Me, The Yarn Harlot, The Sock, and The Knitting Gnome

I am blah, blah, blahgging at 6 am. Why? Well, when we tried to drive to the train station this morning, putting the car in reverse, as one does to back out of the driveway, was not having its usual effect of, you know, making the car go in reverse. Nor did the car wish to be moved in a forward direction. The transmission, I believe, has crapped out. It’s under warranty, so theoretically, it shouldn’t cost much (or anything) to fix. It’s just that today is supposed to be my first day of work at the shiny new job. We’re going to get a ride to the station a bit later.

But as a distraction: Look! The Yarn Harlot! And me! And is she holding a gnome? Why, yes, she is!

Yesterday, I drove out to the wild, wild Western Mass. to the lovely town of Northampton. (I seem to be doing that a lot lately, and will do it much more as my summer class rolls around.) Stephanie Pearl-McPhee was giving a talk at The Calvin as part of the tour for her latest book, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off (support local booksellers). She was hilarious as usual, and it was really quite super to be around all those knitters. Hundreds of them. Us. We are a force to be reckoned with for certain. She touched on many important issues regarding the assumptions held by many in our culture: knitting is for grandmothers, knitting is for hipsters who are rebelling against their grandmothers, knitters suffer a severe paucity of social lives, etc.

After the talk (which was punctuated by many cheers and hurrahs), we headed over to Webs to shop and get books signed. I went out there by myself, but managed to meet up with the three other representatives from GSLIS SNB for the talk. They took me with them over to Webs, but we soon got separated (must have been the yarn fumes). I made my way back into the warehouse to wait in line. It was hot back there, but the staff kept coming down the line with trays of cold water. Man, those people have it together. By “those people,” I mean of course Kathy and Steve (to whom, I should mention, I finally delivered their copies of the Webs oral history project). They rule.

Anyway, I stood in line for quite some time, and the rest of the GSLIS gals had to leave. I’m not sure if they got any books signed. While in line I chatted with some very nice knitters, and met Amy of Knitting Help. (Great website, you should check it out. I used it in my pathfinder for reference class way back when.) I got really sweaty standing in line. It then occurred to me that I had done that thing where I only put deodorant on the left underarm, neglecting the right one all together. I began to fear that I would offend Stephanie should I happen to waft in the right direction. She did not seem to make any weird faces in my general direction that would indicate that she detected any of my potential stinkiness.

I plopped my two books down (yes, two, Spinstah, I got her to sign one for you) and she signed them. Then I presented her with my goofy, dorky gift: a crocheted knitting gnome. I thought, since I’m on such a gnome jag lately, I’ll bring one to Stephanie. She seemed to like it, and did not totally make fun of me for giving her a gnome. She took a picture of the gnome, with me holding the sock in the background. I may be making a weird face, but we’ll see if she puts that photo up. Click through above to see a closeup of the gnome in my kitchen.

After that, I walked back to the garage, and headed on my merry way. Got home around midnight, and passed out.

Right, now about that transmission…