What to do when you meet a famous person
Last night I got to go to Yarn Harlot event. First, let me begin by saying that if you have a chance to attend a Yarn Harlot event – run, do not walk, to go there. The stories were great and I laughed so much that I literally cried. Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is a great speaker and kept all the knitters there entertained for over an hour and half! Wow – that’s a long time to speak to a crowd.
I dropped off my hat (a baby hat in Aggie Maroon) with the Houston Hat Lady, Emily Griffin. Pictures of the hats should be up at her blog. There were also door prizes of which I won none. Finally it was time for the main event!
First, we had the ubiquitous sock picture:
Then, the entertainment:
Then it was back to the bookstore for the booksigning. Actually, I didn’t go directly to the bookstore, as the store had given out timeslot tickets (a good idea, I thought), and I was in a later timeslot. I drove around the corner and got a small snack before heading back tot Twisted Yarns. The crowd wasn’t too bad, so I eventually went in and did a bit of browsing. I got in line for the booksigning and then had a debate with myself whether or not to buy the one book that I didn’t already have. After standing in line for 20 minutes, I decided that I would kick myself if I had the opportunity and didn’t get the last book and have it signed as well. So that brought me up to four books, which were a heavy load in my knitting bag, but I managed to knit a bit anyway. I called DH to tell him I would be home later than I thought (it was almost 10 by this point) and that the whole thing was like meeting Bob Roll, except for knitters
Now here’s the part where my naturally shy nature kicks in. Cross stitch designers are really outgoing, loud, and fun people, right? Well, not always. In general, I am fairly shy and quiet – more of a listener than a talker. So while I could’ve told Stephanie that I found her blog after learning how to knit last year and read the whole thing (over the course of several days), I didn’t. I could’ve told her fancy light-up knitting needles complelled me to learn how to knit because I am a total techno-geek, I didn’t. I could’ve mentioned that between learning to knit and starting my first sweater, no one mentioned this mysterious thing called “gauge”, so I was really lucky that a one-size-fits-all sweater fit me. I could’ve mentioned that I am a cross-stitch designer and this knitting thing was really detracting from my time. And finally, I could’ve mentioned that I get some of my best knitting done while playing Texas Hold’em Poker and that knitting is an excellent way to hide any tells from other players. I could’ve mentioned any number of these things which are quirky, mildly funny, and (hopefully) interesting.
Here’s how it went instead, since I fell back into my innate shy nature: I handed over my new book with my post-it note on the front with my name. She says, “Oh, good, a short name,” to which I reply, “Wait, I have more books in my bag” while rummaging around and pulling out the other three. We make some chit-chat about short names and how long hers is. I get my picture taken (with the sock!) and Stephanie holding my first sweater!
I think I said thanks and managed to get all of my books in my bag before heading home.
Even though I didn’t make very interesting commentary with “the very famous” Yarn Harlot, I had a terrific evening and was thoroughly thrilled to get a signed book collection. Maybe I should’ve mentioned to her that when I met Tad Williams many years ago, I had nine books for him to sign (some of them were both in hardback and paperback)!