Apologies – I thought I posted this earlier, and I apparently never got around to it. Better late than never, though, right?

So, I’m in the middle of doing that thing I promised myself I was never going to do again. No, not that thing – the other thing. (Wait, what were you thinking? No wait, nevermind – I don’t want to know.) No, I’m in the middle of another all-nighter. I suppose it’s not really fair to call it an all-nighter at this point, since it’s 9:02 am, but regardless, I’ve been awake all night. Unlike the days of old when I was in college, this wasn’t an all-nighter spent in the library studying for a final or finishing up a midterm paper. This was a timezone-adjustment all-nighter. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I cannot, for the life of me, manage to fall back into a new sleep cycle. My body will not allow me to go to bed earlier than it thinks I ought to. The only way I can move backward is to leap forward, if that makes any sense. (It’s okay if it doesn’t – everyone else thinks I’m a bit warped, too.)

At any rate, I’ve been up all night. Some of it was spent knitting. I’m working hard on getting this pattern created before the deadline, but I’m not sure I’m 100% happy with what I’ve come up with. The problem is that I won’t really know until I knit a little bit more on it. But I think I need to alter some of it, which will require knitting about another 20 or so rounds, deciding, and then frogging, reworking the pattern, and reknitting. Fun stuff. I wish I had more time, but then again, I’ve always worked best under a deadline.

I’m almost embarassed to admit what I’ve been doing with the rest of my long night. But if you’re going to blog, you might as well blog bout the juicy embarassing stuff, right? I’ve been watching Beverly Hills 90210. Yes, my friends, I’m sunk deep into the shallow recesses of 1990 and spending my nights with Brandon, Brenda, Steve, Dylan, Kelly, and Donna. CBS has apparently put a whole bunch of “classics” online, including Family Ties, Twin Peaks, and our favorite teen soaps from the 90s, 90210 and Melrose Place. And while I’m admitting the embarassing pastime of rewatching 90210, I might as well admit that I’m drawing a scary number of similiarties between this so-called “classic” and the newest teen soap, Gossip Girl (which I will grudgingly admit to watching almost obsessively). And has anyone caught wind of the newest teen soap to join the airwaves, coming this fall – the new 90210, in which we get to follow the lives of a new class from West Beverly High? It’ll be interesting to see. Whereas the original series was proud to show us teenagers sporting such crazy indulgeneces as cellular phones and laptops for high school students (*gasp!*), this new series will have a main character who hosts her own YouTube series. Ah, how the times change.

Ok, enough about embarassing self-indulgences and onto the less-embarassing self-indulgences. You know, like yarn splurges.

So, speaking of 90210, I spent the last week in Orange County. I was there on a business trip, attending another tradeshow. From the time I got there to just about the time I left, I spent nearly morning, noon, and night either in the hotel, the conference center, or within a mile of the two. I had a good time meeting new people from the company and some of our really great customers, but it was all still business. The last day, however, I was given the afternoon off. So instead of lounging by the pool or wandering around Disneyland (which was about a half-mile away from where we were staying), I decided to rent a car and drive around.

With the aid of Google Maps, Ravelry, and my newly-installed GPS on my cell phone, I made my way around Orange County in search of great yarn stores. Geeky, I’ll admit, but I had a great time. Part of it was that it was the first time in a week that I’d had truly to myself. Part of it was that I got to drive again after nearly a week of not driving (and I do so love driving). Part of it was that I got to get out and explore a new place (I found that I really liked driving around Orange County, surprisingly – their roads are really well marked). And part of it was that I got to see some great new yarn stores and meet some great new knitters.

My first stop was in Costa Mesa, at The Sheared Sheep. When I walked in, they kept laughing at me because I had such a huge grin on my face. What can I say? I love good yarn stores. They’re like my home away from home. And this one was beautiful. It had that feel of a posh but comfortable living room, where you would feel right at home sitting and knitting the day away with old friends. And I bought some lovely, lovely stuff there. I know, I know – like I need more yarn. But I couldn’t help myself. At this shop, I bought shawl yarn. Some beautiful blue-grey Misti Alpaca laceweight and some lucious pink-red Malabrigo laceweight.

Misti Alpaca Laceweight

Malabrigo Laceweight – 157 Ambrosa

My second stop was in Long Beach, at the Alamitos Bay Yarn Company, where I drooled over sock yarn. And of course, I bought some. I wasn’t about to spend $60 on a rental car for the day to visit yarn shops and not buy any yarn! So I walked away with some lovely gems:

I also came to the conclusion on that last stop that yarnies are like Freemasons. Ok, so maybe we don’t exactly have a secret handshake, but there’s still a lot of other similarities. We have a secret code – I bet just about any one of you out there would know just what I meant if I wrote this: ||–||–||o|| /| |\ ||o||–||–||

Right? Sure you do. And there’s more: we’re found in every country, every city, every town throughout the world. We know each other instantly, and there’s almost always an instant sense of comrodary once we see one of our own. You’re never truly alone in the world if there’s a fellow yarnie nearby, and you can always count on a fellow yarnie to help you out when you need something in a foreign city. Take, for instance, the lovely owner of the Almitos Bay Yarn Comapny, who offered me suggestions for a great seafood dinner that evening. “I’m happy to see there are so many seafood restaurants around,” I say. “I’m starving for some good fish.” “There are a lot of seafood restaurants around here, it’s true,” she tells me, “but I can tell you which ones are great.” And so I was directed to Walt’s Warf, where I dined on a delectable meal of oysters, swordfish, asparagus, risotto, and a heavenly glass of cabernet. And I’d be willing to bet that any yarnie in any city across the globe would be willing to do the same for their fellow yarnie. I stand by my comparison – being a knitter/crocheter/spinner/weaver/dyer (i.e. “yarnie”) is like being a Freemason in that you have a built-in network of friends no matter where you go.

At any rate… I’m back home now, in the beautiful Carolinas. I miss Orange County in a strange sort of nostalgic way (which is weird, because I was there for just a week and barely saw any of it at all), but I’m glad to be home. Tomorrow begins another week of work, and in a week and a half, I fly off to Columbus, OH to join my mom at TNNA. I’m sure we’ll both have tons more yarn stories to share then, but until then, I’ll be swamped with sock-designing and -knitting, catching up on mundane things like laundry and neglected household chores, and sneaking in the ever-embarassing episode of 90210, which will keep me in Orange County in mind, if not body.

So, til later, happy knitting!