Powells wtih the Yarn Harlot

Will they never learn?

Too many knitters wanted to see Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. She was funny and worth the wait. Other bloggers have reviewed the evening in greater detail than I will attempt. Here is Kathy's entry, and Judy's, and I'm sure I could find others, except my internet connection is being spotty tonight.

(Oh, here's Stephanie's account. I was standing in line behind Jody, who was there on her birthday. She had driven up from Florence and seemed truly horrified when I suggested that we could sing Happy Birthday to her. Horrified. And I could have made it happen. But I refrained.)

I sat near Amanda and got to see her not-enough-superlatives-beautiful three and a half week old son. I find myself little-boy crazy these days.

I sat next to the delightful Christina (whose name I may well have misspelled, please forgive me). She introduced herself as a new knitter. "I only know how to knit and to purl," she says, embarrassed. And she didn't bring any knitting projects.

By this time, I was a little manic, so I was chatting to everyone, and poor Christina just had to withstand it. She was trapped between me and the wall. Christina is a flautist and has recently moved to my beautiful city. She lives with her husband and a black lab, a recent rescue who has devoured at least one set of knitting needles. Dear Christina, she does not know how much she is already one of us. I hope she went home and picked up that blanket project and made knit stitches and purl stitches like mad! I hope I see her around at some of the knit night events. I hope I haven't scared her off forever.

(I do think she was a little impressed by the fact that I can discuss orchestral/classical music, which not everyone can do anymore. I had been thinking about the tonal quality of the flute and whether it was primarily masculine or feminine in nature. When I said that out loud, I think I shocked her. She was also impressed by the fact that we seemed to share a high level of enthusiasm for the upcoming Harry Potter book. And that we're probably both going to read a copy owned by the Multnomah County Library. I must find Christina. We must do lunch.)

After September 2006's event at Powell's Books for Cooks, I thought the Powell's planners would have done better. Well, I suppose they did. They planned for 300 attendees. Well, the room filled up by 6:00 pm for a 7:30 event. So, we all sat there and sweated. Good thing wool is absorbent.

Next time we're going to have to have an auditorium at a local church, university or other meeting venue. Either that, or get a permit for a block party.

....HEY, that might work! Especially if there's beer involved!