Knit. Yarn. Fun.

Yes, I know, it's been a while since I blogged.

Much has happened, too much to go into, but we're finally in our new house. At last!

But, the main reason for this blog entry is that for the past several months, I've been working on getting Stephanie Pearl-McPhee - The Yarn Harlot - into town.

Last night, she spoke at the St Louis County Library in association with the Greater St Louis Knitters' Guild. Not really a book tour, more "Knitting Stand-up"!

Who knew that 183 people would turn up? Certainly not the library staff, who seemed to be wondering quite where to squeeze more people in.
Stephanie was in fine form, keeping us all thoroughly amused, much to the bemusement of the other library patrons, I think.
She was very amusing, but I don't want to spoil it all for those of you who haven't heard her yet, but you can get some flavour of it from her books.
Many people came from many distant parts. Someone from Springfield, MO, came, and Erin and Karson came from Paducah, KY. Erin just started a blog so go check it out! There are many more photos of people holding Stephanie's travelling sock on her St Louis blog entry.
After the signing, and signing and signing (Stephanie wishes she'd never hyphenated her last name, now...), Nancy opened up The Weaving Dept for some of us to enjoy some coffee, blueberry cheesecake, knitting, and more banter.
And of course, it wouldn't be a visit with Stephanie without getting a picture of my current socks-in-progress. The stripey one is a top down one for myself, which I'm doing to remind myself how to knit top down socks for the Knit A-Long at the Guild which I'm helping to teach, and the red one is for the Sockapaloooza, and I will get them completed, I promise.
And of course, the obligatory picture of Stephanie and Me, which came out quite well, given that I'm not entirely sure the gentleman in the hotel whom I accosted to take it was entirely sober. We did eventually point out the right way round the have the camera, and that looking in the viewfinder would make composition of the image much easier... And yes, that is her 16-day olympic sweater she's wearing. She's quite a fast knitter. She does "production" knitting (or, as some call it, "armpit" knitting), and she's quite fascinating to watch. She can do seed stitch much faster than most people can do stockinette.
Oh, and someone who was there dropped this sock, a work in progress, top down, magic loop method. If it's yours, or you know whose it is, leave a comment, and I will get it back to the rightful owner.
And lastly, if you want to know why "Knit. Yarn. Fun." is the title of this post, go read Stephanie's blog!