Off to See the Harlot

...or should I say the Haaaaarrrrlot, since we went on September 19, which is officially "Talk like a pirate day". (It really is. Look it up.) At any rate, a group of us headed down to Knitch in the Virginia Highlands area of Atlanta to see Stephanie Pearl McPhee, aka The Yarn Harlot, at her only Atlanta appearance. If you're a knitter or stitcher, and you haven't read any of Stephanie's books, you really need to either look 'em up on Amazon or run to the nearest bookstore to get one, because you've missed a treat. Till then, you can be content with reading her blog. I can only hope to be so clever when I grow up. :)

We got down there early expecting a line to get in, and we tailgated with Subway sandwiches out of the back of the Hummer. I didn't get any pictures of that, but fortunately another person in line took a picture of us waiting outside:From left to right, you see some of my bestest buds Linda, Debbie, Cathy, Andy, and Jill. I, of course, am the goofy looking chick with the crew cut trying to be the center of attention as usual.

There were a *lot* of people there. Knitters. All over the place. Most of them brought their pointy sticks and were knitting in line. Then they were knitting inside the theater. I was so impressed with one young girl who was working on a complicated fair isle mitten that she almost had finished. Asked her how long she'd been working on it, to which she replied "A couple of days." !?!!!!??!! Ah to be young and have an uncluttered mind again!

After Stephanie's lecture (or should I say an hour and a half of continuous laughter), she signed books. I was lucky enough to get a photo taken with her that she gave me permission to post on my blog, so I give you me and the Yarn Harlot:I get so tongue tied when meeting famous (or at least famous to me) people that I'm sure I said something absolutely stupid to her, but she was gracious as she signed my book, posed for a picture, and allowed me to hold the traveling sock. And she said she'd seen my blog, so that made me feel all warm and fuzzy all over. :) A very nice memory for this fan.

Almost forgot to mention something very important: I won a prize in the raffle! They were selling raffle tickets to benefit Knitters Without Borders, and I figured I'd make a donation (since the only thing I've really ever won was a blender when I was in the 9th grade -- I'm still using it, by the way). But they called one of my numbers and I won two very purple, very feltable skeins of Cascade 220.Since they were purple I really had to watch 'em around Jill... (just kidding). I sense a new felted purse in the making.

After the lecture and book signing we went over to Knitch, but we didn't get to spend much time because it was so late. I'm hoping to go back there one weekend and nose around and probably get myself into trouble spending money -- it looks quite dangerous. But one of their staff was willing to take this photo of all of us to make another very nice memory:A plus of this pic was that Heather, the brunette to the far right, was able to make it into this shot. She was running late and got to the talk at the very last minute, so she missed the fun (?) of waiting outside.

Yesterday we had a birthday party for Cathy, who is reaching that milestone in her life of turning 60 (no, none of us can believe it either!). While Vicky and I technically hosted it, it became a group effort with all of us who were there pitching in. Richard was able to get a very nice shot of the group of us who were there:From left to right are Vicky, moi, Debbie, birthday girl Cathy, Jill, Andy and Ramona.

Have I said lately how thankful I am everyday to have all these folks, plus all my "far flung" friends like Judy, Joan, Teresa, and Ann in my life? I can't imagine what my journey would have been like without them. :)