Knit Addictions: Madness and Mayhem

November 30, 2004

Madness and Mayhem

First off, thank you to all who have emailed/commented about the BAM13 Sweater in the new SnB Nation book! I am sooooooo thrilled and excited and still really cannot believe it is in there. When the first SnB came out it simply never left my side. I read every word of every page and went to every single person's website/blog and checked them out. I never in a million years imagined that I would have a pattern in her sequel. Amazing.

What is even funnier, I remember reading through some of the bios and noticing the pattern was the first pattern for this person. I distinctly recall getting very annoyed with those people. ha!

Well, if it wasn't for Deb's pushing me to get the Bam sweater done, maybe I never would've ventured into this designing arena. It's crazy and I love it. So thank you Deb for the chance and the encouragement! wow!

AND THE WINNER IS....
Well, my niece didn't win Miss Minnesota. She did have a very fun weekend and I think it was good for her. Me personally? I struggled with my feelings of hating the whole thing while I was there and wishing I was doing something else and kept reminding myself that I was there for her. There was a very genuine moment in the midst of it all that brought it home for me...

They read a letter written from a mother to one of the daughters. Explaining how the mom felt like an ordinary woman and wondering why she had survived ovarian cancer and why she was on the planet at all. She went on in her letter to state that seeing her daughter up there made everything worth while and she was proud of her no matter what. No matter if she won or didn't win.

The two women received a standing ovation and there was nary a dry eye in the house. (the daughter didn't win or make the finals but I think she had the biggest prize with her mother's love)

The negatives:

The whole thing was too long.

It puts women on some sort of weird place where we all sit and judge their bodies and smiles. ick. (or is that just me being negative?)

It was tooooooooooo long. Really too long.

the music sucked ass.

It wasn't appropriate (and it was too dark) to knit in public.

The positives:

We got to sit in the front row cuz my niece's best friend's mom was a chaperone for the pageant and they didn't want empty seats at the front.

My niece didn't bawl or sob when she wasn't picked as a finalist.

My niece enjoyed herself and seems really happy that she did it.

It's over.

For any of you keeping score at home, the winner in Miss Minnesota is Carrie Lee. The Miss Teen Minnesota is Lauren Hindi.

Interesting fact: All of the 15 semi-finalists in the Miss pageant were in the pageant at least one time before. Many of them were 'professional' pageant chicks. Weird, eh?

DAD STUFF
Well, I am here in Minnesota again to visit my dad in the home. He can no longer hold his head up. It's so hard to see him like this and I just keep trying to be cheery around him. He loves all the knitting news and just guffaws every time I talk about knitting.

PASSING ON THE TORCH
So last year, I taught the same niece, Kat to knit. This year she taught her best friend, Mara to knit. We were all sitting around after the big pageant event and Mara asks Kat..."Can you show me how to cast off my scarf?"

Kat obliged right away and Mara was so excited. She finished the doubled stranded scarf she'd made. Her very first knit project! After I showed her how to weave the ends, she put on her gorgeous new scarf and announced, "I can't believe I made this! I don't make things!!!!"

That is what knitting is all about.

BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE
It's freezing here and I'm eager to get back home. But it's been a nice visit. I leave on Thursday. I did manage to make my way to Needlework Unlimited today and met the owner, Karen and the webmistress, Julie. The store is ENORMOUS and I could've spent hours in there. If you need yarn in Minneapolis, man oh man, they have it. And buttons. And books. And pretty much anything you can think of. Very nice people. Very nice store.

I did end up getting some Koigu Kersti Merino in a black/gray/brown variegated colorway. (I'm thinkin....fingerless gloves maybe.)

I also had to have some Adrienne Vittadini Nadia yarn in 808 sort of a bluish heather colorway. This one...I'm thinkin......some sort of vesty thingy to go with jeans maybe. I'm not sure. But I had to have it.

you know what I mean.
C'mon.
Fellow addicts......help me out here.

SHAMELESS BAND PROMOTION
We got another gig added for December. A FREE all ages show. (we never get these so we're excited!) For any of you in Hollywood:

Dec 14th at the Key Club on the Sunset Strip. Onstage at 11 pm. FREE*ALL AGES*

Dec 18th at the Scene in Glendale. Onstage at 11:30 pm. ($7)