Kiss My Knits!

It occurs to me that before I go off on another trip, I should finish posting about the last one. So let me tell you about the trip home from St. Louis!

Sunday morning, I got up bright and early – okay, sometime around 9am, which passes for “bright and early” at Simucon, and started packing up. By the way, many thanks to , who shared her room with me Saturday night since I had been unable to get one myself for all three nights. She was kind and thoughtful to do this, since I snore. Not as badly as I used to, which will come as a great relief to GM Helena, who was forced to endure it a few years ago. Apparently, I snored like a grizzled prospector. Sorry, hon.

But I digress! I wanted to hit a yarn store in Murfreesboro, TN, called the Knaughty Knitter. Apparently, they had spinning fiber as well as yarn. There was a Simucon farewell brunch at 11am, but I knew that would have me on the road too late, even without the yarn shop. With deep regrets, I said my goodbyes and hit the road a little after 10am.

I made good time, but their site said they closed at 5 on Sundays. It clearly was going to be tight. partway through Tennessee, I had an awful thought. Was Murfreesboro on Central or Eastern time? If it was Eastern time, I was out of luck, because I was going to lose an hour. I placed a cell phone call to the shop owner, who was clearly puzzled by me asking her what time zone she was in. It was Central. Woo! Still Golden!

Armed with my MapQuest directions, I arrived in Murfreesboro with about 45 minutes to spare. And promptly got lost. I doubled back about five times, called the yarn store owner for directions, doubled back a few more times, then gave it up and pulled into a gas station to ask for directions.

Me: Excuse me, but I’m very lost.
Clerk: Of course.

Well, that pretty much summed it up.

Me: I’m trying to get back to West College Street.
Clerk: Sure, we can get you there. Where are you trying to go?
Me: The Knaughty Knitter.
Clerk: OH! That’s a great yarn shop! Here’s exactly what you need to do!

WOOT! I FOUND A KNITTER! Jo (we introduced ourselves, of course) gave me perfect directions, and she admired my Tofutsies socks, and we paused for a moment to talk about yarn. Then whoosh! I was back on the road! A short time later, I was doing the roundabout around the courthouse and Civil War statue – all Southern towns have a roundabout around a courthouse and Civil War statue – and the clock read 4:40. Yikes! It was gonna be close! But it was only about a mile further and there it was. The yellow house with the dressed-up tree. Huzzah!


I spoke with the owner, who said that since she was meeting someone there about a half hour after closing, she had to be there anyway and would be glad to keep the shop open late. Score! I wound up picking up some black Pacapuf baby alpaca for my friend and some undyed Falkland top for Turtlegirl76 since she wants to try her hand at dyeing roving.

I couldn’t leave there without spinning fiber, so I picked up some Three Bags Full roving, pictured left. It’s from a Romney/Merino cross sheep, with some tussah and silk noil mixed in. Adding a little tie made of the spun yarn around the neck of the bag is a nice touch. As far as knitting material, I got the Paca Peds sock yarn pictured to the right. I liked its denimy quality.


I have to give major props to Meredith, pictured left, for being willing to let me linger. It was gracious of her. I’d also like to point out that I spent a big wad of money (thanks again, Dad!) in her store as a result of her kindness, and perhaps if the owner of Earth Guild had been willing to stay open a little longer, some of that could have been hers. I’m just sayin’.

Meredith also clearly knows her customers, because I asked her about Jo, and what sort of thing she liked. She remembered that Jo liked blacks, browns, and earthy colors. I remember Jo had commented on the Tofutsies socks. Well, without Jo, I would never have made it to the store. When I was going to the store, I made a serious point of being sure I could remember my way back from the store. And so, I picked up a hank of Schaefer Anne and brought it back to the gas station for Jo. She was touched, and so was I. We had a little Hallmark moment. Look at her. Isn’t she a sweetheart? It was really great to meet a new knitter, and so randomly and unexpectedly! Speaking of unexpected, it was after looking at this photo that I realized I’d forgotten my sunscreen that day. Oops.

(Jo, if you don’t want that, I will not be offended if you return it. Alternately, if you want to try something besides socks, you could look for Interweave Knits 2004’s Fall issue – they’ve got the Pooling Colors Scarf designed for that yarn.)

On the way out of town, I thought I could figure out how to avoid backtracking to Nashville, but I thought I’d better check and be sure, what with Murfreesboro’s mysterious shifting roads. I stopped at Starbucks.

Me: So, is 840 the best way to get back to 40 from here?
Clerk: Probably. Where are you going?
Me: Well, Charlotte, eventually.
Clerk: I love Charlotte! That’s a great city! Here’s what you want to do…

Again, what are the odds? Everybody I met in Murfreesboro was uniformly helpful and nice. If I’m ever in the neighborhood, I’ll definitely stop by again.

Apparently my Jayne hat got a link – not a review, not anything more than a four word link – from The Corner blog on the National Review site. As a result, I’ve gotten about 400 more hits than usual today. ETA: http://www.wearwithstyle.com just got a hundred more hits in the past 20 minutes, and it’s still rising. Let’s just call it “many more than usual” and leave it at that.

