I had plans. the plans included meeting up with Batman Chris & Amy (and whoever else ended up making it) for dinner. the world had other plans (thankfully, nothing as crazy as the Harlot’s attempt to get to Ann Arbor). so I finally made it over to St Paul around 5. popped into the Yarnery to grab a copy of the book. ended up with a bit of souvenir sock yarn as well, while resisting the Fleece Artist that was calling my name. contemplated arriving to dinner late, found a map of Grand Ave and realized that the meeting point was way the heck down at the other end of the road. change of plans! so I poked in here:

(hey look! an R2 mailbox)

Bread & Chocolate. where I had bread (a muffin with dates in it) and chocolate (it was very cold, so I had a hot chocolate). started reading Casts Off while I ate. then realized that I left the donateables in the car. and that I forgot to get better directions to the venue (I didn’t have that same ‘follow the knitters’ feeling that I had in Eau Claire). so I ran back to the car and poked back into the shop and got myself sorted out.

started walking up to the venue and heard my name. Chris and crew had found me (apparently they were the car that would have run me over if I hadn’t moved off of the in-ramp on my way back to the shop).

there was a moment of panic as I was checking in - I wasn’t on the list. (what! I signed up in person). so searching the list I found my first name nearby and realised that they had misspelled me. whew! (yeah, that happens a lot. a look at my mail reveals that people can’t distinguish an O from an E or an A.)

the talk was great. (love the end of the recent pretentious party she attended.) I got distracted a few times by the ASL interpretter that was there. I love watching them (I would love to learn ASL better one of these days), her facial expressions were so great!

those were both taken during O Canada

the sock meets us

I think we need to get shorter podiums for her.

anywho, back to the event. I have no idea how long we waited in line, as I was busy chatting. at which point I realized I missed my sock (why had I left it at the chair?) and went back to grab it. borrowed Chris’ tape measure (why did I leave mine in the car?) and realized I was close to the short-row heel point, so I consulted with KnittyMama & Catherine and a few others nearby as to when I should start the short-rowing for the heel. (thanks for the help!)

got my book signed in the wake of Stephanie’s discombobulation.

and then more chatting ensued as we tried to figure out what the after-plan was.

the sock yarn I bought is Sockotta (there’s a great lack of cotton in my sock yarn stash), the Yarnery (who did an awesome job hosting this, even if they did mistype my name. I won’t hold that against them) tote that you’ve likely seen elsewhere by now, I won a hat pattern as a door prize, and of course, the book. oh, and my sock, at that point was about two rows into the short-row heel. (that’s the test-knitting sock, fyi)

we had a few realizations:
1) an awful lot of knitters raised their hands when asked if they blog. there’s not an awful lot of knitters (around 60) in the MN Knitters webring. this needs remedying. perhaps a contest? (I need to figure out a good prize. if any current members would like to help sweeten the prize pot, I’m open to that too)
2) we like seeing each other. we should have gatherings (like the TCKnit picnic) more often.

and a realization I made this morning - lots of short row talk. I believe Chris was asked to send knittymama an article on short rows. I want to see it too. Please. Thanks Chris ;)

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so on the bus this morning, I discovered a knitter sitting across the aisle from me. knitting a scarf. out of a chenille of some flavor. I was eyeing the scarf she was wearing and, when eye contact was imminent, tried to glance away without looking like I was staring her down (which I was doing to the scarf.). we have not yet made verbal contact. if she continues to knit on the bus, I will have to though. (although I’m not sure what will be different. a different trip had a frequent knitter and I never quite mustered up the courage to chat with her). we’ll see how this goes. (I’m also mildly irked whenever someone feels the need to sit next to me while I’m knitting when they could just as easily share the seat behind me with someone who’s napping or reading or something. but no, they need to encroach on my elbow room. maybe I’ll take the lead of a couple of the laptop guys and just sit on the aisle the whole trip… ok, so I like my space on the bus.)

in other news, my coworker who knits wants to move beyond blankets and scarfs and wants me to show her how to knit in the round. woohoo!