy’s behavior after a few moments.

Here, it would appear it had taken over her mind enough to convince her that she could fly.

No one seemed to know what could have possessed such a normally stylish, lovely woman to appear in public wearing such hideousness. However, our sources indicate that the blame lies squarely with her stylist for the appearance, one known only as “trillian42″, seen here forcing a reluctant Amy into the creation.

Later sightings of Ms. Singer indicate that she was no longer wearing the offending item, so we can only hope that this was a bout of temporary insanity brought on by ridiculous humidity and an invading horde of Knittyboarders.

- Big, big thanks to Buttercup for the pictures, since I’m a lameass and never got my camera out all weekend, and unbelievably HUGE thanks to Amy for being such an amazingly good sport. I owe you big for this!

(This was cross-posted to the official Fuggablog blog)

Here we have my cousin Beth (the clown) and me (the teddy bear) on our very first Halloween. I was 5 weeks old, and I had a costume. I’m pretty sure I haven’t missed a year since.
And here, we have my most current – Saturday at Johnny Mac’s Halloween party.

Speaking of said party, we had a complete blast. And by “we”, I mean me, Kris, Turtlegirl (who drove up for the weekend) and Roxy and her hubby. It was a very Knitty party.

Costume highlights:
Annemarie as Troy Polamalu:

Her hubby John as Dr. C. Harry Beaver (The “C” stands for Clifford. Cristi asked.):

Cristi as a black and white movie (with me):

David as a MySpace page:

Drew as Ozzy Osbourne:

John administering “medication” to Greg the weightlifter:

Justin and Hannah, as Greenbelt Road and a Stoplight:

Their parents, Scott and Dawn, as Sick and Tired:

Ed (yes, as in EdFest) as a sewer worker:

Our host, Johnny Mac (left) and Duk (right) with the best shot of Ed ever:

Annemarie, again. I can’t even caption this one:

And the boys playing poker. That would be my hubby with the scarf on his head:

There are a couple of pictures I can’t get to work right now, but I’ll try to add them later.

I had an awesome, awesome weekend with Cristi – she is a total blast. She taught me to make her famous pattern-row counters, and I took her to Ikea. We are both very dedicated enablers. And on Sunday, we had lunch with Annemarie and Alice, which was a complete hoot. I can’t wait until she comes back for another visit! (*plots evilly to find Cristi a job up here so she can move for good*)

Also, the pic he took of Turtle’s brand-new Lantern Moon basket.
And, just because we haven’t had any pictures in a very long time…
FISHIES! (There were algae issues. Ick. Not pretty. Happliy, solved now.)

I picked her up yesterday and we headed over to Capitol Hill, where we had a faboo lunch at Banana Cafe. It’s just up the street from Stitch DC – if you haven’t tried it, you must. I am forever grateful to stitchcounter for introducing me to it (and for several other things, but she knows what they are, and they don’t need to be made public. *hug*). I had my favorite Ropa Viejas, and Yorkie had the Puerto Rican Piononos (I think I spelled those right, but if not, cut me a break – I took 6 years of French). After we ate, I ordered a Cuban Sandwich to take home for hubby’s dinner because he LOVES them, and Yorkie and I each enjoyed a caipirinha while we waited. Yum!

After lunch, we of course headed to Stitch DC, where we had a great time chatting with the always lovely owner, Marie, who was nice enough to take a picture for us. Yorkie picked up some gorgeous deep pink Jaeger Siena for a sleeveless cardi, and I found 9 balls of Rowan Linen Print in a color called “Cocktail”. I have no idea what this yarn will be, but it was 40% off, and the color just called to me. I’m guessing tank of some sort. I’d almost consider another Ribbon X-Back, or something similar. (Oh, and yes, that is finally mine being modeled a little better than the Annapolis WWKIPD pic)

Yorkie, sweetheart that she is, brought me a present – a bar of Green and Black’s Maya Gold (YUM!) and a hilarious postcard that she picked up on her recent trip to Norway. It will have a place of honor by my computer. (Not the chocolate – that’s getting eaten. Please – who are you kidding?)

After I dropped her off, I came home just before the skies opened up once again and found TWO packages by my door. As I pulled into the driveway, I saw one sitting there (the other was inside the storm door), and I thought it might have been my KnitPicks needles. (Um… yeah… I finally ordered them) But when I looked closer, the side of the box said “Perishable”. What on earth could it be? I looked at the label – the return address was Vosges Chocolates. Curiouser and curiouser! So, I opened the box, and the inner styrofoam to find two incredible-looking chocolate bars, and a note that read “Hi Pamela! Just wanting to share my favorite chocolate with you. – Your Summer Fling Pal”. Wow! I couldn’t believe it! On the left is a Black Pearl Bar (which of course made me smile just from the name, what with the POTC love in this house. You remember the socks, of course.) It is dark chocolate with ginger, wasabi, and black sesame seeds. On the right is a Oaxaca Bar (And something about saying “Oaxaca Bar” makes me think “Wonka Bar”. I’m a dork.). This one is bittersweet chocolate with guajillo and pasilla chiles in it! Holy smokes! I cannot wait to try these! Thank you so much, Don’tPanicTrillian!!!!