Behold the power of the National Review. Let’s get some more of those people watching Firefly while we’re at it – it’s a great show, it deserves more viewership!

My mother and I are returning to the ancestral family lands in Pennsylvania this weekend. We’ll be visiting spots I haven’t seen in years. Compared to Simucon last week, this should be very relaxing. I’m really looking forward to this trip.

Hats up next for: FL, CO, and CO. Colorado is a hotbed of Browncoat activity right now. Go figger.

Emily wanted me to put her hair up in a big bun today. However, I’m not good with elaborate upswept designs like that, and we only have two bobby pins. So I told her I didn’t think I could do it, and she got upset. We finally settled on two small buns, down lower, and I told her they were probably going to come undone. And that if they DID come undone, it was okay. And it was okay if she lost the bobby pins. And I could fix it later. And she needed to stay calm and not get upset. She said she wouldn’t get upset. Of course, she always says that. When I dropped her at Nature Museum camp, I told her counselor if her hair fell out or she lost the pins, it was fine. (Note, I never used the phrase “if your hair falls out” to my very literal daughter. I can just imagine the concern that would produce.)

As I predicted, her hair fell, and she got upset. I don’t know how upset. Not upset enough for them to call me, at least, so that’s something. When I came to pick her up, she’d been crying. I also can’t make out whether she is or is not enjoying the camp. It’s very frustrating.

I’m really worried about her ability to cope with third grade next year. Scratch that, next month. I’m at a loss as to how to get her to stay calm and take these things in stride. If one little thing goes wrong, her world falls apart. She’s better than she used to be with the obsessiveness, but it can still overtake her very quickly, and then it’s tough for her to hold it together. Every adult’s first instinct is to try to comfort her and help her get it together, but that really just seems to make it worse.

I feel like I’m not doing enough, but I also don’t know what else I can do. I hate writing stuff like this, because my parents read this journal and I know it makes them sad, but I still have to say it. Sorry, Mom and Dad. I wouldn’t trade her for anything, but it’s still hard. Such, I suppose, is life.

I’m still quite worn out from the trip. Maybe if I’m able to get more sleep, things will seem better.

So on the way to St. Louis, I stopped off at Earth Guild in Asheville and Angel Hair Yarn in Nashville, which I’ve already posted about. However, I didn’t post what I actually got at Angel Hair. This trip, I decided to go for locally dyed or spun yarns, things which wouldn’t be available back home. To that end, I picked up two skeins of sock yarn. The blue is merino, the other is 75% wool, 25% nylon. It’s by The Fiber Denn. Their site is under construction, but they seem to have an etsy shop. They’re apparently local to Nashville, so that was good enough for me! Onward to St. Louis!

Through the community, I had heard that a manager of Knitorious also dyed roving. I definitely wanted to stop by, so Friday I followed what I thought was the map to their store, only to arrive at a residence clear on the other side of town. I had picked up the wrong directions. D’oh!

Take two: Saturday. I wasn’t sure I’d go that day, since I really wanted to be at the GM roundtables at Simucon. I stayed at the seminar for a while, but there were so many people in the conference room all talking at once that the din was overwhelming. I had to concentrate and read lips to catch anything. Even then, I only caught about a third of what folks were saying, which made it hard to contribute in any substantial way. I finally realized that it was pointless and gave it up. There were plenty of other opportunities for players to snag their favorite GMs for less noisy conversation, so I don’t feel bad about it. Maybe next year we can try two separate rooms – one for DR, and one for GS and everybody else. Or maybe it’s just me, and I’m old. Heh.

I arranged to be at Knitorious at the same time the manager was, and she sold me some roving. That’s two bits of hers on the left – the green and the red/yellow/blue. She also has an etsy shop.

The red sock yarn is Claudia Handpainted. It’s not local, but it’s not something I can get in Charlotte, either. The blue is Dream In Color Yarn. I have no idea where they’re located, but this was just too pretty to pass up. Plus it’s machine washable, so, bonus!

I finally had to make myself stop shopping and go back to the hotel. About an hour later, I checked my e-mail and learned that I had missed a Jayne hat kit client by about five minutes at the yarn store! ARGH! So near and yet so far! I should have kept shopping! Jayne girl was picking up more yellow to make a second hat. Her husband blogged about it – the hats look great! She seemed so nice, I’m sorry we didn’t get a chance to connect.

I’ll have to post about the trip back another time. My daughter’s at camp at the local Nature Museum, and I have to pick her up soon. In the meantime, there’s scads of laundry, etc. to be done. That’s the price you pay for vacationing!

[New AGM] Will the apocalypse happen if I (send in the janitor?)
[Tvini] Only one way to find out.
[Adera] Heather has a sense of adventure at 10:30 in the morning!
[New AGM] You’re right. To death and destruction! Or janitoring.
[Tvini] Hee!

My own mother found a link to Phii’s costume. Way to go, Mom!

