A little help from my friends.

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Yesterday, I was a little tiny bit homesick. (Ok. I was really a whole lot homesick but I was trying not to be pathetic on the blog.) I miss Joe and the girls and my own bed and… I miss my yarn and my knitting books. (Have I mentioned that the strangest thing about my new alternate universe is that it only has one book in it?) I miss having my things around me and spending really good intimate time with Mr. Washie, who I am sure is grieving in the basement of my house with a sodden lint filter. My attitude at the beginning of the day was a little bit of a downer. I smiled and drank whacks of coffee and had a really good lunch and then I sat in the hotel room and called Joe, who was not in the studio, and the girls, who were not home. (How dare they go on without me?) Then the sock and I sat on the edge of the bed thinking about home until it was time to go over to The Fiber Art Center. Really, I have to tell you that the pout I had on the bench outside the hotel was practically Shakespearean in it’s lugubrious melancholy. (Being pathetic for decent stretches of time affords one opportunity to think up really descriptive words for this.)

Little did I know, that knitters were going to rise to the occasion again.

Straight off…the Fiber Art Center is seriously cool. There is, right in the lobby, a felted chesterfield couch. It is so completely funky that the minute I saw it I was completely overcome by the realization that I am a Hack. Whatever I may have believed about my ability to make beautiful things was so completely outshone by this thing that one word rang over and over and over in my mind. Hack.

(Note to self. When you see something that cool….take a freaking picture. Hack.)

Then, there were knitters!

Afa

Friendly, lovely, funny knitters. Look closely and you can tell that this whack of knitters was a lot of fun. (Note: The term “whack of knitters” is being used here as an equivalent to “flock of seagulls” or “Knot of toads”. More here, much fun.)

Knitterpated came and brought me a little wee felty Harelot.

Knitterpated

Scroll down on her blog for a better pic of the hysterical bunny. Hysterical.

There was Dharia and Hippygoth, shown here with her book for Geekpixie.

Hippygoth

(You know…it just occurred to me that at least part of the problem with explaining about blog friends might have to do with the names…) I feel that I must tell Amber (Geekpixie) that although we may appear to be laughing and smiling and having a really good time in all of these pictures that without you…it was nothing.

In fact, in this picture

Beerme

Where the afterparty crowd, including Mamacate (who is really as lovely as you would expect…and more) and Adrienne (go congratulate her on finishing her own bookbookbook…even though it’s not about knitting) are all appearing to have fun hoisting a local pint…we are not. We are without Amber, and we are only pretending to have fun, just so the waitress wouldn’t feel bad.

So we’re sitting there, feeling horrible that Amber couldn’t be with us, when suddenly, I hear bells. Jingle bells. Now, I’m the suspicious type and since it’s May, there’s very little chance that Santa Claus is approaching from behind me…so naturally, I figured that I was having a stroke. There were more bells, and then more, and then more…and finally, when the ringing in my ears was deafening and I couldn’t possibly stand the intrigue or the noise….

I asked if anybody else could hear it.

They could (thankfully…since some sort of stroke would really be a bad thing in my life right now.) and it turned out that we (well…the pub) was being beset upon by a largish team of Morris Dancers.

They were delighted to meet the sock.

Morrisdance

Many thanks to Mamacate, who was the bold one who investigated the possibility of the photo above. She wisely asked the accordion player, who surely wields the power.

See you tonight in Acton at Willowbooks (7-9) and tomorrow in Essex Junction in Vermont…where I’ll be hanging with Norma and Cassie at Kaleidoscope yarns from 3-6. Can’t wait.

Finally, please wish Amanda luck. She has a violin solo tomorrow evening. I know not much can make up for me missing it….but maybe your well wishes will take the edge off. Good luck, my little chick.

65 thoughts on “A little help from my friends.”

  1. For Amanda: congratulations and much luck! or as they say in the world of dance, “Merde and stardust!” Mix ’em together and all will be well — better than well. You’ll be fabulous.
    Your mother misses you so much that it is a physical sensation; she can’t draw a complete breath, like she was punched in the gut. But you have collective good wishes coming at you from around North America and beyond…Have a *great* evening!

