OK, half the time my blog is still throwing errors. SORRY! Oh my god, I think it’s the flickr photo album plugin from tantannoodles. Anyone else use this? Are you having problems? I’m going to add back the rest of my plugins one by one and check for problems. The Flickr Post Bar plugin I just installed (because this post will have many pictures, so I need a plugin to SAVE MY SANITY!) seems to be working fine, so, LET’S CONTINUE, SHALL WE?
So, hopefully Kim has gotten her rest by now, and it is safe to go ahead and post about our fun visit from THE YARN HARLOT! Now, if you are not a knitter, or a friend of a knitter, you may not know who the Yarn Harlot is. In fact, and I find this part hard to type…yet I must…you might not even…*gasp* CARE who she is! Now, I am not going to cast dispersions, and it is within everyone’s right to not know who someone is. But by golly, YOU WILL CARE! Let me put it this way: you know that fun thing you like to do? That you do whenever you get the chance? That soothes you and quiets your mind, and that you and your friends get together whenever you can and do it? Right. Now, you know that big famous person who also does that? With the tv show, or the blog, or the books, or the radio show, or the big billboard down on highway 72? Imagine that person comes to town, and you and your 700 friends who also like to do this thing get to meet them.
Can you imagine that? Right. So that’s what happened to Atlanta Metro Area (and some surrounding states) last night. And well, it was rather exciting for us. So much so that 700 people signed up to come. Do you care a little now? Yes?
Oh, first, let me introduce you to my little friend:
Hank. The result of my first ever try at the wheel. with googly eyes glued on, and turned into a pin, which I wore all day. Awesome.
A lot of people just plain took the day off. A few losers still had to work (suckers!), but left early to join us. But those that had the day to themselves, including me, decided to start out the day right: head to a bar, and eat, drink, and knit all damn afternoon. We picked the Dark Horse, just around the corner from Knitch, and basically took over one of the patio areas all day. It was great.
Jenifleur and Knitwitch (ask her about her husband’s erotic knit modeling nsfw!!!!) with Janice way in the background there, Meg and Jacquie (the blogless wonders), and Claudia and Sandy.
“Hi! I’m drinking beer with Claudia! What are you doing, working??? Loser!”
We knit and chatted and drank and ate knit some more, all while being served by a gracious waiter who resembled Riff Raff. Eventually joined by many many more knitters, like
and a host of others who’s names and blogs I can’t really remember. Oops. Jane was there, too, but bugged out at some point to be all helpful and stuff. Here she is, helpfully leaning against the stage, and lording her cool yellow t-shirt over us.
Eventually, we made our way over to the theater where the Harlot was going to speak, and got in line. There were only maybe about 25 people in front of us, so SCORE! Guaranteed seats! So we waited. Hey look, it’s Haley!
And waited.
And waited some more. Hi Claudia!
whoa, let’s try that again. HI CLAUDIA!
Until 5pm (more like FIVE-OH-SIX! GEEZ!), when they started letting us in. And here’s where we get to my ONLY complaint of the whole evening. I was thinking…Theater. As in, contains a large area containing seats. Permanent seats. With a layer of cushy velour. And appropriate row spacing. Instead, there were tightly spaced rows of the flimsiest folding chairs I had ever laid eyes on. Whoa. And we were all loaded up with our knitting bags. Along with my big ass bag. And also, my big ass. That was some uncomfortable seating. I felt as if my chair was constantly on the verge of collapse. And of all the fat chicks there that night, I was on the SMALL end. I can’t imagine how uncomfortable the rest of them were. Even the skinny bitches (heh) looked uncomfortable. And getting up to use the restroom was a major ordeal for all of us. Dreading all those drinks earlier THEN, weren’t we?
BUT, aside from that (I mean hey, we all got seats, and we were together), the evening was FANTASTIC! We were surrounded by knitters!
How could it get better? DO YOU KNOW????
OH YEAH!
And how much can I gush about Stephanie Pearl-McPhee? Not enough. In spite of being hoarse and probably exhausted half out of her mind, she was funny and delightful and everything I hoped she’d be and more. She told funny stories, inspirational stories, she reminded us that no, we ARE NOT FREAKS FOR BEING KNITTERS! I mean, we already KNEW that, but it was nice to hear it out loud.
