Knit Out 2008
I'm not sure exactly where to start with this post, except maybe to point out for the millionth time that, in case you hadn't already noticed, I am a big ole dork and a huge knitting geek, who can be kinda clueless sometimes. The 2008 Knit Out was held this weekend at the Mall of America, here in the Twin Cities.
We've had knit-outs here in the Twin Cities in the past - I went last year and it was an okay time - a chance to glimpse and even meet-and-greet some big-name knitters (designers and authors and magazine editors, among others). The big yarn companies show up and have display booths and put on demos and hand out freebies. It's a good chance for the knitting world to show up and raise awareness for the craft, and it's fun to just hang out where there are so many other knitters.
But here's the dorky part. I didn't realize that the Craft Yarn Council had made the Minneapolis event the main one for the year. The national speed-knitting competition was held here yesterday. They had whole panels of authors up on stage discussing stuff. And the most embarrassing part for me is that although I read the blog of Canada's fastest knitter, and although she's been talking about coming to the Knit-Out in America for weeks and weeks, I didn't realize until yesterday that she was talking about *our* knit-out. And I was horrified when I realized that Wannietta, who also reads here and comments regularly, and who I highly respect, was going to be *IN TOWN!!!!* and I hadn't made any effort to meet up with her!!! Well, I sent her an e-mail and hoped for the best, and in the end it worked out really well, as you'll see.
Confessions aside, let's get to the story. I was teaching a class at the store on Saturday, so today was my day for the Knit-Out. Can I just tell you what a wonderful husband I have - who volunteered to stay home with the girls for a second day in a row so that I could go have some fun? Well he did, so I headed out the back door towards the car, just as my friend and neighbor Laura was headed out her back door, coincidentally, to the Knit-Out. We had talked about the event last week, but hadn't made any plans to go together because I wasn't entirely sure whether I would get to go and/or whether I would have to drag the kids with me.
Fate was on my side today, though, and Laura and her friend Rachel agreed to let me tag along with them at the Mall. We all got coffees, then milled around looking at the displays - there were huge lines for getting freebies at most of the booths, but we skipped the lines and just got looks at stuff without picking things up at first. We got to meet the Lion Brand Lion at their booth - quite friendly, really, and (s)he was hanging out with the shark from Underwater Adventures, but agreed to take pictures with me and Laura...
And speaking of Lion Brand, I have to mention something that might surprise you and to be honest really surprised me. They have an awesome new sock yarn coming out in the next couple of months. It's a self-striping wool/nylon fingering weight, in really nice colors. There were a couple of colorways that I was practically drooling over. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm a bit of a yarn snob, and I had a nice little chat with one of the ladies at their table about how Lion's catalog is, frankly, much less laughable than it used to be. I think the big yarn companies are listening to the real die-hard knitters out here in the world and responding with the kind of yarn and projects that we want. And even though I'm not generally in the habit of buying my yarn at big-box craft stores, it makes me happy for knitters overall, especially the ones who may not have local yarn shops in their areas. They'll have a chance to go see and touch some decent sock yarn in the stores they do have. I'll tell you what - I will be watching for that new sock yarn in the store, and I will probably buy some when I find it.
We strolled around some more, and eventually made our way back to the Rotunda, where the main stage for the Knit Out was set up. And guess who I spotted there? Wannietta! I was really pleased to see her and I went and caught her attention, and thankfully she recognized me after a second and I think was happy to see me too. She was so nice to talk to, and took a bunch of pictures with me and the blankie...you can't tell in the picture very well, but Wannietta has some awesome bright-red highlight streaks in her hair that suit her perfectly. And she was wearing a really cool denim knit sweater that made me wish I could stand knitting with cotton.
And oh-my-gods I had been carrying the blankie around all folded up in my bag just in case I ran into someone who wanted to see it. But when I pulled that sucker out, it was like a magnet. Suddenly there was a little crowd of knitters standing around asking questions and I was blushing something fierce. I mean, it was exhilarating to have strangers excited to see what I had made, but I really am a bit of an introvert and it's a little scary too.
So Wannietta and I stood around chatting for a few minutes, and I asked her about yesterday's competition - she got third place in the international competition! She is the third fastest knitter in the world! And I was standing there all gushing over her, and she said "Well hey, let me introduce you to the fastest knitter in the world. She's right over there." So she went over and got Miriam, who was very sweet and photogenic and chatted with me while I got all gushy and fan-girl on her.
And she admired the blanket, which made me feel very warm and fuzzy.
And I got all super-dorky and made them let me take a picture of the fastest-knitting hands in the world. (Oh, and although Miriam came in second at the competition here, she does hold the Guinness Book of World Records record for most stitches knit in one minute.)