  2. Best of luck to Amanda! It’s a shame you can’t send the sock home to be there for you. Is this the first or second? If it’s the first, do you have exciting plans for the second so that it’s not jealous? A limo ride and an accordian player and a sheep festival may be hard to top.
    I’m sorry to hear that you are homesick. I’m sure it’s no consolation, but you’re getting to do things that we only dream about…at home.

  3. Good luck Amanda, and know that your mom really really wishes she could be there with you…
    Yanno, Stephanie, I’d be really worried about you if you weren’t somewhat homesick…glad the whack of knitters and the morris dancers helped…
    and I love the Harelot…welcome back to Massachusetts!

  4. Amanda, we all have no doubt that you will seriously rock. In whatever standard classical fashion is required within the context of the piece, of course. Does Joe bring some small recording device so he can bootleg you?

  5. First off, break a leg Amanda! My baby has a recital in just over a week and he’s a bit anxious about it. i won’t read him your blog entry about piano recitals.
    I can relate to your homesickness. As exciting as it is being on the road and meeting new people (especially people who share a common passion), I get horribly homesick. Being away from home loses its luster after a while. Just think how much you’ll appreciate being back there (and how much your family will appreciate having you at home). Thanks for that brilliant link above (to the collective names page). Such fun indeed! Be well. Hope your melancholy abates.

  6. First off, break a leg Amanda! My baby has a recital in just over a week and he’s a bit anxious about it. i won’t read him your blog entry about piano recitals.
    I can relate to your homesickness. As exciting as it is being on the road and meeting new people (especially people who share a common passion), I get horribly homesick. Being away from home loses its luster after a while. Just think how much you’ll appreciate being back there (and how much your family will appreciate having you at home). Thanks for that brilliant link above (to the collective names page). Such fun indeed! Be well. Hope your melancholy abates.

  8. Amanda will be smashing and make you proud. I hope you get a full report on her brilliance right after the performance – that’s what husbands are for, right? Nothing like good friends and a pint to make homesickness receed just a bit. Good luck on the next leg of your journey. That’s one lucky sock – I’m jealous! I found out a few days ago that my super cool secret pal had you sign a book for me. Isn’t she great? Especially since there’s no hope for me actually meeting you 🙁

  9. I just want to say that I love your book. I spent the past few hours sitting on the lawn of my university’s student union building with my knitting in my hands, trying to keep your book open with my feet. It was quite a task since I kept laughing and the book kept closing. I have already shared the book title with a number of my knitting friends!!!

  10. Teu teu teu, Amanda! I’m sure you’ll be brilliant. (No, I don’t know why they spit on people for luck in Germany.) What’re you playing, out of curiosity?
    Stephanie – It’s good to hear the whack of knitters lifted your spirits. Enjoy the rest of your New England tour.

  11. good luck amanda…i am sure you will be wonderful.
    i sure understand homesickness stephanie – i even got homesick in hawaii…i know its silly but i even missed my brother. can’t wait to hear you tonight.
    sharon

  12. Amanda don’ need no steenking luck. Amanda rules. Amanda will have Papa Bach weeping fondly in heaven, thinking maybe she’s one of his own he missed in the crowd. (By the way, you spit on people you love to keep off the Evil Eye. That’s why it’s three times, too — magic. But only Tonia knows how to spell a loving spit –Teu, teu, teu.)
    (Surely you’re not =reading= these comments?)
    Well, of COURSE you’re depressed. Not only are you traveling with one lousy book (and I use the term advisedly,) but That Book. Yeepers. Granted, I am the only person on the North American continent who dislikes it, and granted, that proves beyond all doubt that I am a bad person, but really. You should have asked. Brrrr.
    (The Athena staff is beginning to sit up and take a little nourishment after your Visitation. I can’t imagine you aren’t on life support by now. I hope you napped in your limo but suspect you felt the responsibility to entertain the driver.)
    Must go home and find the Mary Jo Salter poem “The Middle-Aged Morris Dancers”…

  13. Amanda–good luck and knock ’em dead! Your mom is totally with you in spirit. (And she will feel guilty for the rest of her life. Just think of how that could work in your favor.)
    And Steph, it was great fun to meet you. I hope that you felt a little better after the evening out.
    What Stephanie is too modest to mention is that her book is now heading into its fourth printing. According to her editor, that’s 80,000 copies, folks. Congratulations Stephanie!

