Yarn Harlot Reading/Pub Night

Warning: long, rambling, and very picture-heavy post follows!

Friday night was a blast! It was truly amazing to see just how many knitters could congregate in a single space (in this case, an Indigo bookstore!).

Krista and I met up at my workplace, and wended our way up Younge Street with a brief pause for super at the Green Mango (the one on the East side; amazing, cheap Thai food — highly recommended!). We headed into the Indigo, grabbed some Starbucks iced coffees, and sought out the knitters (not hard: they were the ones sitting and knitting!).

My neuroticism paid off: it was just around 6pm and there was already a line! We weren’t at the very front…

Three lovely knitters*, all PhD students!
ED: Martha and Glenna, the Crazy Knitting Lady, and the third remains a mystery.

…but we weren’t nearly at the back, either!

We even managed to score seats. In hindsight, that was pretty amazing; check out the crowd*!

I’d say here, “At long last the Yarn Harlot herself arrived,” but really, even the waiting was fun, what with many friendly people to meet, WIPs to ogle, and (of course) knitting to pass the time! Still, when Stephanie Pearl-McPhee arrived there was much applause, followed by much laughter. She’s an excellent public speaker: clear and articulate, with a wide range; able to talk as if you were in a conversation with her, topics flowing seamlessly; and humorous all the way through! (I have some thoughts in progress triggered by some of her speech, and may blog those soon, we’ll see.) I’m kicking myself for not getting a good pic. of her petting her “kitten” (lol: you had to be there), but I think she was amused and surprised when someone brought her a bacopa for her “Bacopa Cabana”

There was book signing (and lots of it!). I brought my two (felt vaguely guilty having more than one, and also that I did not buy them new that night), had them signed, and then babbled a bit before getting my photo taken with her, shaking like a leaf and smiling like a madwoman.

She’s holding my sock-from-fluff; I’m holding The Amazing Traveling Sock.

Then we went over to The Spotted Dick, a pub well and truly overrun with knitters.

Krista worked intently on finishing the main portion of her first knitted hat…

Guinness and Strongbow go well with knitters!

… and made me try it on so she could see if it really looked like a hat or not (it does).

After a while (about 1 pint of Strongbow worth, honestly) I met some knitters. I’m so glad I did! There was blogless-but-magazine-published Helen and her adorable knitted mousie…

…Rae (of the Gnome Swap) with her Giant Purple Thing, and Lynn, and blogless-and-cut-from-this-photo-but-local-Torontonian Cathy…

…there was a tablefull of K-W knitters, Meredith and Joy sandwiching blogless she-whose-name-I’ve-forgotten…

…and many many more. Including Stephanie herself, who is very approachable, and whom I certainly did not throw up on despite my idiot comment on her blog, and who encouraged me to go out to the Lettuce Knit knitnight this Wednesday since I can’t possibly be going just to stalk her (that objective being achieved, and also she won’t be there this week). And since I had such a good time, I think I just will.

*If YOU are someone in these photos (especially if you blog), drop me a line!

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