You know, the night before I thought that I would get into bed and I thought that I would get some sleep and I thought that maybe, just maybe, I would be totally refreshed and full of energy for the trip to the Saskatchewan Stitches Conference. Instead, I tossed and turned like a child trying to sleep on Giftmas eve. I hardly slept a wink at all.
In the morning, I dragged my sorry ass out of bed, got in the shower, pulled on some clothes, agonized about my hair and makeup, had an attack of conscience and by the time I was done, Bonnie and Jeannette were pulling up to my house. My son, who was delivering papers, was kind enough to stop by the house for a moment to take our picture as we embarked on our much anticipated journey.
In the classroom as soon as we got there, was Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, setting up. My first thought? She’s so tiny! Bonnie took it upon herself to immediately introduce her to me. A lot of people don’t seem to realize this but I am more shy than I seem to be once you’ve gotten to know me and from the way I may present myself on the internet. I must have turned a million shades of purple when she did that but Stephanie smiled and shook my hand saying “Oh yes, I’ve read your blog. You’re funny…and scarey.” Ok…so that might not be the exact quote but it was almost verbatim.
All I could think was…
OH
MY
GOD
She reads my blog. Kill me now. All of these posts and all of the indications that someone has been reading them by linking from the comments on her blog and it has never occurred to me that it would be her reading my blog. NEVER.
Before class started we presented her with a certificate making her an honorary member of Saskatoon Knitting Circle as well as some hand painted (by Mary) Saskatchewan Alpaca from Turtleford. She was delighted.
The class was wonderful and we dominated a lot of her time. Hopefully not to the annoyance of the other students in the class. She gave a good talk on the “Way Knit Was” (history) followed by a short feminist rant and then taught us the different knitting techniques. I think my favorite knitting fact was that the first knitter was likely an Islamic male in the middle east. The pickers struggled over throwing. The throwers struggled over picking, and EVERYONE struggled over lever knitting which, of course, was the Way Knit Was.
By the end of the day we were dead tired. The wait for her keynote address was long. We silently struggled with staying awake on the cozy couches in the college so that we could listen to her just one more time before heading home. After all, when would we ever see her again?
After her brilliant and funny keynote we had one more opportunity to talk to her. One of our members were unable to come with us so she was kind enough to allow us to take a picture of her holding a picture of him, in essence allowing us to have his picture taken with her. I’m sure he will be delighted.
All in all, she was a great sport. She didn’t have the RCMP waiting and we hadn’t knit a giant i-cord to tie her to any llonely llamas. But we did want to take her home. In a way, we did because we will always have the memory of our girl’s trip to hang with the monks and knit with the Harlot. As I was leaving the keynote she told me that it was very nice to meet me and that I needed to work on being more creepy and less nice if I was going to be a stalker(and she had some suggestions for how if I needed them). Well, ma’am. If you are reading this, I am honored to have met you and I will be waiting for those creepy stalker pointers. Maybe if we put our heads together I can help you effectively stalk and meet Prince.
For more photos of our adventures in Muenster, please visit this link.
Dancing With The Red String 
Nicely done!
You are really a writer, you know. Now the blog world where the Diva gets her talents from.
A writer who knits…where have we seen that combination before? Oh yeah, that would your SOUL MATE and this would be one more reason why you two are indeed SOUL MATES!!!!
Thanks for the greatest Saturday EVER!!!!!
Looks like a great girl’s trip.
(And you all looked so sweet in your knitwear and nice hair early in the morning).
Nice to get away and do something fun!
Thanks! It was a lot of fun and not something I get to do very often.
Melistress!
That is wonderful! It sounds like you had a fabulous time. tee hee! And it makes me think that you have met a “rock star”!! How lucky for you.
😉
You *should* do more things like this for yourself. It obviously invigorates you.
Go you!
ps – I love your sweater and you look gooooood!!
pps – “hand painted […] Alpaca”?? wow!
ppps – pickers? throwers? huh? help a non-knitter out here… please?
=)
It was like meeting a rock star. Imagine that you got to go up on the stage and sing with Depeche Mode…that is what knitting with Stephanie is like for me.
I love that sweater. Its comfortable and one of the few things that does look good on me. So, THANKS!
Alpacas (I’m assuming what your question mark means here) are like Llamas but with very soft and very warm hair which is a beautiful fiber to make yarn out of. It is usually sold in natural colours and in Saskatchewan we have LOTS of Alpaca farms. They are very cute in a very ugly sort of way and make great pets but they are herd animals so you need more than one. A lot of knitters have made nice little businesses for themselves out of dying yarn (hand painting). Mary is very talented and produces some lovely colorways. Everything about that hank of yarn was Saskatchewan.
Pickers and throwers – well…they are different techniques that knitters use to achieve the same result. Depending on what you are knitting, one may be more efficient than the other but neither are efficient for everything. Those two techniques were developed to make knitters more lady like when women started to pick up knitting in the parlor. It turns their hands in so that they look pretty as an open palm was frowned upon…making knitters less efficient. More or less it is how you both hold your yarn and manipulate it around the needles. Pickers are otherwise known as continental knitters. Maybe one of your knitting friends can show you the difference. 🙂
I knew what an Alpaca was I just didn’t know Saskatchewan had so many. And she hand paints it? That is so cool!
Do you know if it is spun like wool?
(the family I stayed with in Australia – the mom spun her own wool. it was neat to watch)
Um, I didn’t get up *on* stage with Depeche Mode, but I was close enough to “reach out and touch Dave”. *snicker*
And we did meet Martin at a bar later and he kissed my cheek. And then there was Duran Duran… oh boy!
So, I think I understand that big cheeky grin on your face in the photo with your soul mate.
😉
Yes, it is spun pretty much the same way…although I believe that very little of the commercial stuff is handspun anymore.
It looks like you have a wonderful time.
I am reminded of a time when I took my clay diploma at siast, working in every aspect of clay and design. I say it reminds me because upstairs was the textile course. And when I was a poor starving student I worked as a tour guide and would take folks around. The special humified or dehumidified I can’t remember, room was just for bricks of raw silk. Really raw…yet unspun. Bricks was a good word because they were as heavy and rough as that. Then they had HUGE spinning wheels and even huger looms. They always had a beautiful project sitting there hanging. One was a japanese student working on a kimono made from hand spun recycled flyers. It was beautiful when done, incredibly strong and made it into several touring exhibitions.
I miss this days…circa 1989 – 92. So much freedom and creativity. I bet if that course was still around you all would come to SIAST and take it. THen you could all stay at my house..and we could talk and visit and kibitz all night. And drink something fru-fru. With umbrellas…and I am getting WAY off topic.
Meh…it was a nice thought.
We are going to come and do that very soon, with or without the course to take…I would really like to visit with you.
lol….so if I run to the cabin at Emma lake will you come and drink fru-fru drinks there too? Cuz I can cook….kinda ok?
If I cook…will you teach me to knit? And can you make sox on the beach? Cuz beach sox would rule.