  15. Good luck to Amanda! And congrats to you Steph for a very successful bookbookbook!
    Hope you have some time to relax. You and Norma should really be giving a lot of greif to Cassie. 😉

  16. Play like your mom can hear you, Amanda. Because she will. Moms can do that.

  17. Amanda, GOOD LUCK! I am sure you will do wonderfully. 🙂 If you have any friends with digital cameras, you know we would love to see you blowing away the crowd with your mad strizzy-violizzy skillz!!
    Steph, don’t have so much fun in VT with Norma and Cassie that you never want to go home… we would miss the tales of Mr. Washie and frantic late night knitfreakouts!

  18. It was great meeting you last night! I’m still chuckling today and recounting bits of your humor to everyone in my office. They don’t understand, but listen patiently to me anyway. I work with nice people.
    Hope you manged to make it to Webs today.

  19. So a book tour is like a new lace project, or any first-time with a new technique thingy. Exciting, thrilling, likely to have some sad pitfalls and froggy bits. Or just take tooooo long at certain points. (I thought my son’s arms might need to be “truncated” while knitting him an aran sweater a while back….).
    Lugubriousness is just how it is sometimes. I’m one of many who thrill to your non-hack ways and means of expression. You are so amazingly candid sounding while mouthing profound truths and wicked funnies. I hope your flight back has a friendlier seat mate, and that there are many more limo rides in your future. (I hope your sock liked Chihuly’s glass works as much as my eyes do.)

  20. I’m looking forward to seeing you tonight at Willowbooks. I can’t talk anyone else I know into coming (they don’t Get Knitting), but I need a break from Town Meeting–which, for those of you who are not from New England, is the way we decide our town budget for the next year. Last night we voted on whether we should extend our library hours to be four and a half days a week or not, and whether we should buy a new ambulance to replace the one we have, which is ten years old. Yes, I said one. This is a small town. Everyone who wants to say something about the issue under advisement can do so, as long as he or she wants, without editing. The only positive thing about Town Meeting is the knitting time–three solid hours on my Braids cardigan sleeve. This is where you are now, YH: a true alternate universe, believe me.
    Liz

  21. Well,I don’t comment often here, but I must put in 2 cents worth. IF…. you had booked a signing in San Francisco (not in Berkeley which is on the saner side of the Bay), you would have been serenaded by Those Damn Accordians, who come crashing into restaurants and play “Lady of Spain” until the SFPD arrive to demand fajitas (it’s a local thing) and evict them. It’s your loss.

  22. hey, i don’t think i know who you are, but we have geekpixie in common, and more than that – my stepfather is one of the morris dancers in that picture. On the left, right in the front.
    it’s a small world.

  23. All the best of luck to Amanda, who will surely shine like the brightest star in the heavens.
    Stephanie, I laughed out loud reading about the Morris dancers and most especially about the accordian player, who surely wields the power. I may never make fun of accordian players again. But probably not.
    I understand your homesickness, too. I get that way just going to work, for crying outside.

  24. And did you see, it can be a knot of frogs? hmmm, frogging, knots. . . . *shudder*

  25. Do you ever get to yell/umm–say with force, “stop screaming and go to your room” 3 times in succession to the same person? Actually I had a t-shirt with collective nouns front and back (different) that I wore to death back in vet school. I miss it.

  26. Good luck Amanda!
    Wow, Morris dancers at the ABC! You had a completely authentic Amherst (say “Am-erst, and drop that “H”) experience. Maybe that’ll make you feel (slightly) less homesick.

