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I got my little store all set up, checked and rechecked to make sure everything was right. Found a bug in the html code and fixed it, then rechecked it to make sure it was really right. And then I got an email from Karrie suggesting I might want to actually post the prices.

It’s always the immense details I overlook. Whoopsie. So now it’s all updated and working and actually informative. And look, all the cool kids are shopping there!

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The appearance at Graceful Stitches went really well, we ended up raising $500 for breast cancer research! And you have to see what Maryse made. Behold the Pepperoni Tree of Goodness and Peace!

Could Wendy and I be more dazzled? No. And would you believe there’s a whole website dedicated to this ancient art form? Believe. It’s based on the one made by Charles Phoenix, who I now have a huge internet crush on. He performs slideshows using vintage slides and is actually doing a Christmas-themed one in L.A right now. I really wanted to go while I was there for Knitty Gritty, but I just didn’t have time.

Speaking of which, now that Knitty Gritty knitting is over, I’m back on my finishing binge. I need to felt, wash, block, and seam a number of projects which I’ll hopefully getting finished over the next week or so. I really need to get that Olympic Knitting finished, know what I mean? So some actual knitting content is on the way!

Also, check this out! Julie from Subversive Cross Stitch won a holiday ornament contest hosted by those smarty pants at NPR! How cool is that? I love Julie and I’m so glad her brilliance has now been acknowledged by public radio. And if you like her ornament, check out this cross stitch kit she designed. Rock on with your back self, Miss Julie!

In other news, I’m totally sick of mashed potatoes. And yogurt. And soup. And other various and sundry mushy food items. Why, you ask? Welp, I finally went and did a very grown up thing. I made a dentist appointment. But it was no ordinary dentist appointment, oh no. It was with a periodontist and that is never good news. I had to have a gingival graft and it was delightful. If you consider having skin removed from the roof of your mouth and sewn to the gumline along your entire row of bottom teeth to be delightful, that is. I guess it was like a craft project, in a way. A very gory, bloody way.

I’ll give you a moment to shudder.

So now I have two big raw spots on the roof of my mouth and the stitches on my gums are covered in this silly putty sort of stuff, so when I eat something warm, it takes on the delicate flavor of plastic. Yummers. But maybe I’ll lose a few pounds and most likely not every single one of my bottom teeth will fall out now. So that’s good. Needless to say, I have been in need of a good servant to meet my mashed potato needs and Jon has once again come through with flying colors. They were instant, but the water did have to be boiled, the flakes had to be fluffed with a fork, and the plate had to be hand delivered to me in the crater I made in the corner of the sofa.

Take a rest, dear sweet husband, you’ve earned it.

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Check it out! I’ve been whipping up a few little surprises and they’re finally here. Thanks to Hemlock Ink for doing a fantastic job with these. They’re just as cool as I had hoped they’d be.

Click the images to see them larger, the samller ones don’t do them justice. Also, the shirts and bags don’t say “Stitchy McYarnpants” across them, I just did that to keep people from copying them. Please don’t copy them.

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This design was created by Stephen Conti of StepOne Design. He is also one of the geniuses who designed the look of the Museum of Kitschy Stitches book. The illustration is based on these lovely ladies who are featured in the book. I find them quite sassy, m’self.

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And this design was done by Mister Reusch. He is simply amazing. And a sweetheart, to boot. I met him through my best friend from high school, Carrie, who is also known as Miss Firecracker. She and Mark are a power couple, they both share the same sense of the delightfully offbeat and although I don’t see them nearly enough, I think they’re wicked awesome.

Please note the little cat floating in space. Recognize her?

Dot thinks everyone needs a t-shirt with her stunning visage on it. You wouldn’t want to make Dot angry, would you? You wouldn’t like her when she’s angry.