Oh, and they were getting ready to do a show-and-tell thing up on stage, and the guy from the Yarn Garage was MC-ing it. He happened to be standing there when I pulled the blankie out to show Wannietta, and he came over and asked me to show it off up on stage. Ahem. So I did. I was nervous as all get-out, but I am also somewhat shameless.
Thanks to Laura and Rachel for taking the day's pictures for me!
Finally, it was time to come home. As sometimes happens when I am not here, Sophie had failed to take a nap. So she was super-tired, and while I whipped up some corn bread to go with our dinner, she fell asleep in her high chair.
But she did wake up in time to eat a bit, and take a bath before bed.
Oh! and I can't close without mentioning how very excited I am that Stephanie Pearl-McPhee will be coming back to St. Paul in April. When I was at the Yarnery on Saturday, one of the managers mentioned that people have already called in and reserved half of the 600 available free tickets. If you are interested in attending, git yerself over to the store and score some tickets!
We've had knit-outs here in the Twin Cities in the past - I went last year and it was an okay time - a chance to glimpse and even meet-and-greet some big-name knitters (designers and authors and magazine editors, among others). The big yarn companies show up and have display booths and put on demos and hand out freebies. It's a good chance for the knitting world to show up and raise awareness for the craft, and it's fun to just hang out where there are so many other knitters.
But here's the dorky part. I didn't realize that the Craft Yarn Council had made the Minneapolis event the main one for the year. The national speed-knitting competition was held here yesterday. They had whole panels of authors up on stage discussing stuff. And the most embarrassing part for me is that although I read the blog of Canada's fastest knitter, and although she's been talking about coming to the Knit-Out in America for weeks and weeks, I didn't realize until yesterday that she was talking about *our* knit-out. And I was horrified when I realized that Wannietta, who also reads here and comments regularly, and who I highly respect, was going to be *IN TOWN!!!!* and I hadn't made any effort to meet up with her!!! Well, I sent her an e-mail and hoped for the best, and in the end it worked out really well, as you'll see.
Confessions aside, let's get to the story. I was teaching a class at the store on Saturday, so today was my day for the Knit-Out. Can I just tell you what a wonderful husband I have - who volunteered to stay home with the girls for a second day in a row so that I could go have some fun? Well he did, so I headed out the back door towards the car, just as my friend and neighbor Laura was headed out her back door, coincidentally, to the Knit-Out. We had talked about the event last week, but hadn't made any plans to go together because I wasn't entirely sure whether I would get to go and/or whether I would have to drag the kids with me.
Fate was on my side today, though, and Laura and her friend Rachel agreed to let me tag along with them at the Mall. We all got coffees, then milled around looking at the displays - there were huge lines for getting freebies at most of the booths, but we skipped the lines and just got looks at stuff without picking things up at first. We got to meet the Lion Brand Lion at their booth - quite friendly, really, and (s)he was hanging out with the shark from Underwater Adventures, but agreed to take pictures with me and Laura...
And speaking of Lion Brand, I have to mention something that might surprise you and to be honest really surprised me. They have an awesome new sock yarn coming out in the next couple of months. It's a self-striping wool/nylon fingering weight, in really nice colors. There were a couple of colorways that I was practically drooling over. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm a bit of a yarn snob, and I had a nice little chat with one of the ladies at their table about how Lion's catalog is, frankly, much less laughable than it used to be. I think the big yarn companies are listening to the real die-hard knitters out here in the world and responding with the kind of yarn and projects that we want. And even though I'm not generally in the habit of buying my yarn at big-box craft stores, it makes me happy for knitters overall, especially the ones who may not have local yarn shops in their areas. They'll have a chance to go see and touch some decent sock yarn in the stores they do have. I'll tell you what - I will be watching for that new sock yarn in the store, and I will probably buy some when I find it.
We strolled around some more, and eventually made our way back to the Rotunda, where the main stage for the Knit Out was set up. And guess who I spotted there? Wannietta! I was really pleased to see her and I went and caught her attention, and thankfully she recognized me after a second and I think was happy to see me too. She was so nice to talk to, and took a bunch of pictures with me and the blankie...you can't tell in the picture very well, but Wannietta has some awesome bright-red highlight streaks in her hair that suit her perfectly. And she was wearing a really cool denim knit sweater that made me wish I could stand knitting with cotton.
And oh-my-gods I had been carrying the blankie around all folded up in my bag just in case I ran into someone who wanted to see it. But when I pulled that sucker out, it was like a magnet. Suddenly there was a little crowd of knitters standing around asking questions and I was blushing something fierce. I mean, it was exhilarating to have strangers excited to see what I had made, but I really am a bit of an introvert and it's a little scary too.
So Wannietta and I stood around chatting for a few minutes, and I asked her about yesterday's competition - she got third place in the international competition! She is the third fastest knitter in the world! And I was standing there all gushing over her, and she said "Well hey, let me introduce you to the fastest knitter in the world. She's right over there." So she went over and got Miriam, who was very sweet and photogenic and chatted with me while I got all gushy and fan-girl on her.
