Halloween!!!

OK, so, I'm finally going to catch up on Blogstalking (or more like pick up again. I'm so far behind, I'm not even going to get anywhere near caught up). 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. :D 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*)

Just 'cause Turtle asked...

I swear, I've been bugging him to get me this picture - he finally did. Turtlegirl76, me, and Bryghtrose in Stitch DC Georgetown. And yes, I'm sticking my tongue out. I think I was laughing at something. 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.)

Yorkie Day!

Yes, that's right - you need to be jealous - I got to spend yesterday with the Siress herself, knittyboard's own Yorkshire Gal. Which makes this the third week in a row I've spent hanging with a non-local Knittyhead, now that I think about it. Hee! 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.

I'm Growing Gills

I swear it - if it doesn't stop raining around here soon, I'm going to sprout freaking gills. So far, we've been lucky and not had any actual damage (an advantage of not having a basement), but I'm just so very, very sick of rain and gray skies, and getting soaked every time I run an errand. Plus, the lack of decent light is kind of messing with the yarnography. 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!