Adventure of the Yarn Harlot kind

Monday April 7th, 6:00pm

I was at knit night with fellow Ravelers at Joes 2 go in Holland. I had mentioned that I had heard that the Yarn Harlot would be in Ann Arbor on Friday, but was sad that I was not able to attend. Another Raveler mentioned that her and her sister would be going and they had room in their car for more people. I was geeked! Then I remembered that it was my MIL's birthday on Friday and asked if I would be allowed to ask if she could ride along also. YES! so I called her from my cell and she was tickled pink to be asked to join and would come down early on Friday to meet up with us. Then they mentioned that they would be stopping at ThreadBear Fiber Arts on the way through. WOW , not only the Harlot, but the Mecca of Michigan yarn stores as well. YAY!!!

Tuesday April 8th, 4:00pm

MIL called to ask what I would be wearing to the event. Me, being me, said clothes, as I was sure that other knitters would be opposed to me showing up naked to the event.(you all can shudder now). We decided on Jeans and a top. Good choices and comfort for a day of knitting.

Thursday April 10th, 6:00pm

MIL called to make sure I hadn't made it up that we would be going out of town and that we really were spending the day knitting and then listening to Stephanie Pearl-Mcphee in the evening. I confirmed that we were indeed going and that we would have a great time.

Thursday April 10th, 7:30pm

MIL called again. She told me she would not be able to go as dear FIL forgot to go to the bank and pick up money. I calmed her down and told her that she could write me a check and I could get cash or she could just owe me for the purchases she makes. She then calmed down and said she would see me in the morning.

Friday April 11th,4:30am

MIL calls to tell me that FIL is going into work early and will be dropping her off in 15 minutes at my house. I crawl out of bed , unlock the front door, turn on the outside light and a lamp in the living room and go fall back in bed for another two hours

7am

I am up , I am out of the shower, I am almost alive, I stumble into the kitchen to start coffee. I hear MIL in the other bathroom getting ready, all is good.

9am

Fellow Ravelers Asemumma and Nikstergirl arrive. They come inside to see the new kitties and then we head out to our adventure. I am not the best passenger, but figure with knitting in my hand and good conversation, I could sit back (in the back, behind the driver so I cannot see) and knit to my hearts content on my afterthought socks.

10:30am

We arrive at our 1st destination. ThreadBear Fiber Arts in Lansing. We had two Bear virgins with us so a monumental photo was indeed needed to mark the day. We spent about and hour and a half there, shopping and looking and loving it. I picked up three skeins of Artyarns Supermerino in a camouflage colorway for slippers , 1 skein of Malabrigo in Geranio (hot pink), a skein of Opal sock yarn in Tiger (I have been hunting for this), size 3 dpn's, two samples of soak and the new book More big girls knits. When we have satisfied our yarn needs for a few minutes, we headed off to Spuds for a wonderful lunch. Big stuffed baked potatoes for three of us and a Greek salad for the other. If ever you are at ThreadBears and are hungry, this restaurant is right down-the-block from them and good food, at a good price, after yarn shopping is always a plus.

1:30pm

We are now headed to Ann Arbor, to the Library or so I thought. MMMM more wonderful knitting time on the afterthought heel sock and teaching MIL how to make a sock. She had picked up yarn for her first pair while we were at ThreadBear. We get into Ann Arbor about 2:30 and we decided that a yarn store one of us (I am sure it was Asemumma) had heard about should be visited first. Well, second, the need for a restroom cam first, so we visited Starbucks, where after doing that, I ordered a tuxedo regular.... ok, Yarn, knitting, coffee and the Harlot... they day was just getting better and better.
After getting the caffeine fix for the moment, we walked to BusyHands where we all again were in heaven. It is a smaller shop than the other, but two shops makes a mini crawl and makes knitters very happy. There I picked up two pins for your lapel that can be used if (I mean when) you drop a stitch, a 9" circular needle size 2 for trying socks on and a pattern kit for Sam The American Lamb. Everything in the store was 20% off for the event of Stephanie coming into town.

3:15pm

Asemumma suggested that we go to the library and see how full it was, so we headed to the car for our knitting and then to the library. SCORE!!!! can you say front row seats!! There were a few people there when we got there but we were able to get 4 seats right down front YAY. What a fabulous way to spend 4 hours. Anyone but knitters would be complaining about 4 hours in a room, with no TV, no music no nothing. We on the other hand loved it. One lady from the Ann Arbor area thought in advance and brought name tags for everyone to fill out. We sat and knitted , we wandered and looked at what others were knitting, crocheting and spinning, we talked about Ravelry, we swapped ravnames so we could add people to our friends list. We commented on projects and asked the names of patterns. It was awesome. About 5 o'clock a gentleman from the library came in and announced that yes Stephanie would be in on time, no fog like last year, and the soon Borders would be there with the books we could purchase to get signed. YAY, it was getting closer, and we knit on...

7pm

Stephanie Arrives, What a treat to hear her talk, she is funny, she is real , she is a person who shares our love of yarn, knitting and the not understanding of the non-knitting world. We had a packed room plus another room that was upstairs, being televised live. So when she took a picture of the crowd, she also took a picture of the camera filming , too funny!
We laughed so hard during her talk that when it came to the question and answer part, very few of us could talk enough to ask anything.
Then the book signing, oh what a line. The only photo I thought to take was from the back of the room while waiting. I will tell you I had enough time during the wait to finish off the star toe on my sock and pick up for the afterthought heel.
When we got to the front, MIL went first, she told Stephanie that it was a great birthday present to be there and that she had started her first sock today. Stephanie took her photo, the the two of us got a photo with her.
Right after Asemumma and Nikstergirl had their books signed and Nikstergirl presented Stephanie with a Michigan washcloth and had her photo taken also. We will have to watch the Harlots blog to see if either made the cut for it.

After, we head out for dinner. We went to an Asian food place that was so yummy! We were across the street from the Michigan theatre and right down the road from the State theatre.

10:30pm
Asemumma, who went to the U of M, took us on a tour of the city/University. I had no idea how spread out U of M (this is an edit) was. It grew up around the city instead of the city growing around it. I know that one day I do want to go back and see some of the buildings and take some tours. Ann Arbor is a lovely big town with a small town feeling, at least where we were it was.

2am
Home at last. It was a wonderful, enjoyable, awesome day of friendships, new and established. Thank you for letting us tag along with you two and for a great day.