Saturday, September 22, 2007

I partied like a....Harlot!

Thursday night... Borders at Bailey's Crossroad's ... 3:00pm ... Coleen, Erin and I arrive on the scene...

We find the end of the line and join the others for some knitting and talking while we wait for our ticket...

Waiting for a ticket

Ticket for what? To see the Stephanie Pearl McPhee ... aka the Yarn Harlot... of course! We knew we'd have to get there early to get good seats - so we arrived about oh.... 4 hours early! The time sped by though as we sat, knit, talked and met new friends.

Here are my girls Coleen and Erin.


The lovers knit

Rosana - came to hang out too. She is so sweet and doesn't she have the greatest smile ever!

Sept 012

I was very impressed with how Borders handled everything. Around 5:30 they handed out tickets for the book signing. I got number 19. We were then able to go and get seats for the talk.

We arrived in time to get the second row - right behind Amber!
Amber was there with her mom - aren't they just the cutest?

Amber and her mom

She was also there with her friend Judy.

Sept 015

Soon - the cafe was filled with knitters - all knitting, drop spindling and even crocheting while they waited.

Crowd waiting for the yarn harlot

Crowd waiting for the Yarn Harlot

Soon - the crowd grew quiet and we knew it was time. The regional manager came up to introduce Stephanie and had with him a knit hat. He told a sweet story about how he's had that hat for years. A friend had knit him the hat when he was in high school and he still kept it after all this time. I think he was rather overwhelmed by the sheer number of knitters in the audience!


Borders manager in his knit hat

Finally - he introduced Stephanie and the crowd went wild. Here she is peeking around the corner about to go on stage.

Crowd waiting for the Yarn Harlot

When she got up to speak - the microphone was WAY too tall.

Yarn Harlot

The manager was trying to adjust it for her without much luck.... but leave it to Stephanie - she finally fixed it herself!

Yarn Harlot

After some general housekeeping (the requisite sock photo)...

Yarn Harlot

She spoke about everything knitting and it was just hilarious!

Yarn Harlot

It was a perfect night. She took questions afterwards and one woman asked about Irish cottage knitting. It's basically a variation of the production knitting that was going on in Scotland and Ireland when woolen goods were being knit as quickly as possible by the locals to try to make a living. It turns out this is the way Stephanie herself knits. She gave us a quick example...

Yarn Harlot

It's so cool - knitting and purling look almost identical. It's so quick - you can't believe it. I actually found a video showing how it's done.


After her talk - we headed up to get our books signed. Then we waited and waited and waited until about midnight when the last book was finally signed. Then Erin, Coleen, Rosana, Eunny and I took Stephanie out for a drink. She was so much fun to hang out with. We talked about everything from knitting to politics. It was a great night!

Thanks for an awesome night ladies!

17 comments:

chacha / Jen said...

So bummed I couldn't go... looks like you gals had a great time!

lv2knit said...

I see sister Sally in one of your photos!

Anonymous said...

I found you on the harlot's newest post (it helped reading yours first)!

Lolly said...

What fun! I heard you all had a late night :)

Great photos!

turtlegirl76 said...

That's just so cool that you got to hang with the harlot. You're a rockstar now.

bySarah said...

Sounds like SO MUCH fun!! I love the pic you have of Coleen and E! It is so classic.

Heidi said...

Wow, look at you. Drinking with the celebs. I am so glad you had a good time.

Now off to find you on the Harlot's blog....

Love to Harley

Coleen said...

Great write up and pictures! I had such a great time with you all!

Jinann said...

What a blast you had! I thought about going, but I wouldn't be able to get off early enough to head over there. How do you know Amber? I know her from the yarn shop where I used to work - she's very sweet! Great pics of her and her mom!

Stacey said...

What a great time! Isn't she hilarious in person!!!

Pheelya said...

Sounds like you guys had a blast! Sorry I couldn't make it!

Theresa said...

How fun! I am so sorry I couldn't make it. Stupid work. I want to hear about Barry Gibb!

paula said...

haha.. what a crazy night! She is a riot! we were delirious with hunger by the time we left! But so fun!!

Shelby said...

Looks like you had a blast!! I'm still bummed I had to miss it.

CiCi and CAJtalk said...

You really got some great pictures. We had a blast. Glad I was a part of the party.

Anonymous said...

I love jo-jody.. the jodster... the harlotta alotta photogga!!!

Anonymous said...

I am so jealous you got to actually spend time with her. I bet she's so cool. I love reading her stuff. She's so honest. I love that.

Nice pictures!