‚ So there are three items available with each design, all made of 100% cotton:

‚ 1. There are girly t-shirts that are very fitted‚  (you can see the size chart here)

2. Standard unisex t-shirts that are larger and not fitted (see size chart here)

3. Canvas book totes (they measure 10.5″W x 14L” x 5″D)

Click here to visit my little shop! I did my best to get a good selection of sizes, although I did have to do a limited run because I didn’t want to end up with a ton left over. I figured my family wouldn’t want to be getting these for every holiday over the next 15 years. But if they do well, I’ll definitely be making more. Also, I’d like to expand on the “Into the Blogosphere” theme, so crocheters, stitchers and assorted crafters, take heart! If these do well, I’ll have something for you, too.
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Just a friendly reminder…*

A KITSCHY EVENING WITH STITCHY MCYARNPANTS

Thursday, December 14th‚  7:30 9:30p.m.

At The Piano Bar at Masters Touch, half a block from Graceful Stitches – Main Street & Janes Ave. Medfield 508-359-5900‚ 

A $20.00 donation at the door gets you a 10% discount on your next purchase at the store, (not valid on sale items), a glass of wine, a little nosh and a whole lot of laughs. All proceeds from the evening will be donated to breast cancer research.

*yes, I copied Maryse’s post. She said it so perfectly, how could I not?

Ok, more of a minor celestial body. Maybe a smallish gas planet.

The Magical Mystery Knitty Gritty Extravaganza is complete, I lived, and roundabout this time next year, we can all see how I did. Yep. It was the holiday episode – the Kitschmas episode, to be exact, so it’ll be on just in time for you to look back on 2007 and wonder where the year went. Duuuuude – did I just blow your mind? No? Oh.

Anyhoo, Marnie was a good camera doobee and she did a really good wrap-up of the time we spent together at the studio. I also got some good shots which I will share with you as they fit into the post.

First, check out my new nails! Marnie and I met at one of the many malls in Burbank. It’s Malltopia over there. And nestled between these Houses of Retail Worship is Burbank High School. I’m pretty sure it was a real high school, although now that I think of it, maybe it’s a new concept store from Abercrombie and Fitch . . .

Thanks to everyone who offered all their advice and help about the whole nail thing. I think I’m going to use this as a starting point to quit biting my nails. I ended up getting acrylic nails with a very neutral polish. I didn’t actually choose acrylic, the ladies in the shop just sort of whisked me off and did them. To be honest, I couldn’t really understand them very well because they had very heavy accents, I believe they were Vietnamese. But no matter, they seemed to know what I needed and I had nails before I knew it. They were a bit long, so I clipped and filed them a bit myself. They’re still a little hard to type with, but I really do like them. They make me feel like a lady, dammit.

Do you want to see what we did for our projects? I think I can show you because you’ll have forgotten them by next year. Does that seem ok? Let’s make a deal, I’ll show you, then you forget I ever showed you. Then in, like, June, you can say “Deb, how come you never showed us what you did for Knitty Gritty next Christmas?€ and I’ll say “I dunno.€ And then you’ll be all surprised when you see it on the tee vee. Cool? OK.

We did sort of an homage to the Granny Square with knitting. Marnie figured out a way to knit an openwork Granny Square. Kellee test-knitted it and made some improvements to the process. It’s still easier to just crochet the damned thing, but it came out pretty cool. Here is the bag Kellee made for me. I loved that I was able to enslave my friends to help with this whole process.

And I came up with a fair isle chart for a granny square (you’ll notice I call it intarsia once on the show because I just kept mixing the two up). I used it on this here turtleneck tissue cozy. Maryse helped me out by fiddling with the decreases and knit an entire cozy for me. I needed to do a bunch of step-outs, so I basically needed to knit three almost complete ones and some others in process. They make the tissues look very handsome. These Puffs Plus are ready to hit the slopes!

And here is Marnie demonstrating its use beautifully.

But do you know what was the hugest hit of everything we brought? Maryse’s Christmas trees.

Everyone was ooh-ing and ah-ing over them for both days that we were there. I think she’s going to write up a pattern, but I’m not sure when. I brought them for decoration, so you’ll see them on the table in front of the Knitsters. The Knitsters (Penni, Nicole, and Teresa) were awesome. They were part of the San Diego Craft Mafia. Check out how cool they are! Can you say Hotsy Totsy? They’re also Knitstering for the Domiknitrix!

