I Didn't Wear a Warning Label...again...

WARNING: Image Heavy Post!

I don't think I needed a warning label on Friday.  I *think* I did okay *grin*.  Of course, any of you out there that witnessed otherwise can correct me if I'm wrong.

Friday night at Indigo Books in Toronto for the Yarn Harlot's book launch for Cast Off was a blast.   Doesn't everyone look so happy?!  Yes, she was fabulous, no they didn't have enough chairs...I will rant about this now and then get on with the happy stuff.  Seriously though, this issue of not enough chairs has got to be going beyond humorous for her.  I mean, how many times does she have to arrange an event only to have the facility decide for her their version of how many people will be showing up.  Stephanie made some fantastic points during her talk, of course mentioning the issue Blue Moon Fiber Arts had a little while ago with their sock club and their bank.  She talked about how CHOKE (which if I remember her definition correctly was Cultural Humiliation of Knitters Everywhere) is directly affecting the knitting industry and those that work hard to bring their services, products and expertise to us knitters...Hey CHOKE dudes!  People are trying to do their jobs here, and your very wrong preconceived notions of us are preventing these businesses from functioning effectively!!  Eesh…perhaps we should all start RSVP’ing to these events directly to the bookstores from now on. *snicker* Maybe they would get it then…If I were Stephanie, I'd be getting right ticked about now, but I digress...I know it’s not just the lack of chairs…it’s what they represent.  The good thing is that there are people like the Yarn Harlot out there who articulately and intelligently present this issue to muggles and non-muggles alike in a graceful and humorous way.  Maybe one day they’ll get it.  As an aside, the manager of Indigo did approach Stephanie to apologize for the lack of chairs. J

Okay, *whew* rant over!  The talk was great and while even though I was in the very full 'standing room only' area I managed to get a good vantage point thanks to my amazing husband.  Yup, Kev takes very good care of me so can we all give him some thunderous applause for a moment please?

After Stephanie started her talk, Kev turns to me and says "Hey, why don't you just enjoy the talk and I'll take some pictures for you?" Um...How could I not say yes!?!?!??  I love this man, he's so good to me.  Then, after he managed to get some neat shots of the crowd knitting and listening and Stephanie talking (and I think he managed to freak out Amy Singer when she noticed him taking her picture in the crowd) he comes back and says "Hey, you can't really see here behind all these people (I really couldn't).  I found you a spot near the front where you can see the stage perfectly!"  So he showed me...and I could...there was even a little shelf right in front of me so I could rest my purse and knitting bag on it while I listened and knitted. The man is pure genius and I love him.  He even made sure to get the sock in the picture of Stephanie and Me even though I forgot to tell him about it.

At any rate, I met some fantastic people while standing in the line up to get the books signed (mission accomplished by the way, for all you contest enthusiasts...the stakes are now higher cause the Yarn Harlot graciously signed the book for the winner of the contest! YAY!  Thank you Stephanie!). I'd like to give a shout out to Jenny (unfortunately blogless), Donna (also blogless but a very cool chick!), and Joy who is not blogless and also a very cool chick!

Considering I showed up with my husband and didn’t know anyone else, I was amazed at meeting so many people so fast.  Everyone was uber friendly and it was great to meet all of you.  I love the knitting community. We're all so damn friendly!  I even ran into some lovely ladies from the KW Knitters Guild at the Spotted Dick Pub during the after party!

I met up with Michelle for the first time as well, although I really regret that I didn't get as much time to chat with you as I wanted to, Michelle.  I hope we can get a another chance to meet up again!  Yet another very cool chiquita.

Finally, I got a chance to show Stephanie  the Snowdrop Shawl that I'm working on right now.  I could go into my usual lament about using such busy colours on this pattern, but for your sanity I will refrain.  She did have nice things to say about it though, and she willingly posed with it while I got my chance to hold "the sock".  I didn't even realize I had done it until the photo was over...yeah, I'm a dork...*snicker*.

All in all a great night.  I wish I could have gone to the Textile Museum earlier that day and the Yarn Crawl on the following day, but I had other things I had already committed to unfortunately.  I'm sure it saved my credit card from certain death.  Ha ha ha!

At any rate, the appointment I had that prevented me from joining the yarn crawl the next day?  Check it out:

NEW HAIR! WOOT!
All good things,
Morrighana

Comments

[Bette]

What a great entry! A real joy to read...and the Snowdrop Shawl looks beautiful!
Greetings from Germany

[Yarn Thing]

Great Photos! I saw her when she came to Colorado and had a blast!!!

I talked about your contest on the podcast...did you get a chance to listen to it? I hope it helps you get some more entries!

Marly
knitthing.blogspot.com
knitthing.mypodcast.com
yarnthing.blogspot.com

[not an artist]

Amazing, amazing photos! Your hubby is definitely a keeper, managing to document the event with such fantastic photos to go with your description.

Next time we really must hang out for more than a few brief moments -- I don't suppose you feel like a trip into Toronto on June 9 to take the TTC with us all? The TTC Knitalong (http://ttcknit.blogspot.com/) is always a blast!

[Deana]

Great Husband there! And one that manages to find Amy Singer? WOW! That is just too cool!

[twig]

Muggles will just never "get it" the first time. Bet for the next time they'll be ready!

[Kate]

Thanks for filling us in on the management's panic. Hilarious!

[Kate]

Totally love the colours the snowdrop is in. Lace doesn't always carry off variegated colour but I think the snowdrop will be a good one for it, though. Thanks for the run-down on the event. Not surprised re the chairs - our s'n'b venue still gets wigged that we have so many people will to turn up and combine alcohol and knitting!

[mary]

Great pics of the Harlot! Even better for me, I read some earlier posts and saw your mention of Madge! She's one of my best knitting buddies. What a great surprise!

[Madge]

*clap, clap, clap* A great big round of applause for Kev. The pics of you are great! And Stephanie's holding your shawl. Most excellent.

Sounds like a wonderful time. I've yet to see Ms. Harlot in person, but I hear that she's coming to LA this fall. Can't wait myself, and in the meantime it's fun to live vicariously through you. :)

[Makaela]

Isn't it cool to hold the sock! I saw her speak in the SF bay area in Septmember and held the sock- When I was done- I called my husband- all I could do was say "I HELD THE SOCK!"
THANK GOD for boys who understand the sock mojo!

[Dawn]

Your husband is certainly a keeper.
Love the hair.

[MonicaPDX]

Stephanie was right - fantastic report, and brilliant paparazzi'ing by hubby. ;) Thanks much!

[Lin]

Well done to Kev for the photos, you got a mention on Stephanies blog for him being the paparazzi! It looked like a fab time, and the new hair is lovely. :)

[Beth]

Great to meet you, too. Hope the stick-shifting is going well! See you at the KW Knitters' Guild in the fall.

Beth (one of the aforementioned KW Guild lovelies [choke!])

[sandi]

great pix. awesome hubby.

[Em]

It was great to meet you! I hope that we'll "get to know" each other better (via blogs, of course!), and look forward to the next big knitterly event! If you're coming back up to Toronto, drop me a line :)

[Joy]

LOVE LOVE LOVE the hair!!! Well worth the time spent away from credit card suicidals. Maybe after I sold my left kidney, we can organize another crawl!