  27. I’m still reeling over the above comment about the SFPD demanding fajitas. I work 911 on the wrong side of the bay, apparently.
    Good luck, Amanda!

  28. Good Luck Amanda (my sister’s name!) :o)
    I should have gone. Dangit. Here I am living a little over an hour away and I let my social ‘issues’ get the better of me because I would have had to go on my own. *sigh*
    I am glad you had your spirits lifted, we’re pretty good at shoring up optimism in Massachusetts (HOW many years without a World Series Trophy?).

  30. GO GET ‘EM AMANDA-DO YOUR MUMMY PROUD!!!
    So glad your knitting friends were able to lift your spirits back up. It broke my heart imagining you sitting all alone in your hotel room knitting a sock. And BTW, I think your sock(s) need their own blog. They travel more than most people, including this person right here. I think I’ve really travelled far when I cross the county line.

  31. Big luck on the solo. Thats like a lot of luck only all clumped together.
    I hope you get home to your family soon. I am sure your family, yarn, and Mr. Washie all miss you.
    D

  32. Oh, GOOD LUCK AMANDA!!! You will do awesome!
    (I have played violin since I was 5, so I understand the whole concert ordeal!)
    Oh, I am so sorry you are homesick! You’ll be back soon… at least you have all these knitters to keep you company!
    Is there a specific meeting place you are going to be on Saturday at the Festival in NH?! Just wondering!

  33. Break a leg, Amanda – I’m sure you’re going to be brilliant. Can’t wait to hear about it.

  34. I am still so jealous that Amanda* (not to be confused with Amanda, who will of course be absolutely brilliant on the violin) got to meet you and I didn’t. I have to say though, she is still quite traumatized by the cake-eating dishwasher. Come to Indiana, I’ll bring fiber.

  35. Violin solos! Felted couches! Wabbits! Fun times!
    You’ve got it all, even with the melancholy times!
    xoxo

  36. Hi Stephanie — Thank the goddess knitters are wonderful because the tour seems a bit grueling at this point. Sorry if I sound like a mom, but are you getting enough sleep? That doesn’t make up for the familiar, but maybe helps with the unfamiliar?
    Also, am I to believe it is just you and the sock? No shawl in progress? I’ve heard experts say that many people are calmed when the nerves in the fingertips are gently stimulated. Maybe your fingers need a new project? :-}
    Amanda – Since you are your mother’s daughter, and brilliant in your own right, I’m sure you will rock! Good luck!!!!!!!!!

  37. Amanda, thank you for lending your mommy to those of us in Massachusetts, and good luck with your concert!!!! We think your mom is fabulous and very amusing (although, we probably find her much more amusing than you do…).

  38. Stephanie –
    I had a great time tonight, both at the signing and the post-signing whack-of-knitters-out-for-drinks… even if last call arrived a bit early.
    Thank you for visiting our part of the world, and I look forward to reading the book tomorrow in brief breaks at work when the kids are quiet enough for me to sneak in a page or two!
    I can’t wait to see the pictures… once you’re settled in and blogging again. 🙂
    Until the next post,
    Jena, the yarn harpy

  39. amanda, child of the yarn harlot – play on, and be excellent. (that’s a little bill and ted’s excellent adventure, if you didn’t get it)
    and beth in indiana, mother of the other amanda…i met your daughter last night, and had a great time! she’s a lot of fun.
    and stephanie, how great to meet you “live”! i’m sorry you were homesick, but i hope our sarcasm made you feel at least a little bit at home.

  40. What a great night–thanks, it was a blast to meet and talk and eat and drink and show the sock a truly Amherstian (Colleen and I must talk!) good time. I’m sorry that homesickness is setting in–I don’t blame you a bit and missing a recital, though you know she’ll be brilliant either way–can’t be easy. Sending hugs. And good wishes to Amanda!

  41. Ahem… the yarn harelot… …seems to come with her own bottle of Screech.
    I totally hear you about the homesickness, though. ::comforting hugz:: Yarn harloting is brave work, gf!

