Knitters Are Made Of Awesome

That's me quoting Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, the one and only Yarn Harlot. She said that - or something very close to it - during the question/answer part of the talk she gave in Santa Rosa on Saturday. I liked it so much I felt the need to write it down.

Road Trip!

Early Saturday morning, Gigi (Dahling), Alison and I piled into Jasmin's car (with her too, of course) and headed up north to Santa Rosa to see the Yarn Harlot talk about her new book.* We got there really early, ate lunch and then Alison and I hung out while Jasmin and Gigi (when you combine them they're the Knitmore Girls) donned the podcasting equipment and interviewed everyone standing in line outside.

We got a little goofy while we waited. That's Alison taking a picture of Romi, who is taking a picture of me. I met Romi officially on Saturday but I've been admiring her work for over a year (she has beautiful patterns in Knitty, and she has fabulous other designs in her shop - check them out!).

I also got to see Jenn (above) which was unexpected and a very pleasant surprise for me. We met for the first time at the Maker Faire last spring. Jenn has a knack for adopting the cutest animals ever. If reincarnation exists, I want to come back as one of her dogs. I think they lead a pretty good life. Anyway, we hung out, met new friends, knit (of course) and just enjoyed the day. And finally...Stephanie! (Sorry. She's not blurry in real life.)

If you look at her blog post about it (4th picture down), you can see what fab seats we had. And true to form, she was great. Sometimes hilarious, sometimes touching, and enjoyable throughout. She says she's very nervous about doing this and I believe her, but to me it doesn't show.

One really nice thing about the day was that we weren't in any kind of hurry, so we waited for everyone else to go through the line before we got our books signed and had pictures taken. Another nice thing was that before she started signing for everyone, Stephanie jumped out from behind her table, came over and gave Alison a big hug. It was awesome.


I can't tell you how many takes it took to get a shot of me without my eyes (completely) closed. My right eye is open just a smidge in that one and that's the best I could do. Hypersensitive eyeballs, I guess.

I wanted to give well-deserved props to the bookstore hosting this event, Copperfield's Books in Santa Rosa. We had a few needs that required some special accommodation and they could not have been nicer. They made sure that the experience was really fun instead of exhausting, and stayed pleasant as could be through the entire thing. They know the meaning of good customer service! I doubt anyone from there would be reading this but if they are, thanks guys, you truly made a difference and it meant a lot.

We finally left the shop around 6pm, had a nice dinner at a local brewery/pub, and headed home. It was the best day. Great company and great fun, all at a relaxed pace. Thanks, ladies!

What I Was Doing While I Listened

I'm nearly done with the February Lady Sweater - between the car ride up, the wait and Stephanie's talk I got a ton done on the sleeves. I've got the end of one sleeve to go, then all I have to do is weave in the ends, block it and sew on the buttons!

Progress shot.

The color is off on this one but it shows the pattern definition pretty well.

I picked up the buttons during lunch today at 3 Beads and a Button. Whaddya think? Of course if you hate them it doesn't really matter - it's what I bought and it's all I have. :)

Happy Monday. I hope you had a good weekend. Mine was wonderful.

*I read her new book yesterday - if you like her blog, you should pick up a copy - it's a good one.