Phii’ costume

I ask you, isn’t that amazing? No wonder she took first place.

I’m home again, by the way, after getting through only 32 of the 36 chapters of the Harry Potter audiobook. D’oh! Tonight, I am ready to sleep in my own bed, much smaller than the hotel beds, surrounded by the smell of the litterbox.

What makes it all worthwhile? Here’s my daughter, who joined me at Starbucks tonight as we got a coffee for my wonderful husband, who had a no-caffeine headache after being on Emily duty all weekend. She’s explaining to me how anteaters use their long, sticky tongues to eat elephants. This is freaking hilarious – to both of us.

It’s good to be home.

Simucon Jayne 3
Originally uploaded by emisanboo

It’s not you, they are all listing to the side a little. This happens to many people at Simucon in the evening. This guy wore his hat all night. How he didn’t pass out from the heat, I don’t know. Hey, Jayne hat guy four! Write me – I didn’t catch you on Sunday, I owe you a hat!

Gwennddolynn
Originally uploaded by emisanboo

I know I’m mangling that character name. This is a player standing for judgement in the costume contest. I didn’t get a picture of Phii’s phenomenal costume, but I’m sure it will be plastered all over the internet.

The one pic I can’t believe I overlooked is one of Solomon, aka . Every time I saw him, he was in motion, being sure things ran smoothly. This guy was like a shark. Swim or die! His work paid off, everyone I saw was having a great time. He’s actually in this picture – barely. That’s the back of his head, the guy in the green shirt helping judge the contest.

Platinum chicken
Originally uploaded by emisanboo

That Simucon standby, the Platinum chicken, was another entry in the costume contest. Show off those drumsticks, you saucy pullet! The player in this costume never spoke a word, but was still quite communicative. As we shared an elevator, I commiserated with him, sillently, since he nevers spoke, sharing my tale of how I once had to dress in a giant penguin costume. The old joke punchline, “What, and give up show biz?” springs to mind.

Tyrathia’s laptop
Originally uploaded by emisanboo

This is DR player Tyrathia, whose Gemstone name eludes me. She’s gleefully clutching her new laptop, won in the raffle. The timing on this couldn’t have been better, since Tyrathia happened to have dropped her laptop a couple of hours earlier, taking a big chunk out of it. Tyrathia Need Laptop!

Tyrathia maintains the fabulous DR/GS/AOH/Modus resource site, DRFuturePast.

Spinning demo
Originally uploaded by emisanboo

This is the woman who did my ankle henna tattoo, half of a mother/daughter team working on them. I brought the wheel out a couple of nights, and she decided to take a turn on it. Harder than it looks! But she enjoyed it and kept at it, managing to spin up a couple of yards of yarn. Yay!

Regia bamboo socks WIP
Originally uploaded by emisanboo

I had to have one non-Jayne project to work on while I was on the road, so I cast on for some socks out of Regia bamboo. This is the garter stitch rib from Charlene Schurch. The stitch is mindlessly easy, and the yarn is quite soft.

I think that’s it for Simucon pics. Next time, the trip home!

I would like to update tonight, but Holiday Inn Express’s internet access apparently has decided to continually slam me into another window after a random period of time. Le sigh. I did manage to get new pics onto flickr, but posting them here is iffy tonight.

I’m in Crossville, TN, and had a great day. I’ll post about it another time. Tomorrow, back home – with maybe a stop at the Knoxville Zoo along the way. Whee!

Simucon henna tattoo
Originally uploaded by emisanboo

A Simucon attendee gets ready for a henna tattoo around her navel. Yes, all Dragonrealms players are this hot. I myself got two henna tattoos, one of a triangular design on my ankle and one of a ball of yarn pierced by two needles on my upper arm. Live to knit, knit to live! Woo!

Simucon Jayne 2
Originally uploaded by emisanboo

The second Jayne hat knitted over the weekend. She’s so excited – I seldom to get to see people in person get their hats, and the response has been very gratifying. See above comment, r.e. hotness of Dragonrealms players.

Side note, I stopped by Knitorious today for souvenir fiber, and apparently no sooner had I left than a Jayne hat kit customer came in, getting more yarn for more Jayne hats. The owner told her we’d just missed each other. I believe her e-mail to me was titled “AAAAAAAAARRGGHHH!!!” but with more capital A’s. I can’t believe we missed each other either! I wish we had time to meet. Well, maybe next year.

Settlers Sleeper
Originally uploaded by emisanboo

Settlers of Catan claims another victim in the Simucon game room. After a minute or two, this guy was out like a light. I can’t quite make out his lanyard color from the pic – he’s either a AOH player or possibly a GM. I’m thinking AOH player.

I took this while playing… uh… something. It was a card game involving gangsters. It was fun, but I had to check out in the middle to go do something. I never did get to play Settlers, which was the game of choice at the ‘Con, along with Order of the Stick and Munchkin. Naturally, Simucon fave Curses was played too.

More pics tomorrow!

…wish you were here!
Photos follow!