spring break bitches! (la partie deux)
March 14, 2010
warning. if the notion of a knitting celebrity is lost on you, this post might not make a whole lot of sense. just sayin’
i always feel like i need a vacation after my vacations; when i leave my “real” life behind, i invariably try to pack in as many activities as humanly possible leaving me completely drained when i get home.
which isn’t to say that my spring break wasn’t completely worth it.
i’m only saying i am bushed, bitches.
i’ll skip the details of my family fun time. this is supposed to be a blog about knitting right? suffice it to say there were a lot of movies, excessive ingestion, a piercing replacement, and one wicked game of canasta where i, of course, kicked ass.
the subplot of my week was the knitting of my first socks which would then be given to ms. stephanie pearl-mcphee (a.k.a. the yarn harlot). let me tell you, coming off my knitting olympics “win”, choosing to embark on yet another project with a radical deadline only added to my current state of exhaustion. luckily, the knitting olympics taught me the most important lessons of deadline knitting:
one. knit everywhere.
i knit in the car.
i knit in the movies.
i knit over dinner.
i knit in front of the television.
this may seem like an obvious lesson, but how many of you actually practice it? imagine how much we would finish if we knit everything as if we were on deadline!
i do warn you that knitting everywhere, while very productive, can irritate the non-knitters around you. i suffered a frown every now and then when my knitting was deemed de trop.
two. if you finish, it will always be a close call.
for instance:
here’s the (second) sock waiting with me in the friendship auditorium of the detroit public library roughly two hours before the event was scheduled to begin
i definitely wasn’t the only one stitching in the auditorium:
and look! the quasi-mythical spindle spinner:
you don’t often see them outside the yarn store. i was so happy capture an image of one in the wild.
after a couple hours of just sitting there knitting, borrowing strangers’ measuring tapes, and a phone call for a last minute kitchner stitch refresher, i finished my second sock!
two minutes later, out came the yarn harlot!
now, everyone i know who’s met her says how nice and down to earth stephanie is, but that’s not how she came off to me, or at least that isn’t what stood out most.
if someone asked me, i would say the yarn harlot is one sassy bitch!
and i love her even more because of it!
i was enthralled by every syllable of her talk; it was the perfect fusion of comedy and insight couched in personal experience. (i delighted in her anecdote of spilling coffee all the time since i had spilled my mocha a few hours earlier on my knitting olympics sweater)
she read from her forthcoming book (which she had never done before ironically enough) on knitting and self esteem. when she finished, i had a tear in my eye. i was truly moved and i cannot wait to buy it.
(and no it’s not available for pre-order on amazon. believe me i checked)
after the talk, i waited in line to get a book signed, and, most importantly, deliver my socks.
i kept rehearsing what i thought i should say so i would come off as witty and poised, like in this photo:
a photo worthy of the hipster olympics for sure.
when i got to the front of the line, and she KNEW MY NAME, any possibility of coming off as cool went out the window. she graciously accepted my socks, and posed for the obligatory fan photo with me and the socks
(note the stark difference between the “posed hipster olympics face” and the “totally geeked out to meet stephanie pearl-mcphee and she’s holding my socks face”)
the best moment of the day: addressing her assistant she said, “he seems nice.”
*faint*
so that’s my story, bitches.
i don’t know if our paths will cross again, but here’s hoping
Bitches Get Stitches 
March 15, 2010 at 1:58 am
How exciting for you!
But (but!) I can’t believe you were mere miles from me and we didn’t get to hang out. Shame, that.
March 15, 2010 at 2:12 am
i was only feet from you when i was at october moon.
March 15, 2010 at 8:06 am
So very cool! When the blog post from Steph hits the ‘net, you’re going to get a BAZILLION hits here.
March 15, 2010 at 8:36 am
I’m so glad you were able to arrange to see Steph! It was a wonderful day for so many.
I know what you mean about rehearsing your conversation with Steph. That’s so cool that she knew your name! I’m impressed!
By the way, I agree with everything posted. It was a magnificent day (and I was only one person away from you ;-))
March 15, 2010 at 9:29 am
awesome awesome awesome! (now get your ass home. we miss you! 🙂
March 15, 2010 at 10:07 am
Love it. She looks so happy with the socks, too.
March 15, 2010 at 6:21 pm
i just hope they fit! but if not, i know she can make them fit.
March 15, 2010 at 4:40 pm
I’m glad it went so well. FYI-I wouldn’t give your dirty looks if you were knitting at dinner or the movies, but I might make fun of you for it later. Knitting’s big out here. When you come visit, I’ll take you to some yarn stores.
March 15, 2010 at 6:21 pm
oh yes, there will be many trips to the yarn stores when i come.
March 15, 2010 at 4:47 pm
I just love the before-after meeting Stephanie pictures!!
I would love to go somewhere with that many knitters…
March 15, 2010 at 6:21 pm
it was really impressive to see that many people knitting in one place
March 15, 2010 at 7:25 pm
Knitting while driving or when someone else is? When I was making gifts for people for Christmas, I totally took out knitting needles during traffic jams.
March 15, 2010 at 11:38 pm
Glad you had fun. Sorry you were exhausted. And I let you win you know.
March 16, 2010 at 3:43 pm
Love it! I must admit that although I do read you Steven, I saw this first on Stephanie’s blog. I love, love the before and after pictures.
March 16, 2010 at 6:22 pm
no worries. i feel so lucky that she linked to my blog in the first place!
March 16, 2010 at 5:00 pm
I photographed your shirt, you photographed my jacket! It’s red. Second photograph down.
And I enjoyed watching you finish your sock. I made a mental note to buy needles with the curved tip, since it would make weaving in ends that much better. Where did you find them?
March 16, 2010 at 5:35 pm
Such a great account of the day. I threw your link up on my post as well 🙂
March 17, 2010 at 2:37 am
Yup, she is one awesome lady. I met her many years ago, and she was looking for me, after hearing about me on several stops along the tour! Too Funny! I wish she would come back again, but she just flies over, never stopping to say hi again. Still, funny awesome lady.
March 18, 2010 at 10:52 pm
Hey, that’s totally my grey sleeve in your second picture! BTW, I briefly entertained the thought of trying to jump you and steal your awesome camera, but figured that karma would bite me and something horrific would happen, like the later theft of the vehicle my friends and I arrived in. Also, you were carrying pointy sticks. Never a good call to upset someone known to carry sharp objects. Anyway, good to meet you over the internet after nearly meeting you IRL. 😉
(I’m RedRabbit8584 on Ravelry, if you’re interested in seeing the rest of the sweater in question. Y’know, in case there was a question whether there was a front, back, and another sleeve attached to what you can see.)
March 27, 2010 at 7:25 pm
[…] many of you were probably more excited about my harlot encounter, seeing an icon in person is one of those once in a lifetime things. i know i’ll never forget […]