Another Ear Worm

"Ear Worm" is the term for one of those songs you just can't get out of your head.

Cure For Ear Worms Is Worse Than The Disease
Whenever I have a song stuck in my head for two days or more, I do something that almost always works. I start singing Barry Manilow's "Copa Cabana," and the initial ear worm magically disappears. The resulting Manilow ear worm is so repellent, it usually slinks out of my head by itself.

So what am I supposed to do now? I watched the movie Unconditional Love (a wonderful Kathy Bates and Rupert Everett movie) and one of the main songs is the Barry Manilow song, I Can't Smile Without You (I dare you to sing it without getting it stuck yourself).

How can Copa Cabana compete with that?

The James Visit
Both Mary-Helen and Jennifer were exactly right when they said how lovely it is to have James as a guest.



It's not often that folks meet my expectations of them, especially if I've known them from afar for a while before actually meeting them. But James certainly doesn't disappoint. He is truly a delightful guy, and a lot of fun to hang out with, and by far, one of the most low-maintenance guests I've ever hosted.

The photo above is James in front of a tree in Princeton. We had a lovely saunter through the campus after blowing our yarn budgets at Pins and Needles, the yarn store in the town of Princeton.

Here's James arriving on his bus Friday evening.



And here's James with Marilyn and I at the Wooly Lamb in Pennington (a lovely store).



Finally, here's James in front of stacks and stacks and stacks and stacks and stacks (you get the idea) of gorgeous fabrics (Kaffe Fasset fabrics to be specific).



Yes, we got the chance to visit Liza's business(and home) while James was in town. I was in sensory overload running through some of the most gorgeous fabrics I've ever seen. It's quite amazing but Kaffe's fabrics keep getting better and better.

Liza said I was allowed to show some of Kaffe's latest fabrics (that aren't even available for at LEAST another month) after I conducted ample begging. This is a sampling of my favorites.



Liza also insisted that I admit that I even liked the new pastels (despite the fact that my camera doesn't do these fabrics justice, I felt obliged to post the picture).



Just remember...these fabrics aren't even available yet...when they are, they'll be on Liza's web site.

Walking through Liza's inventory of quilting fabric is like trying to see the entire Louvre in one day. My eyes get overwhelmed after about the first hour by all the masterpieces, and then I get visual ADD, where I jump from a partial conversation with Liza's family or her friend Claudia, to a vibrant fabric I catch out of the corner of my eye. I needed a nap after our visit even though she served coffee.

I think Liza ought to have a Willy Wonka-like contest where five winners of golden tickets get to take a personal tour of her warehouse. Veruca Salt would insist that her daddy buy the entire business for her.

Current Knitting
Despite our multi-State yarn crawl on both Saturday and Sunday, I was able to get some knitting done on the Alpaca Herd Jacket.



I've got about 2 more inches to do on the back of the garment before I start to the two front pieces. It's not flashy, but it sure as hell will be soft and warm.