Friday night, I was at work a little after 5 when the heavens opened and there was a deluge. As I finished up my meeting around 6, a flash flood warning went out. That lasted until 9:30!

Now, I live quite a ways from work and do not mess around with flash floods, so I got my lunch leftovers out of the fridge as I contemplated what to do for 3 hours. Having completed 5 whole days in a row of being a respectable human after Sydney passed away and arriving at work at 7:30am that morning, I was fried.

I had a thought. You know what I can do with 3 hours? See that movie I had absolutely no interest in seeing in the theater because I didn’t have 3 hours to kill. Evidently, I do. A theater is walking distance from my office so I checked movie times at 6:30pm. There was a 6:30 showing with seats. The 7 and 7:30 were sold out.

All of a sudden (probably 6:31), I couldn’t buy a ticket online. I knew Alamo doesn’t allow late seating and courtesy of The Husband, I also knew that there were a ton of previews before this film, so I grabbed my umbrella and sprint walked through the pouring rain, prepared to beg Alamo to sell me a ticket.

My request, “May I please have a ticket for the 6:30 Endgame showing?” was met with “No, I can’t sell you a ticket for 6:30.” Crestfallen, I asked, “Really? Because I got stuck at work and it’s flash flooding until 9:30 and the next 2 showings are sold out.” I was trying not to whine as she suggested I hang out in the bar. The gentleman over her shoulder interjected, “Yes, you can. Show her the available seats.”

She complied with a graceful, “It’s my third day. I’m still in training.” I thanked them profusely, resisted lunging over the counter to hug the pair of them and practically skipped away with my ticket.

I hit the restroom and happily plopped myself in my seat 30 seconds before “NO TALKING. NO TEXTING. NO LATE SEATING.” blared from the screen. I smiled in triumph and picked up the pen to order my popcorn.

As I settled in, I realized the lower half of my jeans were wet and I was a little chilly. Thankfully, I was wearing wool socks so my feet were warm and I drank hot water with lemon to keep me toasty. I consumed 2 teapots full of hot water.

If you’ve done the math, you realize that 2 teapots of water and a 3 hour film means I’m gonna need to duck out at some point. This is where being a writer came in handy. When Thanos began his Villain’s Speech, I recognized it and ran to the restroom. When I got back, he was still talking. Winning!!!

I cried 4 times during this film. They weren’t all sad tears so that’s not a spoiler. I have to be honest. I think the fertility meds. contributed because I’m not one to cry at Marvel movies, or DC movies for that matter. On the other hand, the All is Lost moment was well done. I think learning to write is changing the way I watch movies forever. At least one of the times I cried was related to Stan Lee and one was related to a quote that triggered a Sydney memory.

Overall, I enjoyed the film and it didn’t feel like it lasted 3 hours and there was a fair bit of knitwear. We’ll get to that in a moment.

I’m finally a Captain America fan. I’ve lost count of how many movies that took. Kudos to the writing team on this one.

~SPOILERS AHEAD~
I found the way they portrayed Thor distracting and could have done without it. My brain kept asking, “is this bad CGI?”. I suppose it’s important to address mental health issues that might occur after half the people on Earth disappear in the last film, but if you’re going to have a character that’s depressed, maybe don’t have his sensitive mom make a crack about him needing to eat a salad?

Apropos of nothing, I was hoping for a Loki resurrection. It was nice to see him for a bit during the time travel.
~END SPOILERS~
The Knitting of Endgame:

Someone’s daughter was wearing an adorable stranded cardigan with swans around the yoke. I can’t tell you whose kid she is because that would be a spoiler. I can tell you the little actress is every bit as charming as her sweater.

Mark Ruffalo is wearing a plain gray shawl collared cardigan in one scene that seems quite cozy. Course it’s not nearly as delicious as the gorgeous navy cabled cardigan Chris Hemsworth is sporting at one point. I know he’s attractive and I wouldn’t kick him out of bed for eating crackers, but I gotta tell you, I’d shove him right out of the way if it meant I could take that sweater home with me.

It has me dreaming of knitting one, but I loathe working with dark yarn.

Note to self: Buy lamp.

