Inspiration

What fun. I knew I was going to enjoy seeing the Yarn Harlot the moment I found out she was visiting the area. I started knitting (re-started actually) a couple years ago. A knitter I randomly encountered recommended Stephanie's books and blog to me, so I checked them out. I had such a blast, I began looking out for Stephanie's signing events. Thursday's was the first one I was able to attend.

I knew from reading her blog that there would be a good turnout. When I called Border's to find out the details, the fellow who answered the phone was unsure of the date and time. I waited while he verified the information and then I asked him if I needed to reserve a seat or anything. He assured me that it wasn't necessary as they always had plenty of room for these things and there would be an abundance of seating; the line for signing tickets however would begin at 6:30, an hour before she would start speaking. I decided to play it safe and get there no later than 5:00. As it turned out we got there about 4:30. The parking lot was busy, but not jammed and they were preparing the cafe area for us. I turned the corner and found a line of knitters sitting on the floor working on shawls, socks and whatever else they had with them.

As I spoke with folks in line, I discovered that the 6:30 ticket time had been bumped up to 5:30 and as the line grew (I was number 38) they announced they would be opening the table just as soon as they could get some help. All in all they handled the crowd fairly well. I think there may have been some slight lightheadedness and shortness of breath when the crowd really started getting there, but they rounded up some more chairs.

I'm not sure how many hats we collected, but it was fun seeing the different ones as we passed them down the aisles to the hat table. You can't really tell from the pictures, but there were some really cool hats. The lady in the pink sweater was the cross-aisle liason who ferried the hats across to the table.

Soon enough Stephanie showed up and cameras began flashing. In my defense, I am trying to get used to my new camera. At this point I had owned it barely 24 hours. I can usually get along fairly well with technology, but with digital cameras, my learning curve is a bit steeper. I don't know how I did it, but somehow I must have turned off the stabilizer or turned on the digital zoom or angered the tech gods, I don't know, but the one clear shot I had, didn't come out clear at all.

I have never had a camera with double vision before. I'm blaming the yarn fumes. I know they were getting to me and I was actively resisting. There were beautiful hats, delicate shawls and wraps, socks in every color of the rainbow (sometimes all in one sock), and at least one afghan made of leftover sock yarn in all blues and greens (absolutely gorgeous.)

There were people knitting, crocheting, spinning and just talking. The neatest thing was that all though there were groups of people who had travelled together, there were many more who just happened to meet while waiting around. And all of them were absolutely lovely.

There was even one who took this picture of me and the kids while we were sitting in line. My son was so proud of his "knitting ball and very own needles". Perhaps one day he'll create something like this...
She did this entire piece, start to finish in 16 days. You can't really tell from this picture, but take my word for it, there was beautiful cabling and detail all down the front and in the center of the back. Talk about being gobsmacked! There were so many lovely pieces of handiwork there, that I have decided to overcome my fear of large knitted items. I'm going to commit to making a sweater. Thursday night was fun, it was energetic, it was relaxing, it was an inspiration!