Yesterday evening the Yarn Harlot herself spoke at Yarn Forward in Kanata. Now, I don’t get out to the ‘burbs very often (in the 6 years I’ve lived in Ottawa, this was my first time in Kanata), but she was worth the trip. I headed out after work, spent almost an hour on the bus (within which time I got lots of knitting done – maybe I need to move farther away from the office so I have more knitting-commute time. Hmmm, what does that say about me?) and arrived early enough to get a seat up front.
By 7pm there were knitters everywhere. even on the floor.
All knitting, laughing and having fun. Louise from Yarn Forward was the opening act. She was very excited that Stephanie was coming. We worried that she would stop breathing every time the door opened.
Then she arrived. Wearing the wedding shawl, no less.
I laughed so hard it hurt. I’ve read all of her books, and I always read her blog. But she’s even funnier in person. Her prepared stuff is great – lots of the great stories from her books and blog, but the spontaneous stuff before and after is even funnier.
She shattered my illusion that non-knitters think that knitting is as cool as I do. But I’ll recover.
After her great talk, and a few Q&As, the book-signing portion began.
I got to pose with her and the sock (Sorry for the closed-eye picture of me – this is what I look like when I can’t stop laughing!)
Kit presented Stephanie with a signed copy of her new book
Natalie presented Stephanie with a gift of a magnifying glass and a bottle of conditioner. If you don’t understand what that is so funny, go read the PS at the end of this post.
The magnifying glass even had a light (sorry for the blurry photo, but her expression is just too good to skip).
It was a big hit.
Mairi showed Stephanie her multicoloured braided scarf, upon which she was working each strip at the same time. Stephanie seemed impressed.
J. forgot to bring her copy of the book, so she had Stephanie sign her hand
Louise posed with the picture of her blob and the sock (congrats, Louise!)
While Stephanie was busy signing books and chatting with knitters, a few of us snuck in a fondle of the Wedding Shawl. It is truly exquisite
All in all, it was a fabulous evening. And I got to meet some very nice Ottawa knitters that I didn’t know.
10 Comments
Wow, your post is so much more complete than my post. I’m going to have to link to it!
I hope you do indeed have a chance to come out to knit with us. Welcome to the group!
Hi Leanne – I’m with lissa – great great blog!!! I totally need to get more aggressive with my camera obviously. I have some “blurry from the fourth row” pictures.
Hi Leanne. Yes, last night was great! BTW, I’m the one with the magnifying glass & the sock. You managed to get some great pictures – esp. of the wedding shawl.
Sounds like a great evening … I’m sorry I had to miss it. Wonderful summary, though, and thanks for the links to more Ottawa knitters
I actually have way more pictures than that but I figured I shouldn’t make it look like I was hanging around the table like a total groupie (even though I totally was!)
What a great post Leanne! I haven’t even had the chance to post anything about it yet, I’m such a sad knitblogger! I don’t think I got a chance to meet you there that evening, but I hope to see you at the knitting groups.
Great post! Welcome to the group !
I linked through from the Dulaan Group.
My heart went pitty-pat at the first photo – the one with someone wearing an EZ Surprise Jacket. It’s still my all-time favourite garment to knit.
Judith
Leanne,
Sounds like you had an absolutely wonderful time. And the bonus, meeting more knitters!
Leanne, terrific post – and thanks for the photo of me (I’m turning into such a media junkie, ha ha!) So nice to meet you, hope to see you again at one of the group nights out. I’m bookmarking your blog now…