YH at HCW in TX
I travelled to Austin this weekend to see a woman named the Yarn Harlot (aka Stephanie Pearl-McFee) talk and sign books. For those that aren’t hip to the knitting scene, this may sound odd. Trust me, it’s not. So, I hopped in a car with four others from the Houston S+B (Susan drove, go Susan!) and headed off to the wild west for some hot knitting action.
The event was sponsored by Hill Country Weavers, which is a really great shop. However, there were many people (ok, women) in attendance, so the talk was actually held in a Baptist church next door. Jet feared that she would burst into flames. There were no flames. Stephanie had great stage presence, was well spoken, and was very entertaining.
Afterwards there was a big book signing. This included The Presentation of Gifts. I have never seen anyone get so many gifts from strangers. Susan brought beer (St. Arnold’s, yum) and a Texas washcloth to Stephanie. I doubted the washcloth, but in the end it was pretty cool looking (and actually looked like Texas). Others brought yarn and more beer. Stephanie was likely tanked before her next flight.
After the signing and purchasing was a TX knitblogger luncheon organized by Christine. I met a few Austin area bloggers, including Sarah, Alicia, Jodi, and Caro (who I recognized from her black orangina on flickr). Christine was a super-trooper after the meal, she took the gigantic check ($400+) and Made It Work. She also has the blow-by-blow of everyone that was there, so check it out.
Naturally, I bought some yarn. The stuff on the left is some Claudia Handpaints sock yarn (in the Oops colorway!). When I saw it at the shop, some random person mentioned using it for the Chevron Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, which sounds like a fab idea. The cone is Habu Tsmungi silk, which will become a Trellis Scarf, possibly for Rob’s mother. The book is an awesome Japanese sewing/amaguri book - loads of cuteness!
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Glad you guys had fun–wish I could have been there!
Cute book! Do let us know how Habu Tsmungi silk knits up. I’ve been eyeing on this yarn for awhile. That’s a lovely color you got there.
I’m so jealous of all who get to meet the Harlot!
But, the real reason I’m here is to check out your Orangina. It’s FREAKING GORGEOUS!!! It fits you SO well, and I am SO impressed with you doing the side shaping and all with the lace. I’m a curvy girl, too, and chickened out. I’m just doing less lace, more ribbing.
What a goregous top to wear and tell people you made when you get millions of compliments!
Hey! I broke down and got Knitting Nature! I love the book! Now I wish I had picked up the amiguri book too! I had a great time and it was so nice to meet you!
Hi Kelp-girrrl,
I really enjoyed meeting and chatting with you on Saturday. So far all I know about my trip to Houston is that we will drive down early Friday morning to go first to IKEA and maybe Yarntopia, then hit at least one museum after lunch. We are definitely going to see the surrealist exhibit. I’ll try to let you know which day/time we’re going to the Gee’s Bend exhibit in case you want to meet up. Is Sat. better for you?
Tschuss!
What a fun trip! I love the picture of Stephanie on the church stage - that is so funny! :)
Great Japanese mags too!
Alicia - Thanks so much!
Lolly - she was surrounded by cardboard ice cubes. Perhaps that prevented Jet from bursting into flames?
Vanessa - will do on the silk. If you’re ever in NYC, I highly recommend stopping by Habu - lots of good stuff there!
What, you didn’t see the vapor trail of smoke as I left the church? :)
[…] We’ve been in Houston a year now (!), but never really visited Austin. The YH thing doesn’t really count, since I saw no more than a yarn store, a baptist church, and a restaraunt. Last weekend a friend of ours was driving through Austin (and we have a couple of other friends living there), so we finally made the trip. […]
[…] The next day I got my Knitpicks order in the mail. Crap, I had forgotten about that. It was a cheap order though, right over the $40-for-free-shipping line. Pictured is some Wool of the Andes, I have two balls of each of those colors. I’m planning on making a felted cat bed - I’ve been wanting to teach myself Continental knitting on something where I don’t have to worry about how uneven the stitches look. I also purchased a size 5 Options needle (the Trellis Scarf? Impossible to do a k7tog in the Habu silk with a blunt Addi. Truly impossible.), some dyeable yarn, and the Hanging Garden Lace Stole pattern. […]