I am a HUGE dork ... and that is so cool!

My day of "REPRESENTing" was perfect. I woke up in the morning and realized that my "Represent Hat" was still damp. First I ironed it... then I blew the inside with a hair dryer... then I just put it on my head and decided it was dry enough and the dampness would allow for perfect blocking. I have to admit that I was a bit confused by the whole hat thing. For some reason I thought that everyone was suppose to wear a hat to represent knitters who couldn't be there - it really was itching by the end of the day - but I had to keep it on because the hat head was ridiculous!

In the morning I took the train to Strawberry Fields for the "sock photo op." I met another knitter on the train, who told me about this must have t-shirt. At the park, we were interviewed by KAT from the knitting video podcast Let's Knit2gether. I also met Guido (2Skeins) Stein ,the knitting show host of the podcast It's a Purl, Man. He is a really cool guy. I just subscribed to his podcast and I am looking forward to having something new to listen to while knitting.

Here are all of our socks around the "Imagine" mosaic. Mine are the at about 11 o'clock, just outside of the large white "thing". I like to think John is pleased.

Here is Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, aka the Yarn Harlot, signing my copy of Knitting Rules. As she signed the book, I explained that my knitting circle had a contest to knit a name tag, and I won the book she was signing. She looked at me - with the admiration of a mother who just watched their child play a baked potato in the Thanksgiving play - and said, "I love knitters." Now, not to turn this into something that it isn't, but it was really great to have someone who didn't know me at all - see me.

Here's what she wrote.

In case you can't make it out it says, "To Allena - Obsession is normal. Stepanie Pearl-McPhee"

As people started to leave the park I realized that I had a voice message from Anne-Marie, the fearless leader of Sit N' Knit, New York. We had e-mailed earlier about me being the contact person for Sit N' Knit's reserved seats. Anne-Marie couldn't be there because she had just delivered "the future knitter," Anastasia Marie, on the 16th of March. Anne-Marie decided that it would be easiest if I just came by her apartment so she could give the stuff that I would need. It was so great to see AM(Squared). I even got to hold the "future knitter," and she is absolutely beautiful. Anne-Marie looked great, and seems to have adapted to motherhood perfectly.

From Anne-Marie's, I made my way to FIT to see the Yarn Harlot "Represent." It was a little stressful figuring out how Sit N' Knits reserved seats were going to work, but it was all worth it once we were seated in the front row.

Here's a decent picture of the crowd, but we did fill up the place. Special thanks to Wendy, for holding my camera above her head to get the shot. The red bags that you see were on each chair and contained size 8 Boyle needles, a skein of Patons SWS, and patterns to knit a square for Warm Up America! I ended up having to finish my square at home, but I am a big fan of the Patons SWS. It feels really soft, and I love the color repeats. I gave the leftover to Dan, I think doing a square will be a good way for him to recognize the difference the difference between knit and purl stitches.

Here is my failed attempt at one of The Harlot's sock shots. Believe it or not Stephanie is on stage behind that sock, but I realize that I might as well have taken this picture in a dark room. Special thanks to Judes for holding it out for me, unfortunately hers didn't come out any better... but her sock rocks enough for me to show the picture anyway. My picture of Stephanie on stage tuned out horrible, so I won't bore you with it.

To Be Continued.......