Afterwards, while our group ran down the block and got yummy sushi, Stephanie had to sit and sign autographs. ROUND ONE, of signing. I think they snuck her out at some point for food. At least I hope they did. Poor woman. It’s a wonder she remembers what city she’s in most of the time. An hour and a half later it was our turn to meet her.
EEEEEEE!
EEEEEEEEEEEE!
And she was even gracious enough to pose with the whole big group:
(btw: this is probably the only normal picture I have of Jen – far right. And she only SORT of looks like Sandy is goosing her back there)
It was such a great day. Exhausting, but fun. Can’t wait until the NEXT time the Yarn Harlot comes to town! 
It was great of you to volunteer to be the hat lady. Speaking of hats, I do have a kit for you. I’ll bring it to Knitch on Sunday.
Love the pics!! We should have stayed around longer and got in the picture with you guys!!!! Jen DOES look like she is being goosed!!
Erotic modeling, eh?? My website will probably have 300 hits today after that teaser! Haha!
Aw, you guys had so much fun! I hate that I missed out. But Jen assures me that she kidnapped the Harlot and is keeping her in the barn for me.
Also, Hank is the cutest thing I have ever seen in my life. He is cuter than babies.
Sorry about the chairs! And, thanks much for being the hat lady. Atlanta’s hat haul was fantastic!
Oh man, I wish I could have been there to be part of the group pic!
I.AM.SO.JEALOUS.
That’s all I have to say.
CG – yay hat! see ya sunday!
Brittany – when I’m done with you, you’ll have to classify your site as “adults only”
Grace – WE MISSED YOU! and yes, the Harlot has been kidnapped. we are keeping her happy with beer and wool fumes.
Kim – I trust you are now well rested?
The chairs weren’t your fault! And really, such a minor annoyance. I would have sat on the FLOOR to hear the harlot.
Janice – yeah, what happened to you? you disappeared!
Aimee – yessss…yesssss…you SHOULD be!
She is just pulling in bigger and bigger crowds, which I think is wonderful. When I saw her this time last year, there were about 100 of us, maybe 150. (She was speaking at a Barnes & Noble in Brooklyn, to be fair.) Now 700? We are knitters, hear us roar!!
A little birdie told me you were coming to SAFF and even rooming with us. Our time is coming. You’ll probably be sick of me by the end of that weekend.
Hank’s just absolutely adorable!
So how hard is this knitting thing really? I’m contemplating learning how to knit. Can I figure it out in a day? If not, I don’t think I should bother. lol
Julie – we are a force to be reckoned with. I think we should aim for a knitter in the white house for 2012.
grace – your birdie’s information was good. PREPARE FOR A WEEKEND OF FIBER FUMES, WII, AND SLEEP DEPRIVATION!
Pandora – he’s soft to pet, too
Janelle – YES! YOU HAVE RECEIVED AN EMAIL!!!
heheheheh…*rubs hands together*…excellent!
That was one of the few times she WASN’T goosing me. I guess the face had “stuck” by then. Good times!
Heh, I THOUGHT about it, but my mama taught me how to behave!
Any woman with Harlot in her name is OK in my book.
When you put seeing the Yarn Harlot in that context, I know what you mean. Seeing a hero in person always rocks.
Lovely to meet you! I don’t make it to Atlanta nearly enough though my very best friend lives there (and knits at Knitch, which we found just after the shop opened and love with deep passion!)
Wish I’d been clever enough to turn my first handspun into a cool little pin with eyes. I also wish I hadn’t blended dull yellow and natural fibre together so my first handspun didn’t look like a runny egg so it’s something I’d have Wanted to wear as a cool little pin, but that’s somewhat beside the point. Great job with Hank.
I think Wayne should be the official model for our knitting projects – we’ll undress him, put knitting projects on him and then put the pics online – haha!! Think we can talk anyone else’s husband into playing dress up with us?? 11 more and we have “Sexy Men in Knitted Items” calendar!!!
What am I saying….Wayne would just hate that…….riiiiiiiight….
I just proposed that to…someone! Maybe Jen? Or Melissa. The Men of the Georgia Knitters!!!!
we could put them in manly poses wearing the things we’ve knitted for them. Do you think we’d have a market for it?
YES!!! We will sell it on my website and share the profits!!!
Oh my! I have a few heroes in beading but most of them live in Japan. I’m glad you had a great time!
It was great meeting you on Wednesday! I’m looking forward to some quality drinking time with you at SAFF. =)
We really need to spend more time together. As before I had lots of fun…tell Hank he is my idol.