Last night I finished my second set of socks for 2006 (and the first pair for Knittin’ Mom’s Sock-A-Month 2 knit-along). They were a pair of cotton socks for Rudi, who picked out the yarn and the pattern. I would have picked more exciting colors myself, but I figured he’s entitled to have handmade socks in whatever color he’ll wear. (I may still need to go in and tack down the gusset join, but Rudi wouldn’t put them back on last night so I could see if it was necessary.)

I liked the Cascade Fixation yarn (colorway charcoal), which has a little bit of elastic built into the yarn to give the socks some body and to keep them up over the course of a wearing. It definitely helped with the “ladders” that tend to creep into my double-pointed sock knitting.

(Please pardon the living room mess. I’m on a deadline at work and have been bringing the manuscript home with me. We’re in the process of cleaning up now.)

I think I may have cooled off finally from my trip to New York City. Although each time I leave the cool tunnel of the Burrow, I have flashbacks.

We pulled into Penn Station shortly before 11 and after briefly venturing into the heat, we opted to return to the air conditioning (although not in the stations) of the subway. We surfaced at Grand Central a short time later and walked the couple blocks to Coliseum Books, across from the New York Public Library, where Debbie Stoller was scheduled to speak. After assuring ourselves that there would not be a problem with seating, we backtracked a shopfront to Pret a Manger, a UK-based pre-made sandwich shop we fell in love with on our first trip to London. Why can’t Americans figure out how to make tasty sandwiches ahead of time and not have them taste dry and stale and gross by lunchtime?

Rudi dropped me back at the bookstore and headed off to Virgin. I unpacked my sock and waited to be amused. It didn’t take long. Debbie is as funny as her books and she passed around great samples from her crochet book for us to fondle. (It does, however, make it tough to work on picking up gusset stitches if every 45 seconds you have to put down your knitting to hand the next sample on to your row-mate.)

After the talk ended, Rudi returned and we walked across to sit in the “shade” at Bryant Park so I could try and coordinate meeting up with everyone that evening. The heat made me short-tempered, which didn’t make it easier to work out details. Eventually I resorted to the “call me later when you know what’s going on” method of handling things.

We went into the library, which while it may be the most iconic library in the world, is actually crap. Sure it looks nice. But you can’t actually handle the books. Hell, you can’t even handle the magazines without asking. I want to be able to browse. Clearly it was not designed to encourage a love of literature or literacy.

Shortly, the appeal of vaulted ceilings and marble benches wore off and we were forced to consider other means of entertaining ourselves. We contemplated a museum visit. Erik had suggested a perfectly lovely one that I couldn’t remember where it was and since there were no helpful periodicals lying around to consult… we opted for the more pedestrian but easily accessible option of a movie.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie on the 12th or so floor of a building before, but our theater was located high above Times Square. I don’t think it was merely the altitude nor the air-conditioning that made me enjoy Little Miss Sunshine so much, but it put me into a more positive frame of mind.

We hiked back to Grand Central where we waited in the food emporium for Karen and Michael’s train to arrive and for Eri to slog uptown from work. Then we hustled (at least as much hustling as can be done in 110 degree humidex) up to Radio City to get in line for An Evening with Harry, Carrie, and Garp.

The evening featured some celebrities. Whoopie Goldberg opened the evening, but she was very wooden and seemed like she needed to have brushed up a bit more before going on. Tim Robbins introduced Stephen King. Stanley Tucci introduced John Irving. Kathy Bates introduced J.K. Rowling. Soledad O’Brien orchestrated the Q&A.

Here’s the sad part:

I slept through a good portion of John Irving and Stephen King’s readings. The heat and the lack of sleep just caught up with me. (I do know that King read from a story that inspired(?) Stand by Me and that Irving read from part of A Prayer for Owen Meany.)

Periodically I would awaken briefly, laugh or nod at something they were saying, and then doze right back off. As John Irving left the stage, Erik leaned over and whispered, “Now’s the main act,” hoping, I think, that I would finally rally.

He needn’t have worried. I would have awoken from a dead sleep for the author of the Harry Potter books.

Rowling took the stage to the adoring screams that normally accompany a rock star. She settled into her chair and began reading the Pensieve scene from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince where Harry and Dumbledore witness Dumbledore’s visit to Tom Riddle in the orphanage. She then answered a few questions from pre-selected members of the audience.

One person wanted to know whom (other than Harry) she would bring to life of her characters. Hagrid, she responded, because she thought all of us could use a Hagrid in real life.

Others were angling for insights into the final book of the series. Aunt Petunia has secrets we don’t know about, Rowling admitted. And, to the crushing disappointment of many in the room (sorry, Mum), Dumbledore really is dead. I believe “He won’t be pulling a Gandalf” were her exact words.

The other two authors returned to join Rowling on the stage and they each answered a few more questions, including one to Rowling from Salman Rushdie and his son.

And then it was over. We chatted briefly upstairs as we waited for the crowds below us to dissipate and then descended to the heat and humidity outside. Eri scooted off to catch a train down to her Nan’s in Newark. Rudi returned inside to find his wallet, which had accidentally been left behind. And then the rest of us trekked back towards Grand Central, ate a quick bite, and then put Karen and Michael on their train back to Connecticut.

Erik, Rudi, and I headed toward Brooklyn, where we were greeted by the already cooling house of Erik’s mom, who was kindly letting us stay there in her absence and who had asked a neighbor to come over and turn on the a/c. (Poor Erik was not so lucky, as his a/c was down for the second night in a row and his bedroom thermometer read a balmy 95 degrees. (He packed up his things for the next day and joined us back at his mom’s.)) But Erik did take us down to a pier near his house where you could see the Verrazano Bridge, Manhatten, Staten Island, and the Statue of Liberty through the haze. It was lovely.

