Sunday, September 10, 2006

A Very Harloty Day



I have a Harlot hangover. What a day we Knotty Knitters + Emily had. We started out bright and early and headed North. First stop Starbucks. Second stop, Starbucks (Los Banos) due to the effects of the first Starbucks.








First real stop Morgan Hill. We went to Continental Stitch. I had seen their stuff before at Stitches last year. I won't go into too much detail since I think Carey and I are going to start our official review of yarn stores soon (thus giving us rights to call driving all over creation to yarn shops research). The quick version is very nice ladies wearing lucious samples of their handiwork and very interesting and some very unique yarns. I picked up some more Trekking sock yarn. Resisted the linen, and now of course, regret that frugal decision. Rats.

















As usual, Tracy did some damage. So did the others. Very nice little downtown area they have in Morgan Hill. Great weather too. Don't we look like we are having fun?

































Note Tracy expanding her "stash." It is good to see a young knitter finding her way in the world. She was so easy to train.














Then we drove to a scrapbook store (Carey can tell you about that one, I found a new knitting magazine in the Longs next door) and then we headed to Los Altos. That was the intent anyway. Thanks to Mapquest and my uncanny sense of direction, we ended up in Cupertino, Santa Clara, and maybe some other cities before we worked out the kinks on the atlas and found Full Thread Ahead. Hooray!

We stood in line and checked in (and got in the first group to later get a photo session with Stephanie thanks to our superior timing and groupie skills) and you could feel the excitement building.





















We had time to check out a few places along Main Street in Los Altos, which was charming. We liked the toy store (and so will Grace when she sees what I bought) and we loved Treasure, a store full of art and finds from all over the world. We met a new boutique owner who had just opened her store and had a very interesting scarf in her window that I am seriously thinking of making myself (I did buy something else there, but spend $75 dollars on a scarf? That is crazy - I would only spend $75 on yarn for a scarf).

Then the time came to stake out our spot in the chairs for the Harlot presentation. Again, we are masters. We were in front and had a primo spot. We did have to wait then for a while, which was ample time to walk to Starbucks (yes, we did go to more Starbucks than yarn stores) but while I was there someone said they had seen my blog. WOW.

Here is the crowd braving the sun waiting for the main event-














And here is the main event - Stephanie Pearl McPhee, the Yarn Harlot!

She was funny, no, more like hysterically funny, and was worth travelling and waiting for! She entertained the crowd for a nice long time and then we got to meet her (third out of 400 I might add). She was very genuine, funny, and everything you have come to expect from reading her books and her blog. And yes, we got to take a picture of THE SOCK. The fact that that was a big deal warrants some funny comments I realize, but WOW. We have made it big time in the knitting universe. We have arrived.



























We ended our day with Tracy sneaking another yarn purchase and then we went down the street to the crepe place and had this man make us the most fabulous crepes.

We didn't get home until midnight, but what a day we had.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Anonymous Emily speaking.

As the Official Photographer for the trip, the pics came out okay. I'm very concerned about the group one of us and Stephanie (or YH I don't know which name to use). I look like my mouth is full of spinach! So much for green braces. But everyone else looked like "Wow!! I'm standing by the ACTUALY YARN HARLOT!".

Anonymous said...

I have Harlot Hangover too... But it is definitely worth it. Such fun we had all day. If we had taken another half hour to get home, it would have officially been a 2 day trip!! I must admit to getting out the calculator to see how much damage I did--it is impressive....hours of knitting await me. I've already printed my photos of the trip and burned a CD of them for you just incase some of mine turned out better than anyone elses...see you on Wednesday--I've got to get knitting NOW!!! KK-Tracy

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Oi meu nome é Solange Cristiny, moro no Brasil e estou encantada com seu blog, com seus trabalhos, com esses encontros maravilhosos; nós aqui no Brasil, estamos tentando convencer aos fabricantes de lãs e linhas a produzirem algo assim, mas eles não mostram interesse e aí ficamos só olhando o de vocês.Parabéns, é tudo muito bonito. Beijocas Solange Cristiny