And she admired the blanket, which made me feel very warm and fuzzy.
And I got all super-dorky and made them let me take a picture of the fastest-knitting hands in the world. (Oh, and although Miriam came in second at the competition here, she does hold the Guinness Book of World Records record for most stitches knit in one minute.)
Oh, and they were getting ready to do a show-and-tell thing up on stage, and the guy from the Yarn Garage was MC-ing it. He happened to be standing there when I pulled the blankie out to show Wannietta, and he came over and asked me to show it off up on stage. Ahem. So I did. I was nervous as all get-out, but I am also somewhat shameless.
Thanks to Laura and Rachel for taking the day's pictures for me!
Finally, it was time to come home. As sometimes happens when I am not here, Sophie had failed to take a nap. So she was super-tired, and while I whipped up some corn bread to go with our dinner, she fell asleep in her high chair.
But she did wake up in time to eat a bit, and take a bath before bed.
Oh! and I can't close without mentioning how very excited I am that Stephanie Pearl-McPhee will be coming back to St. Paul in April. When I was at the Yarnery on Saturday, one of the managers mentioned that people have already called in and reserved half of the 600 available free tickets. If you are interested in attending, git yerself over to the store and score some tickets!
posted by Shelly Kang at 11:16 PM
14 Comments:
May i say, quite respectfully, that you're looking rather fit in those pictures.
You look great, the blankie looks great too!! Even though you were nervous, it is really cool that you got such support for how amazing the blankie is!
How fun! I have to say, I don't think I really understood how big and how beautiful the blankie is until these pictures. It truly is a masterpiece.
It looks like you had a wonderful time! As I was reading this, I was thinking (for the thousandth time, I'm sure) that New Jersey was closer to Minnesota.
Love the blankie, and I'm so glad you got to show it to everyone, as you really should be proud of it.
I can't believe I was near the Mall of America and couldn't attend the knit out!! We were in Belle Plaine all day Saturday and Sunday for a volleyball tournament. I was hoping to get away for a bit, but when the girls weren't playing they had to ref games. I am so proud of you and your blankie. I feel like I know a famous person. You look great in the pictures.
You looked great up there with Steven from the Yarn Garage! How cool that so many had a chance to see your amazing blankie!
Remember when I asked you about Stephanie coming to St. Paul - at our sock class??? And we laughed because I was looking at last year's schedule! Isn't it terrific that she's coming??? My friends and I already have tickets!
Rosalie
I was there!!!
I missed the fashion show though, because I was in line for all the booths for several hours!
PS- beautiful blanket!!!
I'm so glad that you saw me and said something!!! I recognized you instantly, but had that deer in the headlights moment trying to remember your name. I'm so glad that I actually met you in person! Thanks for the offer of accommodation, but fortunately we were able to fly out without incident. I did say to Jodi that I almost wished that the flight would have been canceled so that we could come to your house!
The blankie is even more impressive in person and it was totally a knitter magnet - I couldn't believe it!!
I got the kids their shoes - they're happy!
Sounds like you had a really great time. My hubby usually forgets that our kids need a nap too, it's usually me cleaning up afterwards. I totally get what you mean about the introvert stuff. It's like you want to show off your stuff, but you don't want to seem show-off-y, and you want people to fan over it and gush about it, but not too much. I'm the same way. I'm lucky to have a hubby who LOVES to brag about me and my knitting, sometimes to the point of embarrassment, but, it's the thought that counts. Have fun with the Harlot, I got to see her in Wichita back in Sept, and it was so much fun. I laughed so hard I lost count!
Great great play by play of the mall event. THE mall event. THE MALL event. Oh well, anyhow.
Im so glad your gorgeous work was given accclaim.
Your fun wiriting style speaks write to me. I mean right to me.
Your high chair baby is sooooo cute.
Who had the pretty manicure? YOU???? Maybe I'll come back to MN the right weekend next year!
I'm glad the Yarn Garage guy grabbed you and blankie to go up on stage! Good for him, and for you!
I'm the same way - it's great you like my stuff, but let's not make a big deal about it!!!!
Blankie, on the other hand, is a great big extrovert, and loves all the attention!!! Bring it on!
Wow, what a super duper day!!!! You're a lucky girl for sure! I am very jealous, and bummed that I didn't fly in for the event! (as if!) Your blankie looks sooooo cool, and I'm sure it needs to be washed now that hundreds of people have drooled on it! Great job!
Hello, fellow Twin Cities knitter here. Stumbled across your blog and noticed you gushing over Stephanie Pearl-McPhee coming in town. I missed her last year (sadly). Do you know the date?
Charity
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