  42. Good luck to Amanda!
    I absolutely love your writing! Can’t wait to order your bookbookbook at the start of the next billing period (oops!). Any chance you can make it to Netanya, Israel for a signing? Sigh… I thought not.
    Best of luck on the rest of the tour.

  43. Go Amanda! While the mama is away the girls must playplayplay – and go to their concerts, too!!!

  45. It was such a pleasure to meet you last night at Willow Books and to be in the company of so many kindred spirits. You are even more hilarious in person. I’m not sure if I relate more to the knitting or the parenting stories both really hit home. Thanks for making us laugh through it all.

  46. Harlot, how far you have come since the signing of the second copy of bookbookbook at your first tour stop in Ottawa. That copy would be mineminemine!
    Have to tell you to enjoy yourself where ever you are for the cold weather has returned to Ontario. Minus 1 C this morning so I hope you are knitting something warm to wear on the way back. Maybe Joe and the girls didn’t answer the phone because they were out in the backyard building a new snowman! Happy wandering, Grace
    Go Amanda!

  47. Amanda, here is some advice: visualize yourself getting up there, taking a deep breath and just playing. You have practiced and you are ready. Visualize yourself controlling your adrenaline. The nervous adrenaline rush doesn’t last the whole performance through, so you just need to concentrate on controlling your performance when you feel the that rush. Visualize yourself moving past, overcoming and forgetting a mistake. When a figure skater misses the triple axel they must forget it and look forward to a successful triple flip. It helps if you give it some thought before it happens (this, of course will not happen to you, you will make no mistakes. Trust me on this). Last, make sure to control your focus until you have played that very last note. I and others I have seen perform can get to the last section of their piece, realize, “hey, I’m almost done! I did pretty well, it’s going very well!” then lose their concentration and WHAM! I always advise my girls to be sure to hold on to their focus until the thunderous applause begins. I so wish I could be there, even though I don’t know you. Last, and this is most important: have fun. This is fun, and becomes more and more fun as you do it. My daughter had a huge performance on Sunday, was quite successful, but the best part was at the end she said, “that was so much fun!” Have a great time and a great performance. You are prepared and ready. I can’t wait to find out how you did!

  48. AMANDA: Kick A$$ and take some names. 🙂
    Harlot: Use those big words girl! And I just have to tell you that I have finished my first ever sock and I am considering taking it around with me for many photo ops in public places. Although you have hit the jackpot with sock wielding Morris dancers.

  49. Hey, Harlot, Maria von Trapp knew a lady who carried her big four-poster bed with her when she travelled. She had numerous wagons and carriages and servants and probably a chuck-wagon, too.

  50. Okay, I have to say it. You are so remarkably brave. I don’t think I could what you are doing…EVER. People freaking terrify me. It’s true, they do. You know what scares me more than people though? Strangers. And ever scarier than that? speaking in front of them!
    I bow down before you oh great Harlot of Yarn. You are very smurfy indeed.

  51. I heard that you were in my little city of Saratoga! I am very sad I had to miss you talk and booksigning! Backtrouble so I had a doctor’s appointment. Hopefully you had a good time in our cute little city!

  53. Amanda: Good luck, you can do it!
    Yarnharlot: If you want to relive the couch Knitterpated has a pic on her blog.
    http://knitterpated.blogspot.com/(just in case you didnt’ know it.) Also, I just ordered your book! I can’t wait to get it. For those of us who will probably never be able to see you in person, it will ease the pain!
    🙂

  54. That was really too sweet. I was there in spirit with you all, and I’m so glad you had a lovely time.
    I’ll just have to see you when you go on the tour for the second book 😉

  56. A felted couch. Wow now that’s dedication.
    Someone needs to subscribe to your blog though bloglines. Right now you have 666 subscribers. It’s making this “Once upon a Catholic” a little nervous.
    Nothing sucks like homesickness. You’ll be threr soon, in the mean time have fun with Norma, Cassie, and the rest. I hope you know someone trustworthy who’s holding the bail money.

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