I also met some cool knitters just hanging out on the set. Ha, what a crazy sentence! When I first arrived on rehearsal day, Marie was already there doing Knitster duty for Lily Chin. Yes, that Lily Chin. THE Lily Chin. So she was there when I got there. As I approached her to say hi, she jumped up and ran over to me saying she loves the MOKS. Can you stand it? Lily is in da hizzy!! Very cool. Look around, she could be reading right next to you!

There was also Cookie from Knitters Anonymous, who was doing a series of gorgeous socks. I felt a little weird having this goofy tissue cozy thing and there she was with a table full of these intricate socks. I had a small, internal Wayne and Garth moment where I felt I was not worthy, but I overcame it.

There was also a woman named Arbelle, I believe, who had a numerous knitting looms, mostly made of wood. She had this adorable hat with a fair isle pattern on it that she had made using a loom, which I had no idea could be done, but there it was. She was wearing Rhinebeck Bingo sweatshirt, which totally threw me for a loop. It was the last thing I expected to see. She was very sweet and explained how to use the looms, and I forgot to find out if she had a blog. I don’t see her name on the Blogger Bingo list, so if you’re her, let me know.

On Thursday night, Lily asked us to dinner with her and Cookie. I really wanted to go, but we ended up stuck at the studio until the end of the day and then I had to go shopping because the shirts I brought weren’t going to work. Too light. So I totally missed out, I really wish I could have made it. Fortunately for me, I got a second opportunity for an amazing dinner later that night! Turns out that the one and only Annie Modesitt was actually staying in the room directly above me at the Safari Inn in Burbank! The producer of the show (who I will gush about in a minute) told me she was staying there and let Annie know I was there, too. So when I got back from shopping, there was a message from her on my room phone. We met for dinner and had a lovely time. She’s very simply one of those amazing people you like from the second you meet her. She even showed me her database. To me, that is very special. I also got to look through her upcoming book, which I can’t wait to buy. AND, I showed her my trunk show and she showed me hers. Heee! I lurve me some Annie!

As for the show itself, the experience was great. I don’t recall being all that nervous, mostly because I flatly refused to think about it. The producers we worked with were Lorelei and Stefanie and they were so nice and helpful, they really did keep it from being really stressful. Or maybe I was just having an out-of-body issue and didn’t notice that I was a nervous wreck. We didn’t actually spend a whole lot of time rehearsing and shooting, but we did seem to hang out a lot just talking and laughing, which made it really enjoyable. There were snacks and everything, so it was a bit like a knitting party. I had a great time hanging out with the producers and the other guests.

The one thing I totally stressed about, and I’m sure Marnie is still shaking her head in wonderment, was what I was going to wear on the show. I originally brought a vintage-looking sweater in light pink, but it was way too light. I also had a simple long-sleeved t-shirt, but it was too casual, so I went out Thursday night to get something else. I got two great sweaters. But it turns out one would have “buzzed” on camera because of the marled yarn (very cute, though, I’m wearing it right now), and the other was brown. Marnie was already wearing brown (*still shaking fist at Marnie*).

The wardrobe lady said she’d go to Target and I felt bad that she had to do that. Then she came into the dressing room with a shirt she had from another show. Now, I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but it was so not something I’d ever wear in a million years. It was a fitted t-shirt with boob gathering and short puffy sleeves. It also had five or so colorful plastic buttons that were all different – a flower, a sun, a peace sign, a smiley face . . . you get the idea. Now, I’m no fashion maven, but I’m really particular about my clothes. If I don’t like what I’m wearing, it triggers my fight or flight instinct. So I flew. To Target. While we were waiting for our turn to shoot. Yeah. It’s always hit or miss there, and this time was a miss. But I had to have something and quick, so I bought a bunch of stuff that I could return later. I ended up with light blue top that fit pretty well and I didn’t totally hate. Then they steamed it to get the wrinkles out. Then I totally hated it. It stretched out a couple of sizes and didn’t have that nice fitted look it did minutes before and I was suddenly and irreversibly frumpy. In the end, the sound guy who hooked up our mikes and battery packs helped me tape the shirt to my chest and pinned it in the back so it wouldn’t flop open. He was really cool about it and I felt a little better once he had me all trussed up.

