Yarn Harlot was in Lexington!

I realize that it would have been nice to inform you all that the Yarn Harlot is coming to Lexington (future tense) rather than the Yarn Harlot was in Lexington (past tense); and I'm sorry that I forgot to call you, Whitney, to see if you wanted to go; and I'm sorry that I forgot to announce my plans of going at Stitch and Bitch, Thursday or Sunday, to see if anybody wanted to go; but I wasn't sure I was going myself until I went, so there!

I went with Tonya. We were very excited that we not only found our way there without a hitch, but that we only had to circle the parking lot for five minutes to find a parking space. People must sense that she's pregnant and probably has to pee.

Tonya was also the brilliant one who actually read the paper that they gave to us at the door, and upon discovering that it was a schedule of events, realized that the Yarn Harlot, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee herself, was signing books that very minute.

So we got in line.
And I was really excited. (Notice my Mission Falls sweater--designed it myself, totally forgot what I did, will re-knit it one of these days and write down the pattern. Meanwhile, it continues to be the only sweater I have every made that I wear on a regular basis. And I have made a lot of sweaters.)
Oh, I digress--it's her, the Yarn Harlot! And she's signing my book!

And she's holding my sock!

And she's signing Tonya's book and will hold her sock presently (sorry, forgot to take a picture of that). Before we left, we gave the Yarn Harlot a Knit Nook t-shirt (one of the ones tied-dyed by the KY Bantu Fiberworks). It seemed weird not to leave a present.

And right next door, there was Stefanie Japel, of Glampyre and Fitted Knits fame. I am very much in awe of her. Seriously, I've been lurking on this girl's website way longer than on the Harlot's.
And here are the lovely ladies of Magpie Yarns who helped organize this event and even hosted a knit-in after the Yarn Harlot's speech. If you haven't been to their shop, you should really check it out. It's absolutely beautiful.

But before we saw the Harlot's speech, we attended a panel where Itty-Bitty Hats author Susan Anderson, The Knitting Circle and fiction author in general Ann Hood, and Stefanie Japel discussed their views of knitting, writing about knitting, how they got into knitting, and so on.

And then the Harlot gave her speech. Look at all of us! We're all knitters!

And here's Holly (again, I apologize about being secretive about going to Lexington so I didn't give others a ride down). Anyway, the important thing is that we went, we saw the Harlot, she was hilarious, we got some books signed, and we were home in time to gloat about it at the yarn store and watch the fireworks. I liked to think about them being in honor of the Yarn Harlot's visit to the Bluegrass, but somebody reminded me about the whole Derby Festival thing.


And finally, a picture of our Harlot socks, covered in the mojo of many knitters. Tonya thinks it's funny to make her sock look like a monster that's eating mine, but she's just jealous because the colors of my Cascade Fixation are so amazing. (It's the Broadripple sock.)