Rolling Roadshow

I’m back from the Michael’s events in Dallas (thanks to those of you who came out!)and shooting Knit Bits in L.A. The former went as smoothly as it possibly could cinsidering there was a 4 hour drive (each way) with 2 children involved. Actually, it wasn’t bad at all once, in a moment of frustration & defeat, we pulled the car over at a Best Buy just as we got out of Austin City Limits and bought the little dvd player with the two screens that you can strap on the back of the front seats. The boys were enthralled with super-hero levels of entertainment for the duration of the trip. I bought the player instead of a Blackberry for myself but let me tell you, it was the best $200 I’ve ever spent! Seriously. Quiet children in an enclosed car=sanity. Of course, they were disappointed to hear that roadshow entertainment is not how they’ll be rolling on a daily basis but were nevertheless thankful for the promise that our longer jaunts would from that day forward, be movie-action packed! But I digress.

The Knit Bit shoot was produced and directed by my friend Andrew Wollman from the improv group, Mighty McPilgrim. Although if we had it our way, the bits would be compiled of useful facts conveyed through movie parodies and sarcastic pop-culture references (our Brokeback Mountain suggestion in which I’d plead, “I wish I could knit you!”, was nixed before it even reached the list of possibilities), we still had a ton of fun working together. The last two days of shooting were at the Executive Producer’s house (which is where almost all of the kitchen and living room pieces have taken place over the past several seasons), but we spent the first day in or around Suss Designs in L.A., which is the most beautiful, spacious and inviting knitting store I’ve ever been in.
It’s dangerous for me to spend any time at all in a yarn store, because I seem to be incapable of not buying something. One of the things I purchased from Suss is this quick, super-easy shawl kit. It’s done in garter stitch on size 50 needles so I finished the whole thing except the fringe, on the plane ride home. I’ve already worn it twice and will probably bring it back to Cali with me to wear on Knitty Gritty. Good stuff.

Howz about some pictures? Ok, good.

This is me and producer Steve Bae dressed for a bit where he was supposed to be a private and I, a drill sargeant. The tip has to do with a military surplus bag.

This one is from a “quick draw” tip on using a hand mixer to make an embellishment.

These next two are from a bit that involved me drinking an entire 2 liter bottle of soda in about 1.2 seconds. The first is Dave (the art director who also did the cartoons for Not Another Teen Knitting Book) sitting below me funneling out the soda through a tube that’s inserted through both the table and the bottle. I know, I’m totally ruining the TV “magic” here. 😉 The second is Dave and Andrew recycling the soda for me to re-drink (gross), after the first take went slightly awry.

This last one is Andrew’s hand giving a testimonial for a bit on hand excercises (as taught by my hand). I know, and I apologize. Look though, at the wee yoga mat and weights that Dave made us!