James' Mom, his Aunt & I all read a blog by a knitter called The Yarn Harlot. She writes books about Knitting Humor. She's funny and she knits (thus the books). I don't knit, but do enjoy her blog (I usually just skim when she goes into details over my head). She has a new book out, and a month or so ago I read she'd be coming to Indianapolis on April 29th. I wrote to James' mom and his aunt, asking them if they'd want to come out to see her. Since one is in Scotland and the other in CA, they chose not to. But–I was told I HAD to go and wear my sweather and my fingerless gloves.
So the big event was Tuesday night. I was quite nervous going–I felt like I had a giant N on my forehead (for NONKNITTER–or, maybe an M for Muggle as she sometimes calles nonknitters). It seemed quite obvious when everyone else was working on their knitting while they were waiting for her to come, and I was just reading her book. But it was still an interesting and funny time. It was a cool evening, so I did wear my sweater, but had to leave the fingerless gloves off and at home. I walked in and was given a blue "ticket" for the signing, then someone turned in a purple one and they gave it to me saying "purple is much better". So I thought I"d been done fairly early. Um, I was wrong. (I knew it was going to be busy when I had to park three stores down in the shopping center the book store is at.) So I gathered the ticket, bought the books to be signed, and then went about find a seat.
Even as a non-knitter, but reader of her blog, I got this–a sign put up on the entrance to the kids area. "Frogging" is when a kintter has to undo what she/he has done.
If you clicked on the link to her blog up above, I linked to her Indy Vist. You'll see she always takes a picture of the crowd. She said this was for her mother–Her mom always wondered if "that knitting thing would work out", and she emails her the pictures to show her. The first picture was my section! I'm a very tiny face in the back, in front of a lady standing in a purple shirt. The second picture shows the crowd…I had NO IDEA there were so many people there. (Explains why I had to wait so long for signing the book!) So Betty, no estimates on the crowd size. Looks really big though, doesn't it? The book shelves made it hard to see the number of people and not seem crowded.
Here was my view of her taking the pictures:
Then she spoke for about an hour and a half! It was quite entertaining. I kept putting off writing this post in an attempt to recreate some of her talk here. I realized tonight there is no way I can do as good as a job, it won't be as funny to read it as to hear it and at this point (over a week later) there is no way I can remember all she said–you'll just have to read her book (Things I Learned from Knitting). Betty is getting a copy in the mail soon (I promise, I'm mailing it tomorrow!), she'll be happy to share with any family member who requests it, I'm sure. For the rest of you, you can buy it or check your local library! But I must say, I "wrote" several verions of this post in my head as I was trying to fall asleep and they were all OUTSTANDING. Which was part of her talk. You know how your best ideas occur at night, when you're falling to sleep? That's because you're brain is using a type of waves called "theta" that is a highly creative and restorative type wave. You get it when you're waking up and falling asleep. If you can "force" your brain into those waves, you are usually happier, healither and smarter (b/c your brain can actually work on building new synapses or connections during this time). How do you force your brain into this mode? By doing repetative activities–like meditation or knitting! Between that and her talking about how, in some ways, knitting is so easy 4 year olds can learn how to do it, I'm motivated to try to learn it again. Once I finish my spring class! (And are you surprised the science side of me only really remembers the physiology part of her talk?!?)
After she got done, they started calling up ticket colors for books to be signed. I bought some tea and a cupcake and read her book. I called James and found out I'd bought a book Betty already had so I exchanged it. The line kept moving but they kept calling other colors than purple. So I found an easy chair right up front and read and watched her sign books for people. It was quite entertaining, she is very personable and tries to talk a bit with each person. People bring her things (as you'd see on her blog if you check it out). Finally, around 10, they called purple. There were so few left, they also called blue. So my ticket color made no difference. I chatted with two people about my age in line behind me, and before I knew it, it was my turn!
That red thing I'm holding is her traveling sock. Each tour she works on a sock and gets pictures of the sock in the various places she's been. I told her my camera batteries were about to die and she did the picture first. I didn't think to take hold of the sock until she told me "You must hold the sock" and I said "oh yes!". She told me to get my act together! (It was in a funny way, not a mean way Mom.) Made me laugh. She liked my sweater and I told her it was made by my Mother in Law–one of the people she was signing a book for. I also confessed I was one of those non-knitters, but between her and the family around me who did knit, I was going to take it up! Anyway, she signed both books and I left the store at 10:30. It wasn't the worst way to spend an evening at all! I was very glad I'd done it. And maybe next time she comes I'll have a first sock to show off!
Now, it's late and I've had this in "draft" for far too long so I'm posting it with NO spell check. Please forgive me!