*I stayed until they brought the house lights up to get this shot without disturbing others.

Summary: It was glorious!

The Rest of the Story:
Thursday evening, Lisa drove us to Dallas while I knit on my sweater sleeve.
We pulled up to the Irving Convention Center at 8:09pm as I said, “I’m going to try the door.” Thankfully, it was unlocked and I was able to register and pick up our lovely bags so we could avoid the Friday morning line. We checked into the hotel, started knitting our homework and strategized for the Fiber Fest Market.

Friday –
Lisa and I ate a healthy breakfast and hit the market (I’m pointing out the healthy breakfast because I didn’t make a ton of healthy choices over the weekend.). The Must Stash booth was first on our list and we scored some lovely yarn. While in line, we each fell in love with a project bag. I’m usually not big on pink, but the coffees and donuts stole my heart.

We continued through the market until Lisa was distracted by Harry Potter socks in the Brazen Stitchery booth. Some baby blue and gray self striping yarn caught my eye while she was paying. We resisted further temptation until we reached White Birch Fiber Arts. Her self striping yarns displayed on clear jars caught our attention and we each left with Tanya’s Rainbow, among other things. A mug that states, “Winter is Coming, Knit Faster” found its way into my bag and then a hank of dark speckles on jewel tones called my name in the Quixotic Fibers booth. It was variegated and they didn’t have a sample at that time, so I promised to try back later. I’m a little OCD about yarn pooling, and have to give myself at least a chance at sanity.

Lisa and I hopped in the car and headed for Sulphur Springs. After a hot mess on I-30 where we ended up having to pull a u-turn in the middle of the main lanes (directed by police), we were on our way again. We swung into Fuzzy’s Tacos for lunch (YUM!) and then Collins Street Bakery (who KNEW fruit cake could be so good?!?). The down side (if it can be called that) is that eating a sample felt like I was mainlining sugar. I bought a couple of brownies and several cookies including the cherry ones (far far better than expected). We continued onto Sulphur Springs where we used the facilities in the square behind one way glass. If you’ve never tried this, I recommend it. Quite the novel experience. We moved on to admire the courthouse and snap a few (hundred) pictures. We encountered a man exiting the courthouse. He indicated that he used to work there and asked if we were from around there. We said no and Lisa volunteered the name of the East Texas town where she grew up. He crossed himself and offered to pray for her. We laughed and he continued on his way.

There are some cute shops in the area that we’d have enjoyed exploring if we’d had the time. Perhaps we’ll be back. We detoured to The Original Fried Pie shop to purchase several for tasting. I found myself slightly disappointed as I grew up eating Hutch’s fried pies. Research has since indicated that the people at Hutch’s know their business and we added a trip to Hutch’s to our bucket list.

We joined some knitting friends for dinner at Underground Indian Cuisine. I will sum up that experience by saying you do not need to add this establishment to your to-eat list.

Clara Park’s talk was informative. If by informative, you understand me to mean I may be trying The Brown Sheep Company yarn for my next sweater. She’s inspiring as always.

Saturday –
I swung by Quixotic and they said the sample was still out of pocket and I committed to swing back by.


As Lisa and I found our Two-faced Knitting Class, a ravelry friend and I happened upon each other and she generously gifted me some of her gorgeous celtic knot stitch markers. Thank you, Sarah!

After settling into our spots, Lisa and I began 3 hours of concentrated learning with Melissa Leapman. We’ve taken classes from her before, but years have passed and we forgot how she likes to stay on track and push her students. I am a fairly experienced knitter. It’s been a long time since my hands have sweated because I’m doing something uncomfortable. During that portion of the class, Melissa said, “This is not easy knitting.” and I wrote that down. Because I expect as I’m knitting a reversible scarf in the future, I’ll need reminding that someone as talented and skilled as Melissa is willing to admit that this is not easy. In addition to being a skilled knitting instructor, Melissa is really nice and was game for a sock in progress photo. I look forward to my next class with her.

