Not Bad for my First Time.

It's a little crooked, and you mostly see carpet, but I did it! I Kinneared!

Can anyone tell who that is? Of course not, but I'll get to that. Ever since the Yarn Harlot first came up with Kinnearing, I've thought it would be great if I could get close enough to a celebrity to have a shot (no pun intended) at Kinnearing. However, since I rarely go outside a 25 mile radius of my home in the middle of the Back of Beyond, chances are not good. Hey, don't knock the Back of Beyond. I like it in the Back of Beyond, which is why I rarely leave. That, and the fact that there are three residents of BritKnitterville (the capital of B of B) who appreciate frequent potty breaks.

But I digress. My point is that a celebrity would have to practically drop into my lap (so to speak), and I just don't see that happening. Until yesterday. I've known that the Antiques Roadshow would be coming to the museum where I work to tape a segment for their show. I didn't know that the host, Mark Walberg, would be coming along. Yep, that crooked picture at the top of this post is Mark Walberg talking on the telephone. Woo Hoo! I kinneared!

He's a really, really nice guy, too. Not to mention really, truly, incredibly good looking. It turns out that a reporter from a local paper wanted to interview him, so they used the museum's library. Fine, but that's where my desk is, and if you recall, I have six baby chicks at work with me this week. If I had known they were going to use the library, I would have moved the chicks to the workroom or something, but the peep-peep-peeping didn't bother him at all. Way to roll with the punches, right?

Anyway, they were in the museum for quite a while taping a segment on paperweights as a filler for the show, so I had a great thought - why not ask him to pose for a picture with my current sock in progress? How cool would that be? VERY cool, right? But it turns out that I'm a loser and a dork and this is as close as I could get to asking him to pose with the sock.

Yep, that's me holding the sock, and one of those people way off in the next room is Mark Walberg. Great, huh? I just couldn't do it. I felt like a slimy stalker papparazzi type taking that picture, but it's the best I could do.

Anyway, the aforementioned residents of BritKnitterville were due for a potty break, so I had to leave work and run home to let the dogs out. It's probably for the best, because if I attempted to approach him and say "Hey, could you hold my sock while I take your picture?" I'd probably choke on my own spit, my face would turn purple, and then I'd pass out from a coughing fit. So, all's well that ends well, right?

Wrong!

While I was gone, my coworkers told my former boss (the one who abandoned us retired, but comes back to help out with special projects in the absence of a replacement curator) about the whole picture with the sock thing, and look what was on my camera when I got back to work!

Can you believe it? She asked Mark Walberg to pose for pictures with my sock! It almost makes be want to forgive her for abandoning us...almost. (Just kidding!)

And get this...while holding my sock, Mark said "Hey, I know how to knit." Yes, fellow knitters, Mark Walberg is a knitter! Well, later that afternoon when I screwed up the courage to thank him for holding my sock, he told me that he can knit, but he doesn't know how to cast on. Who cares, though? How cool is it that he even knew the term "cast on"? It's his wife that is a knitter, really, but he has apparently looped some yarn around some needles at some point. That's good enough for me!