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August 03, 2005

best. night. ever.

well, if it wasn't THE best, it was pretty damn close! last night i went to STASH, on solano avenue in berkeley, and met the YARN HARLOT!!! i don't know if i could even begin to explain how completely glorious this night was....

to begin with, even though i was wearing my brand new fluevog shoes which i think are so mezmerizing and compelling, and which drew many compliments,...

...i was super cranky and threw a major self-pity party all day at work. i found out around noon that the yarn harlot was going to be at this yarn store. i knew she was coming, and i knew the name of the store she was going to be speaking at, only the way i knew it, it was all going down on august 11th. major D'oh! i didn't think i would be able to go b/c i was making up the time i missed on friday, and being able to attend this event meant i would have to leave a little early for my normal ending time. needless to say, this perception added fuel to my mope-fire. a co-worker encouraged me repeatedly to ask to go and that she would drop me off. eventually i did ask, and joy-beyond-joy IT WAS NO PROBLEM!!!! especially because it was a particularly slow day.

fortunately i'd brought the digi with me to work, as well as some knitting, (heather, a few rows of your bag were done at this event!!!!), and was even wearing a major piece of knitting i'd done, so i felt mostly prepared to go to this particular event directly from work. i got dropped off, and there were a ton of people already in the store. it didn't seem to matter, because somehow i got an end seat, and didn't have to pass over people with my giant backpack. stokedness. stephanie came out, and i was instantly happy/excited. apparently she was too, since she took our audience-as-a-group picture. i know she's been posting these on her site, and she told us that she's been using them at home to prove to her family that it's not just a bunch of imaginary friends.






stephanie's speech was incredibly funny. i thought some of it was definately part of what i would call a "stock speach" (the book excerpts she read, with appropriate/funny comments about them), but mainly that stuff was worked in around stuff that had happened to her during the past 2 days. it was a great way to not have to do some stock thing that would get so boring after 3 times that you felt like a friggin robot, and not so stressful as having to come up with major adlib every night which you damn well know would get stale real soon. she did a great job, and it was all how i pictured it in my mind. me knitting a little sumpin'-sumpin' in a sea of knitters....O.K. the store was too small for a sea, it was more like a river of knitters, all laughing as the harlot told her tale. there were question and answers after, and i noticed that rachel from yarn-a-go-go was there too! it was all how i expected, until everyone got up and stood in line to get their bookbookbook signed. (i don't think we need to harp on the fact that i didn't have the copy i'd originally bought and read a while ago, and would have to purchase it again to get the signature of the YARN HARLOT on the inside flap, especially b/c it happens to be in the same entry with the words "my brand new john fluevogs", ESPECIALLY b/c i also bought sock yarn... yeah, no need to harp...moving right along now) while waiting in line i got a chance to talk to the folks standing near me, and it was so rad!!!! we all talked about knitting, yarn, stitch tricks(i found out about the concept of the "life line" in lace knitting!), favorite knitting projects, harry potter, beading stuff, and friggin' LORD OF THE RINGS!!!!! the two women i wound up spending the most time talking to were standing behind me. initially i saw this woman, who turned out to be mary francis, wearing this beautiful necklace, with lots of czech pressed leaves, which i happen to love. considering the crowd we were in, i was fairly certain she had crafted it herself, and i just had to ask her how she'd put it together. then she told me about a few different websites for beading and which was was better for what kind of bead for the price. dude. so totally the kinda information that can take a person like me a WHILE to collect. it was just handed to me while i waited in line with my sock yarn and my bookbookbook. there was a woman who was standing next to mary francis knitting a lace sock. turns out this woman is kylie, and turns out she went to smith college which we all know is in my hometown. there was a lot more talking and then, BAM! i was up on deck with the yarn harlot.

there was an initial misfire with the camera...

and then the "real" pict...

and, just because, the sock yarn...



together mary francis, kylie and myself caught a cab to the downtown berkeley bart, and talked a lot of LOTR along the way, mixed with some discussion about brittish comedies. in fact, i was so taken with our conversation(which also included talking about the yarn harlot and CAL, since both women have had grad school experience there) i never got a picture of them. it was just a fantastic night, and i'm so glad that i got to go! of course, i'm gonna need to go to bed around 8PM tonight, since it took me a while to unwind and fall asleep after all the stimulation...

Posted by Meagen at August 3, 2005 05:17 AM

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Posted by: kat at August 3, 2005 06:01 PM

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