The next day we slept in, had lunch with Eri at a sushi place by her office (I had an asparagus roll and a kampyo roll featuring a Japanese vegetable the waitress said was a type of squash), met up with Erik to return the keys at a Starbucks in Midtown, checked with Amtrak’s 1-800 line to learn that our train was late, and then ended up missing our train when it was on time after all. Oops.

Amtrak was lovely and booked us onto a slightly later train and we were home by 10, tired but happy we’d gone north to see our friends and a couple of really cool authors.

Our trip was lovely but exhaustingly hot and I just couldn’t face doing anything more strenuous than eating ice cream and napping on the couch when we got home last night. So Thursday’s regular Three Beautiful Things appear today instead:

1. Eri and the Internet gods made it possible for us to take Amtrak to New York for a very reasonable price. The train takes about the same amount of time as driving (although maybe a little less), but you don’t have to find a parking spot for it. And while it takes more time than flying, it is more spacious, they let you use electronic devices the whole time, and they don’t forbid cell phones (unless you want to avoid them by travelling on the Quiet Car). We experienced a few difficulties with their 1-800 number, but the people at the station were kind and helpful. Overall a very nice experience.

2. We made reservations over the weekend to take a long weekend trip to visit Rudi’s mom in September. She has been cajoling us to visit her for a while, but I think she thought it might be a lost cause as we head into the fall semester. The fact that the Yarn Harlot will be speaking a few blocks from Jenny’s house has nothing (nothing, I say!) to do with the timing of our visit.

3. Karen’s Michael remarked that he thought it unusual that people a decade out of college should still have such close bonds as I do with some of my college friends. It hadn’t occurred to me, but I suppose it’s true. But I have whole handfuls of people from college I am still in touch with (at least around birthdays and Christmas if not more frequently) and who sometimes read the blog (hi!), so I guess I am remarkably lucky. Maybe it helps that most of us were, at one point or another, part of the substance-free crowd in college, so we were a tightly knit bunch of characters to begin with. But there were plenty of other folks who were also part of that community at the same time with whom I never had a bond or with whom I lost touch, so I don’t think that accounts for it wholly. But whatever the reason, enduring friendships are a truly beautiful thing and I am grateful for all of mine.

Rudi and I are heading north on Amtrak in the morning to join friends Karen and Michael, Erica, and Erik (and maybe old college pal Mike) for An Evening with Harry, Carrie, and Garp.

That’s right. By this point tomorrow I will have been in the same room with J.K. Rowling.

Oh yeah, and some guys named John Irving and Stephen King.

I am so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We’re hoping to meet Karen and Michael for lunch at some point tomorrow afternoon. We might go see Debbie Stoller of Stitch and Bitch fame give a talk at lunchtime, depending on when Karen and Michael arrive. Otherwise, we’ll be seeking a museum filled with air conditioning for refuge from the hottest day of the summer.

I probably won’t have internet access tomorrow, so expect a full report on Thursday night after we get off the train.

Three beautiful things from our time on the road last week:

1. I took knitting on vacation with me. (This is not surprising; I take knitting everywhere, almost.) I packed Rudi’s sock, which I didn’t work on much because damp or sweaty hands do not encourage the easy flow of narrow-guage yarn, and I packed some cotton my friend Cynthia had sent me to make dishcloths with. Dasch and Reesie watched me knit for a while, and then Reesie asked if she could try. “Sure,” I said. “You work the yarn and I’ll hold the needles.” And sure enough we knit a whole row together like that. Then Dasch asked if he could try. And he did, but then he got bored and wanted us to switch and for him to work the needles and me to work the yarn. “Okay.” I showed him how and off we went. But then there were marshmallows to roast and s’mores to make and yarn was abandoned for loftier pursuits (by me as well as them). Next year, though, I’m breaking the yarn and needles out early.

2. There is nothing like having little kids sidle up to you and want to sit on your lap or snuggle with you on a blanket. Dasch, Reesie, and their new friend Aveeva all wanted some lap time over the weekend. And a couple of times I ended up on the blanket late at night with a sleepy child dozing off in my lap. There’s no nicer feeling in the whole wide world.

3. We arrived at Turkey Ridge after the folk festival ended to discover two new residents had moved into the family homestead. Callie and Chloe are two pint-sized, nine-week-old fluff balls. They’re a little skittish around people yet, as they’ve only been part of the family for a week. They run and jump and play nonstop until they crawl under something to sleep for 10 hours, causing mild alarm and panic about where they’ve disappeared to. They’re still at that age when their purrers are more developed than their tiny, palm-sized selves and when they consent to sit with you for a few minutes, their motors run full-speed.

Chocolate and knitting, of course!

Sarah organized a party tonight so a bunch of us could get together to knit and eat dessert and see our friend Grace who no longer works with us and who is seven months pregnant.

Sarah made salad and pizza so there was a base layer upon which to lay the dessert. Yum!

Amani made indoor s’mores which involved Golden Grahams, mini marshmallows, and gobs and gobs of chocolate. Suzanne made cakey chocolate cookies. Sarah made peach cobbler and fondue. I made chocolate cream puffs. We were very stuffed.

Suzanne taught Amani how to knit. Suzanne is a patient teacher and Amani is a quick student. Hurray for converting the friends!

Grace is nearly halfway done with a baby blanket that she started less than two weeks ago. Crazy pregnant lady! She also looks adorable and hip with her baby bump.

Sarah has a darling and gigantic apartment in Adams Morgan with a view of the Washington Monument. She has a deck with a breeze. She has a roommate with Fraggle Rock dvds. She rocks — as does he. And maybe we’ll all move into her house the next time she invites us over. They can fit another three people, right?

It really was a great night. One of the best I’ve spent in D.C. in a long time.