And the other box was my elann.com order! Some Connemara in “Cocoa”, which will become the new Sizzle pattern from The Garter Belt, and some Esprit in Jade, which will be Mon Petit Chou from Knitty (once I size the pattern up a smidgen). You want pics? OK, here you go (click ‘em if you want to see them bigger).

Also, the Linen Print. Tell me that’s not an awesome color. And for 40% off? It appears that most of the reason it was on sale (aside from being discontinued, I think) was that these balls were no longer neat and tidy, so people wouldn’t buy them. The yarn isn’t mangled at all, but there are some loose loops of the yarn on the outside.

In actual knitting progress news, the Bombshell Tee has once again made it to the waist ribbing section. I think skipping the short rows was definitely the way to go, although I did tweak the front darts a little, because they were puckering and I wanted some extra length before the waist. So, I did them every other row, alternating with plain knit rows, but finishing with the same number of stitches. I am also doing some extra rounds of ribbing. I’ll decide exactly how many once I try it on again. I reeeeally hope this is it for this top. I know I’m going to love it, but damn is it taking forever.

And the Pomatomus socks are pretty much where they have been for a while now. Past the heel, one repeat done on the feet. If I get inspired, I could finish them fairly quickly, but the inspiration part is the problem. =)

Hopefully, the postal gods will smile on me, and when I get back from the B&N SnB today my KnitPicks needles will be here. If they are, I’ll brag about them here.

On to happier things… a few weeks ago, Bryghtrose posted on the Knittyboards that she was going to be in the DC area, and wanted to know if any local folk wanted to meet up. I of course said yes, because I love to meet Knitty people. So, we made plans to meet for lunch and shopping at Stitch DC Georgetown. Then, while hitting the Woolwinder’s 4th of July sale on Saturday, I got an email from Turtlegirl76. She was ALSO going to be in DC on Monday. So, the three of us met up and wandered around Georgetown looking for an open restaurant for lunch. Apparently, nothing in Georgetown opens until 11:30. Happily, there was a place called the Alamo Grille that was willing to let us come into the a/c (It was HOT) and sit until they were officially open.

Our very friendly Russian waiter spent most of his time with us teasing us in one way or another (bringing us what we ordered, but saying the wrong this to mess with us, etc.). And then he issued us a challenge. I’ll send you over to Turtle’s blog for that story, since she’s already got it up, and (unlike me) she remembered her camera.

Post-lunch, we headed over to Stitch DC, where we all fondled much yarn and picked up some great stuff (pics in a moment). It was such a bummer saying goodbye to both of them – what awesome people! I really hope to get to hang out with both of them again soon! (Turtle is already threatening to snag Stephy and road trip up, to which I say, “HELL yeah!”)

And now for the pictures. I’ve had less than fabulous success getting good macro shots with my old digital camera (Kodak DC3400). It’s a good overall camera, but just not that great at the macros. Well, when Kris’s Dad passed away, his Mom gave Kris his Dad’s Nikon Coolpix 5700. The flash doesn’t work (which is apparently a common problem with them), so Kris was going to see about fixing it. Once he got his Digital SLR, though, he decided that he really didn’t want to run the risk of totally breaking his Dad’s camera. So, he decided that, since I don’t want to use a flash for yarn pr0n anyway, the Nikon was perfect for me. I finally got to play with it a little this weekend, and oh. My. God. What a great camera. I’m now ashamed of what I used to consider a good yarn pic. I mean, who wouldn’t be, when I can now take stuff like this (click ‘em if you want ‘em bigger):
Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in “Maple Leaf” (left) and Dale Stork in #6 (right) – from the Woolwinder’s sale, for socks (possibly something from the new Summer Knitty) and Orangina, respectively.

Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille in “Bougainvillea” and “Mango” (left) and Artful Yarns Olympic in “Tokyo” (right) – from the Stitch DC visit, for some Weekend Knitting Reverse Bloom washcloths, and probably Pullover Flair from IK Spring 06.

And some surprises:
Turtlegirl brought me some AWESOME Kool-Aid Dyed KP Color Your Own sock yarn (GREEN!!!) and a cone of olive green and white cotton sock yarn from her score at the big mill sale she went to. And tucked in with them?

A new friend! He’s now hanging happily on my Sharpie mug, where he makes me smile every time I see him. Thanks, Cristi!!!

And to prove I’ve actually been knitting – my Hush Hush is at about 20% complete – I’m past the bottom lace and the eyelet row, and am about 2 rows away from beginning the decreases. I love the way it is working up, and I think it is going to be really, really pretty when it is done. Of course, with 400 stitches per row on US1 needles, that might be a ways off just yet. Here’s a closeup of the lace.

Oh, and courtesy of Mintyfresh, who sent me a link to a free .pdf converter, my patterns are now available in an easy-to-print .pdf format! (links have been updated in the sidebar) Yay! Thanks, Minty!