Flint Knits

yarn? check.
pattern? check.
stitch markers? check.
tape measure? check.
sock tote? check
needles? FUUUUUUCK!!

So I spent the four-hour flight reading trashy magazines and napping. I’d rather have been knitting, of course, but it could have been worse. On my last cross-country flight, for instance, they played Failure to Launch [shudder].

As soon as I got to the building where the conference was being held (Royce Hall at UCLA), I realized that it was the college home of both Buffy Summers AND Sydney Bristow (and also Rory Gilmore, if that’s your thing).

Don’t let my cool casual posture fool you — I am all aflutter. The TV nerd in me (which, if we’re being honest, is almost all of me) was really, really embarassingly excited. I mean, can’t you just picture Sydney sprinting out those doors after ditching her realistically depicted (snort) 19th-century American lit course, because her pager flashed a 911 from Spy Daddy?

I had a few hours on Sunday before my flight, and needed some needles for the trip home. The incredibly kind, funny, fascinating Jillian/Ms. Sknitty was good enough to meet up for some lunch and yarn shopping.

After a huge and tasty lunch at Jerry’s Famous Deli (where we noted that, in a city where no one seems to eat, there are some alarmingly big portions), we went to Compatto, where half the store was on sale and a cuddly chow/lab mixed named Gracie charmed our socks off.

See how Jillian is humoring poor Gracie with a belly rub, even as her eagle eye is on the sale shelf? She walked away with a heap of excellent yarn for an unbelievable price.

Then we headed over to A Mano, which may have been the friendliest, most welcoming big-city yarn shop I’ve ever visited. I bought my sock needles there, and a skein of Malabrigo for some more fingerless mitts (Dashing, perhaps?).

Finally, before I headed to the airport, Jillian took me and a friend to the beach near the Santa Monica Pier, where we saw the most beautiful fucking sunset, like, ever.

As it turns out, that lovely orange glow in the photos, which we initially took for smog, was the beginning of this week’s deadly wildfires. Thanks for a lovely afternoon Jillian — stay safe!

So, BEFORE the drama of the break-in in New York, I had an awesome second date with Minty. We met up near Harold Square, and walked to a great Korean restaurant, where I ate way too much of every little dish, plus a huge bowl of soup. SO good.

We then zipped over to Purl Soho so I could find some yarn to coordinate with my lavender-grey Koigu (didn’t find any, but I did get two other skeins of Koigu).

Then she bought me a lemonade at a street fair in Soho, and we snapped this picture. Minty is, of course, the queen of self portraiture.

Then I went home, and left the next day for a week in Hawai’i. Vacation photos on Flickr if you’re interested.

Hawai’i is, of course, beautiful. It’s also home to some of the most destructive, racist, and all-around fucked-up tourist practices in the world. If you’re interested in such things, you might check out Stephanie Black’s excellent documentary Life and Debt, Jamaica Kincaid’s A Small Place, Michelle Cliff’s The Land of Look Behind, and/or Haunani-Kay Trask’s From a Native Daughter.

Also, one of my favorite knit-bloggers, Desiknitter, has been sharing the most thoughtful and thought-provoking posts about her recent travels in India. Check it out.

Anyway, then we went home, and left the next day on tour. Again. I’m in Madison, Wisconsin right now, after having rocked Peoria and Keokuk. If you’re interested, the remaining tour dates are listed at myspace.com/emptyorchestra.

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So I thought to myself, “self, you’re going to be on the road for weeks at a time this summer, with nothing to do between shows but sit in the tour van and occasionally drive. Think of all the time you’ll have for knitting and blogging!”

Not quite.

I have been knitting a bit, but blogging? Duh. That takes a computer, and an internet connection. At the moment, I have 236 unread emails in my inbox, and 660 unread blog posts in Bloglines.

Damn.

So I’m going to have to beg your patience and forgiveness — there’s just no way I can keep up with all the fabulous developments on Flickr and your blogs. If you create something spectacular, or there are major life changes I should know about, please email me or call! xoxo

Dear Jerkface,

You must have been thrilled to break into our van and find three notebook computers you could walk away with. And such dedication you showed in ransacking the whole place — no simple smash and grab for you, no sir. Only a complete trashing and defiling of our belongings would do.

