Tuesday, October 07, 2008

A Wench meets a Harlot

I was pleased and surprised to find out that Stephanie Pearl-McPhee was going to be withing driving range. She was doing a book signing at Copperfield Books in Santa Rosa. She is promoting her new book Free Range Knitter. Janet and Barbara, two of my knitting friends from my Wednesday night SNB were going, and I was able to tag along. We also had another knitter from Porterville join us, Jasmine. Janet offered to drive and we had a wonderful day.

Waiting for the Yarn Harlot

This was the line outside the store waiting to get seated. I had not pre-purchased my book, so I didn't have a reserved seat, but Jasmin and Gigi from the Knitmore Girls Podcast were there, and we had attended the Cat Bordhi class together. They had an extra ticket and they gave it to me! Score! Awesome! They were recording some comments for their podcast, so I may hear myself in the podosphere.

Waiting for the Yarn Harlot

Here is a shot of the crowd. It is hard to tell that there were close to 200 people there that day.

The Yarn Harlot

And here she is - the Yarn Harlot - actually reading from her book, which she says is something she hasn't done before.

She was funny and amazing and completely worth the trip to see her. She had a lot of great things to say, and many things to think about, especially how knitting is perceived in the bigger world. For all the work that we do, and the level of expertise we achieve, it's still viewed as a hobby and not an art form. One of the many reasons that knitting, and it my mind most of the other hand crafts, is not taken seriously.

She also said that the knitters she meets are some of the most amazing, smart and creative women that she has known. I would have to agree.

After waiting in line for what seemed forever to get my book signed, I also got this picture, thanks to Barbara:

The Yarn Harlot and I

Proof I met the Harlot. Her t-shirt says "I'm kind of a knitting Superhero. I want to be her when I grow up.

I can also be seen in a picture she took at Copperfield and it's on her blog for October 6th. Imagine, I'm on the Yarn Harlot's blog, along with several hundred others!

I hope I can see her again someday. If you have the chance to meet her - do it!

1 comment:

bfdavi said...

Now I wish I had attended.