We had a make-up lady who did us up, too, which was nice because I have no clue how to apply it myself. She usually takes care of Vickie Howell, but I think she realized I couldn’t possibly go out there as-is. And speaking of Vickie Howell, she was darling. So teeny and cute, killer highlights, and a good sense of humor about shat she’s doing. She definitely doesn’t take herself too seriously and cracked her share of good jokes.

After we filmed, Marie and I had the extreme pleasure of going out with Jen, the Domiknitrix herself. She’s filming on Monday, I believe, and she has got this thing tied up. (wink wink) But seriously, she had all her step outs organized and we heard her rehearsing and it’s as though she’d done it a thousand times. We went for Indian and had yet another great time. Why are knitters just so cool? I don’t know, but I like it.

All in all, it was a positive experience and I would totally do it again. The entire crew was friendly and helpful and genuinely funny, which is a big deal to me. In fact, one of the producers came to my signing at Unwind on Saturday. Not many people came, but it was actually really nice because we all just hung out, looked at old pattern magazines and knit together. There are worse ways to spend an afternoon. One of the women who came has a blog called Fear and Loathing in Los Angeles. Her name is Lyssa, pop by and say hello. You’ll like her. And because I’m a loser, I forgot everyone else’s name. I’m pretty sure the woman in the white shawl was Cheryl, there was another woman who is on the verge of getting a loom, and another with gorgeous tattoos and a foxy friend who has white go-go boots. See? I remember details, but not so much with the names. Hi Ladies! It was a pleasure hanging out with you!

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I have a list of things I wanted to write about, so I’m just going to fire at will.

I need to update some details about my appearance at Graceful Stitches on December 14th. It’s actually going to be at 7:30 and it will be held two blocks from Graceful Stitches at Masters Touch. It’s a home improvement store that has a model kitchen and family room. You know, like a showroom. The owner of the store lets non-profit organizations hold events there. Isn’t that cool? It can’t just be me that wants to hang out in the fake kitchens at stores. Can it? When I was a kid, I loved the model bathrooms at Sears. I distinctly remember patting a shaggy toilet seat cover and some crummy old adult (probably a 17-year-old) made fun of me.

So yeah, that was probably too close a look at my psyche, but anyway, the address is 5 Janes St in Medfield.‚  The building fronts on Rt 109 in Medfield Center and is across the street from Lord’s Department Store. There is plenty of parking on Janes St, behind the building. Donations will be collected at the door and will be given to breast cancer research. I’ll give you more details about that as I know them.

And speaking of charity, ¢â‚¬Ëœtis the season to give til it hurts. Oh, but it hurts so good. What say we Knitters Build a House! Denise is helping to rebuild the home of a family who lost everything to Katrina. It doesn’t get more grass roots than that! Help the Earl family have a Very Merry!

I’m heading off for my Knitty Gritty appearance tomorrow. I haven’t really been thinking about the actual TV part of it, so I’ve been keeping it together pretty well. I found a cute vintage-looking sweater to wear and I’ll either wear it with a skirt or sweater. Marnie and I are actually doing the holiday episode (so I’ve actually been getting the Christmas Spirit this year this will do wonders for the MOKS blog, I assure you)

Now I just have a bajillionty things to do before I leave at 6:30 tomorrow morning. Seriously. You know those step-outs we all secretly enjoyed watching Stephanie curse out? Well, I thought I had mine under control until I got the outline for our show. I realized that I misunderestimated my requirements. Personally, I don’t think I really need to knit and entire object just to show someone how to bind off, so that prolly ain’t gonna happen.

We’re filming on the 8th, I’ll do my best to remember to bring the camera so I can report back what it was like. I’ll be in LA until Sunday, so you probably won’t hear from me until I get back.

Hopefully I’ll be back to a semi-regular schedule once this is over, so maybe I can actually start posting on a semi-regular basis – just like the old days!

Toodles!

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