So, congratulations! You are now the owner of the only two existing copies of my half-finished dissertation, which are on the computer and back-up drive that you stole. If the dissertation bores you, please feel free to instead browse the hundreds of knitting patterns that I have painstakingly collected over the last several years, or the hundreds of priceless family photos I have taken. I’m sure the last surviving images of my dead grandmother will mean just as much to you as they do to me and my family.

My lover hopes you enjoy leafing through the rare primary research materials, clippings, articles, and photographs that you stole along with his computer, and which he has spent several months collecting for his dissertation.

My friend Jeff hopes you like military-themed gay porn — his computer is full of it.

And Ian would like to thank you for deciding that his belongings weren’t worth carrying, and for leaving his clothing, passport, and birth certificate in a trash bin, even though they would certainly fetch more money for you than my crappy old Dell laptop. It appears that you don’t know a good thing when you see it.

I mean, look what else you left behind:

So thanks for not stealing the yarn, or my sockpal’s socks, or Laura’s bottle of whiskey (which we were very happy to have once the police left). I truly hope you get some good money for our stuff, now that you’ve got it.

Take care, jerkface.

Love and kisses, Pam

***Also, a special shout-out to the apathetic asshats who sat up in their gazillion-dollar air-conditioned TriBeCa lofts and watched it happen. Because they are special, special people.

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To my online knitting buddies: I miss you. There are 482 new posts in my Bloglines, and I intend to read skim every single one as soon as I have my new computer up and running. I’ve also lost nearly all of your email addresses — so, if you have a moment, please leave a comment and/or send an email so I can re-add you to my address book.

And please tune in later this week for a wrap-up of some finished projects, and of this week’s lovely knitty bloggy meet-ups. My recent time off from blogging hasn’t been all bitterness and disappointment and grand larceny, after all. Life has been pretty good.

Plus, I’m off to Hawai’i today, and not a moment too soon. I need a fucking vacation.

The unofficial Summer of Rock Shows and Knitblogger Meetups begins tomorrow. The knitblogger part of the tour might be a disaster — mostly because it won’t be until the last minute that I know details like when we’ll be arriving in a city, or leaving it, or whether there will be any time for knitty meetups and fun.

Then again, all that time on the road means lots of knitting (I hope). For updated July and August tour dates, see myspace.com/emptyorchestra. It looks like we might have a free day to spend in the DC area! Woo hoo!

Attn: Philly folks! Our show at The Fire has been rescheduled for Friday, July 20. Also, I have 10 discounted tickets (at $2 each instead of $7) that I can sell to anyone who wants ‘em. If you’d like me to set one aside for you, email me!

Would it be possible to gather together a few of you zillion Philly knitbloggers for dinner on the 20th? If so, (1) who’s in? and (2) got any suggestions for veg-friendly restaurants close to The Fire?

(Sadly, this means that the Bridgewater, NJ show was canceled. But we’ll meet another time, Kristy!!)

Oh, and lest you think it’s been all rock and no yarn, look what I just started for the second time. I’m using fatter yarn and fatter needles, so let’s hope this one fits.

I’m playing at rockstar this summer, and the band might be coming to your town! If we are, let me know — most shows will have guest lists, plus I hope to make time for crafty meet-ups in between all the chaos of touring.

July’s schedule below. We’ll also be out for 3 weeks in August — I’ll post those dates in a few weeks.

Jul 13 2007 Paulies, Bloomington, IL
Jul 14 2007 The Whatever, Kankakee, IL
Jul 16 2007 Dayton, OH?
Jul 18 2007 The Camel, Richmond, VA
Jul 19 2007 Grog and Tankard, Washington DC
Jul 20 2007 The Fire, Philadelphia, PA
Jul 21 2007 The Knitting Factory, New York, NY

Jul 23-30 I’m at a conference in Honolulu