Saturday afternoon, I did some shopping consulting with Tasha while knitting on my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sock (walking and knitting turned out not to be my smartest move, but I have no regrets). I also helped Jeanette find cashmere for her tulip shawl. (I’m calling it her tulip shawl because it’s pink, cream and green.) It’s going to be lovely. I tried out the 2.00mm Signature Needle Arts DPN’s. I liked them. They’re smooth but a little too pricey for me as I usually knit socks on 2.25mm DPN’s ($75 for 4 – this is a limited run, so if you want a set, now is the time).

I glanced into the Quixotic booth and they appeared to be sold out of the siren song yarn so I made peace with the fact that it wasn’t meant to be.

Lisa finished her class and we headed back to the hotel to charge our phones, knit on our pretty green/rainbow socks and relax a little bit before dinner. We met a group of vastly entertaining knitters at The Ranch in Las Calinas and proceeded to eat more than was sane. It was a spectacular evening.

Back at the hotel, while chatting and knitting, I was thrilled to be chilly so I could show off my (unblocked) sweater. We stayed up far too late considering my age (somewhere between 1 and 2am).

Sunday –
After a healthy breakfast, Lisa and I were departing for home. I glanced longingly towards Quixotic one last time and spied the bright speckled yarn!…and they had a sock knit up in similar yarn! The pooling was only bad around the heel, so I pulled out my piggy bank and a hammer to take their last hank home with me. As I chatted with the shopkeepers, it turns out they’d just put the last hank out after saving it for me because I’d visited it so many times. This was terribly sweet of them and I appreciate it GREATLY! So, if you’re near Whitesboro, swing into Quixotic, say hi, and please tell them the crazy girl that visited the Guatemalan yarn 5 times before buying it sent you.

My favorite things:
Must Stash Yarn – Perfect Sock – Eeyore’s Rainbow colorway (the hard part is going to be selecting a contrast heel/toe color! Suggestions welcome.)
Brazen Stitchery – Paparazzi Sock – Cyber Baby colorway
Pawley Studios – Gray “Winter is Coming, knit faster” mug
Diana Couture – Tardis Stitch Hoodie
Suburban Stitcher – coffee and donuts bag
White Birch Fiber Arts – Tanya’s Rainbow colorway
Quixotic Fibers – Yarn Rehab – Rockshelter Sock – Guatemalan colorway

On the way home, we stopped in West to get kolaches for lunch and then Lisa knit on her rainbow sock as I drove us through the wildflowers back to Austin.

Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who made DFW Fiber Fest possible! and Thanks my partner in crime, Lisa, for joining me!

My friend, Bonnie, recommended the Leyburn socks for variegated yarn. She’s knit these twice and been perfectly happy with them. As I’m typing this, I went to look at her projects and have just this minute realized that she knit both pairs top down rather than toe up as the pattern calls for. I bet she even mentioned that to me at some point…

Anywho, I knit a toe up Leyburn and it was gorgeous! but far too tight across the top of my foot. I took a deep breath and ripped out the entire sock. I located the Crystalline pattern which had the added benefit of a nice little cable up each side. and waited a year.

I then knit a Crystalline sock and it too was tight in the same elfing spot. I tossed that aside and started a third sock and made sure the heel flap was going to be tall enough to feel comfortable….by actually reading the pattern which called for a 34 row heel flap instead of the 30 row heel flap I’d done. I knit a 36 row heel flap just for good measure and was pleased with the fit. Back to sock 2. Made that flap 36 rows and finished the pair. All’s well that ends well. Except, the thing about variegated yarn is that it’s variegated. What I ended up with is a sock that I LOVE and her slightly less attractive step sister. Ladies and gentlemen, there is a reason I knit so many semi-solid socks.

Pattern: Crystalline Socks by Cailyn Meyer
Mods: Crossed cables on rows 1 and 5 so I didn’t have to track an 8 row pattern and a 12 row chart.
All left crosses on one sock and all right crosses on the other.
I had 20 sts remaining after the heel turn on both socks, so I did one extra decrease after knitting across the heel the last time.
Toe Decreases: (Repeat round 1 & 2) 6 times and then decrease every row.


Needles: 2.5mm Signature Needle Arts for the Legs
2.25mm Signature Needle Arts for the Heels-Toes

Yarn: MadelineTosh Tosh Sock

Colorway: Spectrum